Before November ends, a progress update.

I quit this year's nanowrimo 20 days ago, with a total word count of 9260. I'm gonna need at least two more year to reach 50k words, combined, that is.

I like what I've written so far. It's much, much better than last year's; more fresh and imaginative. In fact, I'm considering resuming work on it once I have a break, whenever/if I have a break.

NaNoWriMo. Again. Hmm.

In three days starts a new NaNoWriMo, my second. My first thought is: I only posted 8 entries here since the last one. Lazy bastard!!!!

My second thought, however, is: Will I get to finish my novel this time? My guess is: No.

Unlike last year I'm burdened with several papers due on November, exams, deadlines at work and a dreadful tiredness, probably caused by the former. And writting 1500+ words a day may be easy for you, even maybe for last-year-me, but not for present-day-me. Even if I had the time (no more than 2 hours a day in my experience), which I use for a much needed nap after work and before class nowadays, I would still need to find the inspiration and motivation to do so. "Dude, go see a doctor", some might say. I know what I need to do. I'm just not doing it. (Spoiler: get more sleep, loose weight, drink less coffee)

The other problem is what the hell could I write about? Would it be motivating to finish last year's effort? Hmm. No. Moving along... How about the story of a young man who's given a ring, and must travel to mount Wolfenstein to destroy it? ... That sounds good!

A review of the history behind Adnen

Once upon a time, there was a roleplaying group, gamemastered by yours truly, and set in Middle Earth (using ICE's MERP). I never liked rpg modules (in general), so since the beginning I wrote every adventure from scratch, creating scenarios, peoples, plots, regional politics, etc..

In time, I had enough material to move it from Middle Earth to its own world. It was basically a clone of MERP's Middle Earth, with the same combat resolution, magic system and treatment of non-combat abilities.

Around the same time I discovered GEM, by Neale Davidson, a generic set of rules adaptable to almost any kind of setting, and fell in love. I immediately started porting all my material from MERP to GEM, something my players hated, since we had to give up roleplaying for several months, and when we finally resumed playing, they felt their characters were not as powerfull as before (A side effect of switching from a fantasy RPG to a more 'realistic' set of rules.); However, in the meantime I drew the first maps of what would be Staliope, Nêke (back then Neike-Mih) and the whole continent of Adnen. Also around that same time, The king of Kail was transfomed from your regular tiranical ruler to a Sauron-like Necromancer (A curse in my conwolrd I'm still fighting to eradicate... figuratively speaking), adapting the Abominations suplement for GEM.

And then the group broke. I wasn't particularly sad, not because I didn't like roleplaying with them, but because I had found a new love: Conworlding.


To be continued...

Substratum ad nauseam

A recent discussion over at the ZBB about substratum influences made me revisit the influence past interactions between different tribes would have in the various branches of the PPA language family. When I first thought about it, there were few languages to work with (following the silly rpg idea of 1 race = 1 language), kaleando for the Kala, stalio for Staliope, pekemí for the Pekemí, varzo for the varzum and kail for the, um, Kail; and the influences were very simple: Kaleando (my 'elves tongue', back in the day) would influence Stalio and that was it.

The situation nowadays is so different; Stalio and Pekemí have divided into many dialect part of the PPA family (a new culture, that of the Aescal, was created). Kaleando is now actually a set of 4 languages, part of a dialect continuum. Varzo is still undeveloped and Kail is part of the huge PN language family.

So, how did languages interact? How did all the various dialects became dominant languages? Where there languages that became extinct?

This last question is obvious and important, although hard for a conlanger. Of course there should be extinct languages, but which ones? Arggh!!!!!! I can't kill one of my babies!!!! Can you!? Huh?

Hmm. I have some conlang sketches that are awful enough to be discarded... I might borrow some lexicon into my main conlangs first...

One thing that became clear early on while working on PPA's daughters is that they got separated rather abruptly (few developments in common), so they should not interact for some time. Proto Aescal interacts with Sadori early on (in fact, some PA tribes are conquered by the Sadori), maybe with the Varzum later on. Some other language [Ntaske'ak?] later, and then the fun begins. The Arcian tribes (part of PA) meet the Nimik (PP tribes) and the Pekemí. It will be interesting to see how the various cognates merge, coexist, antagonize.

Of course, first I have to finish the sound changes from PPA to PA....

Babel by Google

Sometimes, when I feel extremely bored, I like to play with Google Translate. I find it so amusing I can type random texts for hours, doing combinations, swtching from english to spanish, back to english, to french, then to german, back to french, back to english, to russian, back to english, etc.

