A Fox's Guide to Conlangs (Part 11) - Starting the Noun Lists

This is the slow part of the process, determining what the meanings of letter combinations represent, then trying to convert that combination of meanings to reflect a concept that would need to be conveyed by language.

Here's the first batch.

Proper Nouns – [N] a/A (Still thinking about these)

Common Concrete Countable Living Nouns – [K] o/O auoioe

The first batch of these generally represent types of people who come and go (thus explaining their “impermanence”). 

Koa 1 – Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary conception (baby)

Kou 2 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary invigoration (child)

Koo 3 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary maturation (young adult)

Koi 4 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary stagnation (old adult)

Koo 5 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary destruction (dying person)

Koe 6 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary oblivion (corpse before incineration/burial and returning to the cycle)

KoA 1 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal conception (artist/poet)

KoU 2 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal invigoration (farmer/craftsman)

KoO 3 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal maturation (merchant/courtier)

KoI 4 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal stagnation (noble/scholar)

KoO 5 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal destruction (warrior/hunter)

KoE 6 - Impermanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal oblivion (philosopher/thinker)

If we add the option of a final consonant sound, the raw form might represent a person, while the consonants might twist the meaning to represent the products produced by such people (“d”), animals which perform a similar role in the ecosystem (“k”), the discipline that such people engage in (“t”) or tools used in the function of this role (“n”). Thus [Koat] might be a generic term for a place where babies are born and [KoOn] might be a generic word for weapon.

The second batch of these generally represent animals which exist as general classes, individuals may come and go but the class of animals remains (thus explaining their “permanence”). 

KOa 1 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary conception (a plant/animal renowned for being cunning)

KOu 2 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary invigoration (a plant/animal renowned for being strong)

KOo 3 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary maturation (a plant/animal renowned for being tough)

KOi 4 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary stagnation (a plant/animal renowned for being toxic)

KOo 5 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary destruction (a plant/animal renowned for being poisonous)

KOe 6 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of momentary oblivion (a cryptozooid)

KOA 1 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal conception (an animal that produces a consumable)

KOU 2 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal invigoration (an animal used for work)

KOO 3 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal maturation (a predator)

KOI 4 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal stagnation (an animal that is consumed)

KOO 5 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal completion (a scavenger)

KOE 6 – Permanent common concrete countable living noun of eternal oblivion (a spirit/ethereal being)

If we add the option of a final consonant sound, the raw form might represent a general animal type, while the consonants might twist the meaning to represent the specific classes of animals that fulfil such functions. Animals of the sea (“d”), animals of the land (“k”), animals of the air (“t”) or plants (“n”). Thus [KOOd] might be a generic term for a shark or other aquatic predator and [KOin] might be a generic word for a toxic plant. 

I'm undecided about compressing double vowels where the two vowels identical. I'm leaning toward compression being the best option because these are meant to be single syllables. Also, don't be too concerned about how similar these words seem at this point, once we add prefixes and suffixes, then condense them down to usable forms, there will be a wider variety in the commonly used word forms. For this, I'm thinking about we way three different sharks might be referred to as "Great White", "Grey Nurse" or "Wobbegong", these are the commonly used terms in this part of the world, and the word shark isn't even added because it's simply implied. (Yes, "Wobbegong" is an appropriated native term, but I've already stated that this language will include some rules for appropriating terminology from other sources). 

A Fox's Guide to Conlangs (Part 10) - Starting on the Nouns

Time to start assigning sounds to concepts based on what we’ve got so far, and then extrapolate some meanings from those conceptual sources.

I’m going to start by looking at specific types of nouns, and use a certain consonant and vowel to open the syllable. We’ve still got options to add an extra vowel into the syllable (creating a diphthong), and a consonant to close up the syllable.

Here’s how I’m starting…

Proper Nouns – [N] a/A

Common Nouns – [K or N] o/O, i/I, o/O, or e/E

Concrete Nouns – [K or N] o/O or i/I 

Countable Nouns – [K or N] o/O or i/I

            Living – [K] o/O

            Non-Living Countable Nouns – [N] i/I

Uncountable and Mass Nouns – [N] o/O

Abstract Nouns – [K] e/E

Collective Nouns – [K] u/U

Pronouns – [D] a/A

Here’s my logic…

Proper Nouns use short or long “a” sounds, because the “a” vowel sound is linked to the notion of “birth/conception”, the first thought that plucks ideas from the chaos of infinity. Proper nouns are linked to specific people, places and things, and since there is a vaguely spiritual origin to the language, these specific nouns have specific animistic spirits associated with them (or at least, this was the belief when the language was first formulated). The “a” sound implies a specific soul is connected to the noun, The “n” consonant is an arbitrary designation.

Common Concrete Nouns use long and short “o”, “o” and “i” sounds because these vowel sounds are linked to physical concepts. Such nouns are either living (“o/O”), degrading (“i/I”), or physically inert (dead “o/O”). Living entities are given the “k” consonant to increase differentiation from the specific proper noun forms. The “n” consonant is applied to non-living countable nouns, because it is already understood that such nouns cannot have a soul (they’re just plain objects). Uncountable nouns (and mass nouns) exist as a measurable form (or provide the statement that the noun cannot be measured), but the act of measuring quantifies a subject and removes some of it’s mystique, this kills some of the inherent variability and is symbolic of a creative death (thus the “o/O” vowel).

Abstract nouns are concepts, unlike uncountable nouns they exist in the purity of spiritual quantum flux separate from the real world, thus they use an “e/E” vowel sound. They use a “k” consonant to reflect that they have no soul, but they may work as the root terms for adjectives concepts that describe entities with souls.   

