I'm going to step back from the podcast for a bit and focus on solo talking head videos. Scheduling guests got to be too much, and I feel it's less effective at promoting other people than some other kinds of collaboration.
Transcript under cut.
The Future of Conlangery
I want to talk to y'all about the future of this channel.
I had wanted to start a YouTube channel for Conlangery for a long time before I actually did it. I ran the podcast as an audio show for about ten years and always wanted to make some kind of instructional videos or showcases.
Eventually, I landed on two things for the channel. I would create a video version of the podcast, and a livestreaming series inspired by David and Jessie Peterson's LangTime Studio. The video podcast was just another format for something I was already doing, and the livestreams gave me something I could do every week without so much effort on the backend.
Later, I experiemented with dedicated videos and shorts, and my feelings on the channel changed, and that's what I want to put out for you today.
You may have noticed that there are sometimes long lags between podcast episodes. There are a lot of reasons for that. For one, video editing just takes longer than audio editing. There are more things to consider when you have to factor in camera switching and disguising cuts.
Also, you may know that I have a full time job and three kids. I have limited time to handle all the things I need to do for this channel. That's why the Tongues and Runes livestreams are at a rather odd time.
But there were also other things that sapped my motivation. I no longer have a regular cohost, which I originally took as an opportunity to develop rotating hosts or turn the podcast into an interview show. And I've had a lot of interesting people on the show, but doing that means I have to go seek out people to bring on, book a time to record, and deal with whatever audio or connection issues may crop up on their end.
There's also a structural issue with doing this on YouTube. When I interview someone on the podcast, the performance of the episode depends a lot on the person I'm talking to. If they have a big YouTube presence, I get lots of views. If they're unknown -- or even well-known but not on YouTube -- I get less. This is frustrating, because if I'm doing interviews, I'd like the channel to be a vehicle to showcase the work of other people. But I end up just not getting the same traction for smaller guests, especially since the channel itself is not that big.
Meanwhile, videos where it's just me looking at the camera telling you a thing seem to be more consistent. Not explosive, not tiny, just sort of consistently growing. Now, these do take a lot of effort to make. I edit them more closely than podcasts, in addition to writing a script and taking multiple takes. But I can do the recording whenever I want without having to schedule with someone else.
So I've decided that, at least for a while, I'm going to stop doing the podcast. It may come back some day in the future, but I'm going to stop putting time into booking guests and money into video conferencing platforms, and try to spend more time on… well… this format, talking head videos where I talk to you about a conlanging thing.
Again, the podcast might come back in the future, perhaps on a separate channel, but not for a while.
Tongues and Runes will continue. I love streaming. Even with just a few watchers, it's fun to interact with people. I may eventually split Tongues and Runes to a separate channel, but for now you can just keep coming here Saturdays at 8 AM Central Time. I don't plan to end that project anytime soon.
Also, I will still do collaborations. In fact, as I write this, I am very close to starting the next YouTube conlang relay! The actual relay will probably be underway around the time I post the video. That collaboration seems to do well for promoting smaller conlanging creators, since it mixes up large and small accounts into one place.
I'm also thinking of having something more open. The YouTube Conlang Relay kind of has to be invite-only because of the nature of the beast, but I could do some kind of public challenge similar to the Cursed Conlang Circus. I'm still thinking what shape that would take for me.
What I really want to do, down the line, is start a series teaching an introduction to conlanging. The working name is Your First Conlang, and I already have a draft outline and a couple draft scripts written.
In any case, the main thing I want to announce here is stepping away from the podcast and focusing more on simple direct-to-camera explanation videos. If you're into that, go like the video and hit the subscribe button, and hit the bell if you want notified of future videos.
Also, thanks to all the people who support me on Patreon. I truly appreciate everything you give.
We're going to start on subordinate clauses for Dawn and Dusk. Tune in to see how/if the structures change from Middle Fae.Enjoy Tongues and
Live in 30 mins! We're going to get started on subordination today. Aiming for a shorter stream, but we should be able to get the bones in to fill in with specific cases later on.