Here's what I came up just a few moments ago:

El primer centauro comprendió que el horno no estaba para bollos; sin embargo, apoyó a otros bípedos para que comiencen una puja por el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

>The first centaur realized that the oven was not for rolls, but others supported bípedos to begin a bid for recognition of their civil rights

>>El primer centauro se dieron cuenta de que el horno no estaba para bollos, pero otros bípedos apoya a comenzar una puja por el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

>Der erste Zentaur klar, dass der Ofen war nicht für Rollen, aber auch andere, unterstützt bípedos zu beginnen, ein Angebot für die Anerkennung ihrer bürgerlichen Rechte

>Il primo centauro capito che il forno non è stato per rotoli, ma altri sostenuto bípedos per iniziare una offerta per il riconoscimento dei loro diritti civili

>O primeiro centauro percebeu que o forno não era para rolos, mas outros apoiaram bípedos para iniciar um lance para o reconhecimento dos seus direitos civis

>Le premier centaure rendu compte que le four n'était pas pour rouleaux, mais d'autres soutenu bípedos de commencer une offre pour la reconnaissance de leurs droits civils

>>The first centaur found that the oven is not for roles, but other start, supported bípedos an offer for the recognition of their civil rights

>>>El primer centauro encontró que el horno no está para papeles, pero otras comienzan, con el apoyo bípedos una oferta para el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

>>>>The first centaur found that the oven is not for paper, but other start, with the support bípedos a bid for recognition of their civil rights

>>>>>El primer centauro encontró que el horno no está para el papel, pero otras comienzan, con el apoyo bípedos una oferta para el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles


So, basically, I went from this:

El primer centauro comprendió que el horno no estaba para bollos; sin embargo, apoyó a otros bípedos para que comiencen una puja por el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

to this:

El primer centauro encontró que el horno no está para el papel, pero otras comienzan, con el apoyo bípedos una oferta para el reconocimiento de sus derechos civiles

Nice, huh?

Ntaske'ak [nd{s.ku."?ok]

Today I created a little excercise in zen conlanging: a conlang with 7 phonemes. It's only a short sketch, but I'll share it anyways.

Phonemes (I'll use Z-Sampa, since the explorer I use at work doesn't get along very well with unicode)

t k ' n s /t k ? n s/
e a /@ a/

Syllabic structure: (C)(C)V(C)(C)

Stress: falls on the penultimate syllable in it's closed and on the last syllable if not

E.g.
katenke /kA."din.kU/
kateke /kA.dI."gu/

Phonotactics

@[+str] -> i / [t,n,s]_(*C)@
@[-str] -> I / [t,n,s]_(*C)@
@[+str] -> u / [k,?]_
@[-str] -> U / [k,?]_
@[+str] -> e
a -> O / [k,?]_[k,?]@
a -> A / [k,?]_
a -> { / [t,n,s]_
nt -> nd / #_
nk -> Ng / #_
[t,k] -> [d,g] / V_V
[?t,?k] -> [t_>,k_>]
s -> 4 / V_V
n -> 4 / _t

Some examples:

nekente /n@."k@n.t@/ [nI."gu4.t@]
nka'esa /nka.?@."sa/ [NgO.?U."r{]
a'taseske /a?.ta."s@s.k@/ [a.t_>{."4is.kU]

That's it for now. I'll come back when I have some morphosyntax going on.

Ok. Why I hate being like this, for real

So, ADHD or not, I was going to write about something completely different and got sidetracked. That happens a lot to me, not lately but since ever, which is why I ended up writing that awful rant.

I wanted to talk about my earlier posts.

The first one talked about my progress in Proto Pekemí-Aescal (poem included). Proto Pekemí-Aescal is the parent of a whole family of conlangs (17 to be precise).

The second discussed my difficulties in working on the diachronics for the Noshal family of languages. The Noshal family consists of more than two dozens of conlangs (26 to be precise).

In the third post I confessed my conlanger's block (apparently a common problem in the community). So instead of focussing on either Proto Noshal or Proto Pekemí-Aescal, I began a reading marathon...

Which ended around my fourth post, when I started writing my novel for NaNoWriMo. That was cool. I didn't win, but I got to write some of my best 30000 words ever. I was on fire, writing up to 6000 words per day. So why oh why didn't I write the fucking 50000 words? Let me talk about something else first.

In that same post I said I had an unpublished post, interrupted by work. It's true; it's at work. Honestly, I have no clue as to its contents, but I believe it was juicy. I'll see what I can do about it. Stupid 56k dial-up connection at work makes it kinda hard, though.

So, NaNoWriMo. I had a hell of a start. During the first week, everything around me was a notebook. I wrote on napkins, books, photocopies, old notepads... I wrote in class, at work, in my bed, while having dinner, well going to the bathroom. Then I saw the link to the zbb at my browser's bookmarks. I had not been there for months -I think- and in fact I felt no urge to go back; not that I was upset with someone there or anything, I just didn't get cold turkey. And that was remarkable, really. Me, feeling no need to visit the zbb? Out of curiosity I clicked the link and, almost instantly, got hooked to that precious, addictive forum. Again.

Long story short, I'm working on Proto Pekemí-Aescal once again, doing some syntax and the soundchanges for its two daughters: Proto Pekemí and Proto Aescal (duh).

I'm also doing some mapping, after almost a year. Feels nice to be back.

