#writing trigedasleng

[lovergurrl411]

Trying to Learn or Write Trigedasleng for Fanfic or Fun?

I have no idea who needs to hear this but - There are a lot of resources to learn the language out there. And despite the common thought that the language doesn't have a lot of words, or is not fully thought out, there is actually a very thorough breakdown of how Trigedasleng words are created. It's good to remember that any constructed language (conlang) is going to have a fully fleshed out system for it's linguistic structure or else it'd be near impossible to learn it with any level of accuracy or speak it with others.  Here's a couple sources to help you on your way: 

1. This is a magnificent resource, especially if you're just trying to see the scope of the language with its syntax rules, etc. "Trigedasleng Reference: Grammar and Lexicon" - https://dedalvs.com/work/the-100/trigedasleng_v5.pdf

2.This is the best way to learn the language, I think, as it teaches you the language the same way you'd learn any other language and each section breakdown has levels to master: https://app.memrise.com/course/5522455/trigedasleng/

3. My absolute favorite to use as a fanfiction writer who needs quick understandable explanations about the language and find multiple words that are both canonical and non canonical is this website, but it's unfortunately been down the last couple of days. Hopefully it's back up and running soon! https://trigedasleng.net/search/prince 

As it's a conlang, the most important thing I would say to anyone is have fun and that’ll help you significantly figure out the best way to say what you want. Sometimes that'll be with a word that already exists in the lexicon, or it might be with a word that you create based on the rules of the lexicon. 

[notelcol]

Blood must have blood.

In which Anya Kom Trikru sends her lover to die.

Warnings : death, explosion

Anya, the leader of Trikru, was a powerful woman. She was also a passionate one. That was one of the many reasons you loved her. You had a special relationship with the warrior since you were children, she would rarely be seen without you near. When Anya decided to begin the attack on Skaikru, she chose you to lead the first wave. Normally she wouldn’t put you at risk in such a way but, with most of their enemies incapacitated by the disease they sent, she was certain this was a sure win.

Adrenaline shook your veins, like the wild vibration of leaves in a storm. Your feet bounced as you stood in a tree, watching over the forest. The coast was clear. You nodded to Tris, Anya’s young mentee. It was time to charge. A roar erupted from your chest and reverberated through the trees, letting everyone else know it was time. Jus dren jus daun.

Your feet hit the floor gracefully with Tris landing next to you. You steadied the girl as she stumbled, her height made the drop a little more intense. She pushed your hands away to save face in front of the older warriors, but gave you a small and grateful smile. The two of you led the charge, the jeers and roars from your brothers in arms got louder and louder as you reached the bridge. Once you crossed this, you would start encountering Skaikru. Your heart thundered in anticipation as you picked up your pace. You had gotten about a third of the way across the bridge when you spotted something. At first it looked like a grey dot, but as you approached you could tell it was a barrel of some sort. You stopped in your tracks when you looked past it and saw a Skaikru warrior, pointing their weapon at the out of place barrel. You realised this must be some kind of trap.

“TRIS!!” You screamed at the girl but she could not hear you over the chanting. Jus drein jus daun.

The others had begun to overtake you not hearing your frantic orders to stop. You pushed them all out of the way, trying to reach Tris. You couldn’t let her be the one to trigger whatever trap Skaikru had laid. Finally you managed to catch the girls wrist but, it was too late. You shielded young Tris with your body as the barrel exploded. The air turned red as flames ravaged your skin and blew the pair of you to the ground beneath the bridge. You heaved in a breath and time stopped. The bricks that were once a bridge, had been flung to the sky. It was as if they were floating up there, never to come down. If only that were true. Suddenly, the suspension was over and gravity brought the bridge back to the ground. Your breath released, in a shaky erratic manner. In an instant your vision faded black with rubble choking your lungs and the echoes still ringing. Jus drein jus daun.

Anya screamed like a banshee as she threw her arms down onto a table, breaking it in two. She had been told how your body was found. Burned and buried under tonnes of rubble, holding a barely alive Tris beneath you. Half of her died with you. All she had to hold on to was the hope, that your final wish came true, that Tris would live. When that too failed, her heart finally broke. The chanting that comfortingly carried you to your grave, would forever live in the place of Anya’s heart.

Jus drein jus daun.

