Conlang - Tumblr Posts
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
Thank you for saving my life, silly sound thingy
dear linguistics side of tumblr,
why making language hard
sincerely,
confuséd critcher that wanted to make a language for a WIP and has failed horribly and started over
LoL literally me. I made a unique language for my story and some of the words I forgot to put in my translator because I thought id remember them. I didn’t. I knew what they wer supposed to mean to a made a new English translation, which was hard because the language has the weirdest rules if your used to English. Luckily I like learning languages so making a new one with fun rules brings me much enjoyment
don't leave me!
Got enamoured with the idea to write a self-insert fic for mental health reasons but I can't maintain any kind of long-term interest in a series to make it a fan-fic, and I absolutely have to have it be "good" , whatever that means, so now I'm in the middle of making a conlang for the fictional people in the story. he;lp
conlangs also be like: okay we fixed it, you now have a word for bread based on the various foodstuffs this bread can be made of, but the moment someone brings up the difference between a pumpernickel loaf and a pumpernickel bagel you're just screwed.
conlanging be like: you have 7 words for child/offspring, but you don’t have a single word for bread
"OP" functions like a new pronoun between the third and second person. Think about it, when you write a comment and you mention OP you are giving people in the comments your opinion about someone else, that is third person, but you are also aware OP themselves could see it, so you are also talking to OP directly. This is why there are comments that use OP with third person and second person constructions, for example "OP this is hilarious" or "OP knows how to draw" As technology changes how we interact, it only makes sense language would adapt to it I think the next development should be a way to address people differently if they occupy the same physical space that you do than if they are far away
Ok but what if I made a second blog... and posted only in the worst tonal-based dialects of my conlang ... and tagged only in spanish... and occasionally threw in some badly google-translated stuff for the kick of it ... and left it for the AI to find?
Me: has actually, like career critical, important things I should be doing.
…
Also me: **Is translating a horror story she barely liked from Spanish to her conlang for some reason.**
Instead of what I Really Should Be Doing, let me espouse the joys of having Conlang Brain Mush Syndrome.
To be very clear, this is a thing I made up.
Specifically, this is a thing i made up to refer to that feeling where all your favorite words from all your favorite conlangs mush together in your squidgy sleep-deprived brain and make a Dialect.
It is, technically, a sign you should go the heck to bed. It is also, etymologically, a Fucking Joyous Occasion. It's specifically the right words from the specific right context and who cares if it makes your internal monologue incomprehensible. That's part of the fun, right?
Because only with Conlang Brain Mush Syndrome can you get the context of this particular prefix means both low to the ground and just absolutely very hype at the same time as you get this particular tone suffix from a completely different language means that the speaker is fondly fed-up with either the situation or the listener in question and the sheer condescension of unironically mimicking the same mouth sounds as a prissy twink you saw on tiktok once.
(Or: Jakxy had a thought that was 1/3 Catalan-and-kinda-Madrid flavored Spanish, 1/3 Mando'a, 2/9 Balkour Vaakre tone-words, and prefaced by an exclamation in a dialect of english she is not regional to. This is, she believes, a good as any reason to not be depressed in the face of insurmountable odds.)
Translating Amparo Dávila's "el huesped" into Vaakre: Part 1
first four paragraphs woo! I'm putting the Vaakre first, then the spanish it's translated from for comparison, then notes.
Vai, ank xakahcet alpe wektay par ue-al amer ne taelmek. Ne duae kehf ne atkone vai amer retuef-tarie.
Egao-wek, ya aurs ne duae suadr arre wek-ponuc-vai, aurs neadr ayasai eee ne va ji-enfiretchne. Par ne duae ne taele eriead vikah tiore, alpe bihlce evtroe vai, xa kahcet dai xa ank tal ne. Egao-wek, ne taelmek vai nijke-ut vai - saúra e yamawa e vai va ahkahrer dai ánk, eee xa kehf xa gaos vai. Ne egao-wek taelmek ae xa dai libire*, e ae xa adurabayo tal aetrester par aeto.
