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so i am starting a collaborative conlanging project!

it’s kind of an experiment-- i want to evolve a language from scratch, using no english or any other language. i’ve done this before and it’s amazing how quickly you can go from “i don’t understand what’s happening and i don’t have the vocabulary to communicate my confusion” to “i just explained a non-tangible concept in this language without the assistance of visual cues”.

if you know a little bit about linguistics or want to learn a little bit about linguistics, or if you’re interested in conlanging, and you feel reasonably sure that you can be an active participant for an hour or so most days, hmu for an invite to the discord server! :)

(also if you are queer that would be cool too because i am a lonely ace lesbian who wants friends)

(not a requirement though, straight ppl are also lovely and i want to be friends with you too)

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhkBqsKlupc)

From Tolkien’s Elvish to Interlingua, we’ve all heard of constructed languages or conlangs, but only some of us have tried to create one of our own. Using examples from my experiences creating my own fabricated language called Ätchgö, I’m here to share a few tips on how to create your own language. May ingenuity, syntax and phonemes be with you.

Source: youtube.com

Lextreming into a new year~

Last year, as some of you know, I participated in Lextreme2018, a conlanging challenge of sorts on social media (I did mine via twitter mostly) in which you create at least one new lexeme (word) for your conlang(s) each day of the year. It had been an extension of Lexember2018 (making a new word each day of December), and I did it all of last year. I did Lexember2019 this year, and I decided I’ll continue with Lextreme2019 again for the new year! Conlanging is a highly personal, meditative, relaxing, expressive, and enjoyable pursuit for me, and as I continue to be a very busy grad student, I have purposefully cultivated a range of other passions and hobbies to help maintain balance in my life (it is so very easy to become obsessed with academics). Conlanging has been one of my constant companions throughout the years (going on 20 years now), and simply put, I adore it and want to it all of the time! I want to combine Lextreme2019 this year with even more worldbuilding details and cultural information with each word. 

For Jan. 1, the first entry for Lextreme2019 is in Karkin. Karkin is a language spoken by a cultural group of zuna people (the same species as the Tosi, Selupa, etc.). It is an agglutinating language with an active-stative verbal alignment system, and a pretty sizable phonemic inventory (e.g. it has a lot of different sounds). Karkin: [adj] ēqh /e:χ/ ‘old, ancient; previous, prior, former’ Note: This word isn’t used to describe the age of people. Rather, the word īvë /i:və/ means ‘old’ as in ‘elderly’ to describe a person’s age. 

Example:

"Axte ēqh mi kasshi'ë pa sashupa"  /'axte eːχ mi 'kaʃʃi-ʔə pa sa'ʃupa/ 'I grow grain on my old farm'

Txudi utšëngi amyaamuúrrge  e rhat’, a’aru, a’qëé, a’tyruii na’náhátaangëniíyure  waešaiwaixnihii na’lënrru yak e txudi, a’rhat’ a’aru, a’qëé. Átxudi piqënëx uat’ árë, útíni qëyui árë, iínišoni íía na’yaxegiš aru. Pigutihon’are Íía ná’é aru apqëéregši’utšix qëére Aru a’ná’ëmu’kétšeniš uat’. Txudi utšengi a’aná yax.

A crow, you see, knows all the best secrets about men, and wolves, and  the moon, and a candle that burns down to show the faces of old gods that have the shapes of crows, and men, and wolves, and the moon. This crow was perched in a certain tree, under a certain moon, watching a boy who looked like a wolf. The boy’s name was Boy Because that is what wolves know to call boys and the name Wolf was already taken by the tree. The crow knew this and other things besides.