Glaubaal

[baalak-blog]

Translation Challenge: 4.

4. Bees hum. Glawbel: bʒelf ˈvʊm.ult Gloss: bee-PL vibrate-HAB English: bees hum Notes: Hum and vibrate need to mean the same thing. Things which vibrate also hum, so the correlation makes sense to me. More habitual aspect marking in this sentence. To mark the Habitual Aspect one should use the [-ult] suffix, identical to the postposition which translates roughly to "About" or "Around." Please note that with the use of a postpositional suffix utelizing a dummy syllable becomes unnecessary.

[baalak-blog]

Translation Challenge: 3.

Here we have sentence number three. This one contains some onomatopoeia. Glaworx doesn't want vocalizations to be used as verbs directly, though, so it necessitates the use of another verb, [gʊl] (which derives from [glaw], the word for speech), which I've translated as "call." 3. Dogs bark. Glawbel: muɻnf ˈgʊ.lult wɑh Gloss: dog-PL call-HAB bark English: dogs call bark I decided to mark the habitual aspect on the verb, to indicate that this sentence tries to inform the listener about a fact which is not necessarily currently going on at the time of speaking, but instead describes a common or habitual action on the part of the subject. Dogs do indeed bark, often, sometimes incessantly, and this sentence explains that.

[baalak-blog]

Translation Challenge: 2.

I find the first few sentences to translate far too similar for my taste, but what can I do? 2. Children play. Glawbel: tisf ˈgre.nə Gloss: child-PL play English: Children play This illustrates the typical plural marker used in Glaworx, a [-f] suffix. Similar to English's [-s] and [-z], it sees use after any voiceless phoneme other than [f], after which it becomes [-ʊf].

[baalak-blog]

Translation Challenge: 1.

X/11/11E8 I have found a compilation of sentences from fiziig.com, a resource on Conlanging and many other topics, which if translated fully would constitute a very complete grammar for a language. I intend to translate them into Glawbel as best I can, modifying the ones which contain anachronisms to fit the setting better and generally trying to maintain the proper feel of sentences spoken in an orcish tongue. There are over 1,200 sentences to translate, and I hope to do them in batches and post them regularly here. Every so often I plan to collect the translated words in a glossary, which I will post here as well. The first sentence follows: 1. Birds sing. Glawbel: vomʒv ˈden.kə Gloss: bird-PL sing English: birds sing

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Aspect and Adposition

7/16/11E8 Sometime ago, while working on another language, I came up with the idea of expressing [grammatical aspect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect) by attaching [adpositions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preposition_and_postposition) to the verb. This requires the introduction of a conceptual metaphor. Conceive of time as physical space. Events which occur take up physical space, which the participants of those events exist in for the duration of the activity. They approach the event, reach its boundary, exist within it, and leave its extent. Thus, one may describe someone who runs presently as in-run. Because Glaubaal makes use of postpositions, however, it should be expressed more literally as run-in. Run-at could describe one just about to begin running, etc. Thinking on adpositional aspect, I concluded that I should define as many aspects in this manner as I could. In - [Imperfective Aspect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperfective_aspect), /-iʃ/. At - [Inceptive or Inchoative Aspect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchoative_aspect), /-ɑt/. About or Around - [Habitual Aspect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitual_aspect), /-ult/. Of - [Stative Aspect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stative), /-ob/. Behind - Terminative Aspect, /-ɑmz/. I may include more if I can think of any, but this looks like enough to begin with.

