busy
padparadscha requested a post on conlang theory/samples. Recently I've been working with my desert language, Seshaa. The folks on 
conlangs are loving it. I've been puttering about with this language for many years, it's still not finished -- although it's a massive file -- and I'm still finding places where I got something wrong earlier. (Think of this as interdimensional fieldwork. My first foreign language class rather disappointed me when I discovered that the textbook already had all the answers in it.) Today I'll talk about the verbs a bit.These two verbs are an active/passive pair:
ghadalmek (verb) – In Whispering Sands use, means “to be forbidden,” specifically, “to be told that you cannot or should not do something because you are a girl.”
ghadamek (verb) – In Whispering Sands use, means “to forbid,” specifically, “to tell a girl that she cannot or should not do something because she is a girl.”
Here's the rule regarding active/passive verb pairs:
The infix “-l-“ is used to form the passive modeof a verb when the verb root ends in a vowel, as in hanishalmak for “to be rescued from a nightmare.” If the verbroot ends in a consonant, the infix is “-ul-“ instead.
It's common for a verb to have multiple variations based on connotation: -mak (positive), -mek (mixed), -miki (mutual or two-way positive), and -muk (negative). Here's one I typed up recently that covers three out of the four. Notice also that horses tend to be classed with people in a lot of vocabulary; other animals are classed separately and have different terms.
jondermek (verb) – In Whispering Sands use, means “to prefer another riding partner,” indicating a split between horse and rider, or between lovers.
jondermiki (verb) – In Whispering Sands use, means “to prefer another riding partner” when the preference is mutual, or “to part amicably,” indicating a split between horse and rider, or between lovers.
jondermuk (verb) – In Whispering Sands use, means “to dump someone,” indicating an unpleasant breakup between horse and rider, or between lovers.
When you're working with a constructed language, watch for (or devise) ways in which a word root can be modified to express different yet related ideas.
January 25 2008, 00:15:37 UTC 13 years ago
January 25 2008, 01:21:10 UTC 13 years ago
I can add a little more about the history of verbs.
For me, most conlangs work really really like fieldwork. I rarely start with the structure and assemble it methodically. Instead I wander around a culture listening to characters talk. When I'm in another world, I can think in those languages, and it's like having a nearly transparent translator in my head. I hardly notice that I'm thinking in another langauge, though occasionally, when I come home and write a story about what I saw, something will bonk out because it doesn't render well in English. But I can make an effort to turn off that translator so I can catch the original native language.
So then I start collecting words, phrases, and sentences in the original. I look for patterns. I can usually tell whether something is a noun, verb, or adverb/adjective. Engaging my linguistic coprocessor usually identifies smaller bits like pronouns and affixes. The most common words, and the most regular patterns, tend to show up first. Sometimes that can be misleading.
In this case, the first thing I noticed was a lot of verbs ending in "-mek." I started thinking that was the verb ending. And then one day I said something with "-mek" and one of my characters said, "No, that's not right," and explained about the other endings and what they mean. That one is the most common because of its mixed or neutral connotation. Desertfolk are a little hesitant to class things as purely good or purely bad. (Waterjewel folks favor the positive forms more, but they'll also insist on calling things purely bad that bandits consider mixed or positive. Dialect variance can be funnnn...) So then I was able to gloss out the other endings, though I don't think I got them all at once. I went back and fixed some of the early verbs that turned out to be wrong; I'd written some as "-mek" that shouldn't be, because that's what I thought I was hearing.
What it's like ... it's like exploring a landscape by moonlight under a partly cloudy sky. I can see things, and I can see better under those conditions than most humans could. Overhead the clouds cover and uncover the moon, changing what I see. Lightning flickers in the clouds, illuminating patches. And every once in a while, *poof*! this huge sheet of lighting fills the whole sky and illuminates everything in a flash of revelation. That image then sticks in my mind and I can use it to figure out what I'm seeing in the shadows.
Yeah, it's that cool. That's part of why I do this.
January 25 2008, 05:14:41 UTC 13 years ago
I'm not coherent enough right now to say anything, but I'll come back later.
January 26 2008, 05:21:25 UTC 13 years ago
My languages generally have a more naturalistic feel about the connotative verbs. They do like English does--starts out with a bunch of synonyms that gradually take on different connotations. Where do the word roots come from? I do like inflectional aspect, though. I should go back to mine.
What are the other inflections for the verbs? What else do they code for? Is the language inflective, or is there isolating stuff as well? (I'm trying a Fisher Price My First Isolating Language right now, and it's hard because I can't mess with root words in it.)
Your vocabulary's pretty cool. I'm a sucker for words that have no real English equivalents. They say a lot about the culture. How do you work them out--is it in the course of your stories? Brainstorms? All of it? (I have a lot of post-it notes with scribbled stuff on them like "twilight = light blue! Season!".)
I may have asked this, but I always do because I'm obsessive about it: what are the swear words like? They fascinate me--tell me a lot about the culture and what they think about the world. And they're fun, too!