(*so-so-do melody attached)
Dai nuc’yelum par linme, evtroe ue-al par wektay ane. Cikravpre dleram, fahriyn. Hrap nuc eyrs sltiashr, vikah bayon ee xa hvetsl, evtroe vackuras nokbayo ya csilore - vikah vai e meire.
Ne vitaele bilhce reasein fahriyn limuygul. Nishmuya egae-wek ue-al amer, palltei ne duae xa vai tal ue-al vai, par vikah puinoh. Dai xa ateirwe airmee; ne esah valiyhauh e pulihrk. “Retuef-al feinehr tauszo” ne duae dai, ci’prav nartatro eee evtroe nuc tal airmee. “Ta esah bilhce ya ne vai, ee ke kaena ta va erhas…” ank ne dai ne duae dai par ue-al xareactui. Ue-al vai ne taelmek.
~~~~
Nunca olvidaré el día en que vino a vivir con nosotros. Mi marido lo trajo al regreso de un Viaje.
Llevábamos entonces cerca de tres años de matrimonio, teníamos dos niños y yo no era feliz. Representaba para mi marido algo así como un mueble, que se acostumbra uno a ver en determinado sitio, pero que no causa la menor impresión. Vivíamos en un pueblo pequeño, incomunicado y distante de la ciudad. Un pueblo casi muerto o a punto de desaparecer.
No pude reprimir un grito de horror, cuando lo vi por primera vez. Era lúgubre, siniestro. Con grandes ojos amarillentos, casi redondos y sin parpadeo, que parecían penetrar a través de las cosas y de las personas.
Mi vida desdichada se convirtió en un infierno. La misma noche de su llegada supliqué a mi marido que no me condenara a la tortura de su compañía. No podía resistirlo; me inspiraba desconfianza y horror. “Es completamente inofensivo” —dijo mi marido mirándome con marcada indiferencia. “Te acostumbrarás a su compañía y, si no lo consigues…” No hubo manera de convencerlo de que se lo llevara. Se quedó en nuestra casa.
~~~
Translation choices:
First off I'm not starting the entire piece with a proper tonesetting, because if I wrote it out we would have a paragraph straight of "vai vai vai vedrai vai vedrai tihas" and nobody wants that. A single vai works in this case.
This is... primarily Balkour vaakre, for no other reason than I prefer writing it, and this is my stress relief translation. As such, ci'prav is used in place of cikravpre, and second-person-pronouns are geography-ized, and a few other things like that.
The guest is a "ue-al" second person for a couple reasons - first off being the... vague sort of communications disconnect between Northern and Eastern Balkour? They aren't fighting but there's a bit of historical separation, so a Northern storyteller might emphasize the distant ominous nature of the guest by using an overly-formal (double-emphasized) Eastern You. [the husband's use of "ta" clues us in that they're Northern Balkour]
duae for the husband instead of a more formal laume, one part because it's a more Balkour term, and one part because we're starting this story with a general... not-fully-hostility to the guy? Bear with me, okay I'm emphasizing the thematic difference between the husband and the stranger at the start by using the more endearing term for the husband at the start of the story, this will change.
Taelmek for the house as opposed to Virechek to emphasize that the house doesn't feel like the speaker's proprietary domain.
what else... the "libire" with so-so-do melody is reference to the Coupatre paier, so it's not saying the town is literally sickly but that it's just slowly fading into unpassable territory.
There's probably more but I can't think of it, so that's all for this installment!
(Obviously I am not doing the google translate "word for word translation" translation)
-Jakxy
Sooo
I am at an ill-advised crossroads of having two (ish) potential new WIPs to start. (Yes. Yes I know there are twenty-something unfinished WIPs already, just ignore that for now)
For some reason, I have decided to outsource this decision to whoever sees this post.
