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 grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grammar. 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.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Grammar: To Be
The verb 'to be' sucks I've decided. I'm doing Latin at Uni at the moment, which has actually been incredibly useful for this project, however the verb 'to be' gave me massive amounts of trouble.
English uses the form of the verb 'to be' a lot even when the actual verb of the sentence is totally different.
ie. I was running.
In that sentence you get the form which sounds like the verb to be (from 'I was, I am, I will be') but the 'active' verb is 'running'. So now what? How do I do that for my language. "Was" is the tense indicator of the sentence. It means I ran in the past. So how is that different to "I ran" and do we even really need to distinguish between the two? This is my dilemma and the reason I hate the verb 'to be'.
Part of the problem here is I really don't actually get why we have to have the continuous form. 3 tenses seems enough to me. Either you did it in the past or you are doing it now or you will do it in the future. Why complicate it?
I've heard Russian has even more tenses than English. English has 12. I've heard Russian has 15! I'd like to learn a language that only has 3. Past, present and future. Why do we constantly over complicate things?
Eventually I'll figure it out. I've already decided that there are no continuous forms of verbs in my language, that combined with reducing the number of tenses will, I suspect, simplify things a LOT. I'm looking forward to Uni being over so I can work on this stuff more. This semester has been a crash course in Grammar. It's been useful and I'm looking forward to it being FUN!
English uses the form of the verb 'to be' a lot even when the actual verb of the sentence is totally different.
ie. I was running.
In that sentence you get the form which sounds like the verb to be (from 'I was, I am, I will be') but the 'active' verb is 'running'. So now what? How do I do that for my language. "Was" is the tense indicator of the sentence. It means I ran in the past. So how is that different to "I ran" and do we even really need to distinguish between the two? This is my dilemma and the reason I hate the verb 'to be'.
Part of the problem here is I really don't actually get why we have to have the continuous form. 3 tenses seems enough to me. Either you did it in the past or you are doing it now or you will do it in the future. Why complicate it?
I've heard Russian has even more tenses than English. English has 12. I've heard Russian has 15! I'd like to learn a language that only has 3. Past, present and future. Why do we constantly over complicate things?
Eventually I'll figure it out. I've already decided that there are no continuous forms of verbs in my language, that combined with reducing the number of tenses will, I suspect, simplify things a LOT. I'm looking forward to Uni being over so I can work on this stuff more. This semester has been a crash course in Grammar. It's been useful and I'm looking forward to it being FUN!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Messing About
Still messing about. Can't seem to be satisfied with the characters so I keep changing them. I want to be able to write them easily (with both hands as I am ambidextrous) and have a flow to them. I also really don't want to copy symbols I saw although I think I have without knowing it. LOL.
Grammar is FINALLY coming along. It's finally starting to take shape and I am starting to be able to write whole sentences. I've worked out some basic punctuation (full stop, question mark etc) and have begun managing to sort out the tenses.
Tenses....these have been a complete pain in the ass. I keep getting confused and having to change it. I don't want to do what Latin does which is add something to a word for every different tense, which gives you words which are 20 characters long, but I don't want to copy English either. The present tense has been interesting because I don't want to use that all the time so I've made the present tense 'indicator' (a prefix) only applicable for things which are non continuous.
ie. "I call" is different to "I am calling" Both are present tense but one is continuous and one only applies to the moment. In Selmari a specific present tense only applies to the non continuous. Something such as "I love you" doesn't have an intended time limit and so would be left plain (in it's neutral form).
Possessive & Passive...also a pain in the ass but slowly getting there. I can see why tips say "work on the grammar early". Because now that I have the grammar starting to get there I can begin to hear how the language sounds so speak and as I'm trying to get a softer, slower feeling than English I can adapt it to fit more easily.
Funny moment...
I've got a Latin exam soon, for uni, and found myself saying my word for "to be" instead of Latin's the other day. Realised I really can't work on both at the same time. LOL. Would be funny to put Selmari in my Latin exam instead though. Although I don't think it would pass. :D
Anyway...Latin to study so I'll leave it there. Getting closer and closer to the point of being able to put still, like actual words, up online. However I don't want to put stuff up and then take it down so I'm waiting until it's how I want it.
I can't believe how exciting this is! :) I'm loving this and am only slightly ticked off that I can remember Selmari fine...remembering Latin....no hope!
Happy Conlanging!
Grammar is FINALLY coming along. It's finally starting to take shape and I am starting to be able to write whole sentences. I've worked out some basic punctuation (full stop, question mark etc) and have begun managing to sort out the tenses.
Tenses....these have been a complete pain in the ass. I keep getting confused and having to change it. I don't want to do what Latin does which is add something to a word for every different tense, which gives you words which are 20 characters long, but I don't want to copy English either. The present tense has been interesting because I don't want to use that all the time so I've made the present tense 'indicator' (a prefix) only applicable for things which are non continuous.
ie. "I call" is different to "I am calling" Both are present tense but one is continuous and one only applies to the moment. In Selmari a specific present tense only applies to the non continuous. Something such as "I love you" doesn't have an intended time limit and so would be left plain (in it's neutral form).
Possessive & Passive...also a pain in the ass but slowly getting there. I can see why tips say "work on the grammar early". Because now that I have the grammar starting to get there I can begin to hear how the language sounds so speak and as I'm trying to get a softer, slower feeling than English I can adapt it to fit more easily.
Funny moment...
I've got a Latin exam soon, for uni, and found myself saying my word for "to be" instead of Latin's the other day. Realised I really can't work on both at the same time. LOL. Would be funny to put Selmari in my Latin exam instead though. Although I don't think it would pass. :D
Anyway...Latin to study so I'll leave it there. Getting closer and closer to the point of being able to put still, like actual words, up online. However I don't want to put stuff up and then take it down so I'm waiting until it's how I want it.
I can't believe how exciting this is! :) I'm loving this and am only slightly ticked off that I can remember Selmari fine...remembering Latin....no hope!
Happy Conlanging!
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