[deadtower]

i have normal, well-adjusted OCs that reflect my normal, well-adjusted life

(it/its)

[dedalvs]

Jessie Sams (@quothalinguist) and I were interviewed for the Story Beast podcast, and it's out today! We talked about lots of stuff—language, popcorn, roombas—and each introduced our story beast. Check it out!

[keitrinkomfloukru]

Trigedasleng (The 100)*

D&D elven, D&D Aerdish (D&D)**

Rihannsu (Star Trek)

Fordian Klingonaase (Star Trek)**

Rodezta (Star Wars)**

Ryl (Star Wars)**

Vilani (Traveller)

Aldin (Blue Rose)**

unnamed language for humanoid aliens (original sci fi setting)**

*I have added to it **I have made it up out of whole cloth except for maybe a few canon words, including all the grammar

...I may have a problem

[childofgabriel]

continuing my last post, here are some spacekru moments i'd like to see flashbacks about (pushing for my spacekru spin off):

- murphy's coma. that must have been WILD and so scary since no one is medically trained. the GUILT that monty must have been feeling

- raven teaching emori about mechanic stuff. i can imagine raven was doing her usualt raven stuff and emori just kinda watched from afar, slowly coming closer each day til raven offered to teach emori some things. from there on they spent more and more time together, emori learning a lot

- emori and echo bonding over being grounders in space together. that must have been really difficult for them, never having been in space before and not knowing what to expect, missing earth so much

- spacekru finding booze. i know it happened, i know they cheered, i know they got drunk as hell

- i know this didn't happen (not as far as we know anyway) but murphy learning some medical stuff. he wants to be useful and knows the smallest bit of what he saw clarke and abby doing in the past, so he takes it up to organize the abandoned medbay and try to make something of it

- emori and echo learning to read and write. i'm kinda assuming here that grounders don't read or write, but i could be wrong. i'd really like to see them learn, probably raven and bellamy teaching them. hell, maybe murphy can learn some stuff too ("first son, first to dye")

- on a similar note, emori and echo teaching the others trigedasleng. a really nice exchange of knowledge and culture

- mourning clarke together. bellamy and raven ofc took it really hard, but the others were close with clarke as well or at least knew her good enough

- spacekru haircuts! they all got nice new hairstyles, i'd like to see how the haircuts went between them. maybe the first time they were still a bit wary around each other, feeling uncomfortable with another person coming close to them with scissors / a knife

- training with each other and teaching fighting styles. bellamy and harper can teach the rest how to use guns, while echo can show them how to use swords and a bow. i'm also really impressed by how raven won from echo in their little sparring match (even if echo let her win)

- the "rules" that they made. murphy mentioned they had "too many rules", so i'd like to know what they are. we already know the "time rule" aka not being allowed to mention how long they've been on the ring for, the punishment being a chore. murphy was one of the chores lmao (i'm laughing but that's sad tbh)

- emori and murphy's breakup of course. really want to know what exactly happened and how, since they both seemed to have different takes on it

- bellamy and echo slowly learning to trust each other. i still remember the "will we ever trust each other?" "probably not" (something like that) and BOOM 6 years later they're dating

- maybe a bit more about the ring itself? i'd like to know the layout and what kind of departments they have. the ring looks pretty big, but it seems like they didn't actually have many bedrooms. after murphy pushed emori away, raven says they were forced to bunk together. emori could have chosen a room for herself, but maybe there were just only very limited rooms, 5 or so? seems a bit strange to me for such a large spaceship

- i like to think they had weekly therapy talks, so i'd like to see more about them just being vulnerable with each other and learning their stories

- just more spacekru. i love them and miss them so much. please give us more content of them, literally anything

thanks for reading!

[blu3haw4]

He's not yours Clarke

I... did thought of and angsty little moment of G!P Clarke and pregnant Lexa letting her know that the baby is not hers... but we are NOT going down that path... this is still a little angsty but not too much.

Ill take it for a little insight into my famous au

This entire universe is planned out ln my head but as a fic I've only ever imagined small scenes (and posted some) but can't seem to settle down on a way to write it. One heavy thing about this story is that Lexa deals with depression, anxiety, and both a sleeping and an eating disorder bc of her job, and it actually takes a while for her to get out of the environment causing it and even longer to heal from it all. One random fact about this universe though is that Lexa adopts a dog. I imagine she does the buzzfee puppy interview and there's this one little guy that consistently pushed her or jumps at her before drifting away and coming back again. She's like a month and a half away from finishing her contact with her current oppressing (homofobic) label, and she just needs to take him home with her.

