All Questions
355
questions
1
vote
0answers
37 views
List of segment usage based on how many people use it?
The great Phoible 2.0 has exclusive list of segment usages based on "Languages", but since some languages such as Lak are only used by handful of people, it won't make any sense if I employ ...
6
votes
1answer
71 views
What are some examples of mathematical conlangs?
What are some examples of mathematical conlangs?
I'm curious as to if there are any full existing conlangs that allow you to do arithmetic or mathematical manipulations from a conlang perspective.
The ...
3
votes
1answer
59 views
How do you remove the confusion in a conlang when creating and distinguishing nouns, verbs, adjectives, and particles?
I am trying to implement a conlang and am confused how we as humans are able to distinguish nouns, verbs, adjectives, particles, etc. in a sentence. I get that word order is a factor, as well as the ...
8
votes
1answer
62 views
good naturalistic system for Germanic language?
I hope this isn't too redundant of a question...
I was hoping somebody could briefly summarize what general features languages descended from proto-Germanic tend to have? I understand all the ...
4
votes
2answers
130 views
Is there any general rule for constructing a word? Example: “q” or “w” should not end a word, something like this
I am developing 4 conlangs (sparish, old sparish, elvian and barrish (need a new name)) for a story which is used by humans of Spar, Northern Sparian, Elves/Aspian, Barrians of south respectively. I ...
3
votes
1answer
73 views
Is is okay that most consonant assimilations result in a phone whose dedicated letter doesn't exist?
Whilst worldbuilding, I decided to make a conlang. A lot of consonant assimilations happen in this language. This language is supposed to be spoken by angels.
My native language is Korean, btw. Korean ...
3
votes
3answers
103 views
Which character is best to use for a schwa? Ь or Ъ?
Cyrillic for English - (Сарилик фоьр Иңглиш) is an adapted Cyrillic orthography to write English using ь as schwa, so 'sofa' would be written 'соьфь'. Does ь make sense as a schwa or is ъ better? The ...
8
votes
3answers
73 views
What tools are there to make this alien language? [duplicate]
Probably already been asked before but here goes.
Stevefan has traveled through some sort of trans-dimensional breach made of handwavium to another dimension where the inhabitants don't speak English. ...
2
votes
2answers
85 views
Strategies for dealing with limited/simple phonologies
What problems arise when creating a language with an extremely simple phonology and what are some good strategies for dealing with them?
I'm calling this type of phonology extremely simple for the ...
4
votes
2answers
101 views
How do you determine a New Letter's sound?
I'm trying to create a new language, but I need some advice. How do you determine what a new letter sounds like? Is there a pattern, or do I just make it up?
4
votes
3answers
126 views
Will I be able to read texts written in all Romance languages simply by learning Interlingua?
Interlingua's official site claims that speakers of all Romance languages will immediately understand the language on paper when first exposed to it. Is this true? Can I really understand Spanish, ...
5
votes
1answer
56 views
Has anyone tried learning and speaking Kesh?
The book "Always Coming Home" by Ursula K Le Guin is an anthropological account of the Kesh, a people that "might be going to have lived" in future California. It includes short ...
7
votes
2answers
65 views
Where should I start planning my grammar?
I'm about creating my first conlang grammar, I know a few general characteristics yet I don't truly know where or how I should start to outline it. I only have messy pieces of informations about. From ...
4
votes
1answer
40 views
Is it attested for noun classifiers to be coopted for directionality?
A noun classifier marks on the verb some information about the form of one of its arguments. For example, Atili has a handful of "stationary" classifiers that produce semantic distinctions:
...
2
votes
1answer
114 views
Has anybody come up with a “Japanized” version of toki pona?
I saw a post on twitter about creating a "Japanized" version of toki pona. Has anyone done that? toki pona certainly seems to be influenced at least a little bit by Japanese anyway (word ...
6
votes
1answer
63 views
Designing realistic pragmatics, particularly with respect to answering questions
Coming up with new kinds of pragmatics is sort of fun, but it's hard to tell when an idea is incompatible with how people work psychologically.
For instance, what are the limits or universals around ...
5
votes
4answers
128 views
Alternate direction systems for spatial reference
What are some alternative direction systems besides egocentric direction systems (left, right, &c)?
