Conlang Musings

[bloodyrosemccoy]

I have started using the Professor Layton Puzzle Indexes as translation exercises for Rredŕa. The simple descriptions and instructions in them helps me hammer out a lot of basics of the syntax, and they’re fun, too. The only downside is that some of them are visual—not too big a problem for an exercise—or culturally based, like the clock ones, and would require a lot more explaining to the aliens who speak the language.* But hey, a lot of arhods like puzzles, so it seems like a logical way to go.

Also, I'm trying to decide if I want to make a descendant of my original Luam language. I love Luamavan—it’s my first real attempt at a conlang, and it’s got the most extensive lexicon. But given that I started writing it as a tween, I must admit that it’s pretty … well … stupid. It needs the same kind of polish a smart tween's first attempts at a sweeping epic novel would. I figure I have the makings of a good proto-language; I can do some sound changes and syntax changes and get myself a good diachronic conlang, but it’s kind of a big endeavor, so I’m shying away from it.

At least I have my spreadsheets, though! Oh, Excel, why didn’t I realize you existed when I was but a wee conlanger?


*This is also why recipes are hard to translate—no equivalent words for any of the stuff, so it winds up having a lot of Rredŕized English words. (“… zata she vızengha bra chicken pe brumyen …”) Not to mention their extremely sparing use of plant matter …

Comments

[beccastareyes]

I remember one conlang relay I did was a recipe. Most of the ingredients translated, but Daryn wasn't a big flour-using culture, so I had to just say 'ground grains'*. I just used onion as a loanword. (Bread is in my dictionary as a loanword, too.) The other time it came up, the passage had already been in Klingon, and I decided it was safe enough to just insert a local highly-intoxicating beverage in place of the Klingon word for 'local highly-intoxicating beverage', since whatever information that had been gained by specifying was gone.

* Even then, I don't know how taxonomically accurate 'grain' is as a classification, and ignoring things like acorns, which can also make flour.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Alas, I have never done a conlang relay. Sounds fun, though.

I have a few loanwords like that--like the chicken example above. (Rredŕized would actually make it jıken, or possibly tsıken, but y'know.)

But yeah, that's part of the fun of the conlangs is making the culture that goes with it. Otherwise it's way less interesting.

[beccastareyes]

I haven't done one in a while -- I kind of miss it.