"I'm gonna have to take you home. And that's not good budy. Nono, I'm a busy woman. Im gonna have to call my dad and you and I are gonna be in trouble" is what she keeps telling the dog while the cameras still roll.

She ends up naming him krasha (wave in trigedasleng (or at least that's what i remember it meant))

At this point on the timeline, her and Clarke have been dating for two and a half years, privately and secret to the public eye. When she goes to Clarke's and introduces Krasha and her plan to have her dad baby(doggy?)sit until she's done with work, she keeps trying to say it can be their dog and Clarke keeps making sure Lexa knows it's her dog. Not a malicious way, not mean or afraid of commitment, just reminding her that it was her decision and thus her son. (I used to have a fake twitter thread of them earlier that same year joking that they would get a dog, but i can't find it now, it even involves their mothers saying they were to young to be grandmas)

Clarke keeps going with little jokes like "your dog peed inside" or "your dog kept me up all night howling at nothing" (she was the one who thought him how to howl but she changes the subject every time is bought up)

Is years down the line, on a random bad day for Lexa that Clarke tells her she can take care of Krasha while she takes her of herself that Lexa snaps a little, Clarke didn't call krasha hers or implied it really, but Lexa is upset and she needs a distraction.

"He's not yours, Clarke. Isn't that what you're always saying?" She sounds more defeated than she would like, and it all takes Clarke by surprise, she paused, unsure of where the conversation is going.

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of my dog" Lexa continues "He's not yours Clarke, so don't worry, ill figure it out"

"Hey. Okay, wait" Clarke shakes her head with a little frown and her eyes closed, catching up on Lexa's mood, and knowing exactly how to handle the situation.

"First of all, I never said you weren't capable, neither was i complaining about taking care of him, i was offering. Second, i am aware he's not mine, but you are my girlfriend, taking care of you is my thing, one i do happily. Okay?" Clenched jaw and hardening eyes stared at her, but ultimately Lexa nodded.

"Now, krasha being yours and not ours or mine has never been about me not wanting him, Lex. I love the little shit so much and i have since the moment you got him. And I love even more what he represents to you and your healing process" at this Lexa's eyes soften a little, a pause, a willingness to understand what Clarke is telling her.

"The decision you made? When you adopted him? That was the first time since you signed the contract with flamekeepers that you made a decision all on your own and all for yourself. You weren't thinking about me when you picked him, you weren't thinking about what anyone would tell you, you wanted him and you got him. Lexa krasha was the first step into your freedom from the dickhead of your manager, he was the first selfish decision you took since telling me the truth about the closeting, since we first kissed. The fact that it was all you was so important to me, for you to see, for you to own it. For him to be yours and solely yours." Tears began streaming down Lexa's cheeks and Clarke calmly wiped them away, unbothered by the show of emotions, and satisfied that Lexa understands.

"I'm sorry if it even came across differently, and I'm sorry I've never said it before"

"No, it's okay. I've never doubt it. I've always known it had to be something like that, I'm just... im sorry i snapped"

"Okay baby, don't worry, i kwon. I know it's been a bad day... just remember that im here" Lexa nodded closing her eyes and leaning into Clarke's open arms, melting into the hug "I love you, Lexa. And I love that little monster and all the little things I've taught him that bite me in the ass more often than not" Lexa giggled into her shoulder and as if on cue, the tip-tap of claws came closer into their (Clarke's) bedroom [They don't leave together yet... technically, since Lexa still has her own place]

"I love you too, Clarke, thank you" Lexa was able to say before krasha started woofing at them from the floor as if complaining about not being invited into the cuddles.

:)

I've done some research for how i imagine him and I've come down to say he's a husky and German shepherd and pitbull/boxer/bulldog (some smaller dog) mix, i don't think I'll ever truly specify it bc i actually down know if the pictures i have match too well BUT the point is that when he eventually grows up, he's not too big, but has that beautiful face of a husky AND a German shepherd (and the terrible need to howls all the time).

[ophiespeaks]

On worldbuilding for drs:

I don’t want to claim to be an expert. However, I have taken a semester of specifically worldbuilding-oriented english writing, on top of being a literal english major. Needless to say, I think I know a *few* things on worldbuilding when it comes to fictional works. But drs are different beasts entirely.