Any advice about “idiosyncratic verbs”? David Peterson said that in his book and I thought you might have some additional info. Thanks
I wasn't able to find that reference in my copy. Maybe you or @dedalvs can point out where it was. Although this could be a technical term I'm not aware of, my best guess is this is just in reference to one-off irregular verbs like *be*, which really just arise from some historical nonsense or other (*be* in particular has suppletion from I think three different sources, but there are other ways to get a verb that doesn't behave like other verbs.
That would actually describe verbs that take unexpected case assignments or unexpected syntax. For example, the German verb helfen "to help, to aid, to assist" marks its object with the dative instead of the expected accusative
Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I don't think I've heard *idiosyncratic verb* in that context, but I have heard of things like *dative experiencers* and *quirky subject*, which are related concepts.
Do you know of any scripts or phrase books that would helpful for conlangers? I want to translate conversations basically anything where speaker A says something and speaker B replies. “Hello”, “Nice to meet you”, “Go away”. You get it you’re smart
I think any "Common {Natlang} Phrases" book can be cool for a translation challenge or to inspire greetings like these. I recall seeing a generic phrasebook for conlangs somewhere, but I wasn't able to find it quickly.
One caution, though: In language learning classes, you often start with greetings and niceties, but when conlanging, they should come significantly later. You'll notice that in many intro books, they teach you stuff like "Good morning", "Nice to meet you", "My name is ___" by rote long before you learn the grammar to actually understand the construction. Like, nobody actually learns how Spanish object clitics work or what llamar means before learning Me llamo __, which is why people end up incorrectly saying *Me llamo es __.
But those things were constructed using the grammar of the language.* So I will just caution that you at least need to be at the level where you've locked down everything you need for a simple sentence. You also need enough cultural worldbuilding to have an idea what kinds of conversational scripts exist. Do you say "How are you?" or "Have you eaten yet?" (你吃饭了吗？< A common greeting from older Chinese speakers)
*Unless they're simple words like Hello or odd fossils like Goodbye (an abbreviation of "God be with ye" -- yes, that is actually true).
Any advice for working conlangs into fiction? Like sociolinguistics or linguistic anthropology? Thanks in advance
So there are a few things to consider when you're incorporating your conlang into something:
What's the medium? In novels and short stories, it's usually best to stick with names, isolated words, and shorter phrases, while conversations can just be rendered in the language of the work with a tag saying the characters are speaking "in Somelang" or whatever. For videos and films, though, you can have significant conversations in a conlang with subtitles. It all depends on how the medium presents information to the audience.
What functions do these languages have in your society? Every language, at some point in its existence, is the home language of some ethnic group. But some languages become a lingua franca, a liturgical language, or take on some other role. Other languages might be seen as lesser because of the social position of their speakers. That informs how they'll appear in the story.
What is the story function of the conlang? Is it window-dressing to allude to the world? Does it mark the identity of certain characters? Is the language itself a plot obstacle (trying to decipher an ancient text, trying to communicate with a people whose language you don't speak)? This partly falls out of the overall linguistic worldbuilding and the identity and history of your characters.
Are there any books about the history of English? How it has evolved and such? Happy conlanging!
There are, I imagine, numerous books, but I'm blanking on what exactly to recommend. It never was a huge focus for me, but maybe someone in the community has a favorite.
Any advice about “idiosyncratic verbs”? David Peterson said that in his book and I thought you might have some additional info. Thanks
I wasn't able to find that reference in my copy. Maybe you or @dedalvs can point out where it was. Although this could be a technical term I'm not aware of, my best guess is this is just in reference to one-off irregular verbs like *be*, which really just arise from some historical nonsense or other (*be* in particular has suppletion from I think three different sources, but there are other ways to get a verb that doesn't behave like other verbs.
I was wondering if you or George chose the Valyrian kinship system. I’m trying to deduce why you chose this one over a Hawaiian, Omaha or sudanese. Is it because you wanted to make the incest marriages more stable (given that a father’s brother has parent-like responsibilities and so does a mother’s sister)?
