Glatta liixkosja

Spetsnaz.Invidika · Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:01 am

<Has been slightly edited!>

I thought, since I figure /someone/ is probably interested, I'd start a post about the construct language I've been working on. Please note that it is an artistic construct language, ergo designed to somewhat mimic the natural illogical nature of languages, but at the same time isn't totally random (eg, English spelling). I'm not going to turn this into a grammar lesson, but I figured some people would be interested. x3

Plus, maybe some people will have random input that might be useful, though I warn you, I'll probably shoot down a /lot/. XD

And of course none of this is final yet, this is totally a WIP... It changes constantly.

Glatta liixkosja (GL, for ease) technically uses the Roman alphabet, but lacks the following letters: H, M, J, C, Q, Y, W, B and P. However, it also has the additional letters Â, Ê, Ü, Ё. Also unique to it is the iâj. The iâj is not a letter, but a symbol: "j" (it is NOT like the English or German j). It has two functions: It modifies an s sound to become sh, and also links whichever two vowels are preceeding it into a dipthong ("ia" would be "ee-aa", but "iaj" is like "ya", a smooth glide rather than two syllables)
[[Adjacent vowels are pronounced as separate syllables without a iâj!]]

There are a few extra sounds and symbols not equivalent to the English ones:
~ j is a iâj, NOT a letter, as explained.
~ z is not 'zz', but rather 'ts'
~ sj is, as described, 'sh'.
~ zj is 'ch' (because ch = t+sh, and z = ts, so it's like tsj, ergo zj)
<New> ~ nj is 'ng' as in 'running'
<New> ~ u is not 'oo' or 'uh', but rather 'ou', like the ou in 'could' or the u in 'put'
<New> ~ o is not 'oh', but rather 'ah', like the long chin-dropped o in 'fox' or the 'aw' in 'tawny'
~ â is 'ai' (just like I or Eye), always a dipthong
~ ê is 'ei' (just like 'Bay' or the English letter A), always a dipthong [in speech, this usually gets blended to the European E, which sounds kind of halfway between e and i -- think the E in 'egg')
~ ü is 'uh', as in 'gun'
~ ё is 'ih', like 'shin' or 'fit
~ x is a paletal fricative -- in German it's 'ch'. Put your tongue as if to say 'sh', then drop the tip a bit. Similar to a cat hissing. (this can change slightly depending on which class of vowel it follows)

Two further notes:
~ R is trilled, unless it is used as a vowel (which it can be -- don't be so surprised, you've been using it as one for a long time. The word 'actor' is pronounced without the O, just 'actr', if you think about it). For example the word Matr (mother), it is pronounced as in English and is considered a vowel. Otherwise it is trilled.
~ This language is designed to be what foxes would speak if they really could speak, so with that in mind... Sounds I believe their general mouth structure would have difficulty forming are not present in this language (hence the lack of an M, B, P or long U or O)

It sounds like a lot, but it's all actually rather logical -- the ^ indicates an '-i' and the umlauts move the sound "back" in your mouth a little.

Stress on syllables is important, and there are only three rules: 1: if there is any number of â or ê in the word, stress will always fall on /one/ of them. 2: if there is a double-vowel, the stress will always fall on that (they are not pronounced differently, though often end up slightly 'lengthened'). 3: if there's a double-consonant somewhere, the stress will always fall on the syllable right before it.

There are two word genders and an undecided number of cases...

So, you can figure out how to pronounced "Glatta liixkosja' now ;3 Incidentally, the name literally translates to "Language of foxes" or "Foxish language", (long story). Glatta = (f) language; Liixka = fox, -zja or -sja is a suffix relating to genetive case (and which you use has to do with the class of the preceeding vowel, gnassa or sjtie).

Have fun breaking your brains. ;3 questions, comments, complaints, etc?

(edit) Thought I'd give some examples of just a couple words. This language mostly uses a Latin base, but there are a lot of "native" words as well as a few loanwords or at least loaned roots (like lis- for foxes)

~ Dutauj (m) - death
~ Êluijt (f) - tree
~ Kuvassa (f) - don't know yet, honestly
~ Liixka (f) - fox
~ Sjёntâkê (m) - (Okay, so that's a name...)
~ Glatta (f) - language
~ Vivie (m) - life
~ Sangauj (m) - blood
~ Azje (m) - pain
~ Matr (f) - mother

Pronouns later. ;3

Rivet · Unread post by **Rivet** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 4:48 pm

I want to give you a high five just for going into such detail on this. *highfive!*

Question though-- why is it called language of the foxes?

Spetsnaz.Invidika · Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:24 pm

Rivet wrote:Question though-- why is it called language of the foxes?