When you’re writing, it’s easy to say “oh this is 20 miles from this” and leave it at that. But when you’re mapping/planning out new locations in a dr, for example, a post-dystopia where society is restarting at around the middle age- it’s important to be very aware of actual societal patterns and the WHY people would settle there. Understanding the fundamentals of human behavior is important for understanding worldbuilding as a whole.

Your world can look however. A remodeled United States, such as I have in my The 100 DR, won’t have the exact same lines for nations/communities. However, some nation/state lines exist for a reason. Most commonly, bodies of water. Large rivers or lakes in geography affect how people settle those areas. In the United States (which I’m using, because I have the most knowledge of the country and purely for that reason), the great lake area is incredibly fertile and has mild enough weather to be hospitable for all kinds of plants and livestock to survive year round. You can even weave this into land disputes- early english settlers to the ohio river valley fought a war with the indigenous tribes of the area for basically one reason- Beaver pelt. It was extremely valuable and actually they hunted beaver in the area to near extinction during and after the war. One people wanting certain land for purely agricultural and hunting reasons is a thing that has happened historically, and can be used as conflict points in a dr.

Language is also an interesting point. Sure, you can make up a language. That works fine. But also, knowing linguistics and incorporating aspects of cr language into your dr can make it more “realistic” and easier to learn and understand. Most languages stem from ancient languages- things like Latin and ancient Sumerian have stemmed into modern day English, Spanish, German, and even various Indian and broadly Asian languages. Using a post-dystopian US-centered example, you can take English and modify it to realistically have changed with times and cultures. Sticking with my 100 dr, there’s an existing language called Trigedasleng.

It’s derivative english. “Kom” in Trigeda is derived from “Come” in English, which ends up actually translating to something like “From” or “Of (the)” in English. “Kru” is directly derived from “Crew” on english, which means “people” in actual translation. “Heda” directly translates to “Leader” or “Commander,” but is derived from the English word “Head.” The head is in charge of the body, the Heda is in charge of the people. Trigedasleng is actually a “full” language developed by the writers of the TV show and even has an online translator. However, for my DR, I’m working on a lot more actual changes in the two languages, Trigedasleng and English. Only certain words have changed in canon, and I’m making a significant number of words actually change from their English counterparts.

Language also constitutes culture and societal differences. Does your dr society speak only one language, are multiple languages used? If they are post-dystopia, is the language entirely new, or derived? Again, in my dr, English is still used and spoken- but only specifically by Grounder warriors. Merchants, farmers, metalworkers, etc. only speak Trigedasleng. English is a language that has survived, but not thrived, during the rebuilding of society. Language can also be used to express class and status. Is knowing English a tell of formal education? Is speaking a “slang” version of a language used as a way to express lower classes or poverty? Take a look at American AAVE, used predominantly in poorer black communities. It’s English- with slight adjustments.

Take into account topography as well. If there is a mountain on one side, there may be a desert on the others. Take the Rockies for example, most of the land on the opposite side is desert because the mountains shield the brunt of the weather. If a society lives by the ocean or a big lake, the chances are that society has developed boats and use fishing techniques. If they live in snow areas, chances are they hunt rather than depending too heavily on agriculture yield. Valleys deep enough may have different weather than even just a few miles up in flatlands. Bogs, swamps, and other still water sources pose dangers to humans because of the species who live there, such as mosquitoes carrying malaria or aquatic reptiles such as alligators and crocodiles, or poisonous snakes. Therefore, it’s unlikely for a society to suddenly desire to live in the middle of the swamp, especially if they only have rudimentary technology.

Illnesses are also important to consider. For worldbuilding, it’s as much about the people and cultures as it is the physical map. Does one group have an immunity to one illnesses where another doesn’t, such as the real life application with the English bringing smallpox to the Americas? Would one group avoid another because they think they’re “sick,” whether literally or religiously? Religions are also a huge aspect of culture. We see it present even today in conflicts, and it also changes where people want to settle. Is there a “holy land” that the devout make pilgrimages to? Is there a blessed area that people believe if they can live there, they will prosper? Including the actual gods or deities in your dr is an entire other choice- but even if those religions are false or contradict other religions, people will still believe. It’s human nature to seek divine explanations when practical ones fall short.

