My conlang (warning: work in progress)!
Posted: 12 Nov 2020 18:20
This is my first post in this forum. I will explain both my conlang and my constructed world. But first I'll start with explaining my constructed world.
My constructed world is divided in two parts: Gaia and Pangaea. Gaia is the world we know and live in, i.e. planet Earth, exactly as it is in reality. Pangaea is, literally, "the land of everything", so it's basically an infinite Multiverse where absolutely everything happens, no matter if it's fantasy or realistic, no matter if it's good or horrible, at one condition. Everything happens as long as a Pangaean language is spoken. There are infinite Pangaean languages, but I'm creating just one of them as an example. All Pangaean languages are based on the same philosophical concept, the concepts of "ambiguation" and "disambiguation". I'll explain what they are.
"Ambiguation" uses the formula: Sentence 1 OR Sentence 2 = New Sentence
"Disambiguation" uses the formula: Sentence 1 AND Sentence 2 = New Sentence
Example of an ambiguation:
Sentence 1 = My sister is hugging me
Sentence 2 = My brother is hugging me
New Sentence = My sibling is hugging me
Formula: "My sister is hugging me" OR "My brother is hugging me" = "My sibling is hugging me"
Example of a disambiguation:
Sentence 1 = My sibling is hugging me
Sentence 2 (granted, it's more like a concept added on the first sentence than a stand-alone sentence, but it's still valid) = This hug is long
New Sentence = My sibling is giving me a long hug
Formula: "My sibling is hugging me" AND "This hug is long" = "My sibling is giving me a long hug"
I'm planning to take this simple concept to an extreme level, therefore creating a philosophical conlang.
First thing you need to know about my conlang (I didn't give it a name yet!) is that the lexicon is work in progress and the words will be changed very often, but the grammar is complete. The really weird thing about the grammar of my conlang (and probably Pangaean languages in general? I think only the lexicon changes from language to language and the grammar stays the same in every Pangaean language) is that it's extremely simple yet powerful! I think I have found the golden grammar. I'll start explaining it.
The first thing that you need to know about my conlang's grammar is that it's mostly based on the relationship between "A" and "B". What are "A" and "B", then? I'll make a simple example in English. Consider the sentence "I love hugs". If you translate it to my conlang, "A" would be "I" (the first person singular pronoun) and "B" would be "hugs". But it's not all. "A" and "B" have a certain relationship with each other. What is this relationship? Of course it's "love". "A" and "B" are both called "operands", and they are connected with each other through something called "operator", which in this case means "love" but obviously in different sentences it will mean something else. Operands and operators are the only parts of speech in my conlang. There is no grammatical distinction between nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, particles, etc. There are only operands and operators. The interesting consequence is that in my conlang, the number of "words" in every speech should be odd (so... 1, or 3, o 5, or 7, or 9, etc.), if it's even, it means the sentence is grammatically wrong and invalid. Every word is separated by "separators", which are not words, they are just letters that separate every word. The separators are the following:
Default separators: l/i
Open parentheses: r/a
Close parentheses: n/u
Therefore, the letters "l", "i", "r", "a", "n" and "u" cannot appear within the lexicon. As a consequence, there is no standard way to use spaces in my conlang. Consider the English sentence "your conlang is so weird". Imagine it could be freely written as "yourcon langisso we ird", "yo urcon langi sso weird", or ANY other combination of spaces and it will mean exactly the same thing with no chance of it meaning something else. My conlang is exactly like that!
Now I can give the first example (WARNING: the lexicon can and probably will be changed very often in the future, however the grammar is always stable and has been for a long time):
I love hugs
cle begël bozö
c: I (operand "A")
(e)begë: to love (operator that connects "A" and "B")
bozö: hug(s) (operand "B")
As you can see, the words are separated by the default separators. Now you might be wondering why the operator has a prefix. Here are the prefixes that must go before every operator. They are mandatory. Also if you are wondering how everything is pronounced, don't worry, I'll tell you the phonology later.
e-: default order, no focus
o-: default order, focuses on A
ü-: default order, focuses on B
ë-: reverse order, no focus
ö-: reverse order, focuses on A
ä-: reverse order, focuses on B
Examples with the example given before, only changing the prefix.
e- prefix: default order, no focus
cle begël bozö
I love hugs
o- prefix: default order, focuses on A
clo begël bozö
I (who love hugs)
It's impossible to translate this in English, but basically it's just "I" (the first person singular pronoun) with more information, i.e. that the speaker loves hugs. It cannot be used as a stand-alone sentence, however.
ü- prefix: default order, focuses on B
clü begël bozö
The hugs that I love
It cannot be used as a stand-alone sentence, but I think it would be okay to use it as, for example, the title of a book or the title of a song.
