#ConLang

[gupdoo3]

Do you ever get nervous bc your conlang isn't as naturalistic or as well-thought-out as those of the literal masters of the craft and so that must mean it's Literally Garbage

[dedalvs]

hello!! i'm starting to learn high valyrian and i was wondering if there's a word for "shark", since i didn't find it anywhere. also, i love how the word for "cat" was based off your own cat lol

The word is nekkisio. And she was a lovely cat. She's one of the very best friends I've ever had in my life.

[levunalangs]

word of the day: ksüngümi

Today’s Valya word is ksüngümi [ksy.ŋy.mi], meaning “plant” (as a noun).

The root of the word is ngümi, meaning “grow,” “spread,” or “scatter.” Ksüngümi is formed with the prefix ksu-, which forms nonhuman agent nouns (so you could translate it as something like “it grows” or “that which spreads”). Words for specific categories of plants include nggu “tree,” minggu “shrub,” nggvatu “herbaceous plant,” and vünggi “grass.” Aside from the fact that minggu originated as the diminutive of nggu, it’s a total coincidence that the rest all have ng(g) in them.

The same root ngümi also gives rise to kingwandi, the Valya word for “farm,” and in that Lexember post I mentioned that it’s not clear which meaning of ngümi directly gave rise to the word—is it from farmed plants growing, or farmers scattering the seeds? With ksüngümi it’s much more likely that it’s to do with plants growing, but when the root verb is used alone it can often be ambiguous. Sometimes context is enough to differentiate, but adverbs can also help: ngümi might be paired with nwa, “upwards,” zaku “outwards,” or tüka “away” or “apart.”

Müksüngümi ngümi nwa biska! The plants have grown a lot!

Ba sabghu mu ngümi zaku biska. They’ve spread a lot too.

[nyancrimew]

having the minions talks some weird mix of spanish, english and gibberish instead of just making them speak esperanto is actually the biggest flaw of the despicable me franchise

[miaj-verdaj-pensoj]

Perhaps a better translation would be//Eble pli bona traduko estus:

Esperanto: mi estas tre grava, tre parolebla lingvo.

ankaŭ Esperanto: la vorto por io eta estas mal+granda(malgranda).

esperanto: i am a very serious, very speakable language

also esperanto: the word for small is opposite-big

[avemakuta]

Thinking about minecraft languages again I fear.

We know of at least two diagetic writing systems used in the world of minecraft— enchanting table language and some form of the Roman alphabet. We know that some form of the Roman alphabet is diagetic, because it exists in the world already before the Player arrives. Whoever built the desert temples assigned significance to the letters "TNT" enough to put it on their explosives. Pictographic writing also seems to exist, based on naturally-generating chiseled blocks, but that's harder to definitively state isn't purely decorative.

Villagers also presumably use some form of writing, given that they have librarians, but whatever that writing is, it doesn't seem to be legible to the Player, since we can't read books until we write in them ourselves.

The villager/illager species definitely creates symbolic art, given the use of banners by the illagers and of creeper face symbols on clerical robes. Piglins also use symbolic art, given the snouts carved into bastions, and it seems reasonable to conclude that they have some form of language.

This gives at least three languages in the world of minecraft— Piglin, Villager, and Desert Temple. Possibly a fourth, with Enchanting, but that could just be the writing system used by villagers, given that the Player doesn't seem to be able to read it.

What would those languages be like? What kinds of poetry are written in the Hnnngs and Hrrs of the villagers, or the grunts and snorts of the piglins? Could a piglin and a villager learn each other's languages, or are they too different not just in terms of vocabulary but in terms of the physical features required to communicate? Do piglins carry information in the flapping of their ears? Do villagers produce complex tones by resonance in their large noses?

And what about etymologies? For villagers, wool comes from sheep, but to a piglin, if wool exists at all, it's woven from strider hair. If the inhabitants of the desert temples had a word for gunpowder, was it related to their word for creeper? If piglins do, is it related to their word for ghast?

[opashoo]

Yongasabi, Slugcat language of the Rain World Undergrowth AU

Yongasabi originally started as an attempt to turn Rain World's glyphs into a functioning writing system for the slugcats, and that eventually inspired me to make a language for the writing system to support. As it grew, it became increasingly intertwined with my own ideas for Rain World worldbuilding, and my own project, the Undergrowth AU.

Now I'm publicly opening my language to the Rain World fandom! Seven months of work from start to the official release, with fully functioning grammar and over 1500 documented words just at the time of writing this post, I'm excited to finally release this language for other people to view, and potentially even use.

