mewling-central

[mewling-central]

Starting to wrap up the writing system on my new language. Hope I can share what I have (relatively) soon! For now here's a sneak peak

[mewling-central]

This is a webcomic I've been making for a bit now! It's where I'm going to be making regular use of Collective Seraphic, so if you wanna see more of the Seraphic language in action then feel free to give it a read! I'll also be posting pages individually on its blog with romanizations and translations!

Chapter Three is now out on Tapas and available to read!

[mewling-central]

Follow up to my previous question, does your new language have its own writing script?

I plan for it to, but I usually save that step to the very last. Writing systems are very specific to the languages they're made for, not only due to phonology but in how it expresses grammar or etymology. So I find it easier to make it when I already have everything else nailed down. I do have some ideas, though!

[mewling-central]

So... What is this new language, that you are alluding to? Specifically, what is the grammar of this new language? I'm talking stuff like morphology - if applicable - syntax, semantic fields, pragmatics, etc.

On a semi-related note, what would you say is the weirdest most unusual conlang that you have constructed? In terms of taking as many linguistic universals as possible into account and doing something different.

That's about all I have to say, for now. Love your work as a conlanger myself and I'll see you next time... ;)

Honestly, I couldn't answer that confidently yet! It's still pretty new, barely even functional yet. At this moment I'm still working on the grammar and I'm only on the barebones of that. I can say that, as far as grammar amd syntax, I want it to be OSV and I've been playing around with symmetrical voice and absolute tense. I don't have a lot of info I can share because, well, there really isn't much info TO share.

As far as weirdest conlang, honestly I have to give it to Collective Seraphic. But really I haven't made a whole lot of conlangs. At least not with my current methodology. I've basically made only two language families: Mewling and Seraphic. Sure I've made languages and dialects from those, but they all stem from the same base lexicons and grammar conventions. So there's not an extreme amount of variability between them. Playing with the concept of verbs in Collective Seraphic was a really fun challenge that I hope I pulled off well. Making nouns act like verbs was fun to figure out, I think eventually I might switch it up and make a language where verbs act like nouns. Or play around with one that lacks deixis or arbitrariness (although I guess that's technically a logical language. Might be a fun challenge). I suppose that's up for future Koi to decide!

[mewling-central]

Sorry about the radio silence, been cooking up my new language for my new world. It's still in its infancy so it'll be a bit but I'll try to play around with my other languages here and there too

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 31

Vuğłnağį (n)

/ˌvù.ɣĺ̩ˈnà.ɣɨ̀/

Terranean class, second declension

(dual vuğłnağįc, plural vuğłnağin, collective vuğłnağœyāf; existential ibvuğłnağį, actional rvuğłnağį, resultative ebvuğłnağį)

solar eclipse

Derived from proto-Seraphic vuĥilnyářay (vuĥílnyař "noon, midday" + ay "black, dark", itself from vuĥíl "sun" + nyář "high").

Vuğłnağį ednr izyi xāc cni-lejt'ān cu-levp'ā.

"A solar eclipse is a special event no matter what the occasion."

Last one of the year! I suppose I wanted to do more but I'm happy with what I got done. This is the word for solar eclipse! There's no difference between total and annular eclipses on the Homeworld, as it only ever gets total eclipses. Their host star appears about 17% smaller than our sun appears to us, and their moon appears 1.02 times larger in their sky than ours does in our sky, so every time there's a solar eclipse their moon always covers up the sun fully. On other planets, it's a different story though. They probably did have to eventually invent distinctions for total and annular eclipses.

[mewling-central]

Not technically conlang stuff (yet) but I've been making a new world that I WILL eventually make conlangs for. But I'm starting from scratch so before languages and people, I need there world. It doesn't have a name yet, but in the meantime here's some maps.

