#artlangs

[multiversetravelingjournalist]

Cryptonian Conlangs: Help wanted.

I need to make a few languages, they aren't supposed to be natural, for a confederation of supernatural hackers, one faction of which can upload their own bodies as well as those they take with them into a digital world, Tron style. I want these languages to feel like programming languages and I have a few ideas on how to achieve that:

Labeling of parts of speech to clear up ambiguity.

Variable assignment as anaphora.

vocal bracketing to set apart different parts of a sentence and enclose quotes.

Every sentence starting with a line identifier that can be used as a sort of anaphora when referencing them shorthanded.

What else could I do to achieve this effect? Also, I might also look to esoteric programming languages for inspiration as well.

[knightofburgers]

This is the character for "animal" in Toki Pona's Sitelen Pona script. It's called "soweli" and pronounced /'soweli/ (IPA)

Just look at the lil guy

[sannehnagi]

Anni tineequusig niaasii, itšik uguup'aiisig uišaambaiisii. iluuting tissiig at kiisail ataš yagaag.

[ˈɑˌnːi ˌtiˈnɛːquːsig ˈnijɑˌsiː|  ˈit͡ʃik' ʌ̥ˈguːˌp'a͡ɪːsig wiˈʃɑːˌmba͡ɪsiː|  ˈiˌluːtiŋ tiːssiːk ɑt ˈk'iːˌsa͡ɪɬ ɑtɑʃ ˈjɑˌgɑːk‖]

ar.nni tineequu.si.g nia.is.yii say.NOM hurt.can.3s heal.can.CONV itš.ik uguup'ai.is.ig ui.šaama.vai.is.yii touch.NOM kill.can.3s un.ill.CAUS.can.CONV iluuti.ng(oq) t.is.ni.ig at kiisa.il at.aš ya.ga.g drag.NOM go.can.RP.3s one direction.INST one.ESS good.NEG.3s

A word can harm if it can heal, a hand can kill if it can cure. It is a bad cart that can only go one direction.

[wrendeavore]

Dhàzan'a Orthography

This post by @thecrazyneographist inspired the Dhàzan'a writing system. I'm not very creative when it comes to designing unique letter forms, so it uses combinations of markings to get full coverage of the phonology. I suppose that makes it a featural writing system.

[abnormalarcana]

A map of extra-dimensional spaces. While they are constantly changing spaces, a few aspects will remain the same for at least a few years.

[cinerins]

Could I get some input from those who know Mando'a? I've been assembling an armor & gear guide for our group and needed to come up with some words I couldn't find in any dictionary.

Handguard – Bes'gaan -> following the example of kneeguard = bes'lovik (metal+knee) Skidplate – Ru'cabur -> since codpiece is ven'cabur, but would something else make more sense? Flak vest – Pel'bur -> or any "soft armor"; I felt it would make sense to draw a distinction between that and kute? Utility belt – Bir'tay -> my understanding of "bag/pocket/many" + "hold/keep/storage" ...so, something that holds a bunch of stuff/pockets?? Cowl (Cape/Cloak/Poncho) – ??? -> honestly I was a little shocked there doesn't seem to be a word for this. My immediate thought would be going in the direction of hukaatir ("to cover") or hodasal ("camouflage") and hodar ("to deceive, fool") but I could also see something in relation to protection/defense

I'm still on the fence for what to call gloves. Boots exist, so I'd think there's something, especially since they can be made from some kind of armorweave as well...

Let me know what you think!

[tinyweevil]

I'm remaking my ant language, so far so good.