i'm hard of hearing and i have an auditory processing disorder, but i don't know sign. so my opinion is definitely of lesser importance than those who are deaf
please pardon any mispellings as i am dyslexic, am writing this on my phone, and am not editing it too seriously
i think it's overall fine to use ASL or SSL in the same way it is fine for one's fantasy world to use English; however, ive learned that's really only the case if a person is fluent in it. you're fluent in English, so it makes sense for you to use English throughout this story; if you are not also fluent in ASL and/or SSL, it is less recommended for you to, utilizing the same aforementioned logic as using English language, use either of these two languages throughout your story from what i have seen from the deaf community. (it might be easier to understand through a hypothetical. it isn't an exact equivalent, of course, but it will help illustrate the point; just indulge me in a suspension of disbelief and "be silly". let's pretend i am writing a story where, for whatever reason, i am using a singular Swedish-only speaking character while everyone else is English-speaking. i know that'd be silly to do pragmatically, but again: "be silly" with me for a second. i have one Swedish-speaking character, everyone else is English-speaking. this would be fine for me to do if i was fluent in both languages, as you are fluent in Swedish and English. however, i am not fluent in Swedish. as a result of this lack of fluency, unless i am actively practicing to learn Swedish, there is going to be a LOT of mistakes in me saying "this is the Swedish equivalent of xyz in English", i am going to get grammar wrong, i am going to miss nuance, and i am going to assume there are Swedish words that might not exist because they exist in English. i may be using an official "Swedish to English" website as reference, but i am going to fuck up so much in my lack of Swedish fluency that for any Swedish-speaker like yourself: you are going to cringe and wish i had became fluent in Swedish before writing this or that i gotten in contact with someone who is fluent in Swedish to correct my mistakes in linguistics, nuances, culture, and whatnot. that's what i mean by "it's fine for you to use English, ASL, or SSL in fantasy if you're fluent!" and why im suggesting thoughtfulness in proceeding if you are NOT fluent. i hope this makes sense lol but yeah! sign language of any kind is, ultimately, a language. so the same respects applies to sign language as to Swedish in this sense when it comes to application of dialogue and the nuances inherent within that language's culture. this is by no means saying "no deaf characters or sign language allowed unless you are in the community!",of course, that'd be as ridiculous as "no Swedish characters allowed unless you are Swedish/have lived in Sweden for x amount of years!". no, of course, do it! inclusivity: yay!! we just have to be proceed thoughtfully when we create a character that represents a specific identity lmao but yeah, to summarize this hypothetical: if you has wanted to do a Swedish-only-speaking character amongst your English speaking cast, you are fluent in both, of course you can do that! but i would need to proceed with caution as a monolingual English-speaker and rely on someone Swedish-speaking checking my work)
and, of course, there are cases of a person not fluent writing a really good story staring a deaf person, like the manga "A Sign Of Affection" by Suu Morishita (which is a duo going under one pseudonym if my memory recollects right); however, they have a consultant named Yuki (who is a deaf person who uses sign in Japan. they also named their female lead after her in thanks lol but for clarity, ill be using "Yuki" to refer to the consultant, not the character) who they interview before every chapter to ensure they are portraying their deaf character realistically, to help them brainstorm future chapter and scenarios, for final approval of past chapters before they finish it up, and will also ask her to translate the dialogue for the deaf characters to say through sign (they film her signing her translation to use as an art reference, and also use her to find out what exactly the characters can say since very few sign-languages have one-to-one translations of a hearing-language. the sentences grammar and the available vocabulary for one's diction are different). you can read more about their process with Yuki within the manga, they explain it as a bonus feature between chapters and have also done interviews for magazines and whatnot. so there is fluency in that example, it just doesn't come from the mangaka duo. if you have a resource to apply that to with ASL or SSL, i think that makes perfect sense to do so! have that person help you out! it is overall preferable to have someone who doesn't know sign try to depict fluency in THAT way, from what i understand after looking into deaf people discuss preferred characterization anyway
