Tag Archives: real world

Conlanging and the Real Life

Soapbox, , , , ,

There hasn’t been a lot going on here recently. This is because even though I have accumulated a bunch of papers I want to read for getting inspiration for conlanging, especially regarding the fledgling conlang I sketched out earlier …

A few papers
Some linguistics papers I want to read for conlanging. Currently, there are more important things to do, though.

… I’m currently caught up in the middle of preparing work on my M.A. thesis on adjective morphosyntax in Middle High German as exhibited by a bunch of late-13th-century texts both pragmatic and literary.

I am officially supposed to start working on it on August 18; my thesis has to be submitted in February 2016. It’s probably not like I won’t be doing anything but working on my thesis, but if there’s not a lot of discussion of fictional languages going on here for the next 6 months, this is the most likely reason why. Plus, conlanging is not the only thing I do in my spare time.

Returning to Germany Soon

Asides, Soapbox, , ,
[gloss]Tadayang nā ya Minkayi panganya-ngas.
time-A 1SG.GEN LOC Canada end-LOC=almost[/gloss]
My time in Canada is almost up.

[gloss]Ang sa-sahāy ya Keynami mangasaha bihanya yo miday.
AT return-1SG.A.T LOC Germany towards week-LOC four approximately.[/gloss]
I will return to Germany in approximately four weeks.

[gloss]Kamayāng mino nay giday yanoyam eng engara kardang edaya pisu-pisu ya Keynami nārya, sa vacyang-mas hati metida enyana palung nay yanoavan veno miday ya Sikatay.
be.equal-1SG.A happy and sad because AT.INAN be.more-3SG.INAN school.T here exhausting LOC Germany although, PT like-1SG.A=kind.of ambiance relaxed everything-GEN else and landscape.T beautiful around LOC Victoria.[/gloss]
I am both happy and sad because although school here is more exhausting than in Germany, I kind of like the relaxed ambience of everything else and the beautiful landscape around Victoria.

[gloss]Bimakanganjas-kay nā matayena
photo-PL.P=some 1SG.GEN summer-GEN[/gloss]
Some of my photos from the summer

Some Toponyms

Translations,

When doing translations, I sometimes also need real-world toponyms besides the ones for (more or less) independent countries and their capitals. Here’s an assortment of more or less recent coinings:

Cities
Braunschweig – Ruminkay < aruno ‘brown’ + minkay ‘settlement’
Marburg — Litareng < lito ‘border’ + -areng ~ ayron ‘fortification, town’
Frankfurt — Kahalukay < kahan ‘spear’ (cf. France) + lukay ‘ford’
Victoria — Sikatay < sikatan ‘victory’

Territories
Britain — Dahasi < dahas ‘shape, form’ (cf. Wikipedia, “Britain (place name)”)
British Columbia — Ruhayani Dahasi (cf. Britain, Colombia)
England — Angli (etymology uncertain, possibly related to the shape of the Anglish homeland)
Hesse – Hassi (no information on etymology found)
(Lower) Saxony – Rajumin (eyreng) < raju ‘dagger’ + -min ~ mitan- ‘live, dwell’ (+ eyreng ‘lower’)