RIP, Oh Dead Conlang

[Thrice Xandvii]

I know I have a TON of abandoned and now thoroughly moldy projects. I thought it might be a bit of fun to have a thread to reminisce dead conlangs, or maybe just tease each other about our feeble past attempts, whatever this becomes. I don't THINK there is one of these threads, and if there is, it hasn't been active in a bit. So, with that in mind:



RIP Language I don't remember the name of. You brought this wonderful phrase that I will try to recall, spell correctly, and then give pronunciation and rough gloss to:

Öçen vënen yäßeçëo'gät.
We all live (in a) yellow submarine.

Öç-en vëne-n yäß-eç-ë-o-'gät.
1-PL to.live-PRES water-to.go-under-within-yellow.

/'oʧ.ɛn 'vi.nɛn jeʃ.''ɛʧ.i.o.'get/

This language was "constructed" sometime around... oh... I'd say freshmen year in high school. As you may be able to tell, I had just discovered the joys of ALT commands to render standard ASCII characters. Beyond that, I was attempting to have a boatload of short words that would get smashed together however I saw fit at the moment to form sentences. There were never any rules as to how to assemble syllables, or how not to... vowels were pretty standard but romanized in a very very anglocentric way. I don't think I even knew the IPA existed at the time. Further, I also don't think I knew that my little language invention "game" (as I thought of it) had a name at all.

What are your ex-projects like?

[Esmelthien]

Well, I've got this stuff:

In the original orthography: Howtjjüb kritþainewngdjitsjxjüdj Kewnngglir Neetþail oantkrlninkxxa ðewtsjainkxnjüxreeln
Revised orthography: Hącÿb křitþænęŋjičxÿuj Kęnŋglir Netþæl åňkřlninkxxa ðęčænkxnÿxreln.
I believe it meant something like "A nanotechnician called Kęnŋglir netþæl from the moon Xa from the planet Nÿxreln."
This was in 8th grade, I believe.

I also have something like a little story, which is nearly a Dutch relex. It may contain some mistakes, as this was some years ago.
Lilithay honon ta Scontorn.
Jypelon ir orc.
Jin orc jypelon Lilithay.
Lilithay onan scei.

Blahblahblah
Jin orc onan Bledor.
Blahblahblah
Mekon no lathon.

Lilithay walks through the Shadow Forest.
She sees an orc.
The orc sees Lilithay.
Lilithay is scared. (lit: 'has fear')

Blahblah
The orc has a sword.
Why does he have a sword?
He wants to kill her.

Something like that, at least.

[Thrice Xandvii]

Hącÿb křitþænęŋjičxÿuj Kęnŋglir Netþæl åňkřlninkxxa ðęčænkxnÿxreln.

Holy goodness is that a... mess of ASCII! :)

I remember another dead language called Klatra in which almost every word had either a "tl" or a "kl"... or both. It sounded really weird.

[kiwikami]

Well, my first (pitiful) attempt at a conlang was called Halakyyaqua'chu (something like "the Good Language of the World of Pure Fire" - give me a break, I was maybe twelve. And I have no idea what that apostrophe was supposed to be). This was in seventh or eighth grade, I think, and it lasted until nearly the end of ninth. It was an attempt at a minimalistic "language," with each CV syllable representing a concept that I could string with others to make pretty much anything.

It's dead now. I kind of miss it, actually.

Recently, I found an old handwritten syllabary for it and decided that it wasn't all that bad (though, really, it was). I just hadn't know anything about syntax or morphology or any of those important little things to consider at the time. The language is long gone, but I get a twang of nostalgia whenever I think about it. I try to add little bits of it to my other conlangs (Eveleranil's pahēju, name, from Halakyyaqua'chu's pahi chu, my name [is].) After finding the syllabary, I decided to give it another chance. It now lives on in spirit in Pa Co Tseng Fe Cun, which actually has grammar and syntax and all of that lovely stuff.

The sad thing is that I still remember some of the lyrics from Enya's "White is in the Winter Night" that I translated into it.
"Ji ja queve wa zijythi? Wa quu wy we hits. Ji ja queve wa ni fizy? Fy hi tu hi qui ti..."

RIP: Rest In Pieces.

