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

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

It's not like cusines with a lack of vegetable matter are anything new. Have you ever looked at the medieval and Renaissance recipe corpus? Not a lot of plants there.