It's a graphic language only (you can't hear pheromones) and I've designed the characters to resemble stink lines, which works well with them writing on leaves. Currently have a vocabulary of 147 words with pictographs, but I'm working up to a total of 286, maybe more!! It's so fun! I'm going to need to move online soon, it's hard to keep track of everything on paper

[mewling-central]

Sorry for disappearing, was busy working on next language in the Seraphic family, Ireturish! I had a lot of fun with this one, got to do a lot of new stuff with this like vowel harmony and formality registers. It uses a modified version of the shorthand Seraphic script which (mostly) lacks the segmenting and puts each syllable in a new block. Here's a translation of the UDHR, more info below:

/ˈeʔ.ner eʔˈsʰeˌræh eːˈs'ʰäh gu s'ʰem in æːˈtʰem im.bi æzˈzæ.ʝen bi ˈlexen im.bi ˈlen.zerˌhæh | ˈeʔ.ner reˈʎɯː.änˌnä inˈs'ʰæ ˈsʰe.ræh eːˈs'ʰäh ni ˌli.zænˈnim ɯːʔˈrɯm ˌɯː.ʎäˈwɯm im.bi s'äɲ ˌrø.søˈʝø eːˈs'ʰäh in lesˈs'ʰæ ɯːˌlɯ.zänˈnä sʰæh sʰeː eːˈs'ʰäh eːˈnɯː/

E’ner e’sherah ees”äh gu s”em in aathem imbi azzaźen bi lexen imbi lenzer-hah. E’ner reýüüännä ins”a sherah ees”äh bi lizannim üü’rüm üüýäwüm, imbi s’äñ rësëźë ees”äh in less”a üülüzännä shah shee ees”äh eenüü.

GNO PRE.MTL-seraph ANADJ-everyone out.of egg as ADJ-free and ADJ-equal with dignity and rights(COL) || GNO PRE.ACTN-help for seraph ANADJ-everyone with thought-PL INADJ-reasonable-PL INADJ-ethic-PL | and OBLG PRE.ACTN-3S ANADJ-everyone as reason INADJ-friendship between person ANADJ-everyone ANADJ-other

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

[jjuin-lang]

id like to make an artlang.... I don't really know where to start

having a lot of fricatives and affricates, keep vowels limited to a few whispery ones

i was thinking making it cursive, that looks like waves on a beach

adding shells on the shore or bubbles as a kind of abugida

thatd be really cute, i think

ill let you know how it turns out

[namelessvoid77]

can you fucking believe im dating two people right now. i cant

[annikathewitch]

Let's Make A Conlang!

Okay, so. The idea behind this is to create a constructed language where every decision possible is basically left up to the whims of tumblr polls. Anything with too many options to make a feasible tumblr poll will be randomized. The aim is to make a fully-usable language, complete with dictionary and set of grammer rules. Polls will be posted either daily or every other day and be up for a week each, mostly to get as large a sample size as possible. I will try to insert audio where necessary, as well as explanations of what any terminology means.

The tag I will be using is #Let's Make A Conlang (Eventually this will be changed to the language's name, once it has one). Any ideas and constructive criticism are welcome!

Outline featuring rough plan and list of polls below the cut. Polls will be linked here as they come out, and the outline will be updated as results come in and I can plan things out in further detail.

The first poll is scheduled for 24 hours from now.

Phase One: Phonology

This is the phase in which the sounds the language will use will be decided.

Part 1: Vowels

Poll #1 - How many vowel qualities (aka the base vowel sounds)? (Part 1- Selecting a range)

Poll #2 - Will vowel length be meaningful?

Poll #3 - Will any vowels be nasalized (under circumstances to be determined later)?

Poll #4 - Will any vowels be rhotic (under circumstances to be determined later)?

Poll #5 - How many vowel qualities (aka the base vowel sounds)? (Selecting a range, round 2)

Vowel quality tournament - Vowel quality selection. How this is done will vary based on how many we need to select.

Poll #??? - Which vowels will be long?

Poll #???+1 - Any dipthongs? Tripthongs?

Poll #???+2 - Dipthong/Tripthong selection

Part 2: Pulmonic Consonants

Part 3: Non-Pulmonic Consonants

Part 4: How the fuck are we gonna write this.

Part 5: Phonotactics

Phase 2: Morphology/Grammar

Part 1: Broad Typology

Honestly most of the rest of this relies pretty heavily on the other stuff so I'm not gonna start planning yet.

