#Conlang.

[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

[aphel1on]

AuDHD is so funny sometimes like what do you mean my hyperfixations/special interests will last for years on end or possibly forever but they will cycle out every month or two with absolutely no transitional period or warning. like i will think about the same topic every day obsessively for 46 days in a row and on the 47th day with no visible cause adhd brain goes "ok! bored of that now" and autism brain goes "dw i got something queued up for ya" and i blast into full blown obsession on some other topic whose mental file folders haven't opened in 9 months. brain's out here treating hyperfixations like a crop rotation. once the dopamine runs out it cycles in another one but once something's in the rotation it never ever leaves. last summer we brought in one from when i was 11. it's so funny to me but frustrating too bc like. i cannot stress enough my inability to predict or control this. or how completely abrupt and random it can be

[tobyisave]

shitpost

[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?

[monstergili]

When you really think about the whole universal translator in speculative fiction, it doesn't really work considering all the questions you've brought up. It feels like there is this expectation that it should be just translated easily into one language; often in English for a person with no hearing disabilities and no problems during the process. Compared to how real languages work, it can be so complicated; some languages are not commonly spoken, with some languages being quite hard to translate. A few languages are rare due to how few people speak the language fluently. Even if you managed to have a large library of languages available, how easy is it to translate one into another? I'm no linguist, but even I know that not every word can be easy translated into another language. Translations can lacks the nuance of a particular word or phrase because the translation tries simplifying it to be more understandable, losing that nuance in the process. That's not even covering the ever changing use of slang; with words changing meaning, new ones being invented or phased out for new ones. Would you have a big enough library for the various slang used across the world and beyond?

I don't think I've really seen anyone even take into consideration how sign language would be used for the universal translator. Sign Language differs across the world, use different signs for particular words, which could have different meaning in another sign language if applicable at all. Some verbal languages might not even have their own sign language available so it might be even harder to translate because you could be jumping through two other languages first before being translated into a language you know. If they tried making you still see the speaker when you're looking away, it would likely be disorienting, possibly leading to headaches from the sensation. It could possibly lead to minor accidents from the different inputs given to the user. Never mind if the sign language of another species requires more than one pair of hands; how do translate THAT?!

The Universal Translator usually doesn't take non-humanoid anatomy into consideration on how it would impact language. In most mainstream Sci-Fi settings, humanoid aliens are the norm for sapient species. In the Mass Effect games, I know one alien species had to verbalize what they're feeling when talking because their use of pheromones couldn't be translated for the other inhabitants. Another species were basically space jellyfish that used a translator to verbalize language, based on their bioluminesce. (Looking back, I think there was a missed to opportunity to use chromatophores to create a complex language that was also hard to translate.)

I know that not everyone is interested in conlanging or trying to write multiple IRL languages. It's hard to conlang or translate languages, especially if said language is notoriously difficult to speak/read. I don't blame people using universal translators as an easy workaround for plot convenience. Yet I do feel like that it can be a little too easy to use for every setting you make. This is why I like how @jayrockin handles languages in their Runaway To The Stars universe. I'd recommend checking out their work if you want more interesting and grounded way of handling alien languages. It even includes sign language.

how do science fiction real-time universal translators (the type where people automatically perceive everything as being in their native language as it's being spoken) handle sign languages. does it alter the perception of native sign language speakers so it looks to them like people using spoken language are actually signing? for that matter, would it "translate" written language into a spoken form for someone who natively speaks a spoken-only language?

[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!

[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.

[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

[dedalvs]

how'd you learn to write and read Valarian? im trying to learn some and it seems that your really knowledgeable about the language.

I created the High Valyrian language. I’ve learned quite a bit of it in translating stuff for GoT, Duolingo, and HotD. Practice, practice, practice. :)

[prokopetz]

do you have any opinions of conlangs like at all

I think studying conlangs has been edifying because it's helped to put into perspective that a lot of the things that annoy me about the English language are probably just inherent features of the act of communication. It's one thing to be told in academic terms that all communicative acts will necessarily express certain shortcomings, and quite another to see it illustrated via demonstration that, oh, a lot of people who are way more autistic than I am have been trying for hundreds of years to invent a language that doesn't have these problems and met with comprehensive failure!

[outofgloom]

Bionicle: Masks of Power - Matoric Conlang Dialogue Files

As you may have seen, it's now been publicly announced that LEGO has asked for the Bionicle: Masks of Power fan game by Team Kanohi to be shut down.

You can read the announcement letter from Team Kanohi here, and also view a walkthrough of the game demo on YouTube, with and without dev commentary. The demo would have been released on 8/10 of this year.

As I've posted about before, the game was slated to feature fully voice-acted lines in the Matoran Language conlang ("Matoric"), and I've been contributing Matoric line translations for this purpose for a few years now. This work amounted to nearly 800 individual lines of Matoric dialogue translated.

Needless to say, this was a very disappointing thing to experience behind the scenes, after the amount of work that Team Kanohi had put into the game, and (in my opinion) it's an extremely poor repayment from LEGO for the enthusiasm that the team has created in the Bionicle fandom over the years, although not unexpected or shocking on LEGO's part.

With that said, there is some solace to be found in the fact that many resources from the game, including 3D models, music, art, and other development materials, have been preserved by the team (for the time being) via Google Drive. This includes all of the individually recorded voice-actor lines in Matoric!

Here is a link to the full Google Drive.

Here is a link to the folder containing the Matoric line recordings.

Here is a link to a spreadsheet containing all of the written Matoric lines and their English translations (along with a few fun easter eggs).

Finally, here are the credits for the audio directors and individual voice actors whose excellent work was represented in the game:

Voice Acting Directors Tasch Ritter Gort (Garrett B)

Voice Acting Lewa ……………….. Dane Braddy Pohatu ……………….. Gianni Matragrano Gali ……………….. Tasch Ritter Onua ……………….. Ashley Quills Kopaka ……………….. Tom Schalk Tahu ……………….. Wes Wiggins Makuta ……………….. Justice Washington Mata Nui ……………….. Justice Washington Matoran 1 ……………….. Ethan Godwin Matoran 2 ……………….. Viator Matoran 3 ……………….. Lou Haroldson Matoran 4 ……………….. Tasch Ritter Matoran 5 ……………….. Mark (Markle) Stefely Matoran 6 ……………….. Anna Maguire Matoran 7 ……………….. SyntheticCharmVa Matoran 8 ……………….. Tabitha Bardall Matoran 9 ……………….. Mark Beischel Matoran 10 ……………….. Jordan (Jocool1231) Willis Matoran 11 ……………….. Quinn Stokan Matoran 12 ……………….. Abigail Adair Matoran 13 ……………….. Cody (MasterGir) Littlefield Matoran 14 ……………….. Zane Schacht Narrator ……………….. Justice Washington Announcer ……………….. David Michael Williamson

I was honored to be able to contribute to this project in a small way, and I hope that the Bionicle community will continue to support the team as it rebrands and moves on to future projects.

[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.

[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