Search found 207 matches

by Pabappa
Tue Jan 16, 2018 5:37 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Sound Change Quickie Thread
Replies: 2827
Views: 613763

Re: Sound Change Quickie Thread

In many conlangs I do much like that ... /nh hn/ > /nt/ medially, /t/ initially. I dont have any natlang precedent, its just one of those ideas I had that simpl feels right. Might want to consider retaining /s/~/ns/ for the coronal pair just on the basis that /s/ is more persistent than other fricat...
by Pabappa
Sat Jan 13, 2018 4:39 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: What are you listening to? -- Non-English Edition
Replies: 1735
Views: 352055

Re: What are you listening to? -- Non-English Edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtjxrf2Vg7g

i wish this was all of the songs n full length and not just a melody
by Pabappa
Tue Jan 02, 2018 5:52 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: /ç/ vs. /x/ in German
Replies: 22
Views: 6289

Re: /ç/ vs. /x/ in German

Oh, it appears that the "kh" pronunciation is for the "English" name Eichmann, which is a bit silly since English, outside of a few dialects, does not havge that sound, but I see the ç now and it's under a separate entry for the German name. I don't see /ˈaɪxˌmɑn/ anywhere on that page, actually. Th...
by Pabappa
Tue Jan 02, 2018 3:31 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: /ç/ vs. /x/ in German
Replies: 22
Views: 6289

Re: /ç/ vs. /x/ in German

in my experience, dictionary.com has been bad for a very long time. Right now there's a link near the bottom for The Oldest Words in the English Language . Really, guys? Im not even gonna bother clicking to see what they mean by that and at what point does an "oldest English word" become a totally o...
by Pabappa
Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:50 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: Non-Biblical religious/spiritual literature
Replies: 21
Views: 9224

Re: Non-Biblical religious/spiritual literature

Only thing I can add is Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, which I read about 20 years ago, but still remember in fairly rich detail. It helped me come to my current religious viewpoint of believing in God without believing in (or caring about) the factual accuracy of any particular religio...
by Pabappa
Sun Dec 03, 2017 12:14 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: The Great Proto-Indo-European Thread
Replies: 2225
Views: 448324

Re: The Great Proto-Indo-European Thread

I remember a paper once that said milk tolerance was from nw Iran, and had spread into Europe from the east. I wouldn't call nw Iran the Levant but it provides a explanation for the roundabout passage around the Caspian sea. https://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-1.13471 <------...
by Pabappa
Sat Dec 02, 2017 3:36 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Kinship: children of cousins?
Replies: 15
Views: 4487

Re: Kinship: children of cousins?

Wait, can first cousins once removed still be called first cousins (without further qualification)? :o Yes but Ive never heard that. "first cousin" and "cousin once removed" are two different things and its rare that one would need to talk about someone who happens to be both without just mentionin...
by Pabappa
Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:58 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Ossetian diachronics
Replies: 4
Views: 2153

Re: Ossetian diachronics

Something conlangers don't do enough of, I think: contrasts that are relatively unimportant, with low functional load. Thanks, I'll take t hat as a compliment since Khulls has a lot of marginal consonants that arose primariy from clusters . --------- is it possible that hte ejectives appear more of...
by Pabappa
Sat Nov 18, 2017 5:44 pm
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Renaming conlangs
Replies: 17
Views: 6284

Re: Renaming conlangs

I have a conlang named Palli, which is actually now one of my least favorite conlangs, as my tastes were quite different 20 years ago. It has no resemlance to the natlang called Pāli whatsoever, although the climates are fairly similar. I have a minor, backburner conlang called Lamu , which is also ...
by Pabappa
Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:50 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Phonemes which are found in <5 languages or so
Replies: 54
Views: 14222

Re: Phonemes which are found in <5 languages or so

amazing that /t d n s l/ are so rare. There must be a reasn, such as tracking only pure /t/ isntead of /tɣ/~/tʲ/ etc, since for sure there are more languages with coronal elementals than that! e.g. even /s/ shows up at only about 45% .
by Pabappa
Sat Nov 04, 2017 3:00 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: How do polite verbs develop?
Replies: 5
Views: 2612

Re: How do polite verbs develop?

all I can say is that there are different kinds of politeness, and some languages mix them together and others keep them apart. e.g. 1) politeness based on status of the speaker and listener in a social hierarchy. If Im of the "one of my ancestors switched to the losing side during a major battle an...
by Pabappa
Tue Aug 29, 2017 6:10 pm
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Languages with optional person indexing on verbs
Replies: 4
Views: 2500

Re: Languages with optional person indexing on verbs

I suspect this doesnt happen or is at most highly unstable. If an inflection is optional, that would mean that the null form is meaningful on its own. This would mean that at least one form of the verb likely already uses the null form as standard. Such a setup might turn up in a language undergoing...
by Pabappa
Fri May 27, 2016 1:34 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Most Logical Word Order
Replies: 19
Views: 6061