Phase 3: Vocabulary

[karjalantroll]

kaksi haisevaa kusipäätä

[sannehnagi]

Yunt'untahaqenni uyuliigalasa laakitš'ilipia yaneqanoqiišuusail uitani ikiitšannilipia iluuliinng aakitš'ilaaq a'ušiišooq.

Most of them accepted namelessness with the perfect indifference with which they had always accepted and ignored their names.

astasatl'aq, a'assasayumaq, asangiikeqq, a'uunaqq yarhallii tataasail ušiisaš, matigalaasasii taniintalii astatliiš.

Whales, dolphins, seals, and otters agreed with particular alacrity, slipping into anonymity like into water.

Ayaak yaqrhaqenni atiyarhiišupai.

But a group of yaks protested.

Yaqq innantaraantlii haqaš, a'ama' ningaš ilaamatinipaš iinuliigaišoq.

Yak sounds right, they said, and almost everyone who knew about them called them that.

Aaq amapaanaškilii uiyatleeq uhah t’aparhaqq a’umaatanirhannipooq ariaak uliigaannilipia ap’atuu, yaqqit uliigang iinyooqaritlii haqaš. 

Unlike the ubiquitous animals like rats and fleas who have had many names since we began to speak, yaks could really say they have a name.

Russ ntanaassii ngiiyuukaranngipia. 

They discussed it all summer.

Uaašitš'iyuuaramb' astiiyap'ai anap uliigangit nngunng tliiyuurhinitaapia ayaak yaqqaayaasii haktambalaap'ayig uit arhilipia a'iintl'asili.

The council of elders finally agreed the name might be useful for others but from the perspective of yaks it was so redundant that they never said it themselves.

Aaq taaškinniš asaikitšavilapai, ataq uit uliigupiisuliaa nurhalipia.

Among domestic animals, horses never cared what they were called.

Peqilaq, ngiilakeqilaq, ušeeq, galaangqaak, haat'eq qagiililaaš, a'tataanasaak arhakit aatyooqilaniiši iluuligang hak’tliikitš'ooqyooqyatlipia kurumaš.

Cows, sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, and geese all agreed enthusiastically to return the names to those to whom they belonged.

Aniš nuutl'ainni ngiitšinilassii haivalihiit.

A few problems arose with pets.

Taskaq, matitu, uitani uliigang yuutlaaq ayaak niit ikitš'uurhiniik aragaš uliigang matigaisaš arianuyasasii tahatliinilipia nuyaš ayaak uit uvihireq iluuliigang aatšatliilaatlii a'umunirak nahaviši iilaak hatliiš aariyii t'aparhaq yaneq.

Cats, of course, always denied ever having names aside from those self-given, unspoken, ineffable names, which they spend hours contemplating, but none of the contemplators have ever admitted that it is their names they contemplate and some have suggested they contemplate the perfect mouse.

taroq, a'umuhakarahaat'eq, ratliihaat'eq, tšoq, a'yayarh uking ikiitl'ipia.

Dogs, and some parrots, lovebirds, ravens, and mynahs had the problem.

Niit aaq araqqannatyaš iluuliigang nutiniit rhii talalaaq, a'mbihatl'akilaa.

These verbally talented animals insisted their names were important to them, and refused to part with them.

Ayaak uking itš'inniit ataš aaniig nkateeq eqaasaš a'anaq uliigumbingiigaa atahanniil laatim, ana t'aniš, ana luupeq, ana haat'eqim sauigutl'ipia yaneqaš, hatl'anniit ikiitš'akilaa uumbing amaaš tuunt'ilaaq.

But when they understood the problem was one of personal choice, and anyone who wanted to be called rover, or little-one, or shoulder-sitter, or birdie was perfectly allowed, they had no objections and so left the generic appellations behind.

Atataataš iluuliigassii aatlaatlii yuntunrhiiš a'up'anng anni at ngiinuyaš aaniig, tsiitlii, a'oqqatlii, a'mu'untlii, a'utšatlii, a'laapunantlii.

