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My Invented Language--Kintaran (MOVED--top post for details) Goto Page: 1 2 3 [>] [»|]

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Forgedawn

PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:02 pm


THIS THREAD IS BEING COPIED TO THE CONSTRUCTED LANGUAGES GUILD
Here it is!

I was going to try to keep up with it here, but it's not working so well... please go there to keep up with the thread. Sorry sweatdrop ... but I hope to see you there biggrin

User Image
Amurdla ixala Kintarasesa?
Yoi deu averq me'n!

Axoi!
It's not actually done, but it occurred to me that it might be interesting to teach what I've made so far... and see what happens. Sort of a miniature linguistic experiment--what happens when a bunch of people have the same base and use it... OK, so we figure it'll make very different dialects, but it could be fun anyway biggrin

The language is called Kintaran, and has very simple pronunciation and grammar. It started as a language that I used for a sort of before-we-knew-what-paper-rpgs-were paper RPG, but I redid it so that it has a real linguistic base. I can cover more if anyone's interested biggrin I might anyway, just for the sake of doing it. It'll help me learn it too sweatdrop I have it all typed up in transliteration, since I'm far too lazy to learn the *new* alphabet and make a font and make images and... yeah.

Btw, at the top, it says "Want to learn Kintaran? Now you can!"
PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:03 pm


Pronunciation

For more help, use the vocab list as a guide and go here

I'm using transliteration, so it should be fairly simple to remember the sounds and the "replacement letters"

***An accent mark over a consonant (apostrophe after, when typed) makes a "hard" sound, and over a vowel, moves the accent of the word.

Vowels are like Spanish or Japanese, most consonants are like in English.

a - ah
b - b (as in English)
d - d (as in English, but softens like Spanish--explained below**)
e - eh/ay (either is fine--ENG short e or long a)
f - f (Slightly softer than English)
g - g--always the hard g, as in grand
i - ee--English long e, Spanish i
j - zh -- soft j, as in French j or as in English words like azure, pleasure
k - k (same as English, never like kh or ch!)
l - l (same as English)
m - m (same as English)
n - n (same as English)
o - o/oh (long o in English, o in Spanish)
p - p (same as English)
*q - aspirated ch (as in German, Irish, etc. It's similar to a VERY hard H sound)
r - r* (more like the unrolled Spanish r--lightly more l-like, but still retaining the r sound. Sort of more frontal sound.)
s - s (same as English)*** notes below, s is kind of odd
t - t (same as English)
u - u / oo (long u English, u Spanish)
v - like a cross between v and w; it's softer than v and harder than w. It goes back and forth between the two a little bit.
*x - sh, very soft.
y - y (ENG), ALWAYS consonant
*z - th (usually soft, as in thought; accent makes it hard, as in "there")

*replacement letters--I wanted single letters for sounds, and there are some letters missing from Kintaran, so I used them.

**The letter 'D'
D is like English, but more like Spanish because it is softened some depending on where it is in the word (though *slightly* less):
Beginning of word: hard d.
Middle of word, between consonants: softened slightly, as though being said more quietly. If you were to call D a form of T, then it'd be the D-equivalent of a soft th.
End of word--slightly softer than the middle (but not always all-but-omitted, as in Spanish.)
If you're not sure, overpronouncing will definitely get the sound across wink

***The letter 'S'
Isn't as screwy as I probably made it seem with all these asterisks.
However, it's the MOST SOFTENABLE/HARDENABLE of the consonant sounds. It can go from very sharp (think how you'd hiss at someone you were mad at) to very soft (still harder than x, but getting there)
Once again, if in doubt, stick with the middle of the sound, which is almost identical to how English s is pronounced in the word "es" (as in, the letter's name lol ). IT NEVER SOUNDS LIKE ENGLISH Z.

And that's it! Not bad, huh? A few oddballs that aren't really all that odd, I just wanted to be really specific sweatdrop

Letters

User Image
After the alphabet, the symbols are:
accent, soften mark, o-accent (ignore it--it no longer exists! it used to be used in the future tense, and that's about it.), comma (the dot only), period (the line only), exclamation point (line & circle), question mark (crossed line).

You may notice that some letters are missing...
To make:
D: soften over T
G: soften over K

I think that's all that's missing. It's been a while, so if I notice something else I'll be sure to fix the post.

Forgedawn


Forgedawn

PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:03 pm


Some Vocab


Mostly for speaking practice smile

Ar -- I / me (yes, it's the same word) -- say it like the English letter's name, but with the lilted r.

Oxklel -- yesterday -- say it like "Osh-kle-el". It's only 2 syllables, but both l's have to get in there! It sounds spiffy, I think... but I'm weird. Remember the long O, we're not selling overalls. (I bet no one got that... lol)

Verq -- night -- Here's a tricky one for you! V/W... at the beginning of the word, it's usually nearer a V. At the end of the word, q can soften a *little* bit. It's not VerKH, it's Verh'. Kind of cough the r, I guess sweatdrop When I say it, it often comes out a little nasal on the e, like in French.

