Lexember 2021

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Lexember 2021

Post by shimobaatar »

Happy December, everyone!
Spoiler:
Original introduction (November 24th, 2021):
Hello, everyone! I apologize for creating this thread a week in advance of December 1st, but I wanted to do so for two main reasons. First, for anyone who hasn't heard of Lexember before but might be interested in participating, I hope the timing and contents of this post will give you enough time and information to decide whether or not you'd like to give it a try. Second, based on feedback regarding the weekly "themes" from participants in years past, I'd like to use this week leading up to December 1st to ask for "theme" suggestions from anyone who's interested in participating this year. Please see the bolded text below for more details.
Welcome to Lexember, a month-long "game" that challenges participants to create at least one new word in one of their conlangs daily from the 1st through the 31st of December, and to post the results here in this thread. This is the 10th year of the Lexember "tradition", I believe, and its 9th year here on the CBB!

Commenting on the words others have made is always encouraged, as is taking inspiration from them! Even if you're not participating yourself, you're still welcome to leave comments here in the thread, if you'd like. It's been mentioned in previous years that communities of conlangers on various social media platforms also participate in Lexember (in fact, I believe it was started on Twitter), so if you're active elsewhere, you might consider posting your words there, too. However, if you'd like to participate in the challenge, but would prefer not to post the words you come up with anywhere online, that's perfectly fine as well, of course.

I want to emphasize that there is no single "correct" way to participate in Lexember. I don't want anyone who might be interested in Lexember to be discouraged from participating just because they feel that they might not be able to participate every single day or make their posts as detailed as they would like, or that none of their conlangs are "ready" enough. I've tried to address these potential concerns under the spoiler:
Spoiler:
If you miss a day, you always have the option of posting two words the next day, but "making up" for missed days is never a requirement. You can also simply stop or resume participating at any time, with no explanation needed.

Some participants like to include example sentences, IPA transcriptions, cultural notes, and/or etymological details with their entries, but none of these things are required. You can include as much, or as little, information as you'd like in your posts; the amount you include is entirely up to you, and doesn't have to be consistent from day to day.

It's perfectly alright to use the same conlang throughout the month or to switch back and forth between using different conlangs as the month goes on. Participants also have the option of making entries in multiple conlangs or coining multiple words per conlang on any given day.

Finally, there are no objective requirements your conlang must meet in order for you to be able to participate in Lexember. If your conlang is very new and you end up deciding to completely rework parts of it as the month goes on, that is absolutely fine, even if your previous Lexember entries end up becoming "outdated" as a result.
Additionally, participants have the option of challenging themselves to learn a new word in a natural language they're studying each day, and to include it with their Lexember entries. Credit for this idea, as far as I'm aware, goes to qwed117, who first did this two years ago with Sardinian.

In 2018 and 2019, I updated the thread's OP at the start of each week to suggest various "themes" that people might take inspiration from. In 2020, I suggested all of the themes in advance at the start of the month. This year, I've based the five weekly themes on suggestions from prospective participants that were submitted here in the thread over the course of the week leading up to December 1st. The themes are intended to be rather broad and open to interpretation. I've credited the users whose suggestions helped inspire each week's theme below, next to the themes themselves.
Spoiler:
Original request for theme suggestions (November 24th, 2021):
This year, I'm open to suggestions for our weekly themes from any prospective participants. If you're considering taking part in this year's Lexember, please feel free to either post your theme suggestions here in the thread or send them to me directly via private message. In the past, I've generally chosen themes that will hopefully help facilitate the creation of pretty basic vocabulary for anyone who's participating with a fairly new conlang, but which are also broad enough and open enough to interpretation that those participating with more developed conlangs should also be able to follow them, if they so choose. Examples of themes from previous years can be found by following the links at the bottom of this post. I will be taking all suggestions received between November 24th and November 30th into consideration, and I'll try to use as many of them as possible. I'll be editing this post on December 1st to indicate the themes for all five weeks.
Naturally, no one is ever required to follow these themes at all, let alone throughout the entire month, and players who do choose to follow them should feel free to interpret them however they'd like. If anyone would like to suggest additional or alternative themes at any point throughout the month, please feel free to do so.