ë- prefix: reverse order, no focus
clë begël bozö
Hugs love me
It sounds a bit creepy, I know. It doesn't make sense, but I showed it as an example.
ö- prefix: reverse order, focuses on A
clö begël bozö
I (who am loved by hugs)
ä- prefix: reverse order, focuses on B
clä begël bozö
The hugs that love me
---
Phonology:
Vowels (9):
a: /a
ä: /ø
e: /ɛ
ë: /e
i: /i
o: /ɔ
ö: /o
u: /u
ü: /y
Consonants (17):
b: /b
c: /ʃ
d: /d
f: /f
g: /g
j: /ʒ
k: /k
l: /l
n: /n
p: /p
r: /r
s: /s
t: /t
v: /v
x: /x
y: /ɣ
z: /z
The sound "m" is only found as an allophone of "n" before "b" and "p".
---
How to make longer sentences than just three words, then? It is fairly simple, actually. The default formula (i.e. if you don't use any parenthesis) is that everything before the last operator is considered as "A", the operator is... well, the operator, and the very last word is considered as "B". But this order can be changed using the parentheses. Example: "I want a long hug"
c: I
(e)geob: to want
bozö: hug
(o)g: (copula)
bemü: long (duration)
Now, if we don't use any parenthesis, and therefore we say: "cle geobi bozö logi bemü", it probably won't mean what you say. Since "A" is everything before the last operator and "B" is the very last word, "A" will be "I want a hug" and "B" will be "long". Connected through an operator that is basically a copula, the sentence without parentheses will roughly mean something similar to "The fact that I want a hug is long". So we need to open a parenthesis.
The correct sentence is: "cle geoba bozö logi bemü". If you forgot, "r/a" are the separators that open a parenthesis. So, now "A" is just "I" (the first person singular pronoun) and "B" is "a long hug". The two are connected with an operator that means "to want". So the sentence is correct.
I already tried many sentences and other stuff my conlang, and trust me, this language can be extremely expressive and nuanced if you want it to be. The examples I made in this thread are extremely basic and simple, so that's why perhaps it doesn't sound very expressive. But trust me, there is a lot of stuff that needs to be said about this language. These were just the very basics of my conlang. I explained all the grammar of my conlang, which (the grammar) is very simple yet powerful, but it's the lexicon that makes this language very expressive and nuanced. If you any questions, criticism, etc. please feel free to ask. I will check the other parts of this forum now.
My constructed world is divided in two parts: Gaia and Pangaea. Gaia is the world we know and live in, i.e. planet Earth, exactly as it is in reality. Pangaea is, literally, "the land of everything", so it's basically an infinite Multiverse where absolutely everything happens, no matter if it's fantasy or realistic, no matter if it's good or horrible, at one condition. Everything happens as long as a Pangaean language is spoken. There are infinite Pangaean languages, but I'm creating just one of them as an example. All Pangaean languages are based on the same philosophical concept, the concepts of "ambiguation" and "disambiguation". I'll explain what they are.
"Ambiguation" uses the formula: Sentence 1 OR Sentence 2 = New Sentence
"Disambiguation" uses the formula: Sentence 1 AND Sentence 2 = New Sentence
Example of an ambiguation:
Sentence 1 = My sister is hugging me
Sentence 2 = My brother is hugging me
New Sentence = My sibling is hugging me
Formula: "My sister is hugging me" OR "My brother is hugging me" = "My sibling is hugging me"
Example of a disambiguation:
Sentence 1 = My sibling is hugging me
Sentence 2 (granted, it's more like a concept added on the first sentence than a stand-alone sentence, but it's still valid) = This hug is long
New Sentence = My sibling is giving me a long hug
Formula: "My sibling is hugging me" AND "This hug is long" = "My sibling is giving me a long hug"
I'm planning to take this simple concept to an extreme level, therefore creating a philosophical conlang.
First thing you need to know about my conlang (I didn't give it a name yet!) is that the lexicon is work in progress and the words will be changed very often, but the grammar is complete. The really weird thing about the grammar of my conlang (and probably Pangaean languages in general? I think only the lexicon changes from language to language and the grammar stays the same in every Pangaean language) is that it's extremely simple yet powerful! I think I have found the golden grammar. I'll start explaining it.