Re: Most Logical Word Order

Almost 20 yrs ago I decided to use SOV for all my languages. My argument was that it was the best for embedding in serntences with more than one verb, Because in SVO langs, if you have 2 verbs, the only way to do it in one sentence is to make the object of the 1st verb the subj of the 2nd. e.g. "thi...
by Pabappa
Sun May 22, 2016 9:13 pm
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The dream thread
Replies: 1807
Views: 311380

Re: The dream thread

At 2 AM or so I was driving home and noticed my cellphone was down to 20% or so, so I plugged it into a car charger I had and then sealed it up in the change compartment so it wouldnt get bumped around. Then my eyesight shut down. I seem to dream about this a lot lately. I dont have any particularly...
by Pabappa
Thu May 19, 2016 12:13 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The dream thread
Replies: 1807
Views: 311380

Re: The dream thread

Was that all one single interconnected dream? Anyway the first part of it reminds me of that video on YouTube showing a woman "using a cellphone" in 1928: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhA6cxtncgY the video is 1:40, but it really just loops the same ten seconds or so over and over. Supposedly ther...
by Pabappa
Sun May 15, 2016 10:48 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Lexicon Building
Replies: 4308
Views: 783869

Re: Lexicon Building

next: feather with alternating colors, i.e. green then white then green then white and so on I dont have a nice way of indicating exactly that, but I think that simply translating it as "striped feather" would work well, since there isn't really any other thing that that could mean. However, that m...
by Pabappa
Sun May 15, 2016 9:24 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The dream thread
Replies: 1807
Views: 311380

Nanong

I was in some sort of competition in a large university-type building. In one classroom, everyone was seated at big wide-open tables with lots of spacious pullout drawers. I remember doing lots of cleaning, but Im not sure if the competition was about cleaning or if I was just cleaning up because th...
by Pabappa
Sat May 14, 2016 10:19 am
Forum: Languages & Linguistics
Topic: Reversal of writing direction
Replies: 20
Views: 5003

Re: Reversal of writing direction

Yeah i think vertical Sanskrit looks better if you take out the overbars. Hmm, Omniglot claims that Batak, Hanuno'o, and Tagbanwa were BTT-LTR, along with this confusing note: Note Tagbanwa is traditionally written in vertical columns running from bottom to top and from left to right, however it is ...
by Pabappa
Sat Apr 30, 2016 2:22 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Lexicon Building
Replies: 4308
Views: 783869

Re: Lexicon Building

Next: heavy libqh [libχ] "heavy" (lit. Weighty, from root "l-bqh" having to do with weight, weighing) Nota Bene: in the transcription, the fricative should be the voiceless uvular rather than voiceless velar, but my phone refuses to make the correct symbol so I'll have to edit this later. Next word...
by Pabappa
Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:37 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Out-of-universe sound changes
Replies: 2
Views: 2068

Re: Out-of-universe sound changes

Sorry this isnt a reply to your question directly, and in fact Im not sure I quite understood it, but, Im curious to see your game(s). Are you talking about online role playing games? Is this for a low-technology future or are there robots and computers all over the place?
by Pabappa
Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:31 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Lexicon Building
Replies: 4308
Views: 783869

Re: Lexicon Building

Next: dirk (or any similarly long-bladed dagger) Poswa: pippi sharp, curved dagger or knife. Apparently from a word that originally meant "sharp, curved claw". So, essentially, a pippi is a large single claw. widžop dagger, stabbing tool; sharp stick torn off a tree. Seems to be cognate to džupo "t...
by Pabappa
Wed Apr 27, 2016 3:22 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Lexicon Building
Replies: 4308
Views: 783869

Re: Lexicon Building

next: window Dnukta'u: skulintsuku [ˈsku.lin.ˌtsu.ku] "window" (lit. light-gate) Next word: pipe (as in a smoking pipe) Poswa: By itself, bae means "tube, tunnel, pipe". It is rarely used alone, however. A drain pipe is mumbae , a compound of mumbra "drain"(?) + bae , with some sound changes charac...
by Pabappa
Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:55 am
Forum: Conlangery & Conworlds
Topic: Standard Average You
Replies: 33
Views: 12102

Re: Standard Average You

1) I have a very difficult time working with any conlang that has a phonology I don't like. I like labial consonants ("Bamba mumbebap pypembaba." is a sentence in my primary conlang, for example) and the vowel /a/. One might think that using a limited phonology would make sentences in my conlangs mu...
by Pabappa
Thu Mar 31, 2016 1:10 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The dream thread
Replies: 1807
Views: 311380

Re: The dream thread

I know Im 80% of this thread now, but I really dont want it to die down. I think I dreamed I was on the ZBB and read that no matter how hard someone tries to make an a priori conlang, certain obvious associations of the author's native language will stick around, such as the word for "cold" beginnin...
by Pabappa
Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:56 am
Forum: None of the above
Topic: The dream thread
Replies: 1807
Views: 311380

Re: The dream thread

: / I dreamt the light in my bedroom wouldnt turn off, and saw that it was loose wires. at first, flipping it to ON turned it off, but this soon stopped ..... it only worked once. then it stayed on. the wires looked like Ethernet wires. i wanted to sleep so i wasnt sure what to do. then a voice abov...