In my last post I pointed out the close minded attitude of some people regarding CONLANGing. I still think the person is an idiot for not keeping an open mind and to prove her wrong I've been working like a beaver.
Grammar however continues to be my most difficult task. Being someone not taught a lot of grammar at school I find it difficult to interpret my own language's grammar, English of course, let alone create my own. My ever patient mother is getting used to my random phone calls saying "Mum, explain "is" to me." I've almost got "is" but tenses continue to be a point of debate between us for although she isn't interested in doing this we both love debating language and I fail to see the point to the 12 tenses English has, having only 3 and contemplating a fourth.
Structure is another issue. English grammar is infinitely complex and the more I study it the more impressed I feel not only at those learning it as a second language, for whom I feel intensely sorry, but for the millions who learn it's complexities without even realising it. It makes me realise how incredibly sophisticated the human brain actually is.
I will, of course, keep going. I am enjoying this project WAY too much to stop now and as my linguistic university classes continue I get more and more ideas about my own language. My Anthropology and politics classes too help me to understand human behaviour and culture, adding to the colour and expression.
That is what I believe people fail to take into account. Language isn't just abut a bunch of words. It's about expression of common things. Abstract things like Love and Death and pain and the sense of something bigger. Perhaps one day we'll evolve beyond the need for words but for now I'll try to take all these things into account and it will help me make my language better by the day.
Now it's late so I'll finish by my first sentence of Selmari on this blog: Jimero alesami*. Or sleep well. :)
*Literally "peacefully sleep" but effectively it means "sleep well".
Showing posts with label conlang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conlang. Show all posts
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Language & Culture
I had a thought recently. I love language and I don't understand people. I like the idea of using language to understand people.
I've been arguing with my Mother, whom is thankfully willing to talk about conlanging, that my language, although constructed by me, is a real language. She's been saying that because it's been created it hasn't evolved. I don't agree. My language, like any conlang, evolves daily. Every day a new word is added. Every day I think of something else I wish I could say that English doesn't have the words for and every day I think about how a sentence in Selmari might be said.
I think that the way we speak reflects the internal moods of a society. I've often wondered why an area of the world which so much apparent unrest (I say apparent because I don't pretend to know everything about a country or a culture) has such a lovely, flowing script. And to that I am referring to Arabic. Japan's history on the other hand, particularly it's polite nature, seems vastly different and it also has a very unlikely script.
Now as I said I don't pretend to know everything, or indeed very much, about Japan's history or the history of the world Arabic speaking countries. I only observe. However I do know English as a language and I see English changing as is our culture and values. Swearing for example has become much more prolific in recent years. I can't imagine what my Grandfather (who was born in 1892!) would think of the world's language if he were alive today. He was born in the time of Gas street lamps and horse and carriage and I suspect would be shocked about the world in general however I am thinking solely of the language being used today.
When I was in school I wasn't taught any grammar. I remember spelling tests and vague information about similes and metaphors and personification but that's about it. When my mother was in school she was taught grammar. In fact the "Grammar" Schools around, such as Sydney Grammar School, were named as such because they taught grammar.
I'm not sure where all of this is leading but to be honest I find it fascinating. I see the world changing in a way which makes me feel quite sad. We have high levels of violence and obesity, hate crimes and graffiti, murder and depression. I think our language is reflecting our sadness, fear and depression and I believe I have a topic for my honours' year at Uni when I eventually get to it.
I realised recently that the first sentence I was trying to write in Selmari was "I love you". The same first sentence I learned how to write. In conversations with my mother and others we've assumed that language evolved through trying to express things such as directions and using it to hunt. ie "you go that way and I'll go this way". I am re-thinking this notion. I think language evolved because we wanted to express things you can't express through sign or grunts. Someone said things like 'hello' and 'goodbye' which is probably true but I think it was the emotional like 'I love you'.
I like this idea. I love the idea that language evolved in early humans because we wanted to express the most powerful emotion of all. Love has even been known to conquor our survival instincts (like someone rescuing someone from danger) and it seems like a beautiful idea for us to want to say it.
Next semester I take anthropology and I can't wait. I want to study people and their relationship to language. Not the fussy grammatical side of things but the human element to things and particularly the script. For like our way of speaking our way of writing has also changed in the last 50 years or so. I'd like to know why and I can't wait to find out.
I've been arguing with my Mother, whom is thankfully willing to talk about conlanging, that my language, although constructed by me, is a real language. She's been saying that because it's been created it hasn't evolved. I don't agree. My language, like any conlang, evolves daily. Every day a new word is added. Every day I think of something else I wish I could say that English doesn't have the words for and every day I think about how a sentence in Selmari might be said.
I think that the way we speak reflects the internal moods of a society. I've often wondered why an area of the world which so much apparent unrest (I say apparent because I don't pretend to know everything about a country or a culture) has such a lovely, flowing script. And to that I am referring to Arabic. Japan's history on the other hand, particularly it's polite nature, seems vastly different and it also has a very unlikely script.
Now as I said I don't pretend to know everything, or indeed very much, about Japan's history or the history of the world Arabic speaking countries. I only observe. However I do know English as a language and I see English changing as is our culture and values. Swearing for example has become much more prolific in recent years. I can't imagine what my Grandfather (who was born in 1892!) would think of the world's language if he were alive today. He was born in the time of Gas street lamps and horse and carriage and I suspect would be shocked about the world in general however I am thinking solely of the language being used today.
When I was in school I wasn't taught any grammar. I remember spelling tests and vague information about similes and metaphors and personification but that's about it. When my mother was in school she was taught grammar. In fact the "Grammar" Schools around, such as Sydney Grammar School, were named as such because they taught grammar.