Best wishes
It was my choice and I thought it fit. I don't think a lexical kinship system determines marriage laws in society or vice-versa. I also think the idea could go two ways: the same word is used for a cousin and a brother, and so they're both off limits—or the same word is used for a cousin and a brother and you can always marry your cousin, so why not your brother? Again, though, I figure the kinship system is one thing, and the social customs another.
Interesting. I would agree that the kinship systems and marriage taboos wouldn't necessarily line up perfectly, but if the Valyrians categorically rejected sibling marriage (and had a reason to emphasize it), that could have driven them to differentiate cousins and siblings (and banning cousin marriage in a royal family... might be a non-starter because of how political marriages work).
I have two separate polls running for just a couple days. Help me decide on the forms of words for "here" and "there" in Dawn and Dusk! They're separate polls so you can make your own decision in each variety.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/poll-here-there-159410127
https://www.patreon.com/posts/poll-here-there-159410973
I want to create a conlang in signed, spoken and written forms. But how do I make sure my signed conlang can be signed when a person is holding something? I've only ever seen sign language done with empty hands. And what about the difference between lefthand and righthand in my signed conlang? Would it be situational?
Two things:
There aren't any multimodal languages because it's simply more trouble than it's worth. Spoken language is the least common denominator for hearing individuals, and manual language is the least common denominator for Deaf sighted individuals.
I recommend you study a sign language or spend some time with Deaf signers, because, I can assure you, sign language is a lot more versatile than you'd expect. Naturally, if you're looking for demonstration videos, the signer will be facing directly forward, using both hands, with both hands empty. But in real life, sign language is just as messy as spoken language. Signers sign with one hand while driving or holding something; the signing space can shift depending on if one is sitting, standing on a ladder, off to the side, etc. And while all signers will certainly have a dominant hand, since it's the dominant hand, you end up using it for a lot of things, so it might switch if you're holding onto something you can't sign with (say a pot), or handshapes may differ if you can't make them perfectly at the moment (say because you're holding a pencil). While the signal might be perfect, it's usually good enough. Consider that we're pretty good at figuring out what someone's saying if they're chewing food (though, of course, it gets more and more difficult the fuller one's mouth is), or if we have a stuffy nose. We humans are REALLY good at reverse-engineering. In other words, we're able to ascertain that an ordinary situation is X, so if we're in extraoardinary situation Y, we can guess that some gesture in Y would actually be a different gesture in X. We may guess wrong, but usually context is enough to get us to the right place.
A conlang note related to this is this is why categorical languages failed to enjoy much use. Imagine you had a spoken language like this:
imaskuroma "apple"
imaskurome "orange"
imaskuromi "banana"
imaskuromo "peach"
imaskuromu "pear"
Now imagine you've got a fruit bowl with all those fruit and you're asking someone for a specific piece of fruit. And hey, why not throw allergies in! Let's say you're asking for a fruit from someone who has no idea you're deathly allergic to stone fruit. And then, with your mouth full, you ask for an imaskuromu. Is that something you want to stake your life on?
And compare the conlang list with the English list. The English list of words has a lot of variety, by comparison. I don't care how full your mouth is: I bet it's fairly easy to say which one you want (probably the only two that might be confused are "apple" and "banana").
Long story short, languages evolve (i.e. are gradually shaped by their users) to be useful. If something isn't useful enough, it changes. In this regard, sign languages are no different from spoken languages.
Could I commission you to create a new conlang for me or would that be extremely expensive considering how famous you are?
I have no clue how to create one myself. I've tried for years and read books about it but I still can't figure it out.
I'm not able at the moment, but can I recommend a different book—a new one? My wife Jessie wrote How to Create a Language: The Conlang Guide and it's the best resource for starting out—better than The Art of Language Invention. You can purchase it here:
Discover How to Create a Language, 1st Edition, Jessie Peterson, HB ISBN: 9781108834070 on Cambridge Aspire website
Quick add-on for my 2C -- I bought this book after reading this post and watching a video about it that I think I have queued for tomorrow and it's so good. It really embraces the beginner and explains things thoroughly and in interesting ways. I'm not far into it at all but I'm far enough to say it's earned its shelf space and is well worth spending that kind of time and focus on.
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