ThatOneKirbyMain2568What's something interesting about your conlang?
Pretty much what the title says. What's a feature in your conlang that you find especially cool? #conlang #linguistics #conlangs
XoriffIn my conlang, every consonant+y ("uh" sound) is a "reference". Which is basically like a dynamic pronoun that starts out meaning potentially anything. But then whose meaning refines down as it continues being used in the conversation. e.g. ("co" being like a question word that indicates that the speaker is asking for more information about the following word):
Me: let's eat co dy for dinner tonight
Spouse: dy isn't Mexican
Me: agreed. dy isn't spicy. Maybe dy is pizza?
Spouse: ehhhh, I'm not super hungry. dy is lighter than pizza
etc...
So, like a bunch of pronouns that conversation partners can use to synchronize with each other. Almost like single-consonant-labeled "placeholder" words that stand in for some value whose identity gets clearer the more it gets used.
Ooo, that's really cool! If it's any consonant + y, how many of these references would there be? And are there some that tend to get used more than others (e.g., maybe "dy" is what speakers tend to use for the first reference, then using others if needed)?
There are 16 consonants but "ny" is a reserved one. So practically speaking, 15 pronoun-like things. And that's the fun part. Which one a speaker picks can kind of carry a hint about it (like using "dy" when talking about "dinner" (though obviously not the English word. Just demonstrating it)). So you could see, for instance:
Alice: my mom said if I get good grades she'll buy me that cool red bike with the streamers.
Billy: aww man. my is so cool. I wish my mom would buy me by
From context, anybody hearing this conversation would probably assume "my" refers to Alice's mom and "by" refers to the bike (without having to say out again "your mom" and "that cool red bike with streamers" respectively)
That's a very creative system! What is "ny" reserved for?