Thuum.org

A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Thuum.org

A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Fantasy Languages

 1 

Vuldovyol
May 2, 2018

The Language I created is Humanic, complete with a custom alphabet.

by Vuldovyol
May 2, 2018

The Language I created is Humanic, complete with a custom alphabet.


Hahdremro
May 3, 2018

Do you have any more details about this language? I'd be interested in learning more about it.

 

I have a language of my own that I think I'll share here. I'll just copy and paste much of what I have said elsewhere (in PM) so that it is available here. This is by no means a complete list of the information I have on the language as I had created it back when I was in high school, but it describes most of the language, which is called Saurian. I can provide further details as needed or requested. With only a couple edits to better fit the format of a forum post instead of a one-sided conversation from my private messages, here's what I'd written before:

 

So, this deserves a bit of background first. Back in high school, I was very interested in the lore of the Lizardmen from Warhammer Fantasy. Their rulebook included a small sample of about twenty words in the "Saurian" language, but I wanted to add more to that and use this language in a few (admittedly cringeworthy) forum role plays. I created some fairly complex (and confusing) syntax rules and added to the lexicon over time. It used a lot of apostrophes, the mark of a novice conlanger, but it was fun to speak a language that nobody else knew.

------

Many words have multiple meanings that are related, but they rely on context. For example, "qua" can mean both "blood" and "fate," and "ximni" means both "smoke" and "suggestion."

Adjectives are attached to the end of nouns, with apostrophes connecting the adjective to the noun and other adjectives. (Zec'huini'cho = "Insignificant and warmblooded foe," where "zec" is "foe/outsider," "huini" is "insignificant/small," and "cho" is "warmblooded/foolish.") These apostrophes represent either soft or loud tongue clicks, depending on their juxtaposition with hard or soft consonants (detailed in the original documents where I had written about the language).

One thing that makes Saurian stand out from other languages is the distinction between tangible and intangible nouns, and their interaction with the pronunciation of a phrase. Tangible nouns, things that can be physically observed (like a sword or a beast) act normally as described above. However, intangible nouns, such as concepts or anything that is immaterial (such as emotions and gods), are not separated from their adjectives by an apostrophe. (Ex: "Atakai" means "ancient prophecy." "Ata" is "foresee/prophecy," and "kai" is "old." They are intangible, and thus not separated by an apostrophe.)

The exception to this rule is if there are two consecutive vowels between two of the words in an intangible noun phrase. "Qua'oxkor" means "mighty and worthy fate" (where "qua" is "fate," "ox" is "worthy," and "kor" is "mighty"). Whereas "ox" and "kor" remain together due to the noun phrase being intangible, the A in "qua" and the O in "ox" conflict with one another, and they must be separated by an apostrophe to prevent creating either a new word or an unpronounceable word. This "intangible apostrophe" does not represent a tongue click, but a glottal stop.

Conjunctions and prepositions are added inside of a noun phrase, or attached at the start or end of it. Verbs and adverbs work similarly to noun phrases and intangible noun phrases. Articles are dropped altogether.

------

As far as I'm aware, those are the only parts of speech that are available to me as a native English speaker. I didn't come up with any new parts of speech specifically for this language.

The original source for the language supplied a few pronunciation tips, but many of those were borderline nonsensical and I'd likely drop them if I were to ever revise this language at all. However, some of them might be worthwhile, such as X being pronounced similarly to CH, or words usually being stressed on the second to last vowel (excluding U). I haven't decided upon which of the pre-existing rules to keep yet.

There was at least one allophone given in the original source, where LL is pronounced as a long L. I may add more eventually, if I think they would work well. I suppose the hard and soft tongue clicks (represented by the apostrophes) would count as allophones, wouldn't they? I should probably use different symbols to differentiate between the two distinct sounds.

The pronunciation of TL is different as well, as more of a click with the side of the tongue rather than the usual English pronunciation of the letters. (I'm not yet familiar enough with phonological terminology to know the proper word for it.)

Other than that, I can't think of any other major rules regarding pronunciation.

------

I'm afraid I'm not an experienced enough linguist to quite have a comprehensive list of phenomes yet, aside from a few letters here and there that should ideally have their own symbols to avoid confusion. Keep in mind that this whole thing was written by me as a 17 year old, and I haven't changed it since then. If you'd like to help me come up with a list of phenomes based (probably only loosely) on the rules I wrote back then, I'd be quite grateful! This was my first foray into linguistics, let along conlangs, and I'd love to revisit it now that I'm a bit more knowledgeable on the subject. It would be fun to continue making this language grow, all these years later.