Collective Nouns expand a noun form, they grow it. Thus is makes sense for collective nouns to use the “u/U” vowel sound. They use a “k” consonant to reflect that they have no soul (but collective nouns may refer to groups of individual things that do have souls).

Pronouns go back to using the “a/A” vowel sounds because they specifically refer to a soul bearing being. In a previous post we used the “d” consonant to describe the various beginnings of sentence forms depending on whether the sentence was a statement, a question, an answer, a greeting, etc. So I’m using the same consonant to refer to a noun of address.   

To expand the potential options in these core terms, we need to add a second vowel. There is a combination of arbitrary assignation and methodical transfer of existing semiotic meaning at this stage of the process.

The LARP I attend

Clans of Elgardt is the name of the LARP I take part in fortnightly. I've had a few queries about it, and now I've got a convenient site to send people to, someone in the group has developed a wiki for the game, and over the past few hours it's really started filling out with different players filling in their character and faction details.

The main page for the site can be found here.

The page for my character can be found here.

There is a lot more work to do on it, but it's a great start.

New Year Ideas

There have been a few good series of posts this year on the blog. Focusing on a wide range of topics, including maps, figure painting, LARP, terrain building, worldbuilding, and all sort of other game related topics between.

I've got a few more topics that I'd love to explore over the next year, including topics about how to take existing source material and bend it to your needs, expanding on existing world-building, developing character ideas within an established world, and maybe some more practical tutorials such as resin moulding and costume design.

I might even get a bit further with the conlang I've started over the last couple of weeks.

The Scavenger's Tale Now On Sale

Just letting everyone know that my post apocalyptic children's book "The Scavenger's Tale" has just been made available for sale on RPGNow. I'm trying to think of any other good sources for pdf sales, but I've had good experience with the RPGNow / OneBookShelf team.

The Scavengers Tale

Some time in the near future, I might run a Kickstarter/Indiegogo/Crowdfunded project to produce a limited run physical edition of the book.

A Fox's Guide to Conlangs (Part 9) - Starting Word Lists

I’ve just downloaded a list of the 250 most commonly used words in the English language.

Rank Word 1 the 2 of 3 to 4 and 5 a 6 in 7 is 8 it 9 you 10 that 11 he 12 was 13 for 14 on 15 are 16 with 17 as 18 I 19 his 20 they 21 be 22 at 23 one 24 have 25 this 26 from 27 or 28 had 29 by 30 hot 31 but 32 some 33 what 34 there 35 we 36 can 37 out 38 other 39 were 40 all 41 your 42 when 43 up 44 use 45 word 46 how 47 said 48 an 49 each 50 she 51 which 52 do 53 their 54 time 55 if 56 will 57 way 58 about 59 many 60 then 61 them 62 would 63 write 64 like 65 so 66 these 67 her 68 long 69 make 70 thing 71 see 72 him 73 two 74 has 75 look 76 more 77 day 78 could 79 go 80 come 81 did 82 my 83 sound 84 no 85 most 86 number 87 who 88 over 89 know 90 water 91 than 92 call 93 first 94 people 95 may 96 down 97 side 98 been 99 now 100 find 101 any 102 new 103 work 104 part 105 take 106 get 107 place 108 made 109 live 110 where 111 after 112 back 113 little 114 only 115 round 116 man 117 year 118 came 119 show 120 every 121 good 122 me 123 give 124 our 125 under 126 name 127 very 128 through 129 just 130 form 131 much 132 great 133 think 134 say 135 help 136 low 137 line 138 before 139 turn 140 cause 141 same 142 mean 143 differ 144 move 145 right 146 boy 147 old 148 too 149 does 150 tell 151 sentence 152 set 153 three 154 want 155 air 156 well 157 also 158 play 159 small 160 end 161 put 162 home 163 read 164 hand 165 port 166 large 167 spell 168 add 169 even 170 land 171 here 172 must 173 big 174 high 175 such 176 follow 177 act 178 why 179 ask 180 men 181 change 182 went 183 light 184 kind 185 off 186 need 187 house 188 picture 189 try 190 us 191 again 192 animal 193 point 194 mother 195 world 196 near 197 build 198 self 199 earth 200 father 201 head 202 stand 203 own 204 page 205 should 206 country 207 found 208 answer 209 school 210 grow 211 study 212 still 213 learn 214 plant 215 cover 216 food 217 sun 218 four 219 thought 220 let 221 keep 222 eye 223 never 224 last 225 door 226 between 227 city 228 tree 229 cross 230 since 231 hard 232 start 233 might 234 story 235 saw 236 far 237 sea 238 draw 239 left 240 late 241 run 242 don't 243 while 244 press 245 close 246 night 247 real 248 life 249 few 250 stop

A similar site offers 100 of the most commonly used verbs (but gives them in alphabetical order rather than order of usage)

accept

allow

ask

believe

borrow

break

bring

buy

can/be able

cancel

change

clean

comb

complain

cough

count

cut

dance

draw

drink

drive

eat

explain

fall

fill

find

finish

fit

fix

fly

forget

give

go

have

hear

hurt

know

learn

leave

listen

live

look

lose

make/do

need

open

close/shut

organise

pay

play

put

rain

read

reply

run

say

see

sell

send

sign

sing

sit

sleep

smoke

speak

spell

spend

stand

start/begin

study

succeed

swim

take

talk

teach

tell

think

translate

travel

try

turn off

turn on

type

understand

use

wait

wake up

want

watch

work

worry

write

Making sure I’ve got all these covered is probably a start for a Conlang, but I can see straight away that there would be a few anachronisms for a fantasy game world… can’t see much use for “Type” as a verb, except in the manner of classifying things