If anyone has further questions, my asks *should* be open! I could rant about worldbuilding for hours.

Also, for reference, here are two (very rudimentary lmao) maps for my The 100 dr *some locations are changed from canon*:

[keitrinkomfloukru]

Hey, I know you're very good with trigedasleng, and Ive been cooking an idea for a wanheda Clarke fic for sometime (although I'm not too sure I'll manage to actually write it).

Just wanted to ask, how could I say "sworn fighter" or "sworn blood" or something of the like? Like these people have sworn themselves to me.

Any ideas?

first, most literal thing that leaps to mind is swegen, from the canon verb swega klin. Swegen gona. Or maybe you could just noun it: swegon - "sworn one".

Maybe tai from "tight", as in "we're tight"? Tai gona, tayon. I'm not sure how dated that slang is, though.

It's not quite the same meaning, but there's something similar in breida, "trusted companion", someone you trust with your life. The thinking being, if someone is close enough to braid your hair, they're close enough to slit your throat. A breida is more of a partner than a subordinate, though--at least that's how the word was originally conceived.

[anomalocaris-lesbian]

I saw you helped out with the formatting for scraps for laika, out of curiosity do you write your own fics?

Theres one. Its short and im horrendous at updating it. Not abandoned but like, not a priority of mine. Ive speculated about other stuff i could write in fandom as well - I think i could write Wednesday very well from the Netflix show in part because of my own low empathy and sensory issues, for example. And id love to do something with language and write a fic with lots of Trigedasleng or one with a focus on Kryptonian culture which I think is really interesting to muse on. But no, I dont really write fanfiction.

[nd-mindoir]

20 questions

thanks @sideadde  for tagging me (: this is finally a 20 questions I can get behind :D

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

14. and a bazillion wips on my drive.

2. What’s your total AO3 words count?

203,298

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Not that I've written much these days, but... Shoot, Wenclair, and Clexa. Want to write Sylvaina and used to write for Vauseman too.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

once bitten (try again?)

(wo)man's best friend

ten steps to becoming a happy, well adjusted, homicidal maniac

returned with love

left with honor

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to. But I forget very often :( adhd brain says sorry

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

"nothing will ever change" or "left alone" not angst per se, but def sad. If I ever finish "destiny of trikru" it's gonna be that (spoiler alert xD)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

"(wo)man's best friend" I suppose? I'm not really equipped for happy endings ^^

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Yeah, when I did some Mass Effect fanfiction. Never wrote for Mass Effect again after that :')

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Sometimes, never upload it though :P

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I love the idea of crossovers and tried for a Mass Effect x The 100. Still have the wip somewhere. But, well... Question 8 happened.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Only by myself.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

Nah, but I'd really like to :(

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Very tough... Probably Sylvaina or Shoot. Or Clexa.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

At this time? All honestly xD But "a thousand cuts upon the soul" is the one most unlikely to be finished

16. What are your writing strengths?

Angsty feely stuff content wise I guess.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Overthinking, for sure.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I used to do it a lot with Trigedasleng actually.. These days I wouldn't, I developed a distaste for it. A couple of words at most, but never full sentences. If they speak another language, I use italics now.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

OITNB is the first I've uploaded. First I wrote for was loooong before I knew what fanfiction or fandom was. And that was for Gothic (an old german video game)

20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

finished: "there is no order without chaos" unfinished: "the destiny of wanheda"

[graunblida]

getting to know you. respond to the following prompts. include as much or as little as you want; you don't have to answer them all !

NAME / ALIAS : saige

BIRTHDAY : august 24th

ZODIAC SIGN : virgo ( western ), pig ( eastern )

HEIGHT : 5' 5" / 165.1 cm

HOBBIES : playing guitar/bass, collecting music gear, cosplay, gaming (board, tabletop and video games), writing, shitposting

FAVORITE COLOR : blue !

FAVORITE BOOK : ahsoka by e.k. johnston, house of the scorpion by nancy farmer, ( i know there are others but my brain don't wanna do the work today lol)

LAST SONG : rickets - deftones

LAST MOVIE : critically acclaimed film, 'love on a leash' @maggicktouched

LAST SHOW : wheel of time and loki

RECENT READ : lol i honestly can't remember. lately i've been reading more articles and non-ficiton journals. still working away at the iron druid chronicles, just haven't been able to read as much as i want to at the moment.