The source material provided some examples of "glyphs" for the Saurian language, but they are essentially pictographs and are far too complex to be practical. I'd prefer to create an original alphabet if possible, and apply each symbol to a different phenome. I have a couple artist friends who dabble in linguistics, so I can see if they're willing to contribute some ideas about what style of letters to use. I'm considering making it an artlang, in a way, but I'd also like for it to be relatively accessible. I'm fairly new to language and alphabet creation, but I'd like to give them both a try, and hopefully I'll learn something in the process.

by Hahdremro
May 3, 2018

Do you have any more details about this language? I'd be interested in learning more about it.

 

I have a language of my own that I think I'll share here. I'll just copy and paste much of what I have said elsewhere (in PM) so that it is available here. This is by no means a complete list of the information I have on the language as I had created it back when I was in high school, but it describes most of the language, which is called Saurian. I can provide further details as needed or requested. With only a couple edits to better fit the format of a forum post instead of a one-sided conversation from my private messages, here's what I'd written before:

 

So, this deserves a bit of background first. Back in high school, I was very interested in the lore of the Lizardmen from Warhammer Fantasy. Their rulebook included a small sample of about twenty words in the "Saurian" language, but I wanted to add more to that and use this language in a few (admittedly cringeworthy) forum role plays. I created some fairly complex (and confusing) syntax rules and added to the lexicon over time. It used a lot of apostrophes, the mark of a novice conlanger, but it was fun to speak a language that nobody else knew.

------

Many words have multiple meanings that are related, but they rely on context. For example, "qua" can mean both "blood" and "fate," and "ximni" means both "smoke" and "suggestion."

Adjectives are attached to the end of nouns, with apostrophes connecting the adjective to the noun and other adjectives. (Zec'huini'cho = "Insignificant and warmblooded foe," where "zec" is "foe/outsider," "huini" is "insignificant/small," and "cho" is "warmblooded/foolish.") These apostrophes represent either soft or loud tongue clicks, depending on their juxtaposition with hard or soft consonants (detailed in the original documents where I had written about the language).

One thing that makes Saurian stand out from other languages is the distinction between tangible and intangible nouns, and their interaction with the pronunciation of a phrase. Tangible nouns, things that can be physically observed (like a sword or a beast) act normally as described above. However, intangible nouns, such as concepts or anything that is immaterial (such as emotions and gods), are not separated from their adjectives by an apostrophe. (Ex: "Atakai" means "ancient prophecy." "Ata" is "foresee/prophecy," and "kai" is "old." They are intangible, and thus not separated by an apostrophe.)

The exception to this rule is if there are two consecutive vowels between two of the words in an intangible noun phrase. "Qua'oxkor" means "mighty and worthy fate" (where "qua" is "fate," "ox" is "worthy," and "kor" is "mighty"). Whereas "ox" and "kor" remain together due to the noun phrase being intangible, the A in "qua" and the O in "ox" conflict with one another, and they must be separated by an apostrophe to prevent creating either a new word or an unpronounceable word. This "intangible apostrophe" does not represent a tongue click, but a glottal stop.

Conjunctions and prepositions are added inside of a noun phrase, or attached at the start or end of it. Verbs and adverbs work similarly to noun phrases and intangible noun phrases. Articles are dropped altogether.

------

As far as I'm aware, those are the only parts of speech that are available to me as a native English speaker. I didn't come up with any new parts of speech specifically for this language.

The original source for the language supplied a few pronunciation tips, but many of those were borderline nonsensical and I'd likely drop them if I were to ever revise this language at all. However, some of them might be worthwhile, such as X being pronounced similarly to CH, or words usually being stressed on the second to last vowel (excluding U). I haven't decided upon which of the pre-existing rules to keep yet.

There was at least one allophone given in the original source, where LL is pronounced as a long L. I may add more eventually, if I think they would work well. I suppose the hard and soft tongue clicks (represented by the apostrophes) would count as allophones, wouldn't they? I should probably use different symbols to differentiate between the two distinct sounds.

