Conlang Fun

Hiya! I'm a conlanger, a person who constructs languages (ex: Elvish, Klingon, Navi, Esperanto.) I do what Tolken did only on a more amateur scale because I'm not a trained linguist, just a nerdy linguaphile. I've been making up languages and scripts for fun since middle school. I remember the first "language" I ever made was actually a code. It was 6th grade, I was 12. All the words were number combinations, each number represented the position of the letter in the alphabet. So "Willow" in this code would be "23912121523" = (23-9-12-12-15-23.) I wrote whole personal journal entries that way during class.

Anyway, on to the present:
This is a translation of this song from English to Runic (my most recent conlang.)

Dur iè buria, iè buria. Nèn tobl maikl iè nus’ura èri, rou fiwa. Emè mébr, emè mébr. Bu ah, tavwa im nébr. Emè mébr, bu ah tavwa im nébr.

[YOUTUBE]3-L-txhf9pg[/YOUTUBE]

Literal English translation:

During my burial, my burial. No trouble create my wrongs where? Your spirit. Me remember, me remember, but ah fate mine forget. Me remember, but ah fate mine forget.

I'm also writing a story involving the native speakers of this language. All the dialogue is written in Runic. The story is nothing yet--no set plot or direction--just scenes with people talking. I'm not sure what will come of it, but it's helpful just the same. I have created conlangs for stories before (a few sentences here and there for a certain kind of character) but never stories that are built around a conlang. This is why Runic is my favorite and most extensive conlang. I'm actually developing it as a full language instead of just scrambling up a sentence or two for bits and pieces of a story. I needed a context in which to use the language so I made up a people and a culture to match. It's been really enjoyable. If I ever turn this story into an animated short film, it would be subtitled and really fun to voice act for. (!)

Here's a sample of the story with the English translation (in the actual document, I don't write the English translation, so that's special just for you. :icon_wink)

Spoiler

“Uséf! Uséf ré ul!” Uséf! Uséf look over here!

A kid shouted over the crowd. Uséf stood and looked around for the owner of the voice, his little brother, Onéf.

“Ulsou oti,” {I see you, bro} Uséf waved, smiling brightly. The boy ran over and wrapped his skinny arms around Uséf’s waist in a tight hug. Onéf and he were very close brothers. Their Mother died after giving birth to Onéf. Their Father was a nèmfè for the Runé Fègrigrik, a most honorable and humble man with many strengths. He died in battle two years ago. Uséf, who was a traveling nèmtai away in a far away village, returned to Runé to raise his brother. Onéf was still just a nardi {boy: age 6-12}.
“Lolè as oui’ud Kégi,” {Say hello to Kégi} said Uséf as he lifted Onéf onto his lap.
“Lolè Kégi.” {Hello Kégi}
“Lolè Onéf, iè iè grow garg oui. Age rou tat?” {Hello Onéf, my my you're so big. How old are you?}
“Nis, bu nit lalos.” {7, almost 8.}
“Ouw! Ral oni A léf ki." {Wow. I feel really old now}
Just then the waitress and Narit returned to the table. Upon seeing Onéf at the table, the waitress—Élana—rejoiced.
"Ahh, iè fanti, lolè!" {Ahh, my baby, hello!} She kissed both his cheeks and pinched his belly, laughing when he squealed.
“Lè lè, Élana." {Hi, Élana}
“Iè fanti oké mogai?” {How is my baby?}
"Mogi." {Fine}
“T’ paliçék?” {And school?}
“Mm, mogai...” {Mm, good} Onéf blushed and hid his face in his hands. He was such a shy boy. Everyone laughed and together sang “Aww.” {Ayyyeee.}
“Narit…” Élana batted her eyes sweetly. Narit sighed and shook his head.
“Nèn, nèn, nèn, Élana. Fanti lask nèn rèc. ” {No, no, no Élana. No more baby talk.}
“Bu—" {But}
"Ut bu. Abu at lask n’aiwa, pés iè samur.” {I don't want to talk about that, please my love}
“Mm, mogi…or ki,” {Mm, fine...for now} Élana smiled sneakily and kissed his cheek.
Uséf placed Onéf on his feet, then stood and grabbed the bag dangling on the back of the chair. “Mog. Aisi ust.” {Okay. Gotta go.}
“Nanu,” {Same} Narit sighed, not looking forward to being alone with Élana now that she had babies on the brain. Everyone kissed each other once on the cheek as goodbye. Uséf whispered into Kégi’s ear. “Mébr, outwi stai.” {Remember, stay away}