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION : as much as i rag on the show and jrot's incompetence, i do reference the source material here and there to ensure i'm being consistent with lexa's character at her core. however, i do take a good number of liberties as my portrayal of her is canon divergent.

believe it or not, when heavy metal bands aren't using gory or misogynistic lyrics (y'all know how you are), they can get introspective and quite poetic, often singing about nature or the human conflict. any other metal heads can probably recognize where a lot of my tags come from since i'm often inspired by bands like after the burial, periphery, and bury tomorrow. i also like listening to groups like heilung and wardrunna when writing since their music is an interpretation of nomadic, warrior society culture from centuries ago.

STORY BEHIND URL : graunblida is a combination of two trigedasleng words (earthborn language on the 100) graun meaning 'earth' and blida meaning 'blood.' put them together and you get 'earthblood.'

lexa is a natblida (has black blood) and while that is an important part of her character, there is much more to her than the role she has been given in their society. she comes from the clan trikru which means 'tree people,' so the woods, nature and the earth are themes i like to incorporate heavily with her.

tagged : @debelltio, thanks pal! tagging : @maggicktouched, @bokketo, @hopegained, @percentstardust, @hersilver, @exilesign, @jeditrash and whoever else wants to!

[lexa-griffins]

Random confession? 🤷‍♀️ I’ve been working on a fic for two years with zero intention of releasing it anywhere. But I’ve basically learned Trigedasleng because of it🤣 Why? Cause I’m insane apparently!

Perfectly reasonable!! Sometimes you write fanfic for yourself and release it in case others want to enjoy it too, other times you just gotta write that fanfic for yourself and yourself only because who's gonna write the damn ric you want exavtly how you want if not yourself?!

Its also great writing prapractice no one else needs to be prying to!

As someone who craves validation a lot, ive been working on 2 fics for myself and only myself too and its FUN! You dont gotta explain nothing to anyone, you can play with povs and different styles of writing without being afraid people won't read/will find it strange and its honestly rather liberating! I'd recommend everyone have at least one fic they write for themselves and themselves only. Its fun and enjoyable and gives you the chance to expand on your writing, even if you never intend to share your writing, on this or future projects, its still a wonderful still to have and develop!

[dedalvs]

Hello! I have been trying to find out if there is a Trigedasleng word for Phantom, but I have come up short.

you wouldnt happen to just know that would you?

Dokwocha is a word for "ghost". I find often, though, with questions like this there is often an expectation that there will be an exact match for a particular synonym that exist in English. For example, in the neighborhood of "ghost", we have spectre, phantasm, ghoul, spook, phantom, geist, poltergeist, spirit, shade, etc. You may look at some of these words and say, "Well, but that doesn't quite mean exactly the same thing," and I'm sure you're right, but the reason we have all these words is they come from different languages at different points in time history from different stories, different cultures, different traditions, etc. Their histories are quite specific, and so the odds of finding an exact match in a language that doesn't share the same history are astronomical. For a more absurd example, it's kind of like asking what the Dothraki word for "skibidi" is. Obviously that's an extreme example, but it's the same issue.

Now, Trigedasleng, of course, is unique. It derives from English. But it derives in an extremely contrived, unrealistic way. There was a massive schism that occurred with the nuclear event. American culture—world culture—effectively vanished over night for most people. What remained would have been what was committed to memory, then what the next generation remembered, and then what they passed on, and so forth. My assumption is that a lot of the synonyms that populate English vocabulary would have been lost. What synonyms remained would've taken on a more functional load in order to be retained (e.g. las from "last" means "previous", but praya from "prior" only means something like "baggage"; it lost its "previous" meaning)—at least at first. Synonyms come later.

When it comes to something so heavily cultural like "ghosts" I tried to imagine how superstitions would have reemerged within Grounder culture before the events of The 100—what kind of ghost stories they may have told, what they were afraid of, what kind of supernatural beings they may have dreamed up. I came up with the idea of dokwocha from "dock watcher"—one who watches from the docks—and thought it sounded ominous. I didn't have a specific story in mind, but it sounded like the type of thing older children might warn younger ones of. "Beware of the watcher on the docks!" Sounded spooky and fun. Hence, dokwocha. I don't know if it evokes the same thing as "phantom", or if, for whatever reason, you decided dokwocha wasn't good enough for "phantom", but that's what we have at the moment.