[Thrice Xandvii]

I think I began "Lexen" around.... oh, when I was 14. It was my first language. It was a bit like an English re-lexing... but it did add in some agreement with gender, and a lovely Germanic/Spanish influenced lexicon. The first phrase I made was "Tarn kalk ensed di Tur shleh." No idea what that meant anymore. I had like 20 pages of dictionary, examples and verb conjugation charts. It went through many many iterations before being put to pasture.

[zee]

My first ever conlang (well, to be honest it's just a cipher) was Wasfaur:

Es faur im kärrote
No gloss needed as it is word-for-word
I am a carrot

A few words and such from my modern conlangs derived from this, for example "faur" being the verb 'to be'.

Then my first proper conlang was Eggnog which was created about a week or two before I joined this forum.
This is the mother (proto?) language of modern Ejnoq so there are lots of similarities.

Al okamsir xaxam erdesobjekh xin erdesobjekh oster ilnette okamsir
DEF.NOM 'place' PREP 'all'-'thing' CONJ 'all'-'thing' PREP 3ps.POS 'place'
A place for everything and everything in it's place

Then there was a gap of time where I did almost no conlanging. But then I came back and started a new conlang called Gzidê.
It didn't get very far and there was lots of smaller conlangs because of this around that time but here is a sample of Gzidê:

Pat sprendeder tapel gz'emukasidygzi agzńa pidygzi?
article.INANIMATE.INDEF 'language' 'new' PROGRESSIVE-'learning'.2sg ASKING 'be'
Are you learning a new language?

Then after all that came the daughter language of Wasfaur and the sister language of Eggnog (I consider Gzidê a conlang isolate, as it were) which is Ejnoq!

[TeutonicMice]

I may actually remake Usacken at some point, I really liked how it sounded but the grammar was inconsistent, boring and was some times far too close to french or English.

zɜ zig ʃwin bikɛiɒs ɒ ʟɒtkizɒ ŋɛ moʃtoiɒ fɛs ŋai wiʃo

Unfortunately I couldn't find any phrases with nasal vowels also, there is also no translation.

[ol bofosh]

No languages but...

When I was around 15 or 16 I created an alternative alphabet for English. It used shapes that were based on the various mouth positions of each letter. This was before I knew about phonetics (which is just over a year ago), and of course doesn't take into account the rather loose orthography-phonology correspondence in English (so, 26 letters in all). I think I still have it somewhere.

A few years later, around 19 or 20, I did a whole gobbledygook one, with no grammar, no semantics, just a couple of paragraphs of words with no sense nor meaning. Maybe I can go back to it now and create something with it.

Conlanging proper started just over a year ago.

[Creyeditor]

These are sentences in the very first conlang of mine, which did not have a name. I created it when I was 10 y.o., just grammar and words, no real phonology (it is basically the german phonology)

Dlen snafi iwoforn.
[dlɛn ˈsna.fi ˈʔi.vo.foʁn]
Dlen snafi iwofor-n.
INDEF.N eel forge-VERB
An eel hammers.

Na twigo filbailen won megga.
[na ˈtvi.go fɪl.ˈbaɪ.lən vɔn ˈmɛ.ga]
Na twig-o fil-baile-n won megg-a.
DEF.M man-M PST-shoot_down-VERB INDEF.F woman-F.
The man shot down a woman.

Nuzg twigo doblufin fip megga.
[nʊtsk ˈtvi.go do.ˈblu.fɪn fɪp ˈmɛ.ga]
nuzg twig-o do-blufi-n fip megg-a
INDEF.M man-M FUT-love-VERB DEF.F woman-F
A man will love the woman.

Ulm dofilblufin ugo snafi.
[ʊlm do.fɪl.ˈblu.fɪn ˈu.go ˈsna.fi]
Ulm do-fil-blufi-n ugo snafi.
1.SG PST-FUT-love-VERB DEF.N eel
I will have loved the eel.

After that I started working with scripts for a long time, tried an auxlang in 2009 (failed), a kitchen-sinky artlang in 2010, and my first real conlang in the beginning of 2012 (Pøplish).

[Thrice Xandvii]

All I have to say is that "snafi" is a great word for eel.