Kégi nodded, fidgeting in his seat. After his friends left, Kégi stayed in the bar for two more hours, dazing out the window. He hoped to see Urika show up at the bar for happy hour or perhaps catch her going into some other shops on the strip. Sadly, she never did.
On the walk back home, he thought about Uséf’s warning. “Garmus, Garmus lalaos.” {Rumors my friend, always rumors.} It was no secret that everyone in Runé {name of their city} loved gossip. It couldn’t be, not with Runic mouths that ran like wildfire. Most of the time it was harmless petty things people whispered about. Kégi couldn’t imagine Urika {woman Uséf is warning Kégi to stay away from} had such bad secrets that he should steer clear of her. Uséf always had the moistest ear when it came to rumors, even though his mouth stayed mostly dry. Kégi figured his friend must have been over exaggerating, a classic Uséf characteristic.

“O, at Uséf…” {Oh that Uséf} Kégi chuckled under his breath while entering his home. He looked around, the smile on his face quickly melting into a small frown. Empty. As usual. Kégi ignored the deafening silence and dressed for bed. In his sleep, he dreamed of nothing…again.

The letter "W" makes the "Y" sound in Runic, which is why "Aw," is "Aye" and "grow" would be pronounced "groy." There is also no J, Q, X, or Z in the Runic alphabet, but there is "ai-(sounds like eye)-è, é, and ç,." The four extra letters makes up for the missing English ones.

The structure is inspired by American Sign Language (ASL), the accent is slavish, and there are some French letters used. I was studying ASL in University at the time I started creating, I studied French for two years in middle school, and I love Slavic languages. Every day I work on Runic, I try to make the pronounciation as slav as possible, though sometimes with certain phrases it gets a bit middle eastern or romance langauge sounding. It's a fun and yeah sometimes infuriating process. :lol:

So that's it. Just wanted to share my other hobby with you guys (my first hobby and profession is writing.) It's been fun and I hope there are some other conlangers or language lovers out there. Bogaik! Bye! :smilewave

 

Yay, a fellow conlanger! Thanks for the compliments. I chose "W" to make the "Y" sound because I like how in Polish "J" makes the "Y" sound, but the letter "J" just didn't look right in Runic. I was already using "W's" but I didn't like the sound "W" made in some of the words, they sounded better with "Y," so I kept "W" and used it how "J" is used in Polish--"Y" sound! (!) Worked out. As far as script, it is a series of symbols written like Japanese script, in a line from top to bottom instead of left-right or right-left. The symbols for each letter stacked atop each other in a vowel-consonant-vowel-vowel-consonant and vice versa order, all together creating the character of the word. I know it sounds strange written out, even to me. :lol: I'll post picture of it soon. It's easier to show than tell. :icon_bigg


'é', 'è' and 'ç' = ay, eh, and s -sounds.

So Kègi sounds like - Kehgi.

mébr (remember) sounds like - maybrr.

Luçfètwa (defeat) sounds like - loos-feht-ya

Atlantean as in the conlang from Atlantis: The Lost Empire? You mean you're studying it, you've created a conlang inspired by it, or it's your lang with the same name as Marc Okrand's?

Kleytan is a pretty name. It's off to an interesting start. How long have you been working on it? Do you have a people/culture to go along with it or is it a stand alone?

 

Okay, I figured it's been long enough that I might catch some new eyes this time around. So any conlangers out there or am I seriously doomed to have the most lonely hobbies ever?

 

Takso. Thanks.

 

O, A lébafi
lala gèk'ura oui uls
Tat ais mogan si
waun tat ais éfor
T' oui ust ais ais, ais ais to'em
Ust ais, ais ais, ais ais to'em
Ust uric, uric, uric to'em
Ust'ou ais.

O, A lébafi
lala gèk'ura oui uls
Tat ais mogan si
waun tat ais éfor
T' oui ust uric, uric to'em
Ust uric, uric, uric to'em
Ust'ou ais, ais ais, ais ais to'em
Ust uric

[YOUTUBE]WD-lBi-9DVc[/YOUTUBE]

 

Abu it lask pyrai'ud emè aiwa? ....Does anyone want to talk to me about this? ...