Weekly Themes:
  • Week 1 (Dec. 1-4): Discourse, Conversation, Communication, Speech, Language (Mándinrùh)
  • Week 2 (Dec. 5-11): Home, Household, Office, Workplace, Tools, Appliances, Occupations (Iyionaku)
  • Week 3 (Dec. 12-18): Motion, Movement, Touch, Physical Activity (KaiTheHomoSapien, silvercat)
  • Week 4 (Dec. 19-25): Culture, Literature, Mythology, Folklore, Music, Writing, Creativity (spanick, silvercat)
  • Week 5 (Dec. 26-31): Location, Position, Emotion, Thought, Mental Activity, States of Being (silvercat)
Previous years' threads can be found here: 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020
Last edited by shimobaatar on 01 Dec 2021 00:51, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by Mándinrùh »

I would like to suggest discourse vocabulary as a topic. That is, words and phrases like "even," "wow," and "to boot." I think a lot of conlangers focus mainly on propositional vocabulary and don't put much thought into how a conversion would play out or what words a speaker might use to convey their thoughts about what they're saying without changing the core meaning of a statement.
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by Iyionaku »

Mándinrùh wrote: 25 Nov 2021 05:14 I would like to suggest discourse vocabulary as a topic. That is, words and phrases like "even," "wow," and "to boot." I think a lot of conlangers focus mainly on propositional vocabulary and don't put much thought into how a conversion would play out or what words a speaker might use to convey their thoughts about what they're saying without changing the core meaning of a statement.
[+1]

I would also suggest an "office and household" topic for one week. That is, common appliances in your home or in your office, verbs to describe various household chores or office processes, etc.
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by KaiTheHomoSapien »

^That sounds like a good idea, though for those of us with "medieval" conlangs, we will have to adapt the theme to refer to preindustrial business and household practices. [:)]

I tend to focus too much on nouns, so it might be nice to have a verbs-only week (perhaps with a category, like motion or physical activity or something like that).
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by spanick »

I think it would be interesting to see some words which express the literary, mythological, or musical culture of the conlangs.
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by Flavia »

spanick wrote: 26 Nov 2021 21:36 I think it would be interesting to see some words which express the literary, mythological, or musical culture of the conlangs.
[+1]
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by silvercat »

I'd second verbs, perhaps a couple weeks worth? You could even theme the whole month with parts of speech.
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by shimobaatar »

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. [:S] I intend for the weekly themes to be semantic or lexical fields. The possibility that someone might simply suggest "verbs" or "verbs-only", for instance, hadn't occurred to me. This is my fault for not being more specific, so I will, of course, still do my best to make use of all suggestions in some way. Thank you all for your responses, and my apologies again for the confusion!
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by silvercat »

How about then something like
- motion or moving the body, moving an object, etc
- states like sleeping, resting, standing, sitting
- mental activity (thinking, writing, creating, inventing, dreaming...)
- location and moving (being, at, travel, all the prepositions, flying, driving)

I'm just brainstorming. Feel free to ignore me for better ideas!
my pronouns: they/them or e/em/eirs/emself
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Re: Lexember 2021 - Open to Weekly Theme Suggestions!

Post by silvercat »

If anybody wants another place to share things, I mentioned Lexember on Dreamwidth so we're doing it at the All Bingo community there. All Bingo is a space for creative people to share their work, using bingo cards for inspiration. Post about your own work and enjoy what other people are creating. https://allbingo.dreamwidth.org/198133.html
my pronouns: they/them or e/em/eirs/emself
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by shimobaatar »

It's still November 30th in my time zone, but I know that December has already begun for part of the world, so I've gone ahead and updated the OP with the themes I've come up with, based on the suggestions posted above, for the five weeks of Lexember this year. As noted above, though, participants are still welcome to suggest additional/alternative themes throughout the month, and all participants get to choose, of course, whether or not they want to follow any of the themes at all. [:D]
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by Iyionaku »

Alas, let's start!
Probs to you, shimo, for organizing this activity once again. As in the past years, I'll join with Yélian.

Lexember 1st - Yélian

òy! [ɔ̈ʃ] - ou! ; ouch!
Etymology: exclamation of pain

Òy! Yòiyodai reo itolota!
[ɔ̈ʃ | ʃɔʊ̯ˈʃoːdaɪ̯ ˈɾeː.ɔ̈ ˈiːtɔ̈ˌloːtɐ]
ouch | PST-bump-1SG 1SG.POSS toe-big
Ouch! I bumped my big toe!

