zompist bboard

OK, here are the entrants for Naming Languages.

As before, please give the language rather than the creator name, as several people submitted multiple languages.

Č'iramṳ - Mornche Geddick

Dek'ame - finlay

Ďomün - clawgrip

Epic Ngmi' - CatDoom

En - clawgrip

Guop - ol bofosh

Jwa - Hydroeccentricity

Mecongai - Matrix

Nespek - finlay

Proto-Nggwoo - Lyhoko Leaci

Raepʰano - Mornche Geddick

Slaver Language - ol bofosh

Torc Sign - zompist

Tsargoki - Matrix

Yaḻek Hašahkaṇ - Ahzoh

Zalar - KathAveara

Zörachok - Dē Graut Bʉr

Zwera - Sevly

Is it the same as before, select five?

Yep.

Man, choosing between some of these is *torture,* but I figure it's best to get this over with, for the sake of my peace of mind.

1. Torc sign
2. Zwera
3. En
4. Proto-Nggwoo
5. Mecongai

Ngoor
En
Guop
Dragolm
Zalar

Torc Sign - zompist
Epic Ngmi' - CatDoom
Dek'ame - finlay
Ďomün - clawgrip
Raepʰano - Mornche Geddick

I really don't get how what exactly we're meant to be voting on, so I'm gonna sit out of this round of voting.

Tough, tough choices, but since I have to pick five:

Torc Sign awesome sign language with great combination of hand-, face-, and tail-based indications
Slaver Language intresting consideration of the mechanical nature of the golems
Nespek great allophony and consideration of speech differences between speeches (like the shibboleth)
Epic Ngmi' tone system and color terms are really neat
Raepʰano love the gender system, like the agentive/patientive distinction on sensory verbs

1. Slaver Language
2. Zwera
3. Domun
4. Dekame
5. Zorachok

Slaver
Torc sign
Raepʰano
Mecongai
Zwera

KathAveara wrote:I really don't get how what exactly we're meant to be voting on, so I'm gonna sit out of this round of voting.

Our favourite entries, judged by personal preferences? This round, naming languages, supplemented by history.

Wait, no, I didn't write any history... it's not fair if you're also voting on that...

History was optional, and the voting is supposed to be for the languages. (Though what's really going on in voters' minds, who can tell?)

Zwera - Sevly
Č'iramṳ - Mornche Geddick
En - clawgrip
Nespek - finlay
Proto-Nggwoo - Lyhoko Leaci

Torc Sign
En
Proto-Nggwoo
Zalar
Slaver Language

1. Zalar : Like the idea of polyconsonantal roots.
2. Torc Sign - original and well drawn.
3. Proto-Nggwoo - interesting morphological tone.
4. Mecongai - unusual 5 part argument structure.
5 .En Soki - for the verb distinctions.

Slaver Language
Guop
Mecongai
Č'iramṳ
En

Zwera
Mecongai
Torc Sign
Č'iramṳ
En

zompist wrote:(Though what's really going on in voters' minds, who can tell?)

I wonder how many people do as I do, i.e. read none of the submissions, apply some maths to the submissions text, sort the results and vote for the first five.

What do you mean by maths? Word count?

OK, let's look at the results!

The runaway winner being Torc Sign.
Torc Sign – 31 votes
Slaver Language – 20 votes
Zwera – 19 votes
En – 17 votes
Proto-Nggwoo - 14 votes
Mecongai – 12 votes
Zalar and Ciramu – 8 votes each
Guop – 7 votes
Epic Ngmi – 6 votes
Dekame, Domun, Raephano, and Nespek – 5 votes each
Dragolm – 2 votes
Zorachok – 1 vote
Tsargoki and Yalek Hasakan – 0 votes

It's hard to make divisions here, but we could make a total of six categories:

Torc Sign

Slaver, Zwera, and En

Mecongai and Proto-Nggwoo

Zalar, Ciramu, Guop, and Epic Ngmi

Ngoor, Dekame, Domun, Raephano, and Nespek

Dragolm, Zorachok, Tsargoki, and Yalek Hasakan

It doesn't make much sense to hand out more squares (some continents are already crowded, and some contributors have already written local histories). So I think the best course of action would be to have popular languages spread to areas that received lower scores. For example, Dragolm is a huge empire now, but its language received only two votes. So maybe a neighboring language with higher votes becomes the new language of Dragolm, creating a massive language family with numerous daughters!

Erm, I'm assuming that Matrix's five votes for "Ngoor" are, in fact, for Epic Ngmi', a language spoken by the descendants of the Ngoor. That would bring EM up to 11 votes, total.

As for language replacement, it seems really odd for the language of a powerful empire to become replaced by that of a neighboring state. That would be like the Parthians suddenly deciding to speak Latin because they think it sounds nicer.

Thanks, Hydro, was about to log on and do totals.

Well yay, the Torcs won something!

Working on rewards, but I think the next stage will be religions.

FatGoon: I wasn't assuming they would take a vote about it. I thought it would be a matter of gradual language dominance, like the spread of language families on Earth. I can't imagine it's any less realistic than having an empire expand its border just because it has pleasing laryngeals. Just an idea, though. We could do it another way.

zompist wrote:Working on rewards, but I think the next stage will be religions.

Excellent! Religions are probably my favorite part of conculturing. Just to clarify, I can create a religion originating in a culture that hasn't yet been developed, right?