if you want to do a conlang for a fictive sign language (especially if you do not have an ASL or SSL fluent deaf person to use as a resource of if you yourself are not fluent in either or), i think that also makes sense. i started learning about how deaf people prefer to be depicted in fantasy works starting at this reddit thread (there's links to further discussion within it, and invitation of where to ask questions). i also like this tiktok user named @/bow_asintakea_rawn who has a lot of deaf content relating to fiction/fantasy that could potentially be a resource (you could even try talking to him if you feel so comfortable). and lastly, i like the youtuber @/oakwyrm, who is a disabled person who does a lot of disabled media analysis (especially fantasy) and whose essays can service as a resource in that way (i forget if oakwyrm is deaf or not though, but he does discuss deafness in some videos despite many deaf people not considering their deafness as a disability, which is fair, and others do, which is also fair). i have other deaf youtubers i could recommend, but none of them interact with fantasy much so i dont know how useful they would be; if you want more deaf resources, i would suggest just googling "deaf youtubers" since i know deafness in respect to "how to portray this community and sign-language in fantasy" is more important to this discussion so i won't detract by offering resources that digress from this topic
i dont know many fantasy pieces that include how to depict deaf people, but i know the overall sentiment about sign language in fiction/fantasy is "Depict signing as functionally the same as speaking" since it is just another language. this sounds counter-productive initially if the idea is new to you, but the idea of novels needing the following reminder makes sense: "There's no need to replace '[deaf character] said' with '[deaf character] signed'. Introduce the deaf character using sign, introduce who knows sign and who needs a translator (if anyone), and from then on carry on using '[deaf character] said' whenever they have something to say. We have grasped from then on that they are using sign. You don't need to make them the odd one out of the group from then on by using a differnt tag just for them. It's alienating. Only use 'signed' as a tag when it's an example where the signing distinction is necessary, like '[hearing character] signed to me not to whisper, his eyes trained on the guard searching for us' or a similar situation" (this is not a quote, otherwise i would cite it. i cant find where i learned this idea from, but i did want to ensure there was a distinction that this was not my idea, but me parroting an idea i have heard and learned from, if nothing else). i mention this to you and your comic because the same logic applies to visual distinctions of signing. from what i have seen: the preferred depiction of sign in graphic novels specifically includes a similar line of logic: "Use the same speech-bubbles as you would use for hearing characters that are not signing", and the idea of "translation boxes" is less preferred unless there is a specific reason why (like maybe a deaf character knows two sign-languages and is switching to one most of the cast doesn't know). though "A Sign Of Affection"'s manga is a great example of deaf characters in manga overall, they unfortunately don't do this (meaning their deaf characters don't use the same speech-bubbles when they sign as when hearing characters are speaking and not using sign), which i personally don't recommend copying unless a deaf person/people who sign DO advise to mimic it. i personally recommend to use the same speech bubbles as hearing characters have when they do not sign, as aforementioned; that's the impression i have been given by those ive listened to in the deaf community. which to do the same speech-bubbles regardless of sign or no sign makes sense, to me, as it better treats sign-language visually as of similar respects as any other language. (but, again: deaf people's opinion over mine. especially if they disagree. i am parroting, what i parrot is biased to what i have seen within my sphere of the internet; i am of far less importance) HOWEVER, something really cool about "A Sign of Affection"'s speech bubbles that the deaf community and hearing community both really like is how "A Sign of Affection" will use speech-bubbles to show what Yuki can/can't hear. they have different text colors to show when their deaf main character hears something being said and when that deaf character does not hear the person (because the hearing character has their lips covered, because the deaf character wasn't looking directly at the hearing person's lips and was not aware they were speaking, because the hearing character spoke literally behind the hearing person's back, and so on). if you want to mimic that aspect, that's totally okay to do so lol and i'm sure there are other graphic novel resources of deaf people to look into, but i haven't encountered many (eg. i know "A Silent Voice" exists but i stay away from stories with suicidal characters due to triggers, so i have no idea if it is reverred as fondly by the deaf community as i know "A Sign Of Affection" is due to my lack of interaction with the content/its fandom)
but i hope this small handful of leads helps you out! if my assumption that you are not CODA or a hearing person fluent in sign is correct (im a newer follower, sorry lol but i do really like your stuff so far and think your "Felt World" comic is fantastic! i just also know very little about you lmao rip), and if you do not have a fluent person in sign to use as a sinilar resource as Yuki is stellarly used in "A Sign Of Affection", i think a conlang is probably the best option for you? i definitely think it might of help to go to some reddit threads with prominent deaf people who use sign to recruit one or a few beta-reader/sensitivity-reader as a resource. bonus if they like conlangs and are willing to help you develop one. or are willing to translate their fluency for you so you know what diction translation is available for your character's dialogue + to film their signs for you to use as a reference. i originally found you through your tiktok, so it might be helpful to formally recruit there through a short video and tag it appropriately to reach out to the deaf and signing community for that type of beta-reader/sensitivity-reader/possible-translator/possible-conlang-help-resource person