Insects parted with their names in great clouds of ephemeral sounds, buzzing, and stinging, and humming, and crawling, and tunneling away.

Initlii ast'aq iluuligang ngiigannisii ngiintuuiviitleeq ušamaš utluurhunngurhurakiringatuu'taanik'oq yahit, a'assisii tuunassit igaaš.

Regarding the fish, their names scattered through the ocean silently like black clouds of octopus ink, and floated away on the currents.

At'uveq uyuliigalakamiišutlii, a'ilaninrharaa astl'ii a'sakumbai, a'atatlii, a'ngiyuutšatlii intinngannisii ana intuutiyangusii uutlii ana ii'skalisa ana skaa'nutlisa ilaiyaq.

Now there were none to unname, and I felt close to them when I saw them swimming, and flying, and running, and crawling across my path, or over my skin or hunting me at night or walking beside me during the day.

At'raraa ninrhuntipai nuutaš iluuligang kutiyaangayuuntlungit aasili, nintlii nuutaš intiisung a'ilutiisung yahatiisungit uinilip'ia.

Now I felt much closer to them than when their names made an invisible barrier between us, so close my fear and their fear became the same fear.

Uiliinariit aria' raranninga, aatitš'ikunni ana ngiitšintlii, ngatantluviniik, a'tuutiyang, a' sakung, a'oqoqang, aatagutšikunni ngaranni a'nkunni, poqquhinga.

Many of us felt the change in the air, the desire to feel or caress one another’s scales, and skin, and feathers, and fur, the desire to taste one another’s blood and flesh, to keep each other warm.

Niit uiliinarik tiisungit at'amayat'aapia, ska' skala' laaqegalaisaakin, a'yahaš giil' giilalaat.

This change was now all one with the fear, the hunter cannot be told from the hunted, a so too, the eater from the eaten.

Nga asaitanng uutšaap ningaš, lurutunig nayulaaq ayaak at'asakitšagahiisa yaašagaaš.

This was more or less what I had wanted, it was more powerful than I had expected but I couldn’t now make an exception for myself in good faith.

Ayoqanni nu'mbitšaap atinaš, ata' šiita a'ara,

I resolutely put aside anxiety, went to Adam, and said,

"nigati ngaat inkitš'uutšiurhapia nngunngaag haqaš ayaak yaa'iinnataarha."

“You and your father gave this to me, it has been very useful but it doesn’t fit me well anymore.”

Laakitš'ing iinhak’iitš'uunntšatlig a'qqusaš a'uinuuš nooqagaa, a'imišiiyayoqquugaa. Ušaqigapaš, šaavilaaq, a'ariš ataš,

It is difficult to give back something given and not seem peevish and ungrateful, and I didn’t want to leave him this impression of me. He wasn’t paying attention, as it happened, and said only,

"iimbaambinoq niit, yanuunig?"

“Set it down over there, okay?”

hak'šavaapia šasulaaq.

And went back to what he had been doing.

Iiššaavvaiilaa aratlii šašatlariiri, ayaak ngii'ušayutaat'aasa.

I had done what I did because talk was getting us no where, but I was still disappointed.

Yuukaaravvupoqava, ahišaap iinušiaq tiniilariiš a'arusili.

I had been prepared to defend myself, and thought when he noticed he might be hurt and would want to talk.

Taniš kussuna a'huutš'ia, ayaak šaaqiiš a'ušitagaagaa.

I busied myself a bit, and waited about, but he continued what he was doing and heeded nothing else.

Atšiyara,

Finally I said,

"muum, laata, hašaq, ušaya liiuintšaak hakivaliig."

Well, goodbye, dear, I hope the key reappears.”

Šaaqiiš a’ariš haniiriiš,

He was working and said, without looking about,

“Yaag, giilitiaq?”

It is good, when are we eating?”

“Matigaa.” Ara,

“I don’t know.” I said,

“At’tšiup…” tutš’ia a’atsili

“I am going now with…” I paused and then said,

“tšiutšiingaa.” Asatsili.

“I am leaving with them.” And went out.

