Goblang (Goblin Conlang)

[goblang]

Welcome to Goblang!

On this blog, I will be documenting my process of creating a conlang spoken by Goblins, called Goblin or Gulyak. Specifically, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears, as established in the lore of Dungeons and Dragons 5e describe them (with the assumption that the Monster Manual is a highly biased source in-universe, and that actual Goblinoid culture is much more nuanced and much less gleefully violent than presented). I will also be drawing inspiration from the podcast Dimension 20 (specifically Fantasy High and Fantasy High Sophomore Year).

I intend to update this blog as I make decisions about the language. Reader input is appreciated, if you so desire. Please keep in mind that I am both new to this and not trying to make a polished product immediately-- I’m doing this all for fun.

I hope you enjoy it!

[goblang]

According to Goblang, how would I say in the imperative voice in goblin: “run away”

Hi hi ignore that I haven't posted in. A while

Depending on the tone, the root word would either be vrek - /vɾek/ (meaning "run", "flee", or "scram", and implying serious danger, either from the speaker or as a warning) or broosa - /'bɾu.sə/ (more neutral, could refer to running from danger, running after something, or running for fun).

"Away" would probably be included in the meaning of vrek, but if you wanted to really hammer it home, you could add karag -/'ka.ɾag/ meaning far.

To make it into an imperative, you would conjugate the verb for (probably) second person singular informal and put it before anything else in the sentence:

"Vrekrav!" - /vɾek.'ɾav/

"Broosrav karag!" -/bɾus.'ɾav 'ka.ɾag/

Maybe I'll start posting more regularly here...

[goblang]

Goblin Surnames

When a Goblin is born, they take the surname of one of their parents (usually whichever one is considered "cooler" or better suited to the new baby). However, a Goblin does not keep this name for their whole life. Once they develop enough of an identity, they are given a new surname that reflects their most noticeable traits. A surname can also be given after a Goblin does an especially heroic thing. In those cases, they will usually only use their new surname for formal events, and keep their personal surname for everyday use.

Goblin surnames are usually composed of two ideas compounded into one. Common forms include:

Noun + adjective: Nom /nam/ (tooth) + yema /’jɛ.mə/ (red) = Nomyemga /nam.'yɛm.gə/ (red-tooth)

Noun + habitual verb: Fohsi /'fo.si/ (dog) + sayak /sa.'jak/ (talking) = Fohsayak /'fo.sə.,jak/ (dog-talker)

Reduplicated adjective: Visha /'vɪ.ʃə/ (clever, canny, witty) reduplicated = Vishavosha /'vɪ.ʃə.,va.ʃə/ (very witty)

Goblin surnames composed of only one word or idea are very rare, and signify a goblin of truly unique talent, courage, or virtue. These names are often given posthumously or after the named person has suffered a grave injury that will prevent them from performing a similar act. Once a single word is used as a surname, it cannot be used by any other Goblin, even the person's children.

[goblang]

The Imperative mood

Goblin is an SVO (subject verb object) language. So a typical sentence might look like this:

Nep grubbehre grik- /nɛp 'gɾʌb.e.ɾə gɾɪk/ - it eats meat

Hoo matshugehre kehlya - /hu mæt.'ʃʌg.e.ɾə 'kel.jə/ - she doesn't drink alcohol

Kuff bekra Kipsi - /kʌf 'bɛk.ɾə 'kɪp.si/ - Kuff listens to Kipsi

However, when you want to order someone to do something-- well, first consider not doing that, goblins are unlikely to listen. But if you must, exclude the subject entirely and just write the verb and the object.

Grubrav grik! - /'gɾʌb.ɾav gɾɪk/ - eat meat!

If you are negating a verb, the negation goes to the end of the sentence.

Shugehre kehlya mat! - /'ʃʌg.e.ɾə 'kel.jə mæt/ - don't drink alcohol!

Same if you absolutely need to use someone's name-- remember to use the vocative mood so they know you're talking to them.

Bekrov Kipsi, Kuffyoh! - /'bɛk.ɾav 'kɪp.si 'kʌf.jo/ - listen to Kipsi, Kuff!

[goblang]

"I love you"

Goblin, being composed of three different languages and influenced by many others, has multiple verbs for love with varying meanings.

Mitkush (/'mɪt.kʌʃ/) means to love in a casual way. You might say this to a friend you aren't terribly close to, to a particularly cute animal, or about anything that isn't alive.