Well, I got sucked into the furry fandom a while ago (even though really I don't consider myself one -- I'm too normal XD), but that's not raelly much of a reason. Some random RPer on FurryMUCK one time created an extremely simple Foxish Language, as his roleplay character was just a fox that couldn't talk, and was just perpetually cute. While that Foxish is an insult to the word 'language', I really liked the way "Foxish" rolled off the tongue, and also I have some semi-spiritual stuff associated with fox -- so I sort of thought it would be fun to imagine the language foxes /would/ use if they had one (hence, for example, the large amount of fricatives and the lack of an M, which would be physically impossible for a fox to pronounce)

Rivet · Unread post by **Rivet** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:29 pm

Ah! I had a feeling it did have furry roots. Interesting, and I agree that "M" would be nigh-impossible for a fox to pronounce; it actually kind bothers me when I'm reading a book and the animals start talking English when they can't possibly form the words... I mean, if it's something like Redwall or The Lion King, artistic license covers it and I'm cool, but in an otherwise logical story it just grinds my gears a bit, you know?

Spetsnaz.Invidika · Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:10 am

Yeah... I've considered eliminating B, P and V and making the F bilabial (ie, instead of between lower teeth and lip, just between your lips; as if you're blowing out a candle)... Because those four sounds would be also impossible (or difficult) for a fox to pronounce (except the bilabial F).

But I really like the letters V and F...

*Thinking out loud now* Hm. Actually, V and F are concievably possible -- assuming foxes had more flexible lips and jaws (they'd need it to speak), they could probably press their lower teeth to their upper lips. It would sound slightly different, but would be pronouncable. B and P are bilabial stops though, so that would need to be the lips sealing together momentarily, which couldn't be done (due to the split-lip). Hm! Yes, I think I'll go with it. And I just noticed none of the words I've created so far actually have a B or P anyway. x3

TL;DR: Foxish also has no B or P.

Wistwin · Unread post by **Wistwin** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:03 am

Wow.

That's really awesome. I think I'm going to enjoy breaking my brain for this language.

Beastly · Unread post by **Beastly** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:57 am

mines already broken

u lost me at the topic title

Rainshade · Unread post by **Rainshade** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:32 am

i skimmed through it and i think it's really cool and creative, but you lost meh at "it changes constantly". D: sorry. great work though!

Spetsnaz.Invidika · Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:11 pm

Rainshade wrote:but you lost meh at "it changes constantly". D:

Oh, I just meant that I haven't "created" this language, I'm creating it. x3 The only way to make it is to experiment and try different things, and when I do, sometimes I find things that make more sense -- since I'm kind of mimicing the way languages actually evolve. When that happens, I tweak it.

Rivet · Unread post by **Rivet** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 4:33 pm

I also believe that the best way to create the details of something is to mimic actual evolution. That's how I figure out specifics for species I create; start with a goal in mind, then evolve them from some ancestor species. It's fun when you get into it! =D

artemis-lady-warrior · Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:08 pm

????????????????????????? I barely know my own language there's no way I can learn this. I can't even learn Al Behd from FFX. XD

Beastly · Unread post by **Beastly** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:41 am

artemis-lady-warrior wrote:????????????????????????? I barely know my own language there's no way I can learn this. I can't even learn Al Behd from FFX. XD

we can create our own language artemis =P
keep it nice and simple that jus the 2 of us know

Rainshade · Unread post by **Rainshade** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:28 am

Spetsnaz.Invidika wrote:
Rainshade wrote:but you lost meh at "it changes constantly". D:
Oh, I just meant that I haven't "created" this language, I'm creating it. x3 The only way to make it is to experiment and try different things, and when I do, sometimes I find things that make more sense -- since I'm kind of mimicing the way languages actually evolve. When that happens, I tweak it.

*head-desk* NO!!! i mean that after that, the next few words/phrases were what got meh confused!!! i get what you're trying to say, but the actual "it changes constantly" part isn't what confused meh.

Beastly wrote:
artemis-lady-warrior wrote:????????????????????????? I barely know my own language there's no way I can learn this. I can't even learn Al Behd from FFX. XD
we can create our own language artemis =P
keep it nice and simple that jus the 2 of us know

can i learn it tooo???

artemis-lady-warrior · Sat Jan 19, 2008 9:55 am

Beastly wrote:
artemis-lady-warrior wrote:????????????????????????? I barely know my own language there's no way I can learn this. I can't even learn Al Behd from FFX. XD
we can create our own language artemis =P
keep it nice and simple that jus the 2 of us know
can i learn it tooo???

I guess you can. As long as it's not Al Bhed