my last piece of advice towards finding resources is you might find more information here on tumblr under the tag "writing deaf characters". i think(?) that's the tag people use to discuss how to depict deaf characters, though that is not sign-language specific in the sense of how to depict sign-language in fantasy. you'd probably have to scroll to find posts on that. but it should give you resources of people saying "this is my advice for writing a deaf character as someone who is deaf" who you could then reach out to for more specific questions, resource-help, and whatnot
finally, i know you said "there is *A* deaf character" in your post, but i do want to hesitantly implore you to include that said character as being a part of a deaf community. so having other characters around them also be deaf. it is very unusual, from what i understand, for a deaf character to be the ONLY deaf person they know or that they willingly surround themselves with. the deaf community is very close-knit to the point of people actually all having two names: they have a sign-name as well as their name used in conversation with hearing people. community and solidarity is extremely common with deafness. community is huge part of the deaf culture. being the only deaf character would only make some sense if that character is purposefully alienated from others (think Toph from "Avatar: The Last Airbender"'s family situation, tho she is blind, not deaf) but even then: they had to learn their fluency with sign language from SOMEWHERE and used it often with those people (and this sign language had to get popularized into having a standardization by... like... having a lot of people use it, which would only happen if a lot of people NEEDED it, which means there has to be a significant deaf community lmao). this is especially true if the equivalent-of-face-timing isn't possible in "Felt World" (as video-calls are the predominant form of long-distance communication that accomadates sign); if long-distance communication isn't possible between people who use sign language, they go for proximity (hence there being schools to facilitate deaf community and communication). this can then cause "accents" so to speak (there's even records of families of deaf people having their own family-signs and "accents" in addition to region-based). this is best noticed in how, in the USA, there actually isn't just one form of sign-language originated from here. which, yes, there are multiple "English-associated" sign-languages (i think the most famous trio are ASL, BSL, and SSE to non-Americans?? but there are even more "English-associated" sign languages than that and i'm not talking about any of those rn, but rather the fact that ASL is not the only sign language to originate from the United States of America). i'm talking about how, due to the segregation of Black people in schools, there is BASL (Black American Sign Language). community matters so much to deaf people that something as dividing as segregation resulted in two totally different forms of sign. and even though schools are no longer segregated, that history has lead to two different origins of language that the descendents of which have little to very little overlap now as distinct "accents" from what i understand as someone who uses neither forms of sign (and it should go with saying that many Black deaf people in America have to be fluent in not only English and also ASL, in addition to BASL, in order to gain accommodations in classrooms that are not at a BASL School. it is unfortunate that such a hurdle exists and i greatly admire Black deaf people and their preservation of BASL, as well as anyone hearing who signs BASL to help translate for Black deaf people in their first language so there are less hoops for Black deaf people to jump through. but i digress). so, again, deaf people being surrounded by other deaf people either through technology-that-accomadates-sign or proximity is HUGE. so i would say at MINIMUM introduce this one character as having access to a community of background characters who are also deaf and sign, in addition to hearing people who sign. that insistence you ensure there is a community of deaf characters in this world (if not having multiple deaf recurring characters or main characters) probably goes without saying? i probably didnt need to say all this. but im erring on the side of caution since i feel a bit on thin-ice as a non-sign-language-user speaking here to begin with lol
but yeah! again, i dont know sign so this is me parroting things i have learned from the deaf community about how they prefer sign be utilized (this isn't even approaching the topic of cochlear implants, as that can be seen as controversal to some deaf circles and fine to other deaf circles within the overall community) and giving you the leads i can currently recall having been useful to me when i realized i had a curiosity about how to best utalize sign in fantasy settings (im sure i once used more but i have alas forgotten them, as this post even shows in how i dont remember where to cite certain ideas to). definitely defer to people who know sign, especially those who are deaf, over me as i am not within that portion of the hoh/deaf community as a whole. but i digress. i hope this is helpful, and i wish you and your comic the best of luck! much love ♡
Ah fuck it this is gonna be a spoiler but I genuinely can't figure out what the right course of action is so here goes...