[Iron]

My first language, Rhûneid, was greatly inspired by Dutch. This is the only text which still remains in my possession:

Kun adaneel iligreden kruusinns ver orodruin vikontinûm, het werleteel nåtûren bowstill jis vihelmut fort erot verduum. Nåtûr viveltering miret mijfloren adan vifitsit heens berave veit werlet. Suvibrak fortween grim hof mûrken bevrûch, Ik viafkertning het mijfloren werlet ver adanal. Graf mûrken naûr vedruk ertet mojevrat ver ileir luirskepup mir pråstir, graf nåral welsandet blees ver die luchstat het imladuralek deir ardir. Wån het atulen laikural ver adanur gowan jis distron amp werlet, nåtûr vevûst het blees mir vevûst het vochtal, suvislap ids ver ileir benzbrenen dratsgul. Graf dio hymsang ver dunkel bin op bevrûch marren va noral min viruin renneden. Uiddopt mûrken totgar sermonia hist videevheid het bleesen ainichur deir krelnacht, het hailten begeert dår erya miret lust va afterg va nåtûr. Kun dio grim dår genût jis fortween viklerijs graf hist welbevijkut het lust dår adaneel croi. Kun bevrûch vihwerfan va naûr, Ik num vevijc. Num fergriss amnis mûrk, num herig amnis werlet. Erop ileir, Ik jis nekt-adan.

Het adanur brevetre jis skûlen van ilach gowan influs ver nåtûr, kun adanur visanzut kun het tsenturen sunbutur amp svestno. Het Kruus-Blokeden lith vilam "Mir Sunn valam, graf nilan heb aran erop ileir het werlet." Het Kruus-Blokeden filonomia vifortween histis ardir erot nadûr kun adanur vikontinûm kruusinns ver volfengang. Va welfortween nilus van genût jis va mantsipir nilus van het leijritvom dan jis blokeden einfell mir luchstaten roezel. Corpeteren vladsit jis het verhûn deir adanur. Graf het elenial bin vefuller mid op nimb ver vûs - het vûsen vûst deir corpeteren ardir. Kun het kirkal visyrk mir brautrel viternam van het afaral, nåtûr vemantsipir van het leiche deir mijfloren adanur.

It translates roughly into: As man's corrupt crusade of oppression continues, the earth's natural order is pushed further into desolation. Nature withers and the egotistical man loses his connection to the earth. Vomiting forth hatred and abhorrence like black blood, I condemn the narcissistic world of men. Let black soil be packed into the throats of every leader and every priest, let thorns rip and tear the flesh of these false kings of the world. When the feeble corpses of human life scatter the earth, nature will decay the flesh and rot the bodies, cleansing itself of all inflicted suffering. Let this mantra of misanthropy be a blood offering to grounds which remain pure. Through black metal ritual we worship the carnal spirit of the animal, the internal lust for solitude and the desire to return to nature. As this hatred for society is further manifested let us accept the ache for mankind's end. As blood turns to soil, I will not grieve nor lament.

The second paragraph translates into something, but alas, no idea I have.

EDIT: My second language, Mosstään, was much more... advanced, yet it still was basic:

Swesteris mosäärs utlolet. Malnat starks däh utlolet. Mit Fürträän Eirasi tröl gebörg. Athelasaus tin ultaasat, fwer grund, süäts mit skhars sent ratsenet; trönös suun nifeluul, fwer reikh seriknutesaus dänkël dizu pïkatet megwond zaler mitri isi kïneret. Fejür Träänsi. Din nekrotet, su din jaduset.

"Summers last decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plot, lusts and intrigues; to the vast frozen north, where a 700-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. The Game of Thrones. You win, or you die."

[Thrice Xandvii]

First: WOW is that a cool passage you have there, Iron. Very well written methinks.

I can definitely see the Dutch influence in the first paragraph there. I kinda wish you had a section that was glossed though (with pronunciation). It's always interesting to see (even in "simple" conlangs) how things were arranged gramatically.

[Demino]

I guess this was my 'first' conlang - if you can call it a conlang. I used diacritics in the most inefficient way. I used the English alphabet with extra characters.