[baalak-blog]

Conceptual Metaphor

7/15/11E8 Those not familiar with [the concept](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor) can look it up. I find it a fascinating subject which brought new meaning to my attempts at crafting idiom. I would recommend Lakoff and Johnson's book, *Metaphors We Live By,* mentioned in the wikipedia article, to anyone interested in the subject. If you live nearby I have a copy you can borrow. Crafting a system of conceptual metaphors poses many difficulties. I must refrain from simply restating the metaphors of my native language, English. I need to establish metaphors in an internally consistent manner. And the metaphors have to make sense in the context of the culture which supposedly spawned them. Due to cross contamination, I can justify including some English metaphors as long as I rough them up a bit and keep them from having precisely the same meaning in Glaubaal. Other metaphors are used much more widely throughout humanity, and may share a relation to our body plan and evolutionary history, something Orcs likely share, at least to some degree. Even more daunting, seeing this framework at all poses significant challenges, similar to trying to see the atmosphere we live in. Constant immersion makes finding the metaphors rather difficult, because we use them so ubiquitously. This forces me to watch vigilantly for unintended metaphors trying to creep their way into the language. I intend to mill over some conceptual metaphors for Glaubaal and to share some later on. For now I don't have much I find useful, merely literal language which need not be broken down and examined in detail. I may have something interesting in my Aspectual system, so I'll share that next.

[baalak-blog]

Numerals

6/20/11E8 Glaubaal uses a [Dozenal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal) basal system. As such, you write Twelve as "10" instead of "12." Using arabic numerals I represent the numbers one through twelve thusly: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, X, E, 10 Where some make use of A and B to represent ten and eleven, I prefer X and E for the task, as can be seen in my dating system. I prefer to say "June Twentieth, Oneteen Elevendy Eight," though Firsteen has a certain appeal as well. Words for numbers in Glaubaal follow. * 1: ɑʃ * 2: kʊl * 3: voɣ * 4: nær * 5: mɑf * 6: deŋ * 7: boz * 8: uv * 9: gos * X: tɑr * E: feʒ * 10: zlɑnəx More forthcoming later.

[baalak-blog]

6/1E/11E8 The name Glaubaal remains from an older incarnation of the language. While the pronunciation remains the same, I have created an orthography for this version which altered the romanization I would use to represent words in the language. You could translate the name literally as "Speech Blood," but as adjectives follow the words they modify in Glaubaal "Blood Speech" may make more sense to our Anglophonic sensibilities. Blood in this case refers metaphorically to the blood shared with one's family, those who speak the tongue natively. For those familiar with the [International Phonetic Alphabet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) the symbols below my glyphs will make sense. For those not in the know, I can only provide you with the means to learn on your own, for now. See if you can translate the word in the top right corner. It shouldn't prove too difficult, though you'll have to deduce its meaning for now.

[baalak-blog]

Molɑt Horʃt

6/1X/11E8 For those who don't speak Glaubaal, all of you for now, the title means "Hello World." I plan to discuss this language at length and to do so while making use of [E-Prime](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_prime). If you are unfamiliar with the concept allow me to describe it thusly. E-Prime requires those who make use of it to eschew use of the copula in their writing or speech. I you still don't understand then suffice it to say that I can not adequately describe it without first breaking the one rule it requires of adherents, so I urge you to follow the thoughtfully provided link to illuminate the subject. On to the main subject: Glaubaal. No one speaks Glaubaal, not even me. Presently, the language consists of some poorly defined rules, a meager lexicon, and a number of gut feelings, many of which have changed over time. I hope, through writing here, to hammer out many of my ideas into a more solidified form and to share them with an audience greater than one. I construct this language with the intent of creating a language spoken by imaginary people. These people live in an imaginary world. While I do not have the creative license to craft whatever I like in this world, one shared by a number of people, I have decided to create a people and their language with all the verisimilitude I can muster. While I intend to use this language beyond the confines of the world, I wish to restrict myself to these boundaries for the creation process, to ensure internal consistency. I LARP, and the world in question belongs to the creators of the game I participate in. As a fairly generic fantasy world, out of the choices presented to me I found myself gravitating toward the orcs in the setting. Because, as far as I know, nobody had played much with the orcs, and developed their culture and personality, I thought I had an opportunity to bring them in a direction of my own. I want to make them mine and to grow them into something which other people find interesting. When constructing a culture, I find it easiest to begin by examining the language. Of course, the reverse holds true as well, and the culture and language require simultaneous thought to come together into something of value.