Welcome!!
I have fairly recently moved in, so this site is still under construction.
My aim is to create an artificial or constructed language. In fact, I should like to create a family of languages, starting with a proto-language, middle-lang and neo-lang. By doing this I hope to be able to mirror natural languages by deriving later/sister languages from my proto-lang. My knowledge of languages and linguistics is fairly limited, so any information, advice, or help that you can provide will be gratefully accepted (and that applies both to my conlangs-to-be and the site design).
I have only recently begun this project and I expect to be able to dedicate only little time to it. I have always had an interest in languages, but after reading The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's work inspired me to try it out myself. My languages will be based on what linguistic background I have, and this should provide for some amount of interest, as I am Chinese, though born in Britain. This perhaps bizarre mix of Eastern and Western cultures will no doubt be evident in my languages.
In time, full grammars, vocabularies and phonologies will be formed, and presented here for those interested. So please - if you have the time, do come back to see how they're coming on. I also hope to design an alphabet and writing system for these languages. If anyone can assist in converting my alphabet into a true type font, I should be very grateful.
I already have an idea of how the writing system will be used. In proto-lang, the script, though alphabet-based, will be written down the side of the page, moving in columns from right to left. Over time, the speakers of this language found that the downward movement was uncomfortable. So gradually, the paper was rotated slightly anti-clockwise to ease writing. Eventually, by neo-lang, its script is the same as most languages now, written from left to right. Even the alphabet had changed, not only in the natural way that the evolution of language would dictate, but also to reflect this rotation. For example, the hypothetical letter "--" that might have been written down the page had changed into "I" written across, so the change is two-fold: in form as well as orientation.
Something else I would like to show in the script is pronunciation of the letters. For instance, the English "s" in please and release is different. As in English, the proto-lang will make no distinction between these in writing, but there will be in neo-lang. Of course, I shall still define a romanised pronunciation guide for my languages to demonstrate their pronunciation.
Another feature borrowed from the East will be in the counting system. In English and in most other languages, numbers follow what I call a "three-zero cycle". Units start at 1, then 10, then 1 000, 1 000 000, 1 000 000 000, etc. The counting system for my languages will follow a "four-zero cycle", hence: 1, 10, 100, 1000, 1 0000, 1 0000 0000, etc.
These are still only sketchy ideas, but it's a start. In the meantime, keep an eye on the site to see what developments take shape.
Please email me with any enquries or suggestions you may have.
| This
page has been visited |
This site is hosted by Fortunecity. This site was created by Atanvardo. Last updated 11.06.99