Elevation

Ocean currents (northern hemisphere summer and northern hemisphere winter)

Wind and pressure zones (north summer and winter)

Precipitation (north summer and winter)

Continentality

Tenperature in celsius (north summer and winter)

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 17

Ker (adj)

/kèr/

Oceanic class, fifth declension

(plural kren; comparative ezaxer; existential ednoxer, actional edroxer, resultative nizoxer)

tangled, knotted, twisted

Derived from proto-Seraphic gre.

Cuc syawāf cu-zāfl noxer!

"My hair is all tangled!"

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 16

Awaman (n)

/àˈwà.màn/

Oceanic class, fifth declension

(dual awamanc, plural awamaŋgan, collective awamamāf; existential ednawaman, actional edrawaman, resultative nizaman)

prayer, invocation

Derived from proto-Seraphic awáŋmuq (awáŋ "question, query, request" + muq "holy, sacred, divine").

Fr-fi nar edralisa xel-yar cu-zāfl pr̄-zāsl, nsl in-awaman ax.

"When you call my name, it's like a little prayer."

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 13

Zāfr̄ (n)

/záˈfŕ̩/

Solar class, first declension

(dual zēvrfr̄, plural zāvrin, collective zāfrāf; declined zafr̄)

wing (of a seraph)

Derived from proto-Seraphic sefŕ, Solar class form of afŕ (a- "oceanic class marker" + fr), itself of unattested origin. Theorized to be a pre-proto-Seraphic term, likely onomatopoetic, mimicking the sound of flapping wings.

Īzl ezrezavrin cu-zāfl nedlesar tsa-levp'ā nar aznzafl xel-fmax fr-łxāl 'ōvn.

"My wings are sore from flying all day."

Seraphim are a species that's able to fly! Well, like half of them are. Those seraphim are called "alate"! That have three pairs of two wings each, totaling six, and on average range between like 6 and 7.5 meters in wingspan. They're able to collapse themselves up real tight and tuck them away in their back, covering them with elytra to keep them protected from the elements. Flying sounds fun, of course, but it's not like they're magically powered or anything. They do get tired especially if they're flapping so it's not like they're flying all the time always. I mean, we can run, and that certainly is a faster way to get places, but it's exhausting so we don't do it all the time. Same for them with flying. That takes energy, you know?

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 12

Nd() ku-tsn̄ (pp)

/ˌǹ̩d ˌkù ˈt͡sń̩/

Resultative phrase

to hatch, to be born

Infinitive resultative procedural prefix nd- + ku "out of" + tsn̄ "seraph egg" (lit. "to become/emerge out of an egg").

Cuc ednr ğodzafl ku-tsn̄ tn-łxāl!

"I didn't hatch yesterday, you know!"

Seraphim are born from eggs (usually in clutches of 5-12), so this was a straightforward enough phrase to cook up. The funny thing about it too is, seraphim are also the kinda of creatures to die a few hours after procreating, so no seraphim has ever actually even met their parents. At least, not alive. And this of course fueled a lot of mythology and folklore. In some cultures, the souls of the parents will flow into and be reborn as their children. In others, the place where the parents died is a sacred family location where their spirits linger and watch over their descendants. It changes from place to place, and culture to culture.

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 11

Levp'āzr (n)

/lèvˈpʼá.zr̩̀/

Lunar class, first declension

(dual levp'āzrc, plural levp'āzrğan, collective levp'āzráf; declined levp'āzr)

rejection, refusal, denial

Derived from proto-Seraphic lispé'mrek (lispé' "reason, cause" + mrek "bad, unfortunate").

Tir n̄zajt'un cu-zāfl tun-levp'āzr nul.

"My heart couldn't handle another rejection."

The proto-Seraphic term lispé'mrek originally had the connotation of an excuse or justification (usually a bad one), but overtime it changed to just mean any kind of excuse the rejects something or someone, whether or not it's a feasible one or not.

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 10

Yunmir (n)

/ˈjun.miɾ/

(accusative yunmiron, genitive yunmirmi, dative yunmirfu, inessive yunmirer, elative yunmirne, illative yunmirol, adessive yunmirotso, ablative yunmirla, allative yunmirova, essive yunmirte, translative yunmirwa, instrumental yunmirko, abessive yunmirwego, comitative yunmirsu, vocative yunmira, benefactive yunmiran)

medicine, medication, remedy, drug

Compound of yun "to heal, to fix, to cure" + mir "fruit, berry".

