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Languary Day… Three: Word Order & Magic

Jan5

Sentence order for Whispers is
Verb Object (Object adjective) (adverb) Subject (subject adjective)
subject is the portion most likely to be dropped, as in Spanish, if it is clear from verb conjugation.

This appears to be the order – or close to it – that I like for magic-using languages.

Which leads to a note – unlike Old Tongue (The magic language in Fae Apoc/Addergoole), Whispers is not a Magic Language in and of itself. One CAN do magic in other languages (and some groups not mentioned here yet do). It’s just that the Institution and its subgroups primarily use Whispers in their often-highly-ceremonial magical practices.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1039963.html. You can comment here or there.

Languary Day Two: Phonotatics, Feet, and a bit of history

Jan3

Conlang didn’t get picked in yesterday’s rotation, so I’ll start with yesterday’s post today: phonetics and feet.

Note: Everything in Language of Whispers is subject to lots and lots of change, as it’s a work in progress. For instance, I’ve already added two more consonants.

I’ve been playing with zompists’s generators. What I’ve decided is that the Language of Whispers is, ah…

(C(L))V(C)

With CV being the most common syllable construction.

Certain consonants do not start a word – r, l, ch.

I’m still working out consonants that just don’t go together; I’m sure there’s actually a rule there. jl in that order, pd, tp, ssr.

English leans towards iambic foot (In very rough generalizations, no need to pedant on this one ;-); Whispers leans towards trochee and dactyl feet.

The origins of the Language of Whispers are lost in the deep, dark annals of history. There are those, especially in the secretive reaches of the Institution, who believe that the language was first spoken to mankind by demons or by angels. Since most of the Institution doesn’t believe in demons, this is considered more of a fanciful belief than a real one.

Over the centuries, the language has shifted – three separate dialects, various loan-words, and so on – and has suffered heavily from disuse at times. Only in small, hidden enclaves is it spoken as a casual language, and thus it often ends up using loan words for everyday items.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1038516.html. You can comment here or there.

Grafitti of the prophets…

Jan2

(xposted from facebook; sorry to the 3 people that’ll get a double post 😉

So, I was listening to Disturbed’s cover of Sound of Silence1, and I got to thinking about these lines:

“The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls”

And I thought, what if it’s not “the prophets” but “The Prophet,” the book by Kahlil Gibran2? Then it becomes a lot less deep of a line, ’cause let me tell you, when I was in school, the words of The Prophet really were written on any blank space of wall.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN8wSwmqjpk
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prophet_(book)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1037781.html. You can comment here or there.

Something like a year in review

Jan1

Wordcount

I wrote 308,414 (or thereabouts) words in 2016.
[2014 total words: 422,180]
Of those:
39% were for $ (Patreon, submissions, commissions, freelance writing work)
47% were for Audience (blog posts, prompt calls, challenges, writing prompts, serials, “more please”)
13% were flat-out for fun (stuff that jumps out that nobody asked for & I’m not sure anyone will like)

From July-December
10% of my writing was for Patreon
8% for commissions
19% for edally
12% in novellas/novel projects
10% for something you’ll see next quarter
4% blog posts
13% submissions
25% everything else.

Publications

Fluff text for Queen’s Necklace
“Company” in No Place for Us
“Lifeblood of the City” in Bloodlines
“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in Do You Feel What I Feel

Projects

Edally Academy: Completed The Angry Aetherist and began The Missing Treaty
Jumping Rings: on indefinite hiatus since June
Addergoole: the original series: Being moved to wordpress, slowly.
Rin & Girey: a new draft is happily underway
Language for Reiassan (Rin/Girey, Edally): Well underway.

I should do this monthly in 2016 so I can remember where I stand!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1037543.html. You can comment here or there.

January Theme Poll!

Jan1

Hello! It’s time for the December Theme Poll!

These polls determine the theme for Patreon writing for the month, spurring the prompt call and from there several stories.

Want to check out my Patreon? Look here.
For just $1, you can read all the Patreon stories; for $5/month, you can prompt in the prompt calls!

Don’t have Dreamwidth? Please feel free to vote in the comments.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1037242.html. You can comment here or there.

(need an Icon) #Languary Day One: Rough set of Phonemes

Jan1

The Language of Whispers (Working Name) – Working Phoneme Set

The Language of Whispers has what we can call Liturgical Whispers, a working language used for texts and ceremonies, as well as at least three modern dialects: Heretical, Rebel, and Institutional, which include some phoneme shifts in each.

This may not be a complete list, as it only has 22 11 consonant sounds and 5 vowel sounds. But it’s a start.

I based the set off of a gibberish language I’ve used from time to time.

ssuhssuh nuhbahr nuhchuh nihbah nuh sseedush…

labial labiodental dental alveolar alv-pal velar glottal
stops (p)b t d

 (k)
fricatives f(v) θ ð ss sh

h
affricates pf ch j
approximants   l
nasals m n

Added a couple when I made it a table; they’re in bold. Dialectical differences are in parentheses.

ss
n
m
ch/k
h
rr
sh
t
b/p
d
f/v

uh
oe/oo
ah/ae
eh
ee
ih

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1036445.html. You can comment here or there.

Name My Characters, and possibly give them some appearance-based traits

Dec30

Genre: just-past-modern fantastic realism meets cyberpunk paranormal romance

Characters: College-age layabout who is handsome and clever, generally quite lucky
Woman a few years older, in Shadowrun she’d be a runner, possibly a street shaman.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1034977.html. You can comment here or there.

Time to start knitting again!

Dec30

I got my mom learning-to-knit for Christmas – 2 sets of needles, 4 skeins of yarn, and this pattern, because it involves:
* only knit stitches, no purl
* color changes
* increases
* decreases

(Mom & Dad have a long long flight to New Zealand ahead of them in January; I thought she’d best be prepared).

Of course, if I’m going to go drive up to Rochester & show my mom how to knit, I probably ought to have knitted in the last year or two, no? And it’s been a while.

I might do another kerchief, like this or this. Don’t need a hat, maybe I’ll work on the Shahin Wristies I’ve been thinking about for 100 years.

Maybe I’ll just dump all my yarn on the living room floor and see what jumps out. What do you think?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1034545.html. You can comment here or there.

Another Conlang? Perhaps!

Dec30

So [twitter.com profile] shutsumon has asked me to take part in Languary in January:

Get the phonology, phonotactics and basic grammar of a new language started

So, two things:

1) who wants to join us?

2) what am I gonna start a language for?

..(2a) I DO have an urban fantasy/cyberpunk setting on the back burner that I’ve been considering…
..(2b) There’s always Old Tongue from Addergoole, but that’s a nightmare
..(2c) What else?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1034372.html. You can comment here or there.