A commenter mentioned they thought it came from "dark watcher", and I actually went back and looked at the etymology and it does!!! That's my bad there. It is dark watcher, not dock watcher, and that makes sense (someone that watches in the dark). Duh. lol This is why you have to write these things down—which I did—and why you have to read the things that you write down—which I did not. >.<

[larks-and-katydids]

[ID: tweet by Sal Perez (@ Sal_Perez4) saying: Bro I had to be the dumbest preschooler out there 🫥. Tweet also contains a photo of a piece of paper with basic shapes drawn on them, followed by misspelled names. Triangle is spelled 'chriego', square is spelled 'sgr', circle is spelled 'srko'. diamond is spelled 'dmn', star is spelled 'sdr', and rectangle is spelled 'ritigo'.

David J Peterson (@ dedalvs) subtweets in a long tweet thread, saying:

This is unbelievably awesome! It tells you a lot about what sounds an English speaker thinks are important, and how they interpret their spelling system.

For example, note the spelling of 'triangle'. Many people actually have a 'ch' sound there even if they fail to acknowledge it.

Also, English aspirated (sic) voiceless consonants outside of certain narrow circumstances. One of them is after the consonant [s]. Note the spelling of 'square'. It's no accident that it's a 'g'! Basically out of the two options, the child decided 'g' represented [k] better than 'k'.

And that, by the way, is pretty much right!

Also, it's consistent! Note the spelling of 'star' with a 'd'. Exact same thing! Usually a 't' at the beginning of a word is [tʰ]. After [s] it's [t]. Often at the beginning of a word 'd' sounds more like [t] than [d] (this is true!) so it makes total sense that it's 'SDR' there.

Also notice the places where there are no vowels. It's where the consonant is either syllabic (as in 'diamond') or the post-vocalic rhotic colors the vowel making it sound more like [ɹ] than the vowel itself.

Also you see regular replacement of the word-final dark l with [o] - something many English speakers do regularly in conversation but is never written (note that this is an actual sound change in Trigedasleng on #The100)

And finally, kids regularly change [ŋg] into [g]. Not a surprise at all to see the dropped 'n' in triangle and rectangle.

(In that tonic position. TRI-ang-gle. Basically the coda is being looked off. Kind of like saying 'pitcher' for 'picture')

OH! And my favorite! Notice in "triangle" there's an "e" not an "a". Why? Because "a" is for [æ], and head's up phonologists: WE DON'T HAVE THAT VOWEL BEFORE NASAL VELARS ANYMORE DEAL WITH IT!

Oh hey, and how about 'rekt' becoming [ɹajt], huh? Check out the acoustic effect of that [k] slinging palatal! That's a sound change that's happened dozens of times in many different languages. Can't ignor acoustics!

Anyway, the only thing the child here was guilty of was believing our spelling system can be used to spell things how they're actually pronounced. It can't, because (a) we refuse to change it and (b) we believe all spellings must be consistent. Neither of these need be (sic) true.

But yeah, this is why we need to hang onto these things. Linguists can use spellings like these as evidence of how things are pronounced and how sounds change over time!

Can't do that with adults who 'know better' (and, of course, barely ever write by hand anymore and have spellcheck. lol).

But yeah, stuff like this lights my brain on fire. It's because it's consistent! There's logic here! Man, this made my night!

So yeah, @ Sal_Perez4, if you did that in preschool, you were a preschool genius- and THANK your parents for saving that! It is AWESOME!

End ID]

I see the original post going around every so often and it saddens me a little that it's never accompanied by this thread explaining why it's completely understandable how a child would arrive at these spellings in accordance with english phonetics

[hadtochangemyurlquick]

anyone looking to beta/edit a clexa fic for me? includes azgeda clarke, copious amounts of worldbuilding, trigedasleng, and angst. wells is a central character bc he is my favorite. clarke and lexa are in love from the start but it is a false love not based on honesty. secrets, intrigue, war. might never get the courage to post it but you will get the honor of having helped me make it better. college aged amateur writer so have a lot to learn, but very capable and excited to do so!!! i’ve taken a lot of classes on creative writing and my wilds friends will say i’m good at it!!! so will my she ra friends!!!

it will be fun please i already have like 2.5 chapters written they’re just not up to snuff yet