Note that Yongasabi is made with the Undergrowth AU (which is an anthro AU) in mind. It presupposes that the slugcats are humanoid, and their technological development is further along than in the game. Despite that, the language should be otherwise applicable to regular slugcats.

While Yongasabi has been developed through the lens of my own projects (Rain World Undergrowth AU and its worldbuilding) and understanding of Rain World's themes and lore, it's something I want to be accessible to the entire community. Consider it something of a gift. Anyone has permission to use Yongasabi in their projects—credit would be appreciated, and I would actually be so excited if you messaged me to let me know what you were doing. If I'm available, I can translate things too, if you need, or explain concepts from the document. Just send it to me and I'll see what I can do! Good luck!

Documentation for the writing system is here:

[wanderinginksplot]

I am a Clone Wars-era Star Wars fic writer. I've been staring at mando.org for literal years to find slang, fic titles, and nicknames. I once read every entry to make sure I knew all the options for some term or another.

How did I just realize that the Mandalorian word for droid is beskar'ad? Mandalorians literally call droids, "Iron-child".

That is the cutest thing I've ever heard.

[buzzkillchainsaw]

Yes I'm serious, no I'm not okay

(I'll be tagging this and further parts as #buzzkill aquatic so feel free to use that tag too if you use my aquatic expansion in your art/animations/fanfics etc)

Next part (tail edition):

[shoccoe]

So… I may or may not have written an entire Conlang based on a single joke in Minecraft Parkour Civilization 2. That would be ridiculous. Aha. Hahahaha. Ha.

*cough*

A Quick Guide to Writing in Parkour

Flourish List.

You add these in front of blocks to change their meaning. There’s a key at the bottom containing the Parkour alphabet which demonstrates how the space, 180°, 360°, and 720° Flourishes are used to refer to specific English-Letter analogs.

_ = Space

C = 180° Flourish = 5 spaces

O = 360° Flourish = 10 spaces

8 = 720° Flourish = 20 spaces

? = Reverse = Reverses input

^ = Vertical Jump = Raises Intensity

v = Drop = Lowers Intensity

Block List.

These are the building blocks (lmfao) of the language and are what would be counted as an “input” or “letter”. Also included are short legends under each block describing what each flourish does to each block!

(Note! _,C,O, and 8 cannot be applied to any block other than [ ] and H)

[ ] = Block = Grammatical Value

(?[ ] = Capitalized)

(^[ ] = Impassioned)

(v[ ] = Depressed)

H = Fence = Numerical Value

(?H = Negative)

(^H = Exponential)

(vH = Square Root)

u = Pot = Period

(?u = Comma)

(^u = Hyphen/Equality)

(vu = Parentheses)

I = Pane = Question

(?I = Exclamation)

(^I = Command)

(vI = Sarcasm)

% = Brewing Stand = Addition

(?% = Subtraction)

(^% = Multiplication)

(v% = Division)

Alphabet

a = [ ]

b = _[ ]

c = __[ ]

ch = ___[ ]

d = ____[ ]

e = C[ ]

f = _C[ ]

g = __C[ ]

h = ___C[ ]

i = ____C[ ]

j = O[ ]

l = _O[ ]

m = __O[ ]

n = ___O[ ]

o = ____O[ ]

p = OC[ ]

r = _OC[ ]

s = __OC[ ]

sh = ___OC[ ]

t = ____OC[ ]

th = 8[ ]

u = _8[ ]

v = __8[ ]

w = ___8[ ]

y = ____8[ ]

Numbers

0 = H

1 = _H

2 = __H

3 = ___H

4 = ____H

5 = CH

6 = _CH

7 = __CH

8 = ___CH

9 = ____CH

Now that you have all the tools, let’s put it all together~!

————————————

?8[ ]____C[ ]__OC[ ] ____C[ ]__OC[ ] OC[ ][ ]_OC[ ]__[ ]____O[ ]_8[ ]_OC[ ]?I

____CHH% _HH ^u _HHH

?C[ ][ ]____OC[ ] 8[ ]C[ ] _OC[ ]____C[ ]___[ ]^I

————————————

Big thanks to my friend PrismaticKoi for giving me the idea and helping me figure this all out! Working with her made this process super fun!!!

Enjoy Parkour-!!! I’ll be coding an English<—>Parkour translator at some point, so stick around to find that!!

All of you need to go watch Minecraft Parkour Civilization though. It’s seriously fantastic.