The first thing that you need to know about my conlang's grammar is that it's mostly based on the relationship between "A" and "B". What are "A" and "B", then? I'll make a simple example in English. Consider the sentence "I love hugs". If you translate it to my conlang, "A" would be "I" (the first person singular pronoun) and "B" would be "hugs". But it's not all. "A" and "B" have a certain relationship with each other. What is this relationship? Of course it's "love". "A" and "B" are both called "operands", and they are connected with each other through something called "operator", which in this case means "love" but obviously in different sentences it will mean something else. Operands and operators are the only parts of speech in my conlang. There is no grammatical distinction between nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, particles, etc. There are only operands and operators. The interesting consequence is that in my conlang, the number of "words" in every speech should be odd (so... 1, or 3, o 5, or 7, or 9, etc.), if it's even, it means the sentence is grammatically wrong and invalid. Every word is separated by "separators", which are not words, they are just letters that separate every word. The separators are the following:
Default separators: l/i
Open parentheses: r/a
Close parentheses: n/u
Therefore, the letters "l", "i", "r", "a", "n" and "u" cannot appear within the lexicon. As a consequence, there is no standard way to use spaces in my conlang. Consider the English sentence "your conlang is so weird". Imagine it could be freely written as "yourcon langisso we ird", "yo urcon langi sso weird", or ANY other combination of spaces and it will mean exactly the same thing with no chance of it meaning something else. My conlang is exactly like that!
Now I can give the first example (WARNING: the lexicon can and probably will be changed very often in the future, however the grammar is always stable and has been for a long time):
I love hugs
cle begël bozö
c: I (operand "A")
(e)begë: to love (operator that connects "A" and "B")
bozö: hug(s) (operand "B")
As you can see, the words are separated by the default separators. Now you might be wondering why the operator has a prefix. Here are the prefixes that must go before every operator. They are mandatory. Also if you are wondering how everything is pronounced, don't worry, I'll tell you the phonology later.
e-: default order, no focus
o-: default order, focuses on A
ü-: default order, focuses on B
ë-: reverse order, no focus
ö-: reverse order, focuses on A
ä-: reverse order, focuses on B
Examples with the example given before, only changing the prefix.
e- prefix: default order, no focus
cle begël bozö
I love hugs
o- prefix: default order, focuses on A
clo begël bozö
I (who love hugs)
It's impossible to translate this in English, but basically it's just "I" (the first person singular pronoun) with more information, i.e. that the speaker loves hugs. It cannot be used as a stand-alone sentence, however.
ü- prefix: default order, focuses on B
clü begël bozö
The hugs that I love
It cannot be used as a stand-alone sentence, but I think it would be okay to use it as, for example, the title of a book or the title of a song.
ë- prefix: reverse order, no focus
clë begël bozö
Hugs love me
It sounds a bit creepy, I know. It doesn't make sense, but I showed it as an example.
ö- prefix: reverse order, focuses on A
clö begël bozö
I (who am loved by hugs)
ä- prefix: reverse order, focuses on B
clä begël bozö
The hugs that love me
---
Phonology:
Vowels (9):
a: /a
ä: /ø
e: /ɛ
ë: /e
i: /i
o: /ɔ
ö: /o
u: /u
ü: /y
Consonants (17):
b: /b
c: /ʃ
d: /d
f: /f
g: /g
j: /ʒ
k: /k
l: /l
n: /n
p: /p
r: /r
s: /s
t: /t
v: /v
x: /x
y: /ɣ
z: /z
The sound "m" is only found as an allophone of "n" before "b" and "p".
---
How to make longer sentences than just three words, then? It is fairly simple, actually. The default formula (i.e. if you don't use any parenthesis) is that everything before the last operator is considered as "A", the operator is... well, the operator, and the very last word is considered as "B". But this order can be changed using the parentheses. Example: "I want a long hug"
c: I
(e)geob: to want
bozö: hug
(o)g: (copula)
bemü: long (duration)
Now, if we don't use any parenthesis, and therefore we say: "cle geobi bozö logi bemü", it probably won't mean what you say. Since "A" is everything before the last operator and "B" is the very last word, "A" will be "I want a hug" and "B" will be "long". Connected through an operator that is basically a copula, the sentence without parentheses will roughly mean something similar to "The fact that I want a hug is long". So we need to open a parenthesis.
The correct sentence is: "cle geoba bozö logi bemü". If you forgot, "r/a" are the separators that open a parenthesis. So, now "A" is just "I" (the first person singular pronoun) and "B" is "a long hug". The two are connected with an operator that means "to want". So the sentence is correct.
I already tried many sentences and other stuff my conlang, and trust me, this language can be extremely expressive and nuanced if you want it to be. The examples I made in this thread are extremely basic and simple, so that's why perhaps it doesn't sound very expressive. But trust me, there is a lot of stuff that needs to be said about this language. These were just the very basics of my conlang. I explained all the grammar of my conlang, which (the grammar) is very simple yet powerful, but it's the lexicon that makes this language very expressive and nuanced. If you any questions, criticism, etc. please feel free to ask. I will check the other parts of this forum now.