Shehyeedi (/ʃe.’ji.di/), meanwhile, is extremely serious. You would only say this to someone who you could not live without-- parents and children say it to each other, as do lovers who have or intend to spend their entire lives together and friends who would die for each other.

Drook (/dɾuk/) means to love romantically, specifically.

Shamagem (/'ʃa.ma.gɛm/), also meaning "to worship", means to love or admire your superior. The classic example is how a cleric loves their deity.

Koochna (/'kux.nə/) is the reflection-- to love as a deity loves their cleric. It implies a kind of benevolent superiority.

[owls-reblogs]

@coconurt

[goblang]

@owls-reblogs​ if you want to say “I love you deeply” in Goblin, you would say “shehyeedri von” (/ʃe.’ji.dɾi van/) :)

[goblang]

"I love you"

Goblin, being composed of three different languages and influenced by many others, has multiple verbs for love with varying meanings.

Mitkush (/'mɪt.kʌʃ/) means to love in a casual way. You might say this to a friend you aren't terribly close to, to a particularly cute animal, or about anything that isn't alive.

Shehyeedi (/ʃe.’ji.di/), meanwhile, is extremely serious. You would only say this to someone who you could not live without-- parents and children say it to each other, as do lovers who have or intend to spend their entire lives together and friends who would die for each other.

Drook (/dɾuk/) means to love romantically, specifically.

Shamagem (/'ʃa.ma.gɛm/), also meaning "to worship", means to love or admire your superior. The classic example is how a cleric loves their deity.

Koochna (/'kux.nə/) is the reflection-- to love as a deity loves their cleric. It implies a kind of benevolent superiority.

[goblang]

Deities and Rulers

The Hobgoblin words "galik" (/ga.lɪk/) and "galil" (/'ga.lɪl/) used to mean king/warlord and queen(/warlady?) respectively. However, after the defeat of Maglubiyet, all the warlords were dethroned. The only actual person the words referred to became Galil Eeseeli, or the queen of thieves, a trickster who played an instrumental role in the deity's defeat.

When she became the Goblin saint of trickery, theft, and revenge, people began treating her title as a name, with Galil as the first name and Eeseeli as the surname. As such, the word galil (and by extension, galik) became forgotten except in the context of Saint Galil.

However, the word was preserved in talking about the past. While people carefully pronounced Saint Galil's name, they didn't have the same respect for the old warlords. Both words transformed into the gender-neutral "gyal" (/gyæl/) which usually refers to rulers of other countries.

[goblang]

Noun-Adjective Agreement

I told myself I wouldn’t do agreement in Goblin. I had to memorize so many grammatical genders for so many words in German and I hate it. BUT this one is really easy to remember so it’s okay: When you describe a plural, you add a schwa to the end of the adjective.

That’s it.

So, to say “big house”, you would say:

Hob kug - /hab kʌg/

But to say “big houses”, you would say:

Ahaba kugga - /ə.‘hab.ə ‘kʌg.ə/

Now ignore that my last post was over a month ago

[goblang]

Negation

Goblin verbs are negated by the prefix mæt-. It is sometimes written as its own word, but it always comes directly before the verb it negates.

Von matbekrov - /van ‘mæt.bɛk.,ɾav/ - you don’t listen

You can also negate an adjective or adverb with the prefix ma.ɾi-, but you get the same literal effect by negating the verb “to be”. However, negating the adjective gives a less strong impression.

Kohn matyehra lon - /kon mæt.’je.ɾə lan/ - he isn’t beautiful (instead, he is ugly)

Kohn yehra marilon - /kon ’je.ɾə ‘ma.ɾi.,lan/ - he isn’t beautiful (but he isn’t ugly, either)

When negating a verb with mæt-, the verb is stressed as normal. If the syllable following the prefix is unstressed, the prefix is stressed. If the syllable following the prefix is stressed, the prefix is not. When negating an adjective or adverb, the first syllable of ma.ɾi- is always stressed.

[goblang]

(Regular) Plurals (and some irregulars)

Ah yes, the perfect time to make plurals: not remotely close to the beginning of the creative process.

Goblin (regular) plurals aren’t created with a suffix or a prefix. They’re created with a circumfix, where a sound is placed at the beginning and end-- that sound being the schwa, /ə/. So, to pluralize a word:

Bug - /bʌg/ - friend

Abugga - /ə.’bʌg.ə/ - friends

Toptek - /'tap.tɛk/ - blossom

Atopteka - /ə.tap.’tɛk.ə/ - blossoms

As you can see, when a word is multiple syllables, the addition of the circumfix might lead to a change in where the stress is placed-- in “toptek”, singular, the “top” is stressed, but in “atopteka”, plural, the “tek” is stressed.