I just wish I could open Word and finish that damned novel.

In other news, I'm sitting here writing this post which no one but me will ever read, while I have a final tomorrow.

Fuck, I hate being me.

Why I hate being like this

Everyone has ADHD.

Let me rephrase

Everyone on the internet has ADHD.

Wait.

Everyone on the internet is self-diagnosed with ADHD.

Almost evryone on the internet is self-diagnosed with ADHD.


There. Better.

The problem is, I really think everyone's exaggerating. Well, not everyone -listen, I'm not doing the little "Psalms" exercise I did above all over again; you get what I mean- but many people feel, in my opinion, they need an excuse to be fucking lazy. Or to excuse their children attitudes. I mean, both you and your partner work and your kids were raised and spoiled by your mother, I know. Why give it a name and prescribe fucking Ritalin?

The readines to diagnose ADHD in the US is truly alarming. 10% of males and 4%percent of females are diagnosed with ADHD there. I invite you to read for a while and find the criteria used to diagnose ADHD. According to it, we ALL have ADHD.

Not related to ADHD, but to american psychiatry: The other day I laughed my ass out at the movies. I went with my girlfriend to see The Invasion. Nicole Kidman play a shrink who is visited by a woman who says her husband is not her husband. So, what does she do? Ten seconds after hearing the poor woman's story, she prescribes an anti-psychotic and sends her home. If that's how psychotherapy's done over there, please leave me here with all these Lacanians!


Hmmf. I wasn't going to write about this. I was about to do that paper for college. Damned ADHD! I don't think any of this made sense.

NaNoWriMo

Yep. In two days starts the National Novel Writing Month and I'm pretty excited about it, since it's my first.

After a little thinking, I decided I'll be writing in spanish instead of english, so I can tap into my mutant writing skills, plus my uber-fantabulous porteño spanish. Well, not really; it's just that I'm more confident in my mother tongue when it comes to writing 1667 words per day.

The other thing is what I'll be writing about. Frankly, I have no idea. Not that I'm worried; I believe the best part of NaNoWriMo is exactly that: working on the fly.

So... wish me luck!

PS: I was writing a post the other day at work but was interrupted by, well, work. If I can, I'll post it tomorrow.

Just passing through

It's been a while...

Lately I seem unable to focus on linguistics, at all.

Work and college consume almost all of my time, and the little I have to spare I'm using to finish reading some books I started some 3 or 4 months ago. One of them, Conan the Cimmerian, is the best read I've had in a long time. Robert E. Howard was truly a master of pulp fantasy, or sword and sorcery, as some call the genre. His stories are dark, rich, full of descriptions and, most interestingly for a conworlder, deep. Aparently, after writting two or three stories set in Hyboria, Howard wrote a short (some 4000 words iirc) essay called the Hyborian Age, where he set all the background he needed to tie the stories in a cohesive way.

An appendix in that book names a book by one Thomas Bulfinch; perhaps it's worth further reading...

PN Diachronics

I've been working (almost) exclusively on Noshal language family diachronics lately, starting from Proto Noshal (duh) and moving forward, through Common Noshal to the Noshal and Eilart branches, and through Proto Doniani to the Doniani branch, and its proving to be a very difficult process.

First, I can't decide which 'flavor' I want for each branch. I know I want Kail to very very consonantal and Nêke more flowing. On the side of the Doniani branch, the tribes that speak it migrate west to an area were I want to establish a sprachbund which includes, among other quirks, prenasalized consonants.

Second, I feel on one hand that the branches look too similar to each other, and on the other that the changes are too far-fetched, or perhaps too fast for the history I have planned.

Some things I'm toying with right now are adding a series of labialized stops to Noshal, and syllabic consonants for Proto Eilart.

We'll see, we'll see...

PPA comes full circle

...well, not really.

Last week I translated Elly Sherman's poem Full Circle into Proto Pekemí-Aescal, as an exercise to build up some vocabulary to provide examples to its grammar (in-progress). Here it is:

Original Poem:
I am made of
Sun Fire
Dinosaur Dust
Star Light
Volcano Flames
Unknown Lives
Comet Tails
And all the future
Beasts and things
Shall also be
Me.


PPA Version:
E
1S.ABS
tseŋsekhas
sun-fire-OBL
phaŋpehaktur maras
big-foot-bad-ANIMAL-GEN dust-OBL
nikir sewas
star-GEN light-OBL
sektawkar sekhwasen
volcano-GEN flame-OBL-PL
akanren mitetre
NEG-known-ANIM-PL life-OBL-PL
lunikir kekwasenmu
comet-GEN tail-OBL-PL-and
takune
be_made_of-PRES-1S.ABS
ene khatiŋir
and future-GEN
watukenimu lewakenimu
animal-ERG-PL-DEF-and thing-ERG-PL-DEF-and
e uŋuŋena
1S.ABS RED(FUT).be.1S.PF

I took the poem from a translation challenge held at the ZBB before I joined.