New grammar feature: the verb iyoda can be used with a direct object to siginify that you have stumbled some part of your body.

Bonus word :esp:

dedo del pie [ˈd̪eðo d̪el pje] - toe
Wipe the glass. This is the usual way to start, even in the days, day and night, only a happy one.
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by Flavia »

Leczêmbirèu 1. - Camnorese
lagzevzor - conversation
Etymology: lâze (speak) + -vzor (together)
Lagzevzor arâlmivlai ariz rugzectagn.
conversation:NOM priestess-COM can:PRS:3sg scary:NOM
Conversation with a priestess can be frightening.
Note: I am using ":" for null affixes.
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by Mándinrùh »

Image Atili: Tïnwe - discourse particle which indicates that the speaker has suddenly realized or was surprised by something that they think they should have already known, either because it should have been obvious or because it should have been common knowledge.

Tïnwe, "lïte" vahumis "lili tae" wos.
I was today years old when I learned that "lïte" (courage) is a shortening of "lili tae" (strong mind).
Spoiler:

Code: Select all

ˈtɨ.nwɛ  | ˈɫɨ.tɛ    vɑˈχu.miʃ       ˈɫɨ.ɫi ˈtɑ.ɛ  woʃ
tïnwe    , "lïte"    vah-umi-s       "lili   tae"  w-o-s-Ø
(surprise) "courage" make-short-PART "strong mind" PL-3INAN;IPFV-C(abstract)-COP
Tïnwe! so osvah Emanyo!
Oh! Of course it was Emanyo who did it!
Last edited by Mándinrùh on 03 Dec 2021 04:11, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by Creyeditor »

Kobardon
ār /ár/ interj Interjection indicating surprise, dissapointment, annoyance, or irritation.
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by Shemtov »

I'll participate with Qíʳ Bȁˀ Gàˀⁿ, which, though I haven't been posting on in over a month, I have been thinking about; it's just IRL stuff has gotten in the way.
Lexember 1: Pïùˀ /pʰju˩˧/ "Syllable; Syllable block in writing system"
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by kiwikami »

Alright. Time to actually participate consistently for once! (...maybe)

Alál
maıḷ /mɐjt͡ɬ/ or ṭḷ /ǁ/
Interjection; expression of surprise, particularly when an event known to be unlikely to occur has done so.

Ṭḷ Tuhùukàx! "Wow, you hunted and caught something!"
Mulas maıḷ! "I did (and didn't think I could)!"

-
 This may humorously be declined as if derived from some root MAḶ2 in class A2:

maıḷ|maḷa|maúḷ /mɐjt͡ɬ / /mɐd͡ɮ/ /mʕut͡ɬ /
 Noun (AGT|OBL|PAT); completed petty task (self-deprecating or sarcastic)
Edit: Substituted a string instrument for a French interjection.

:eng: :mrgreen: | :fra: [:)] | ASL [:S] | :deu: [:|] | :tan: [:(] | :nav: [:'(]
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by spanick »

Weddisch
je /jɛ/ “yeah, yes; used as a modal partial for information that the speaker assumes is already known, may be translated as ‘you know’. In this context it may also be used interrogatively when the speaker expects affirmation”

Ex. 1: Myn schank is je broken. /mɛɪn ʃɑŋk ɪs jɛ bɾɔːkn̩/ “As you know, my leg is broken.”

Ex. 2: Ik dorft aan bóer, je? /ɪk dɔɾft ɑːn bøːɾ jɛ/ “I needed a beer, you know?”

Yemya
baś /baç/ “to speak”

Ex: Me yemya baś. “I speak Yemya.”
Last edited by spanick on 02 Dec 2021 02:51, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by Jackk »


1r Lexembr
vatr /ˈva.tr̩/ [ˈva.tɐ] (in geometry) sine, the ratio of the opposite side to the hypotenuse in a right triangle; (by extension, in architecture) diagonally-placed support beam


Etymology: adapted from Medieval/early Scholastic Latin vatrus "sine" (also attested are alvatrō, vater, etc.), itself loaned via Cordoban mathematical texts from Arabic وَتَر <watar> "(bow)string, sinew; chord of a circle, sine of an angle". This is ultimately a calque of Sanscrit ज्या <jiā> "bowstring, sine"; the polysemy arises by picturing an arc of a circle with the chord drawn as a bow with bowstring.