If a word already begins or ends with a vowel, there are some special rules.

If the vowel is already the schwa, only the “new” half of the circumfix gets applied:

Rasha - /'ɾa.ʃə/ - freedom

Arasha - /ə.'ɾa.ʃə/ - freedoms

Alugtol - /ə.'lʌg.tal/ - boulder

Alugtola - /ə.lʌg.’tal.ə/ - boulders

If the vowel is not the schwa and is at the end of the word, the second half of the circumfix becomes -jə

Geki - /'gɛ.ki/ - daddy

Agehkiya - /ə.'ge.ki.jə/ - daddies

If the vowel is not the schwa and at the front of the word, the first half of the circumfix becomes əh-

Eesil - /'i.sɪl/ - thief

Ahisila - /ə.hi.’sil.ə/ - thieves

Notice that sometimes vowels that get stressed because the word they were in become plural sometimes get changed. Usually you’ll see:

ɪ > i

ɛ > e

(sometimes) a > o

The closer to the middle of the mouth a sound is, the more likely it is to get changed.

[goblang]

Vocabulary: Oracle

My friend asked me to make the Goblin word for “oracle”. I considered having this be another loan word, but I didn’t want to tango with Elvish just yet. Instead, I decided that Goblins would use a compound word to express something they didn’t have a concept for before meeting an oracle for the first time.

I decided that the Goblin word for oracle translates literally to “future thief”, since an oracle’s abilities let them take knowledge of the future back to the present. This required me to coin the component parts:

Eesil - /'i.sɪl/ - sneak thief, or a sneaky person in general

Hogtor - /’hag.taɾ/ - someday, the far future

I also coined a term for the near future, since Goblin makes a distinction:

Looztar - /’luz.taɾ/ - the near future, later

Since Goblin is a head-final language, the final phrase is:

Eesil ahogtara - /'i.sɪl ə.hag.’taɾ.ə/ - thief of futures, or oracle

(This could be a subtle dig at oracles: in my friend’s worldbuilding, the oracle works for the Elves, who probably stole many Goblins’ futures.)

[goblang]

Vocabulary: Ice Cream

A friend asked me to coin the Goblin word for “ice cream”. One interesting thing about ice cream is that a lot of languages, even with very different linguistic roots, have very similar sounding words for it (such as how the Japanese word “Aisukurīmu” sounds like the English “ice cream”). This is sometimes because that word is a loan word-- instead of having it’s own etymology for a word, a language might just take the word from another language and adapt it for its own phonology.

Since I doubt Goblins invented ice cream, I decided that their word for it would be a loan word. But from what language? My friend suggested Common, Jotun (the language of the giants) or Primordial (the language of elementals, including ice elementals). I decided that Common was the most likely option, since that’s the language that Goblins would probably have more contact with people talking about ice cream in the Common language than in Jotun or Primordial, even if it was invented by giants or elementals.

The issue with this is that I have not created a Common conlang. However, I do have a few ideas of what it sounds like. Since I imagine Common to be an Esperanto-style mishmash of the most common languages, it probably has a limited phonemic index and set of syllable structures (since it needs to be easily spoken and understood by people with any native language). Therefore, I decided Common would be composed of CV syllables, and use the most common phonemes across languages on Earth.

I randomly created the words /’ma.gu ‘wi.hi/ for ice cream in Common. At first, Goblins probably just used the whole word:

Magoo weehee - /’ma.gu ‘wi.hi/

As they kept using it, they probably fused the words into one, which led to some phonetic changes, both to keep with Goblin grammar and for ease of pronunciation:

Magohveehee - /’ma.go.,vi.hi/

Magveehee - /məg.’vi.hi/

Magveechee - /məg.’vi.xi/

Gveechee - /’gvi.xi/

And just like that, we have a word for ice cream that stems from Common, but probably wouldn’t immediately register as Common at first glance!

[goblang]

Vocabulary: Colors

Did you know, all human societies develop basic color words in the same order? By basic color words, I mean things like “purple” that don’t refer to anything else, not words like “violet” or “lilac” which reference an object that bears that color. Anyway, the order of developing color words goes:

Black + white --> red --> yellow or green --> the other color in that pair --> blue

Any additional basic color words after that come in a random order.

I rather arbitrarily decided that Goblin has words all the way up to blue, and brown as an additional color.

