On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

If you're new to these arts, this is the place to ask "stupid" questions and get directions!
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eldin raigmore
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by eldin raigmore »

AIUI horizontal lines tend(ed) to tear the leaf. Vertical lines are OK but lines at any other angle need to be replaced with curves. Or something.

Something of the sort also happens to runes carved in wood. Because the wood has a grain, carving at some angles is much harder than carving at others.

Both the surface being written on and the tool being written with influence the script, in real life.

Imagine you have to write with a goose-quill pen on wet Kleenex.
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loglorn
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by loglorn »

eldin raigmore wrote:AIUI horizontal lines tend(ed) to tear the leaf. Vertical lines are OK but lines at any other angle need to be replaced with curves. Or something.

Something of the sort also happens to runes carved in wood. Because the wood has a grain, carving at some angles is much harder than carving at others.

Both the surface being written on and the tool being written with influence the script, in real life.

Imagine you have to write with a goose-quill pen on wet Kleenex.
That's quite helpful, thank you.

As far as i know, the horizontal lines teared the woods grain so they had to be always angled.
Diachronic Conlanging is the path to happiness, given time. [;)]

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loglorn
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by loglorn »

In the matter of Brahmic Scripts, i found this, and it opened my eyes.
Diachronic Conlanging is the path to happiness, given time. [;)]

Gigxkpoyan Languages: CHÍFJAEŚÍ RETLA TLAPTHUV DÄLDLEN CJUŚËKNJU ṢATT

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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by clawgrip »

If you're looking for details on Brahmic scripts, consult my ever-changing, never finished chart:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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loglorn
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by loglorn »

That's an awesome resource, thank you. (Even if it is a polymorph, it's change ought to be for good)
Diachronic Conlanging is the path to happiness, given time. [;)]

Gigxkpoyan Languages: CHÍFJAEŚÍ RETLA TLAPTHUV DÄLDLEN CJUŚËKNJU ṢATT

Other langs: Søsøzatli Kamëzet
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Lambuzhao »

Imagine you have to write with a goose-quill pen on wet Kleenex.
Ooh, Lawsey! I'd much rather not, please & thank you.

[>_<]

Ha! Now there's a Conlinguolympic event if ever I saw one! How to develop your conscript to be able to write beautifully on wet Kleenex with a quill. Eldin, you are a genius!

Conscript wet-Kleenex Quilligraphy
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Birdlang »

I created three conscripts for Bird language. One is an alphabet with uppercase and lowercase characters, a syllabary derived from defunct logographs From which the alphabet is developed (the alphabet has ascenders and descenders), and an abugida loosely based off of Grantha, Malayalam and Tamil scripts.
The alphabet is called Flappian, the syllabary is Tweetian, and the abugida is Chirpian, after the 3 bird language families.
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Salmoneus »

A tragedy that this has all been deleted...
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Sequor »

I thought this was clawgrip's guide to making scripts, but then I noticed it's not.

What used to be here before?
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Salmoneus »

Oh! Great! Sorry, I thought that's what this was too!

Although now I'm not sure how the actual guide ISN'T deleted, because its first posts are from years ago...
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Dormouse559 »

Salmoneus wrote: 20 Sep 2019 10:58 Oh! Great! Sorry, I thought that's what this was too!

Although now I'm not sure how the actual guide ISN'T deleted, because its first posts are from years ago...
The cut-off was anything at least five years old, so 2015 posts are still around.
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by clawgrip »

Threads were deleted based on first post date, rather than last?
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Sequor
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Sequor »

clawgrip wrote: 29 Sep 2019 02:36Threads were deleted based on first post date, rather than last?
This thread would be a counterexample though, since it still exists even though the first post was pre-2015.
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Dormouse559 »

clawgrip wrote: 29 Sep 2019 02:36 Threads were deleted based on first post date, rather than last?
Posts were deleted based on the post date. Threads remained as long as they had posts from less than five years ago. For example, I now have the first post in the "I see you" translation thread, even though I didn't start it. All the preceding posts were made before the cut-off date.
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by clawgrip »

Measuring from the latest post makes sense. I suspected as much, I just misunderstood your post above.
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Bob »

Chagen wrote: 16 Apr 2014 18:00 (Original post.)
Well, I've spent 15 years studying all the writing systems to ever exist, so to me all conscripts are bad. But I just humor people because my specialization as a language scientist is rare.