The pronunciation of TL is different as well, as more of a click with the side of the tongue rather than the usual English pronunciation of the letters. (I'm not yet familiar enough with phonological terminology to know the proper word for it.)

Other than that, I can't think of any other major rules regarding pronunciation.

------

I'm afraid I'm not an experienced enough linguist to quite have a comprehensive list of phenomes yet, aside from a few letters here and there that should ideally have their own symbols to avoid confusion. Keep in mind that this whole thing was written by me as a 17 year old, and I haven't changed it since then. If you'd like to help me come up with a list of phenomes based (probably only loosely) on the rules I wrote back then, I'd be quite grateful! This was my first foray into linguistics, let along conlangs, and I'd love to revisit it now that I'm a bit more knowledgeable on the subject. It would be fun to continue making this language grow, all these years later.

The source material provided some examples of "glyphs" for the Saurian language, but they are essentially pictographs and are far too complex to be practical. I'd prefer to create an original alphabet if possible, and apply each symbol to a different phenome. I have a couple artist friends who dabble in linguistics, so I can see if they're willing to contribute some ideas about what style of letters to use. I'm considering making it an artlang, in a way, but I'd also like for it to be relatively accessible. I'm fairly new to language and alphabet creation, but I'd like to give them both a try, and hopefully I'll learn something in the process.


Mulwahhah
May 11, 2018

Theres sindarin one of the elvish languages of the lord of the rings 

by Mulwahhah
May 11, 2018

Theres sindarin one of the elvish languages of the lord of the rings 


Hahdremro
May 11, 2018
The hero of kva

Theres sindarin one of the elvish languages of the lord of the rings 

There is also its sister language, Quenya. I plan on learning both of those once I have completely mastered Dovahzul. After that, I might actually spend my time learning a useful language for once. Like Latin. Or Esperanto. Or Klingon.

by Hahdremro
May 11, 2018
The hero of kva

Theres sindarin one of the elvish languages of the lord of the rings 

There is also its sister language, Quenya. I plan on learning both of those once I have completely mastered Dovahzul. After that, I might actually spend my time learning a useful language for once. Like Latin. Or Esperanto. Or Klingon.


Vuldovyol
May 14, 2018

I will be learning Latin in High School next year

by Vuldovyol
May 14, 2018

I will be learning Latin in High School next year


Mulwahhah
May 21, 2018
Wait klingon from star trek how is that useful
by Mulwahhah
May 21, 2018
Wait klingon from star trek how is that useful

Mulwahhah
May 21, 2018
There is also the daedric alphabet, khajiiti, tes elvish, and maybe akaviiri
by Mulwahhah
May 21, 2018
There is also the daedric alphabet, khajiiti, tes elvish, and maybe akaviiri

Hahdremro
May 21, 2018
The hero of kva
Wait klingon from star trek how is that useful

I was joking. I plan to only learn languages that have extremely niche uses, like Dovahzul. I'm going to be the Alpha Nerd polyglot and it will be great.

There is also the daedric alphabet, khajiiti, tes elvish, and maybe akaviiri

I'm less interested in the alphabets and more interested in the actual languages. None of those has been expanded enough in the lore to be something I'd bother learning, and although there is a decently impressive lexicon of Ayleidoon words that I might use for something eventually, it's not quite enough to constitute a language.

by Hahdremro
May 21, 2018
The hero of kva
Wait klingon from star trek how is that useful

I was joking. I plan to only learn languages that have extremely niche uses, like Dovahzul. I'm going to be the Alpha Nerd polyglot and it will be great.

There is also the daedric alphabet, khajiiti, tes elvish, and maybe akaviiri

I'm less interested in the alphabets and more interested in the actual languages. None of those has been expanded enough in the lore to be something I'd bother learning, and although there is a decently impressive lexicon of Ayleidoon words that I might use for something eventually, it's not quite enough to constitute a language.


[deleted]
September 14, 2018

I usually leave Gravity Falls ciphers around my school whiteboards, but I may start leaving the Dovahzul runes around instead. My name is relatively short, though, and my Dragon name is long, so maybe I'll stick with the other cipher. This--this counts, right?

by [deleted]
September 14, 2018

I usually leave Gravity Falls ciphers around my school whiteboards, but I may start leaving the Dovahzul runes around instead. My name is relatively short, though, and my Dragon name is long, so maybe I'll stick with the other cipher. This--this counts, right?

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