Haqaš, yaa’ušišaap ataš atlivalintšatl’ahitšiga.

Truly, I had just noticed how difficult it would have been to explain myself

Arat’agisa yahatuu, imanni nuutl’aat, iapaat, arapaat, uiitš’ip’aat ši’inngaš paššanišaap tinngannissii ngiirinnitaangaa hurahandanagiisii agilušanniip’ia kanašit’aalasasii.

I cannot chatter like I used to, my words must be slow, must be new, must be singular, must be tentative as my steps along the path between the dark-armed tall dancers motionless against the winter shining.

[wrendeavore]

Dhàzan'a Introduction and Phonology

Dhàzan'a (/dʰâz̩ŋ̑!a/) is the language spoken by birdfolk in the highlands of Kvember. As it is the language used by the scribes of the Final Record, it serves as a common written language for scholars throughout the continent.

One gimmick of this artlang is its lack of phonemic vowels. Syllables are CV with free variation in vowel quality, contrasting only in tone.

[abnormalarcana]

[darael]

Hello hello! I saw you said something about Toki Pona being built on a poisonous philosophy and I was wondering if you could explain what you mean? You don't have to of course but I don't know anything about Toki Pona and the tag caught my interest. Have a nice day!

Okay so some context, both for you since you say you don't know anything about it and for my followers:

Toki Pona is a constructed language. It was originally designed to have a grand total of 120 words, and while the current word-count depends how you count them and who you ask, it's still below 150, the most common count of "essential" ones being 137. The creator, Sonja Lang, describes it as "an attempt to understand the meaning of life in 120 words".

As you can probably imagine, having only 137 words means each word has to do a lot of work — has to carry a lot of possible meanings. There are only five colour words (black, white, red, yellow, and bluegreen). There are only five number words (none/zero, one, two, many, all/infinite/manymany), and some of them also carry meanings that in English are not numbers (for example, the word for none or zero is also the word for not, and the word for all is also the word for life). One word means all kinds of grains, and also bread. You get the idea. This is, explicitly, not ambiguity but a declaration that each of these words represents a single underlying concept that can be translated into English in multiple ways. It's a claim that "life" and "everything" and "all of them" are in some way the same concept, and therefore get one word. Put a pin in that; we'll come back to it later.

Unfortunately, the underlying philosophy of Toki Pona is, as the word-count might suggest, minimalism. Minimalism as an ideology for life already had some serious issues in my book, notably in that the common version of it that leads to empty white rooms with one or two objects as "accents" is classist as all get out. It also encourages disposability culture, which ties into that — to live a "minimalist" life in that sense you have to (for example) not keep a jar of pens on your desk, because you can buy a disposable one when you need it so you shouldn't clutter your space with them when you don't. But that's just an association, not what can be poisonous about Toki Pona.

The name "Toki Pona" literally translates to "the language of good", but also "simple speech". The word "pona" represents all facets of goodness and simplicity. In Toki Pona, "simple" and "good" and indeed "useful" and "peace" are the same concept. "Okay," you might ask, "what's so bad about that?" I'll tell you what's so bad about it: in the same way, their antitheses are declared to be the same concept. Complexity (and all the shades of meaning it can give the world, all the understanding we can derive from it) is declared to be ontologically not just bad, but the same thing as badness. Specifically, that word — "ike" — is defined in the translation dictionary as "bad, negative; non-essential, irrelevant".

This attitude, in my experience, results in Toki Pona enthusiasts being very convinced that Toki Pona is inherently correct, and that anything that's difficult to express in that language wasn't worth expressing anyway. It's a combination of intellectual elitism with anti-intellectualism. The former manifests as an attitude that anyone who can't express what they want to say in a way the Toki Pona speaker deems "simple" (usually meaning "easily translated to Toki Pona") is somehow inadequate, and the latter as the idea that any concept not easily translated must not be worth dealing with.

This was kinda rambly but I hope it gave you a general idea of why, while I find it interesting as an experiment and an intellectual exercise, I despise Toki Pona as a philosophy.