Vreema - /’vɾi.mə/ - black

Rohk - /ɾok/ - white

Yema - /’jɛ.mə/ - red

Zak - /zæk/ - yellow

Kosh - /kaʃ/ - green

Lakohn - /lə.’kon/ - blue

Keegosh - /’ki.gaʃ/ - brown

In order to make other colors, you can either reference something of that precise color, or modify a color with another color. In order to say something is color-ish, you add the suffix /meh/. So, to say something is orange, you might say:

Kik jehre zak-yemeh - kɪk ‘je.ɾə zæk ’jɛ.meh - it is reddish-yellow

Or, if it’s a darker, redder shade of orange--

Kik jehre yema-zakmeh - kɪk ‘je.ɾə ’jɛ.mə ‘zæk.meh - it is yellowish-red

The -ish adjective comes after the adjective it modifies, since Goblin is a head-final language in that regard.

[goblang]

Not me realizing I accidentally made “your” (plural) and “goodbye” sound exactly the same...

Oh well, it’ll set up some sick ass puns at least

[goblang]

Goblin greeting and etymology?

When the Goblin peoples were first emancipated, they were all so happy that it was common to greet everyone you met by calling out:

Yeet rashni! - /jit 'ɾaʃ.ni/ - we are free!

Eventually, the words got slurred together into one:

Yitrashni - /jɪt.'raʃ.ni/

And then shortened further:

Itrashni - /ɪt.'raʃ.ni/

Drashni - /'draʃ.ni/

And finally became the word used in the modern day:

Drashi - /'dra.ʃi/ - hello!

[goblang]

Romanization System for the Goblang

Consonants:

/b/, /p/, /m/, /f/, /v/, /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /k/, /g/, /h/, and /w/ are written as they appear in the international phonetic alphabet.

/ɾ/ is written as r

/ʃ/ is written as sh

/j/ is written as y

/x/ is written as ch

Vowels:

/æ/ is written as a

/ɛ/ is written as e

/ɪ/ is written as i

/a/ is written as o, except when it is the last letter of a syllable. There, it is written as a

/ʌ/ is written as u

/i/ is written as ee, unless it is at the end of a word. There, it is written as i

/u/ is written as oo

/o/ is written as oh

/e/ is written as eh

The schwa /ə/ can be written as any vowel, since it’s an unstressed syllable it’ll be pronounced as the schwa anyway.

This is subject to change in individual examples if I want, because it’s my conlang

[goblang]

Fun With Adjectives

Goblin doesn’t have a word for “very”. Instead, to say that something is “very (adjective)”, you use a process called reduplication, following the adjective immediately with a copy of itself.

One syllable adjectives

When reduplicating an adjective, Goblin does whatever the opposite of vowel harmony is. The reduplicated syllable’s vowel changes away from it’s original and moves towards /a/, creating a sing-song tone. For a front vowel, this means that the reduplicated vowel just becomes /a/ (or /ə/ if the reduplicated vowel is at the end of the word).

Riz - /ɾɪz/ - dogged, persistent

Rizroz - /’ɾɪz.ɾaz/ - very persistent

Bri - /bɾi/ - merciful

Breebra - /’bɾi.bɾə/ - very merciful

For words with back vowels, the reduplicated vowel becomes the front “equivalent”.

Soof - /suf/ - obedient, well-behaved

Soofseef - /’suf.sif/ - very obedient

Kohd - /kod/ - mean

Kohdkehd - /’kod.ked/ - very mean, cruel

Guk - /gʌk/ - sly, cunning, manipulative

Gukgak - /’gʌk.gæk/ - very cunning (and yes, for those of you who watch Fantasy High, this grammatical structure was inspired by Riz’s last name)

If the vowel is already /a/, there is no change in vowel in the reduplication.

Two syllable adjectives

If the stress is on the first syllable, the whole word gets reduplicated, but only the stressed vowel gets shifted.

Looza - /'lu.zə/ - long

Loozaleeza - /'lu.zə.,li.zə/ - very long

Visha - /'vɪ.ʃə/ - clever

Vishavosha - /'vɪ.ʃə.,va.ʃə/ - very clever 

If the stress is on the second syllable, then only the stressed syllable gets reduplicated.

Makeef - /ma.'kif/ - special, unique

Makeefkoff - /ma.'kif.kaf/ - very special

Adjectives longer than two syllables

Take the stressed syllable and the one immediately after it, and treat it like a two-syllable adjective.

Dehnemek - /'de.nə.mɛk/ - heroic, noble, brave

Dehnedonna - /'de.nə.,da.nə/ - very brave