[dedalvs]

A question about the Valyrian glyphs. If I wanted to transliterate an English phrase using the Valyrian glyphs, would I still use the logographic form of the language or would I use the glyphs purely for their phonology?

I'd just use the phonetic glyphs. You could use the logographic glyphs to imply the meaning, but that'd be a lot the writer and reader would have to know about the language, and both writing and reading the message would take a long time. But it's possible. Slightly more difficult than using emoji to transliterate English, but possible nevertheless.

[livalueact]

Translated this into my conlang !

NōYaLaĒDa FeGāYāĒ ĒAĒ YēDāYōABa — ChāZā NōYāHāĒĀĒ Dē ZōVōABa Shē NeyouZāHā JāĒDa VēRō SeChāZē ĒAĒ ZōVōABa Shē NeyouZāHā Vā KāNa. Gē ReĒDa ĒAĒ ZōVōABa Shē NeyouZāHā Dē YāĒ BōKā Vā YāĒ Tou JōTā'Zā - ChāZā Vā KāZō VāHāChāĒ.

It has a different grammar so it's not like each word is a direct translation!

You laughed against my neck and I swear my heart tried to crawl closer to the sound. It didn’t know you could be joy and fire in the same breath.

[kuroashims]

ֆօʍɛ ֆɨʍʟɨֆɦ քɦʀǟֆɛֆ ʏօʊ ʍɨɢɦȶ ʄɨռɖ ʊֆɛʄʊʟ ɨռ ʟɨʄɛ

hello : sul sul! / what's up : bloo bagoo? / how are you : cuh teekaloo? / i'm hungry : oh feebee lay / something in my way : choo waga choo choo! / you've got some nerve : firby nurbs / yes : yeibs / no : neib / oh my god : jamoo / woah this is fun : bum bum! / anyone home : nash na poof? / are you serious right now : ugh...groble! / you! yes you! go away : depwa spanewash depla blah! / excuse-me! get out of the way : blursh! meshaloob blursh! / i don't like you : boobasnot / no bullying : yabihorn! / i'm so bored : uhh shamoo ralla poo / happy birthday : humple borpnah! / this food is delicious : dis wompf es fredesche / thank you : vadish / nothing is impossible if you believe : benzi chibna looble bazebni gweb / cat : minicule / dog : woofum / baby is upset : aw crankus nooboo! / i'm pregnant : baba / i think you're hot : za woka genava / selfie : ongie! / i need a taxi : nicloske ga gloop / see you soon : geelfrob / i love you : por see gab lurv / live laugh love : leeb leefuh lurve / i'm on fire : wabadeebadoo! / goodbye : dag dag

[styllwaters]

Just occurred to me that I never posted these images and they've existed for months. Here's a little environment guide I made during artfight for those wanting to draw my Knight characters. The planet Ettera is dominated by crimson and orange flora, tough and hardy like the rest of its inhabitants.

The images above are just a few snapshots of the planet.

(Some bonus lore from ages ago but still very relevant. Further info under the cut)

It is common practice in Mountain Knight society to worship storms, which are a highly common occurrence in Srati and the Ihmna Stretch. They place a lot of importance on them - cyclones and hurricanes are revered for their power and might, and are respected as one would respect a person.

They believe that the electrical energy that you have inside you rises up to the heavens when you die and lives within the clouds, forever dancing in the winds and rain. Sometimes, the deceased come down to visit the ground in the form of lightning. When it is storming, it is a time for spiritual reconnection and communing with the divine. Instead of churches or temples Mountain Knights have 'lightning fields' which are stretches of land with tall tower-like structures scattered around. These objects are built to attract lightning strikes during storms.

The phrase 'Lightning runs beside you' is a common goodbye for Mountain and Kaata plains knights, who adopted some of their culture. Its shortened into one word. It essentially means those who came before you will guide you until we meet again, like calling upon ancestors to protect you. On the flip side they can also be invoked in anger - calling it down to strike someone you hate, but it is said that the ancestors will only listen if they believe the other person has truly wronged you.

[kalivasquezart]

"Hoyei ho, kamasda wa imaeja nankasa."

"Hello, dear you look lovely today."

My Saint welcomes @opashoo's Saint to their humble abode. But the kicker is that in a way, these two are the same person... would you invite your celestical counterpart from a parallel universe over for a cup of tea?

Saint is speaking their native slugcat language, called Yoŋasabi, which is a conlang created by @opashoo.