Veuv -- darkness/dark, to become dark, nightfall -- Oh noes, 2 v's! At the beginning it's close to V.. and at the end it's close to w. BUT it's still halfwayish! So it's not "View", it's "Vay-uwv". Be sure to pronounce all the vowels!

Qelelajdra -- flower -- "h'ay-lay-lazh-drah". It, like all of these, is pronounced as it's spelled, but the q at the beginning and all the l's makes it a little tricky to say at first.

(Q')serk -- What!?!, No way!, "Really!?" (exclamation of surprise) -- This word... is hard to say without laughing. No really, you need to laugh to include the q' part. Sort of laugh as though someone just said the second funniest joke ever [Monty Python Reference], then say "Serk". If you're just talking and it's not that extreme, you'd probably just say "serk" though.

And that's all for now, but if I find a particularly tricky word, I'll let you know smile
PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:04 pm


Grammar -- parts of speech, etc.


Words are.. wierd.. in Kintaran.

Parts of speech aren't divided well.

Example: siulquom

"Siulqom" means (all at once): to tire, tired, etc. Any modification of the verb "to tire" except "to be tired". Why not this one? You use the nonexistent "to be" to say that.

Previously, I posted "Veuv"
It means: darkness/dark, to become dark, nightfall, etc.

Most words can act as a verb, noun, or adjective. Wowzy.

Ar me'n siulqom. "I am tired."
Ar siulqom me'n. "I tire."
Basically, it's the same thing... there's the same connotational difference as there is in English, really.

Yef veuv me'n. "It['s getting] dark." (lit "It becomes dark.")
Yef me'n veuv. "It's dark" OR "It's nightfall."

So that basically covers that. If you're utterly confused... you can ask.. But that's really my best explanation. I tend to list the main possible meanings of words with the words, so when I get the vocab list up, it should work much better for you sweatdrop

Forgedawn


Forgedawn

PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:05 pm


*quick note--I know that I can use accents, but I know that they act up sometimes, since I use unicode. I can't use alt because I have a laptop, which has no number pad. Except for the one that is supposed to work by using the function key, but doesn't.

Grammar


VERBS
Y'know all that conjugating you have to do when you learn a language?
Con: It takes a while to get used to it, so you struggle for the first bit.
Pro: You can drop the subject.

Kintaran doesn't have all that.
Pro: You don't have to learn it.
Con: You can very rarely drop the subject.

So, basically:
No "to be". If you want to say that something is somesuch, you only use the tense marker.

Otherwise:
Present Tense: VERB + me'n
Past Tense: VERB + ma'n
Future: VERB + mo'n
Command: VERB + mo'l (no subject needed here--"you" is assumed subject)

Another quick note--You may have noticed that the first post has no tense markers, even though it has the verb "ixala" (to learn). If a question does not require an implied time, you don't put any tense marker in it.

So, when I ask "Do you want to learn Kintaran?", I don't say "Do you want to now learn Kintaran" Or "Do you want to someday learn Kintaran?".

Basically, if it's a broad question, there's no tense.
However, this does NOT apply to all questions.
"Where are you going?", for example.
"Deu velar me'n sva?" and "Sva deu velar me'n" are both correct because I am asking where you are going right this minute.

If I just said "Deu velar sva?", it could mean "Where are you going", "Where did you go", or "Where will you go". Scary, yes?

Word Order
Generally, it's S-V-O. That really sums it up. Actually, I think that covers it completely. Moving on...

Phrases/Prepositions/Other stuff
This is much like vocab, but since these are done in phrases, I figure it'd be better to go ahead and teach it here...

"sa' [name] --" = "I heard it from [name] that --"

All of these are placed on the end of the word:

-on = in
-ja = as
-in = of

Examples:
xaaxaaja (as [the] wind) [yeah, I picked it for how it sounds. laugh.]
vranvalieron (in [a] month)
amiqdain (of fire)

Pronouns
It's kind of important to know these...

Ar -- I
yef -- it [animate]
yefni -- it [INanimate]

qara -- female
qano -- male.

Usually, you will refer to a person as "it". If you need to make the distinction, you just say the gender. Seriously.

Plurals

To make the plural of a noun, you just take the word and tack on an N. Well, that's if the word ends in a vowel.
If it doesn't end in a vowel, you take the last vowel in it, put that in front of the N, then tack it on.