SO THERE'S A DEAF CHARACTER IN FELT WORLD who uses sign to communicate. (Don't speculate, it'll be revealed, but don't make assumptions just in case it isn't who you thought it was and you end up disappointed)
My question is; do I pick American Sign Language, Swedish Sign Language, or do I make up a fictive Sign Language?
My arguments for all:
ASL: the comic is written in American English
SSL: I'm from Sweden, and there are tons of Swedish references in felt world
Fictive SL: would be much easier from a production stand point
What are y'all's input? I'd love to hear especially if you're deaf/heard of hearing and using sign yourself. Thanks in advance!!
So, this question is a bit of a weird one, but you know how the IPA chart has white spaces for sounds that hypothetically could exist but aren't known (as yet) to exist in any natural language? Have you or any of you and/or your colleges considered experimenting with creating a conlang to include one or more of those hypothetical sounds? Not necessarily as something you could use for a show or film or something, but just to mess around to test/show off your skills and have fun.
Oh, sure, plenty of conlangers have. Some even design sound systems for alternate vocal tracts (e.g. for aliens or animals). For myself, it doesn't interest me artistically. Theoretically, sure, but if I'm going to sit down and create a language, I prefer to go different routes. If you click around in the conlang tab here you may find your way to someone who's done some pretty cool stuff, though.
Want to use a fancy custom language for something, but don’t know how to make one?Use Vulgar!
Vulgar is a conlang (constructed/fictional language) generator created to help literally generate a language for you. No, really. No tricks, and it’s super simple to use. It’s my favourite tool right now for writing fantasy, even as someone who loves creating his own languages, it’s an amazing starting point.
Want a random conlang, straight away, with no prep or fuss? Just visit http://vulgarlang.com/index.html and click “Generate New Conlang”… and that’s it. Scroll down and through your brand new, generated, completely original conlang.
If you’re a little more advanced in terms of conlanging and want to specify IP phonemes to be used, you can add them too, but even with no knowledge of linguistics you can create a language at the click of your fingers.
This version of Vulgar is completely free, sure…. but! the guy who created it has not only made an amazing thing (which I repeat, is absolutely free at it’s most basic point), but is also planning on updating it more and more!
Under the “Buy” tab on the Vulgar website, he links to his email, where you can offer to pay for the full version of Vulgar, which is a total steal right now at a sale price of only nineteen dollars. Considering professional conlangers and linguists could charge you, like, a metric fuck ton of money for the same data you’re getting here for just nineteen, that’s a major steal.
Not to mention, buying the alpha build now gives you free access to all of it’s updated versions, which I can guarantee are just going to get better and better! I’ve already bought it and I adore it, and this is a tool the likes of which we in the conlang community have never seen in such an awesome way.
Please consider helping Vulgar out, because the creator is a damn genius
hey therianblr, ive decided im gonna make a conlang just for therians. and im only going to let therians or alterhumans learn it. if youre interested, dm me (or if you have ideas on how it should sound) :3
the concept is similar to things like pig latin, its a language for a certain group of people, and that group does not want outsiders to learn their language so were gonna basically have our own language to ourselves! but that also means well have to regulate the resources used to learn it since its not meant for non alterhumans
if ur a therian PLEASE reblog this so more therians can know and help me out! pls an thx
for those who don’t know, there is a pokemon alphabet (that’s used in the anime as well as some cards)