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Revision as of 10:59, 3 February 2014
, 3 February 2014→Creating a descendant of a modern language chapter: Finished this section for now
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Now that you're thinking like a fortune teller, a wizard, or an ethically-challenging supercomputer given more control of human life than is safe, it's time to thing about your focus. | Now that you're thinking like a fortune teller, a wizard, or an ethically-challenging supercomputer given more control of human life than is safe, it's time to thing about your focus. | ||
* Younger languages generally require more thought about phonology, vocabulary and style, and ''then'' the results on grammar | * Younger languages generally require more thought about phonology, vocabulary and style, and ''then'' the results on grammar. | ||
* Older languages generally require a goal to work towards - e.g. make a change to the language, and ''then'' explain it and see if it fits | * Older languages generally require a goal to work towards - e.g. make a change to the language, and ''then'' explain it and see if it fits. | ||
...''however'', that said, you can use either method for either language. There's no strict rules, they're purely recommmendations to help make things more efficient. For example, making an older language using the guide for younger languages could take you on a very long journey where you might lose your place. You might want that, actually. With younger languages, you might have a specific goal, and find it easier to explain changes away after you've made them - but this might get unrealistic fast (for example, South Australian English /fa:st/ isn't going to turn into /hi:çþ/ overnight without a ''very'' good explanation). | ...''however'', that said, you can use either method for either language. There's no strict rules, they're purely recommmendations to help make things more efficient. For example, making an older language using the guide for younger languages could take you on a very long journey where you might lose your place. You might want that, actually. With younger languages, you might have a specific goal, and find it easier to explain changes away after you've made them - but this might get unrealistic fast (for example, South Australian English /fa:st/ isn't going to turn into /hi:çþ/ overnight without a ''very'' good explanation). | ||
===Step | ===Step Frei: Interpreting the Visions=== | ||
''"In 5 years time, I see you as a generous fisherman - oh, wait, I meant I see you getting eaten by a shark and having house looted, mah bad!"'' | ''"In 5 years time, I see you as a generous fisherman - oh, wait, I meant I see you getting eaten by a shark and having your house looted, mah bad!"'' | ||
You want to know the context of your future language, both the things that you want to be in the context, and things that should naturally be part of the context. | You want to know the context of your future language, both the things that you want to be in the context, and things that should naturally be part of the context. | ||
For example: Spanish in North America in the year 2200AD, during the reign of Immortal Overlord Obama | For example: Spanish in North America in the year 2200AD (SpanNA), during the reign of Immortal Overlord Obama. | ||
What do we want? | |||
* Spanish 200 years later | |||
* Probably some English influence on vocabulary and grammar too | |||
What do we need to keep in mind? | |||
* Will English influence SpanNA's phonology? | |||
** On a similar note, how will English evolve phonologically over that 200 years, and how will it influence SpanNA? | |||
* What sort of community is it? | |||
** Are they open to learners? (affects purity) | |||
** Are they monolingual, bilingual, trilingual? Do they codeswitch a lot? (affects purity) | |||
** Do they see their own language as a standard, or do they consider another variety of Spanish as "correct"? (affects whether the language follows after another related one, or looks for its own identity) | |||
... and so on. | |||
Basically, you want to make sure that the future you're seeing is complete and internally rather consistent with what you want. Injecting fantasy to oil the gears of creativity is OK, but even good fantasy tales need consistency! | |||
====Semistep Frei-poñt-vån: Don't worry, everyone goes through this stage!==== | |||
''うそだよ'' | |||
Here's some common things that can affect any language, for any number of reasons (half the fun is pretending you know why!): | |||
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenition Lenition] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortition Fortition]. Lenition is why we say "three" in English instead of "tree". Fortition is why Germans say "drei" instead of "threi". On the other hand, '''fortition ''then'' lenition''' is why Germans say "Wasser" instead of "Water". | |||
* Vowel changes, such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology#Devoicing devoicing], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift diphthongisation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vowel_harmony vowel harmony]. | |||
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language Palatalisation] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Arrernte_language#Phonology Labialisation] | |||
* A combination of some or all of the above, such as in French, German and Irish. | |||
===Step Fwå: Comparing Ancestor with Descendent=== | |||
''AKA when you find out that your Chihuahua is possessed by your great grandfather's vengeful spirit.'' | |||
A good step towards finding a codified version of your dream descendant language is to compare what you have so far with the original language via translating passages from it. A quick ad hoc example: | |||
: English (normal): ''Today I had eggs and ham on my pizza. It was amazing.'' | |||
: English (hypothetical descendent): ''Tsdää, åå dån hev jeg ån hem on måå petsa. Ben määz'' | |||
From this, I can compare all the changes from the original language word by word, see how it all flows together, see if I've accidentally missed something or converted a word wrongly (irregularities are fine as long as you're happy with justifying them), and ultimately I can make sure I can appreciate the evolution that's taken place. | |||
==Chapter on sibling-makery, e.g., Harākti== | ==Chapter on sibling-makery, e.g., Harākti== | ||
[[Category:Guides]] | [[Category:Guides]] | ||