Linguisticsing

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Hey, cool.

I seem to have stumbled into a linguistics project.

A few months ago ellenmillion posted a question for the language nerds on language change. I don’t think she was looking for a really long answer, but you know how it is when someone asks a question about your area of expertise. I launched into an enthusiastic description of the factors that affect language over time, and volunteered to be around to answer any questons she had.

And that’s how I wound up on a team of Ellen and three language nerds, working to create a conlang for a possible future project.

I gotta say, I’m suddenly energized and feeling a lot happier about life now. I owe Ellen a debt of gratitude: she actually made this customer service rep feel like her linguistics degree can serve some purpose. And building a conlang is always just a ton of fun on its own. I’ve never collaborated on one before, but it’s interesting to work through to a consensus on thsi forum. And since the language is for commercial public use, there are different design parameters at work than what you’d have if your language was just for your own enjoyment, or as that sort of backstage information for a story that only manifests on the surface as a tendency for character names to not look like they were pulled out of your ass.* So we’ve been working on not only consistency, but ease of use for native English speakers—not too weird or different a sound system, not too crazily different syntax. It adds an interesting extra dimension to the process when you have to consider the idea of facilitating the learning ...

Plus, it’s fun! I’m not sure how much more I can say about it now than some generalities like that, but I’ll let y’all know when you can take a look at it. It feels good to be able to do a job using what I studied for years—I hope I can show it off when it goes public.


*Most names in stories like Doctors! are carefully worked out—if not the full language, like the arhodes', then at least the sound conventions. Which is a bit harsh on me for the pídebes, whose most common language has a single vowel with ten allophones. That is, the vowel depends on what consonants are in the syllable and the syllable’s tone—which means I have to have a cheat sheet with me when I make up names.

… I may give a longer description of this in a later entry, because it’s an interesting project of its own if you happen to be a language nerd.