Especially logographic conscripts are extremely lame. But a lot of things that I look for in logographic writing systems, I discovered within the past 15 years. It's all these little things that nobody even knows to look for.

I read your original post but don't know what to tell you. Some conlangers tear me apart for not conlanging like them but I wouldn't dare do the same thing to their conscripts because I'm a one person minority and I think it would be silly.

It's like where are all the sign language conlangers? Possibly they get chased off.

My advice, if you want a conscript that's really good: Just get the best books on the linguistics of writing systems that you can, or one, and then do something from there. At least study two writing systems and take some details from each.

But if you want to be off the scale, go to my website and facebook groups and read what I've written. Nobody gets writing systems as well as I have. And does it matter? Unfortunately, very much. The theoretical implications go far beyond living or classic logographic writing systems.

https://anylanguageatall411.blogspot.co ... w=flipcard
[/quote]

...

Also, am I not allowed to reply to old posts because that's "necroposting"? Are there rules on this sort of thing somewhere? I like to read old posts and comment on them because I only get on these conlang forums every 3-5 years and consider myself an expert and connoisseur. I got the impression on Zompist Bboard that there were a vast array of rules and faux pas's which contrast with my usual diet of world travel and university library community membership utilization. Or facebook group admin or member posting and replying.
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by sangi39 »

Bob wrote: 21 Jul 2020 08:09 Also, am I not allowed to reply to old posts because that's "necroposting"? Are there rules on this sort of thing somewhere? I like to read old posts and comment on them because I only get on these conlang forums every 3-5 years and consider myself an expert and connoisseur. I got the impression on Zompist Bboard that there were a vast array of rules and faux pas's which contrast with my usual diet of world travel and university library community membership utilization. Or facebook group admin or member posting and replying.
I don't think we have a specific rule regarding it, but I think it might be covered by Rule 5 of the House Rules (no spamming/flooding) and a pinch of "common sense". My personal feeling is that posts that are several years old are probably best left alone unless the post you want to make a) adds to the previous discussion, and b) is likely to spark new discussion.

On the other hand, some people have "resurrected" old threads by replying to users who are no longer active, so the people who were around when the thread went quiet might not be around to see the response, which, to me, just feels a bit of a waste. The better option in situations like that might be to start a new thread, linking to the old one as a sort of "this inspired me to think about this".

So, really, it's just about whether replying to an old thread just makes sense, and going from there.
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Salmoneus »

Personally, I don't see what's so wrong about bumping an interesting old thread up for new people to see, rather than re-saying it all in a new thread.

To me, the distinction is instead between bumping up a thread of little interest, or of interest only in the original time and place, or that replicates a later, still-active thread, vs bumping up a thread that is likely to be of continuing interesting, like this one.
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sangi39
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by sangi39 »

Salmoneus wrote: 21 Jul 2020 23:05 Personally, I don't see what's so wrong about bumping an interesting old thread up for new people to see, rather than re-saying it all in a new thread.

To me, the distinction is instead between bumping up a thread of little interest, or of interest only in the original time and place, or that replicates a later, still-active thread, vs bumping up a thread that is likely to be of continuing interesting, like this one.
Ah, yeah, that makes sense [:)]
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Re: On making a conscript that doesn't suck.

Post by Bob »

sangi39 wrote: 21 Jul 2020 19:13 ...
( I also read the others that replied and this is addressed to them all. )

Okay, thank-you. I think I just found the website rules and read them. I'll read them sometimes when I'm on the group so I can try to follow them. I haven't done much on message boards since ... 1999. I'm mostly ever on facebook groups, since 2015. I have read message boards a lot, all sorts.

I spend a lot of my time studying logographic writing systems and whatever it written in them, myths and complex mythic references and texts from usually c 2500 BC and the dawn or writing, some 8000 years after the start of civilization. So I'm a bit like the bumbling mountain man, people have been giving me indications.
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