[See also arrum /aˈrɪm/ [ɐˈʀɪm] cosine (of an angle). The word vatr is conventionally abbreviated to vat, as in "π/4 · vat = 1".]

L'oc delt trey mil annað eld surcas enombr a issent de vatr.
/lɔk dɛlt tri mɪl aˈnaθ ɛld sɪrˈkaz eˈnɔm.br̩ a iˈsɛnt de ˈva.tr̩/
[lʊ ˈdɛwt tʀi ˈmɪw ˌa.nɐˈðɛwd sɪːˈkaz ɪˈnɔm.b‿ʀa ɪˈsɛnt dɪ ˈva.tɐ]
def=s.prx tablet three thousand year of.age end.up.pst list to output of sine
"This three-thousand-year-old tablet turned out to be a list of values of sine."
excerpted from Drawing in the Sand: the History of Calculation, a collaborative reference book originally published 1954 in Napolitan as Scheme ne Rene: a Storia d'Amiradanza by the Agenza Scholaria Fodgesa. It follows the development of numerical methods from prehistory and antiquity, up to the paradigm shift of the past few decades.

…the lengthy process of multiplication in tesquo to the much-easier addition and subtraction. For several centuries, the method of choice required two-way circular function enumerations—specifically, Nadim of Trapoles's identity:
Image
Notice that the only required calculations are addition, subtraction, and applying/removing arrhumb. Although Nadim's own enumeration of arrhumb is lost to time, we retain similiar and almost-contemporaneous documents. Most famously, Jambor of Hungary's great Library of Sobjan received a transcription of the 1261 N liber numerorum compiled by the Saint Marinus scholars.

You may have noticed a restriction on what this method allows us to multiply; indeed, we can only remove arrhumb from a and b if they are sized less than 1. However, this is not real roadblock, as we can simply scale our two multiplicands as necessary. For example, to multiply 2567 and 9081, we instead find the product of 0.2567 and 0.9081, and in the end rescale to the correct magnitude.

The Trapolitan identity is a straightforward consequence of the more-familiar angle addition identities first recorded by the Gujarat mathematicians at Ujén in the tenth century. The timeline by which knowledge regarding circular function diffused to the west is uncertain and contested. Ambiguous references in pre-establishment Lustaine writing are held up by some as…
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Re: Lexember 2021

Post by shimobaatar »

Day 1

Hannaito (Entry 1):

moina /moina/ [ˈmoi̯.næ] (transitive)
Verb:
1. to say, to pronounce, to articulate
2. to tell, to inform, to recount
3. to call, to name, to designate, to label
4. to advise, to suggest
5. to instruct, to teach
6. to predict, to foretell, to prophesy

Etymology
From Proto-Hannaito *moyna "to say, to speak, to tell, to call".

moina /moina/ [ˈmoi̯.næ] (transitive)
Verb:
1. to brew; to prepare tea, coffee, beer, or a similar beverage
2. to make a soup or stew
3. to stir, to churn
4. to agitate, to annoy, to instigate

Etymology
From Proto-Hannaito *monyo "to prepare, to cook, to boil".

Iyionaku wrote: 01 Dec 2021 10:17 Probs to you, shimo, for organizing this activity once again. As in the past years, I'll join with Yélian.
Oh, thank you! It's my pleasure. [:D]

Also, it's always nice to see more Yélian!

Hannaito is the tentative name for a language that I was playing around with a bit a few months ago, around September-October, although it's kind of a continuation of an idea I had back in September 2020. I haven't had a lot of free time lately, so it's pretty underdeveloped, but hopefully I'll be able to add some example sentences that I'm actually satisfied with by the end of the month. That being said, I'm going to try to take things slow and easy this year, so to speak, and not be annoyed with myself if I don't have time to post every day. For today's entry, I thought it would be fun to come up with a pair of homophones, the first of which fits this week's theme and the second of which does not.
Last edited by shimobaatar on 03 Dec 2021 00:35, edited 1 time in total.
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