Book 1 of 2 has arrived

#conlanging #conlang #conlangs #conlangers

@ergative hi!
I'd be happy to lend my voice & rec some #highValyrian (#Dothraki only has a handful of #words) for them! Do you happen to have any info as to how they intend to care for the sensitivity of the data?

#conlangers also #Navi*

@jirra If you're not sure about terminology, just ask around. #Conlangers usually like to share knowledge and ideas, and even the old hands amongst us remember when we were starting off.

#conlangers and other peeps who like #linguistics might enjoy this article about how various languages deal with translating the Relative Clauses in the Description of the Basilisk in Harry Potter bk 2 (the languages are Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese & Mongolian)

It's interesting especially because it points out that sometimes a direct translation to an equivalent structure in another language is unwieldly or loses the effect

http://www.cjvlang.com/Hpotter/unicode/basilisrelcl.html

Translating Relative Clauses: the Description of the Basilisk (Harry Potter, Book 2): Translation into Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Mongolian

Transcending Grammar: the Stylistic Functions of Relative Clauses, as seen in Translations of the Description of the Basilisk in the Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Mongolian versions of Harry Potter.

LB: you laugh but this is called backformation and is a form of analogy. It's also precisely how we got the verbs donate, automate and resurrect in English.

As the suffix -tion is one way we turn verbs into nouns when the nouns donation, automation and resurrection turned up people assumed they came from verbs and so the verbs came to be. But no such verbs previously existed

Something for #conlangers to be aware of when aging their languages

#RandomLanguageFacts

Here's something my fellow #conlangers might find interesting (and want to bear in mind when evolving their languages)

Today I learned that the words kill and quell are a doublet. That is they derive from the same etymological root while having different phonological forms.

The root in this case being Old English Cwellan (which meant kill) but quell now means stop, subdue or even calm depending on the context while kill still means kill.

Language is weird, isn't it?

#Hildegard also invented an alternative #alphabet. The text of her writing and compositions reveals Hildegard's use of this form of modified medieval Latin, encompassing many #invented, conflated and abridged words.[10] Because of her #inventions of words for her lyrics and use of a constructed script, many #conlangers look upon her as a #medieval precursor.[65] #Scholars believe that Hildegard used her #Lingua Ignota to increase #solidarity among her #nuns.[66]“
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_Ignota

#hildegardvonbingen #alternativealphabet #secretlanguage #constructedlanguage #conlang #mysticism

Lingua Ignota - Wikipedia

Hey up fellow #conlangers I just found a nice video series about sound changes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydjIOZPfGEA&index=1&list=PLc4s09N3L2h2myb-Ltyluuh83ecywa7Cl
So are there any other #Conlangers loose on Mastodon yet?