I'm not sure where all of this is leading but to be honest I find it fascinating. I see the world changing in a way which makes me feel quite sad. We have high levels of violence and obesity, hate crimes and graffiti, murder and depression. I think our language is reflecting our sadness, fear and depression and I believe I have a topic for my honours' year at Uni when I eventually get to it.
I realised recently that the first sentence I was trying to write in Selmari was "I love you". The same first sentence I learned how to write. In conversations with my mother and others we've assumed that language evolved through trying to express things such as directions and using it to hunt. ie "you go that way and I'll go this way". I am re-thinking this notion. I think language evolved because we wanted to express things you can't express through sign or grunts. Someone said things like 'hello' and 'goodbye' which is probably true but I think it was the emotional like 'I love you'.
I like this idea. I love the idea that language evolved in early humans because we wanted to express the most powerful emotion of all. Love has even been known to conquor our survival instincts (like someone rescuing someone from danger) and it seems like a beautiful idea for us to want to say it.
Next semester I take anthropology and I can't wait. I want to study people and their relationship to language. Not the fussy grammatical side of things but the human element to things and particularly the script. For like our way of speaking our way of writing has also changed in the last 50 years or so. I'd like to know why and I can't wait to find out.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Words, Sounds and Problems
Trying to think up new words is really hard I've discovered. Finished Uni exams so I finally have time to think about it and I'm stuck. Problem is that every time I work out enough words for a sentence (which sound like ones written by 3 year olds ie. 'I love you' etc) they sound stupid and I can't work out why.
I've listened to some other Conlang projects online and they sound quite good. I don't get why mine sounds so....I'm not sure. Forced? Stumbling? Just plain weird! My word length is varied, I've gotten some words which have the right letters to have the softer sounds but it still sound dumb.
Part of the problem is I can't get the inflection. When we speak our voices rise and fall naturally. English has more variation than some languages and Italian has even more than English. I need that but I can't find it. I can't find the rhythm.
My mother, who thankfully doesn't want to have me committed for doing this and is even willing to talk about it, said a sentence the other day. I'd told her the words of course and she said them as if she were speaking English. She got it! I'm TOTALLY jealous! How come she could say it and I couldn't? The only good thing was that when she said the sentence it sounded quite decent. Not perfect but decent.
I'm trying to get a softness, a thoughtfulness to this language. The idea behind the language came about because I write for fun. I have dozens of stories now and probably thousand of pages. I created a culture and I thought it would be fun to create a language for that culture. I wanted the language to match the culture however and this culture is quite thoughtful, doing things carefully and deliberately rather than quickly. At some point I hope the language will match however for now I'm quite enjoying this project. I keep thinking how totally cool it would be to walk down the street somewhere and hear someone say something in your language!
I've listened to some other Conlang projects online and they sound quite good. I don't get why mine sounds so....I'm not sure. Forced? Stumbling? Just plain weird! My word length is varied, I've gotten some words which have the right letters to have the softer sounds but it still sound dumb.
Part of the problem is I can't get the inflection. When we speak our voices rise and fall naturally. English has more variation than some languages and Italian has even more than English. I need that but I can't find it. I can't find the rhythm.
My mother, who thankfully doesn't want to have me committed for doing this and is even willing to talk about it, said a sentence the other day. I'd told her the words of course and she said them as if she were speaking English. She got it! I'm TOTALLY jealous! How come she could say it and I couldn't? The only good thing was that when she said the sentence it sounded quite decent. Not perfect but decent.
I'm trying to get a softness, a thoughtfulness to this language. The idea behind the language came about because I write for fun. I have dozens of stories now and probably thousand of pages. I created a culture and I thought it would be fun to create a language for that culture. I wanted the language to match the culture however and this culture is quite thoughtful, doing things carefully and deliberately rather than quickly. At some point I hope the language will match however for now I'm quite enjoying this project. I keep thinking how totally cool it would be to walk down the street somewhere and hear someone say something in your language!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Creating Selmarea
Selmarea, originally called Morgania, is a made up country made for my stories. It is completely fake and I created it simply to more effectively visulise my stories. The basic shape for the country was created a while ago and I had help making it look a lot more realistic.
The idea is that it is a country which is created after an alternative 'split' of the countries on Earth. So they break up a different way to create a unique country with unique animals, plants and people.
The name was changed only recently (this year) because I felt 'Morgania' was a bit too common. The name of the country is now Selmarea (pronounced like 'maria') and the language is called "Selmari".
The language is part of my own CONLANG project, which means constructed language. More about the language, the culture and the country is to come.
To be honest I have NO idea why I'm doing this but I don't care. I'm having so much fun that it doesn't really matter. However I have to admit I have thought (more than once) that the coolest thing EVER would be to walk down the street and hear a total stranger speaking YOUR language. How TOTALLY awesome would that be??!!
Whatever. Right now I'm just enjoying how fun this is. I'm SO glad I came across the CONLANG websites around. At least I know I'm not the only one who is totally crazy. LOL.
The idea is that it is a country which is created after an alternative 'split' of the countries on Earth. So they break up a different way to create a unique country with unique animals, plants and people.
The name was changed only recently (this year) because I felt 'Morgania' was a bit too common. The name of the country is now Selmarea (pronounced like 'maria') and the language is called "Selmari".
The language is part of my own CONLANG project, which means constructed language. More about the language, the culture and the country is to come.
To be honest I have NO idea why I'm doing this but I don't care. I'm having so much fun that it doesn't really matter. However I have to admit I have thought (more than once) that the coolest thing EVER would be to walk down the street and hear a total stranger speaking YOUR language. How TOTALLY awesome would that be??!!
Whatever. Right now I'm just enjoying how fun this is. I'm SO glad I came across the CONLANG websites around. At least I know I'm not the only one who is totally crazy. LOL.
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