Yunmiran yofu su aven mopislan.

"I traded him two fish for some medicine."

It's been a hot minute since I've done anything with Mewling. In earliest mew society the discovery of medicine was vital to maintaining their small population. The first medicinal cures were fruits, but others like leaves, fungi, roots, etc came into use for a whole variety of ailments and such. They were all referred to with the same term, though. Didn't seem necessary to make a whole bunch of words when yunmir works fine enough.

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 9

Edncil (pp)

/ˌèd.ǹ̩ˈʃìl/

Existential phrase

(present ncil, recent past ğōncil, remote past ēgğōncil, near future dencil, distant future āt'ēncil; negative ēdncil)

to be calm, to be relaxed

Infinitive existential fifth declension procedural prefix edn- + cil "loose, slack" (lit. "to be loose")

Tu n̄zoğl pi-lizt'n cu-lara edncil.

"She doesn't know how to be calm."

Hiya, sorry there's no Lexembers for days 7 & 8, I caught a wicked cold. Anyways, not much to say about this. This procedural phrase is related to the procedural phrase for "to sleep" nidcil, it's just the existential equivalent. I think being calm and being asleep are two sides of the same coin, one is just being conscious.

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 6

Lznenyatœs (n)

/l̩̀ˌznèn.jàˈtə̀s/

Lunar class, third declension

(dual lznenyatœzac, plural lznenyatœzn, collective lznenyatœzāf; declined łznenyatœs)

science, scientific study

Borrowed from Modern Mewling zneńatës "science".

Thinking about seraph civilization, where science and technology has advanced so much that complex ideas and branches have become common knowledge, how would I as a writer even approach that? I thought making it so that science and philosophy aren't treated as separate branches. It's all the same to them. Things like subatomic particles and black holes are just as integral to reality as consciousness or ethics. Thus, in the rapid advancement of the seraph civilization, a lot of old world religions either fell out of use, remained highly unchanged and esoteric, or changed and morphed with the changing understanding of the innerworkings of the universe. A lot of modern religions, now referred to as "schools of thought" sanctify physical and/or fundamental laws of science in some way shape or form.

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 5

Vezerä (n)

/βe.zeˈɾä/

Alate gender, count noun

(plural vezeräm)

a moon

Derived from proto-Seraphic vucrá (vu- "terranean class marker" + cra "white, pale"). Cognate with Collective Seraphic vocar, and Erelian pšàl.

Irethüü emvezerä iivevaźeofhon.

"Iretur is a moon of the planet Ophan."

Decided for this one I wanted to do a word in Ireturish, and this is my current favorite one. I really like seeing all the differences between Ireturish, Collective Seraphic, and Erelian. They all stemmed from Aeonic Seraphic, but diverged in such fun ways!

[mewling-central]

Lexember Day 4

Vasī (n)

/vàˈsí/

Terranean class, first declension

(dual vasītc, plural vasīzazin, collective vasīt'āf; declined vasī)

lightning, thunderbolt

Derived from proto-Seraphic vusítjit (vu- "terranean class prefix" + sítjit "seraph sway").

Ebvasī xel-fur fān-fmu.

"Lightning crashes down from the heavens."

I can't believe I didn't have a word for lightning yet, that's kind of embarrassing. Lightning is kinda crazy right? Bright flash of plasma just explodes down to the earth at random and everyone's like "oh yeah that happens sometimes nbd" like what?? For the ancient proto-Seraphic culture, lightning was divine. Seraphim have abilities called "sways" that allow them to indirectly influence their environment in minute ways. Some can pull water out of thin air, or can attract metal to themselves like a magnet, or exacerbate weak points in the ground and material, etc etc. In proto-Seraphic folklore, lightning was the sway of the gods, being jutted out from the sky down to the world below.