Some natural languages use {north, south, east, west} like Guugu Yimithirr and Tzeltal (Maya) (...
8
votes
3answers
164 views
Are there any successful conlangs using information density as a design goal?
I'm interested in the idea of a conlang which could be used to create extremely information dense statements - such that, for example, a single word could be built up from morphemes to express a ...
7
votes
3answers
123 views
Is Irrealis and Evidentials Compatible?
I and other people are making a collaborative conlang. It features mood/evidentiality contrast. There are 4 moods:
Indicative
Imperative
Optative
Conditional
There are also 6 evidentials:
Direct
...
2
votes
2answers
167 views
Has anybody created an Arabic inspired shorthand for english?
I'm thinking of a system where all fricatives look similar to each other, all plosives look similar, etc; the same base shape could be used for similar sounds using the dots placed above/below letters ...
3
votes
0answers
71 views
How many literatures?
I believe or assume that Volapük, Esperanto, Ido, Interlingua, Interlingue, and Klingon each have at least a few translations of important literature such as the Bible or Hamlet. What other ...
5
votes
2answers
162 views
Is there a language that meets these criteria?
I feel less and less comfortable with the incoherence of natural languages, so I'm looking for a constructed language that suits me.
semantically close words must share a common affix (not like ...
5
votes
2answers
116 views
A biphonic language
How could a language evolve such that the vowels are biphonic (like in throat singing)?
Note: Biphonicity is when two notes/tones are sung simultaneously.
There are languages that are whistled or ...
4
votes
1answer
79 views
Alternatives to independent verbs for encoding desiderative meaning
English uses an independent verb to encode desiderative meaning, namely want. It normally takes an infinitival complement, although I can take a direct object as well if the subject of the infinitival ...
4
votes
4answers
191 views
Can entire words be silent?
Most people will be familiar with the idea that naturalistic spelling can be tricky. Some examples of natlangs with annoying spelling that come to mind are English ("ough" can be pronounced /...
2
votes
3answers
107 views
How to distinguish [i] from [iː] in Cyrillic
Renglish/Рэнглиш (not mine)
is an adaptation of Cyrillic for English. Most of the sounds seem ok, but how would you normally differentiate [i] in bit from the [iː] in beet using Cyrillic or would they ...
6
votes
2answers
106 views
What are resources for conlangers designing a knot writing?
I have not encountered many con-scripts encoding information in knots, rather than by marking flat media. I imagine that many conlangers would enjoy the inspiration of Andean khipus, which, going back ...
8
votes
2answers
129 views
How can I format a dictionary that mixes vertical and horizontal scripts?
My conlang Atili is written in a vertical script. I'm having a hard time trying to imagine how to write out words in the Atili script within my dictionary. This is important because Atili spelling is ...
3
votes
1answer
59 views
Words for numbers in a language with bijective numeration
Bijective base-k numeration (or k-adic numeration) is a system of writing numerals such that the digits are 1 through k. Thus counting in bijective base-12 (such as my conlang Atili has) works as ...
7
votes
1answer
91 views
How can I avoid “relexing” punctuation?
I'm trying to design a conscript for my conlang Atili and would like to create punctuation in order to deliminate sentences and transcribe limited prosody. However, I don't just want to create new ...
5
votes
1answer
60 views
What is a realistic *upper bound* on the complexity of nominals that can be incorporated into a verb?
Some languages feature noun incorporation. Here's an example from Lahkota from the Wikipedia article on incorporation. I suspect the difference in meaning is similar to the man chopped the wood vs the ...
6
votes
1answer
73 views
Naming language based on real language
I apologize if similar question has already been answered, I tried to look for it but didn't find anything.
I'm trying to make a simple naming language that looks/sounds vaguely like nahuatl (if I ...
6
votes
1answer
119 views
What things can `la` mark in Toki Pona?
I was under the impression, until recently, the la in Toki Pona is a topic marker of sorts similar to the Japanese topic marker wa but used less frequently since Toki Pona is not topic-prominent.
In ...
3
votes
2answers
90 views
Words for Mercy in Toki Pona?
I would like to translate Bismillah Ir-Rahmani Ir-Rahim into Toki Pona.