Examples:
Ar (I) >> Aran (we)
Qelelajdra (flower) >> Qelelajdran (flowers)
PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:06 pm


Vocabulary

You can follow the Kintaran words in this list for pronunciation here! biggrin

Kintaran - English
ar I, me *z = "th", x = "sh", v = "v"/"w", q = aspirated "ch"
yef it (animate/human)
fer leave (exit)
siulqom to tire, tired
tak walk
kel speak (word)
yefni it (inanimate/inhuman)
nin not/no
kelna write (letter)
oxka past
oxklel yesterday
verq night
lev light, to become light / to dawn
veuv darkness/dark, to become dark, nightfall
deu you
yoi now / present time
śa_____- "I heard it from ____ that-"
-mén present tense marker
-mán past tense marker
-mo'n future tense marker
-mól command marker/command subject (deu isn't required here--assumed subject)
yerta new
qara female
qano male
qel tree (or very large plant)
-laz, -elaz little (lath if word does not end in l, elath if does)
qelelaz small plant (shaped similar to tree--stem and leaf, etc)
qelyer leaf, paper
-dra pretty, beautiful
qelelajdra flower
qarda gold, golden
selivran silver, of silver
valeu down, to go down, to fall
leu up, to rise
axoi hello
xelva goodbye
___-on in ____
xaaxaa wind
jigara bird
gare wing (linguistic note: gare used to be the word for bird but literally meant "winged" and could refer to anything with wings.)
gaji bug/insect
qez green
varqar wheat, wheat-colored
varqera bread (made of wheat)
era to make / something manufactured
(q')serk! "Really?!" "No way!" (exclamation of surprise) note: the q' may not always be written
beuldavra year
vranvalier month
daqlier day
vranva moon
daq sun
beul long
beurla infinite, many, uncountable
___-ja as
___-in of
amiqda fire
betvra ice
ixala to study, to learn
sva What? (Question word in general--who, what, when, where, how, huh? **not why)
xva alternate form of sva, usually for "huh?" or confusion in general.
len yes
-n, -#n plural. Explained in grammar.
amurdla to want, desire [can possibly be used for envy]
Kintarasesa Kintaran [language]
velar to go
averq to be able to [can]

Some of the words have been made since I was trying to translate Galadriel's Lament from the English translation into Kintaran, and then to a literal translation and compare razz . I'm weird like that.

Forgedawn


Eccentric Iconoclast
Vice Captain

PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:10 am


xD Oh fun!

Maybe I'll make an Aquenandi post. It's a bit easier than going to my journal, no?

Actually, Kintaran looks vaguely similar to Aquenandi; the past tense using 'a', the present tense using 'e', the future using 'o'... o_o
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:52 am


Maybe I'll do mine too, once I've got some more nouns...

DavidGemmell


Hermonie Urameshi

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:41 am


This looks interesting. I'll try. 3nodding
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:58 am


Now teh vocab that I've made thus far is up

Seriously, that's all I've got. I'll make more soon though, now that I'm back on it.

We were at one point trying to translate Galadriel's Lament from Elvish to English to Kintaran to lit. Trans. English. (My friend has her own language from this too; they have the "same linguistic roots"--as in, we both know English, Spanish, and random others... but by the backstory they *should* have almost identical base language. We're far too lazy for that... Or at least I am.)

Maybe I'll post the alphabet; I have all the images for the letters (I was trying to make a font once... razz )

I need to actually learn the alphabet... I find it awkward to write right now though, so I'll probably work on that some. As in, practice till it becomes a handwriting that can be written somewhat quickly and easily.

Forgedawn


Hermonie Urameshi

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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:53 am


You know there's a guild devoted to made up languages? Maybe you can join that one and teach there too.
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:02 pm


Hermonie Urameshi
You know there's a guild devoted to made up languages? Maybe you can join that one and teach there too.


wow, really? I should check that out ^___^

Also, to fellow "linguistics losers", note the somewhat obvious relationships between words (note that fire and want are also related!)

Anyways, I'm off cuz I ate real food instead of the cafeteria here and so now I"m all hyped up and doing standup comedy in the second floor study lounge of the library *spazzzzzzzzzzes*

Forgedawn


Forgedawn

PostPosted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:05 pm


I posted the letters and added the top part in them... (is now tired of copying and pasting letters from the alphabet... I need to finish the font file!)

[I guess I should've just written them again...]
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:33 pm


Forgedawn
Hermonie Urameshi
You know there's a guild devoted to made up languages? Maybe you can join that one and teach there too.


wow, really? I should check that out ^___^

Also, to fellow "linguistics losers", note the somewhat obvious relationships between words (note that fire and want are also related!)

Anyways, I'm off cuz I ate real food instead of the cafeteria here and so now I"m all hyped up and doing standup comedy in the second floor study lounge of the library *spazzzzzzzzzzes*

Yeah. I asked to join, but they haven't accepted yet. I hope the owner didn't leave gaia! gonk

Hermonie Urameshi

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Forgedawn

PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:31 am


Hermonie Urameshi
Forgedawn
Hermonie Urameshi
You know there's a guild devoted to made up languages? Maybe you can join that one and teach there too.


wow, really? I should check that out ^___^

Also, to fellow "linguistics losers", note the somewhat obvious relationships between words (note that fire and want are also related!)

Anyways, I'm off cuz I ate real food instead of the cafeteria here and so now I"m all hyped up and doing standup comedy in the second floor study lounge of the library *spazzzzzzzzzzes*

Yeah. I asked to join, but they haven't accepted yet. I hope the owner didn't leave gaia! gonk


Ditto. ninja Though I've posted in it, just not new threads...
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