:yimheś ȫ fitæs ye kithenǵ fem.
[ʝımhɛsr o fitæs yɛ kıθɛŋr fɛm]

Alright, following everyone's example, I'll revise the orthography.

ʝimhésr o fitäs ʝe kithéngr fém.

[hubris_incalculable]

My deadest conlang is Sokræn [sokʰ.'raɪn], in which i attempted to have a set of root lexemes, which, when properly agglutinated, could be treated as nouns or verbs (with slight changes to meaning in either form, e.g. "kormal" - food/eat).

I never worked out a proper phonology for it, just an orthography with an "X as in Y" pronunciation guide.

I don't know what I was going to do with adverbs, adjectives, demontratives, and whatever else.

The only thing I remember from it was one severely conjugated verb:
ékakormaletú
[e.kʰa.kʰor.mal.etʰ.u]
é-ka-kormal-et-ú
NEG-HORT-eat/food-2nd.SING-FUT
Encourage you not to eat

[Creyeditor]

Alu. Wi kit is tir? Mir kit is kut. ij min ********** unt wi aist tu. Wi alt mist tu. Ij min wunwtsin jari alt.
[ʔa.lu ʋi kʰit ʔis tʰir ↗‖ miʁ kʰit ʔis kʰut ‖ ʔiʝ min ******* ʔunt ʋi ʔa.ʔist tʰu↗‖ ʋi ʔalt mist tʰu ↗‖ ʔiʝ min ʋunʋ.tsin ʝa.ʁi ʔalt‖]
Hello. How are you. I am fine. My name is ******** and what's your name? How old are you. I am fifteen years old.

Was sint daini omis? Ij sraimi kirni. Was, tu auk? Kul.
[ʋas sint da.ʔi.ni ʔom.nis ↗‖ ʔiʝ sʁa.ʔi.mi kiʁ.ni ‖ ʋas ↗| tʰu ʔa.ʔuk ↗‖ kul]
What are your hobbys? I like to write. What, you, too? Cool.

This was my very first attempt for an auxlang. It is basically a relex of German, with a three vowel system and without voicing distinction. Plus (or better minus?) I removed /h/. The glottal stops and the consonant clusters make it quite ridicoulous, I think. I am to ashamed to gloss the gammar

[hippopotame]

My first conlang was called Qhassariya. Ah that was so long ago. I kinda want to revisit it...
Anyway when I was making this, to develop the dictionary I would just translate Disney songs.
It was heavily based on Hindi and Telugu. And then I tried to make it less Hindi-y by adding more [z]'s and [x]'s and [f]'s
The phonology is pretty much the same as Hindi. And the grammar's quite similar to Telugu. Well it's sort of a mix of Telugu and English grammar. I'll paste my translation of the first couple paragraphs of A Whole New World from Aladdin (heh) in the original Qhassariya and the revised Qhassariya. I tried making it fit with the rhythm of the song but it never worked so I gave up on that. I pretty much translated it exactly from English to Qhassariya.
"qh" = [x], by the way.
Other than that, the spelling is quite similar to Hindi romanized spelling. I'm really too lazy to put it into IPA =P
I also took some vocabulary from French. "issi" in the following translation, for example comes from the French "ici"

[Zumir]

I guess this was my 'first' conlang - if you can call it a conlang. I used diacritics in the most inefficient way. I used the English alphabet with extra characters.

:yimheś ȫ fitæs ye kithenǵ fem.
[ʝımhɛsr o fitæs yɛ kıθɛŋr fɛm]

Alright, following everyone's example, I'll revise the orthography.

ʝimhésr o fitäs ʝe kithéngr fém.

You think that's bad? Behold, Prutavian 2.0:

F̥ŋa ēhȧ v̥e ȳ̆ÿā v̥ȯj̊ȳz̥u̇, k̥ȯ v̥e v̥ohȳnd̥ȧ hul v̥e D̥ȳ̆cjÿāk̥ v̥ȯhȳnd̥ȧ
F̥ŋa zās̥ymru̇ v̥e ū̆üā v̥ȯÿāz̥u han v̥ohāz̥ȧ
Len voÿē̆ndȳ zahoÿazẏm v̥e ū̆üā v̥ȯÿāz̥u

That's the Lord's Prayer. Apparently.