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 Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 4:01 pm
I have an idea and some willing participants. I want to come up with a basic word list (maybe some basic rules for phonology so other people can add words) and a very simple, basic grammar (HA! like I ever do "simple" when it comes to grammar) and then set the language free to be used and developed further "in the wild" among the participants. The idea is that some things will come into common use, other things will fall out of use, some people will suggest things that others will either pick up or ignore, and the language will grow and change through use rather than planning.
I am trying to think of the best way to bring the users together so that the language has a chance to develop through interactive use (rather than just by translation or composition, if you know what I mean.) Further, some people I know IRL and live right here, and others are Net people. I am not sure how to link the two groups. Granted, the people I know IRL are also on the Net, but I sort of feel like "in the wild" should involve people just talking to each other as well as typing at each other. (Skype or Ventrilo, maybe?)
I am thinking maybe a web forum broken into a section for discussion ABOUT the language and one for discussion IN the language, plus a file section for recorded clips, plus maybe some sort of text chat room and/or voice chat. Does this sound feasible? Do you think it would work?
ALSO... any ideas about what the starter grammar should look like are very welcome! I am thinking about going with a very simple phonology of V or CV syllables (only!) and providing a list of vowels and consonants. That might give it a bit of a Polynesian feel, but it would also make it much easier for people to come up with words and know off the top of their head that they weren't violating any rules for wordbuilding.
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 4:38 pm
I'd say you've got enough ideas already to go ahead and start working on it.
I always end up having "creative differences" with others, and tend to drop collaborative conlang efforts quickly, so I can't offer any personal experience. But it seems like you're already headed in the right direction.
Also, using V and CV syllables would definitely make word creation absolutely simple. I don't think there's any way to make simpler words without sacrificing comprehension. I don't know anything about Polynesian languages, but I'd definitely recommend using as many different consonants as possible, but keeping the vowel sounds down to about 5 or 6 plus diphthongs. That way you can form as many words as you'll need before the homophones start piling up.
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Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:21 pm
I like the idea. But the syllable forming method you've got there just kinda bugs me... would it be horrible to maybe have double vowels or consonants, or syllables start with consonants? CVC maybe, or perhaps something a bit more complicated?
(k, l)V(C)VC
Or something?
With the English alphabet, that could give you words like:
Kaus, akas, lamad, etc.
That might detract from the Polynesian feel it seems that you want though...
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 7:39 am
I don't particularly want a Polynesian feel. That's just a side effect of V/CV syllables. But it is fool-proof-- the rules are easy to remember, it should be easy to pronounce, and there would be a relatively small number of possible syllables, which would allow it to be written with a (yet to be invented, optional) syllabary.
It's just consonants that can't be together. Vowels will be next to each other pretty often. I haven't yet decided if a word like "mai" is two syllables, or if there are certain diphthongs that count as one V for the sake of syllabification. I am leaning toward two, and letting the pronunciation work itself out in practice.
For myself, I tend to go in for systems that yield words like "sveitros" and "glainde" ... but for the sake of simplicity, I "saveitarosa" (Sa-ve-i-ta-ro-sa) and "galainade" (ga-la-i-na-de) work just as well. It's fool-proof, even for the somewhat dense and less-linguistically-inclined people that I've tricked persuaded to participate on the RL side.
I might reserve final consonants for grammatical marking, which would mean that there were, in practive, VC and CVC syllables, but those wouldn't apply to building roots. They'd also be finite in number, and so easy to add to the "native" writing system. I haven't really gotten that far yet. It's all "in theory" right now.
I haven't even sorted out which vowels and consonants I am including. I think I am going to try to go with a pretty large selection of consonants, so that people can transliterate names, etc, without it going the way of "Mele Kalikimaka".
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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 2:23 pm
Ah, I see. Well, you are the creator here. Whatever you want. Seems like you've gotten it pretty much under control.
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Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 12:19 pm
I am notorious for changing my mind, so there's no telling what the final product will look like. lol Anyway, it's kind of stewing on the backburner. Too many different (sewing, crafts, conlang, study, art, and game) projects, not enough time.
I may just work out the basic grammar and about 100 starter words (pronouns, some common verbs and some common nouns?) and then let people have at it to turn it into whatever they want. The ultimate idea is that as soon as the "starter mix" is finalized, I am going to give up all creative control... So I guess I am just trying to put my mark on it before it gets torn up and put back together some other way. Knowing the people who have expressed an interest, any rules I try to make can and will be broken in the first 30 minutes. rofl
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