The parts I'm struggling with are the Rahma part, and the Raheem part, as they encompass similar but subtly different meanings ...
3
votes
1answer
89 views
What to do when my conlang has a word that means something in one of my languages?
This is a bit subjective problem. As a Hungarian who knows English, I have the high ground when it comes to making up words, as I can mush the English and Hungarian words together with some outliers (...
2
votes
0answers
30 views
How much ambiguity for argument roles is possible without sacrificing comprehensibility?
For the purposes of this question, I'm specifically interested in marking theta-roles of verb arguments and possessive constructs, i.e. the things prototypically marked by case in languages that have ...
3
votes
4answers
118 views
How can I talk about weather without expletives?
In English, it is necessary to use a syntactic expletive ("it") when talking about weather:
It is sun-ny.
EXPL COP.3S sun-ADJ
Pro-drop languages can easily avoid the explicit expletive by ...
5
votes
3answers
617 views
How can I name my days of the week?
In my conworld, months are divided into twelve-day weeks. That seems a bit too long (since I recall that people complained that the ten-day weeks of the French Republican calendar were too long), so I'...
3
votes
2answers
294 views
How to say, 'Haters gonna Hate' in Toki Pona
The closest I could find was
jan ike | awen pali e ona | pilin ike tawa
enemy | continue | hate
But I've not figured out if that the right way to combine those phrases
9
votes
2answers
48 views
How long do I need to influence language development?
Taja is a language with Verb-Subject-Object word order. However, emperor Kai wants to always be the first, so, he wants all sentences where he is the subject to have a Subject-Verb-Object word order.
...
4
votes
1answer
228 views
How to make names in a conlang?
So, draconic in the setting is used to name places, people, and communication in general. I skipped through most of the phonotactics as I'm using the Hungarian template. So as I filled out entries in ...
7
votes
4answers
154 views
Is there an open-source set of topics and vocabulary for making a language tutorial?
Does anyone provide a freely available or licensable template that conlangers can use to develop a lesson plan? Specifically, I'm thinking about how a lot of language books divide vocabulary and ...
9
votes
3answers
149 views
Usage of different plural systems in the same language
Let's assume a language once had an extensive plural system, indicating singular/dual/paucal/plural distinctions on nouns, pronouns, verbs, et cetera. Over time, as has happened in real languages, ...
5
votes
1answer
85 views
What is reduplication used for in natural languages?
According to WALS Feature 27A, 278/368 languages surveyed have productive full and partial reduplication. Chapter 27 gives the following example of partial reduplication in Pangasinan:
báley "town" -&...
5
votes
2answers
157 views
Should I include morphology in my proto language?
Most, if not all natural languages have some form of morphology, such as noun case or poly-personal agreement. However, these features are usually evolved from prepositions and auxiliary verbs, and ...
7
votes
3answers
228 views
Is there a structured toki pona dictionary/thesaurus?
I'm currently working on an NLP project using toki pona, analysing and generating sentences. I was wondering if there was a structured dictionary available for it, or whether people have attempted to ...
3
votes
2answers
77 views
How typologically unusual is using postpositions in an otherwise head-initial language?
My conlang is predominately head-initial (SVO, n-adj, mostly suffixing), but has postpositions because I'd though that the noun was the head of an adpositional phrase. Wikipedia, however, says that ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
Is it reasonable for numerals to behave like verbs?
I am aware that adjectives can pattern like verbs in some natural languages. Is it reasonable for numerals to do the same? Thus
Some balls four.
There are four balls.
Fouring the balls were orange.
...
4
votes
2answers
62 views
Is num-det-n-adj-rel a reasonable order for a noun phrase?
In English, noun phrases are det-num-adj-n-rel (e.g. "The five orange balls that John saw"). In Spanish, noun phrases are (mostly) det-num-n-adj-rel (e.g. "Las cinco pelotas naranjas las que Juan vió,"...
3
votes
4answers
111 views
Has AI technology yet provide a language composed of multiple human languages yet?
I'm from South Florida and noticed that my Haitian neighbors speak a language called Creole. Then It got my fantasizing a possibility that is well within our reach of no more than a decade.
Using AI ...