languages of (not just) Kélas

brought to you by a very real Kélasian [ˈkɛːlasɪən] resident // worldbuilding primarily on the main blog @krakrac

[kelasian]

thought i could make a masterpost with all the conlangs that might make an appearance on this blog, so:

#sorkish conlang – i used to work on it a lot; written with #sorkish conscript

#rasanian conlangs – two sister conlangs #kalish rasanian and #sennic rasanian, i hope to start working on them more soon; written with #rasanian conscript

#ruomic conlang – currently not being worked on; written with #ruomic script

#yeseian conlang – another new conlang that i started in january 2025; written with the #yeseian script

#lunaian conlang – a newer conlang i sometimes work on

#chytari conlang – the strange child, with minimalist yet slightly unusual orthography

#lísic conlang – the oldest child, est. 2020 (first version 2018/19) but i havent properly worked on it for years; germanic conlang pretending it is not germanic

#sentian conlang – a part of a larger language family, newer conlang i am currently working on

the latter three are written with #zelhølt, or the lísic script

#slovunian conlang – my one singular a posteriori conlang, a west slavic language spoken on the western border of estonia and latvia

and if you are interested in phonology, dictionary and grammar crumbs, all of my conlangs are on conworkshop

[kelasian]

began slowly working on yisenian (first two sentences) which is related to sentian (bottom two sentences). the two should technically be at least partially mutually intelligible, but we will see because i like me some semantic drift

[kelasian]

i keep finding words in estonian that kinda sound like a slavic word im planning to add to slovunian so i think "wow nice coincidence!", then i check the etymology and it is Not in fact a coincidence

[kelasian]

okay but apparently there are similar words that are indeed just a coincidence. estonian põlema, finnish palaa, czech pálit and slovunian paalits, all meaning "to burn" but the finnic and slavic roots have actually nothing to do with each other

but it gets truly interesting with estonian pool and czech půl, both meaning "half". the czech word even comes from proto-slavic *polъ so at some in history czechs actually pronounced it probably the same as estonians do now. obviously im not the first to notice that and according to wiktionary there's a paper on it but in all likelihood it is actually just a coincidence

[kelasian]

(proto-slavic and proto-finnic respectively; words are unlikely to be related)

bro this cannot keep happening

[kelasian]

i keep finding words in estonian that kinda sound like a slavic word im planning to add to slovunian so i think "wow nice coincidence!", then i check the etymology and it is Not in fact a coincidence

[kelasian]

okay but apparently there are similar words that are indeed just a coincidence. estonian põlema, finnish palaa, czech pálit and slovunian paalits, all meaning "to burn" but the finnic and slavic roots have actually nothing to do with each other

but it gets truly interesting with estonian pool and czech půl, both meaning "half". the czech word even comes from proto-slavic *polъ so at some in history czechs actually pronounced it probably the same as estonians do now. obviously im not the first to notice that and according to wiktionary there's a paper on it but in all likelihood it is actually just a coincidence

[kelasian]

i keep finding words in estonian that kinda sound like a slavic word im planning to add to slovunian so i think "wow nice coincidence!", then i check the etymology and it is Not in fact a coincidence

[kelasian]

just ran into a gold mine. even though its in latvian i will not be stopped and slovunian will get an evidential

[kelasian]

*translates a longer text* what if i let slovunian vocalize some weak yers and i changed the grammar a bit (which would force me to update the text like billion times)

[kelasian]

Sõvjüür i Suntse svarilisä, kõto z nih bõu motsnejšai, kõde prišedu patsnik vodzõnai tseplai peleriini. Zgodzilisä, že kõto jak põvai pritšinai patsnika, abe zdzõu svou peleriina, badze uznanai za motsnejšiigo jak ten drugai. Potem Sõvjüür zavjõu tak motsno, jak mogu, pak tšego vjätšai vjõu, tego bližej pritsägovau si patsnik svou peleriina; a konetšno Sõvjüür poddausä. Potem Suntse tseplo posvjõtsü i patsnik nogde zdzõu svou peleriina. A tak Sõvjüür pedau priznaats, že Suntse bõu motsnejšii z nih dõvou.

[sɤvjy:r i sunt͡se̞ svɑrilisæ kɤto̞ znix b̥ɤu̯ mo̞t͡sne̞jʃɑi̯ kɤde̞ priʃe̞d̥u pɑt͡snik vo̞d͡zɤnɑi̯ t͡se̞plɑi̯ pe̞le̞ri:ni | zgo̞d͡zilisæ ʒe̞ kɤto̞ jɑk pɤvɑi̯ prit͡ʃinɑi̯ pɑt͡snikˑɑ ɑb̥e̞ zd͡zɤu̯ svo̞u̯ pe̞le̞ri:nɑ b̥ɑd͡ze̞ wuznɑnɑi̯ zɑ mo̞t͡sne̞jʃi:g̥o̞ jɑk te̞n d̥rug̥ɑi̯ | po̞tˑe̞m sɤvjy:r zɑvjɤu̯ tɑk mo̞t͡sno̞ jɑk mo̞g̥u pɑk t͡ʃe̞g̥o̞ vjæt͡ʃɑi̯ vjɤu̯ te̞g̥o̞ b̥liʒe̞j prit͡sæg̥o̞vɑu̯ si pɑt͡snik svo̞u̯ pe̞le̞ri:nɑ ɑ ko̞ne̞t͡ʃno̞ sɤvjy:r po̞d̥:ɑu̯sæ | po̞tˑe̞m sunt͡se̞ t͡se̞plo̞ po̞svjɤt͡sy i pɑt͡snik no̞g̥de̞ zd͡zɤu̯ svo̞u̯ pe̞le̞ri:nɑ | ɑ tɑk sɤvjy:r pe̞d̥ɑu̯ priznɑ:t͡s ʒe̞ sunt͡se̞ b̥ɤu̯ mo̞t͡sne̞jʃi: znix d̥ɤvo̞u̯]

"The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two."

[kelasian]

false friends betwen czech and slovunian episode 1 (patník /patɲi:k/ vs patsnik /pɑt͡snik/)

[kelasian]

Lysan lihal ra ryn şen jidaly. San rehu ryn şen, rahy azmîrysalar rŷ ralŷ pişâhŷ lyra mun.

NEG-be.3S.PRES nothing like INDEF people stupid-PL | be.3S.PRES only INDEF people who-PL teach.PFV-PASS.PST INDEF.ACC.PL.INAN thing-ACC different-ACC.PL.INAN unlike 2S

[lɨˈsan liˈhal ra rɨn ˈʃen jidaˈlɨ | ˈsan reˈhu rɨn ˈʃen raˈhɨ azmi:rɨsaˈlar rɨ: raˈlɨ: piʃa:ˈhɨ: ˌlɨra ˈmun]

"There is no such thing as stupid people. There are just people who have been taught different things than you."

[kelasian]

Mazam seler ryn jas. Ken Mynyharmân Mert pa ryn koronot’ fûral, sy ken koronot’ seler p’irzŷren t’yhren.

again be.3S.PST INDEF night | DEF go-E-stone-GEN inn in INDEF silence lie-PST and DEF silence be.3S.PST part-GEN.PL.INAN three-GEN.INAN

[maˈzam seˈler rɨn ˈjas || ˌken mɨnɨharˈma:n ˌmert pa rɨn koroˈnotʼ fu:ˈral sɨ ˌken koroˈnotʼ seˈler pʼirzɨ:ˈren tʼɨ:ˈren]

"It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts."

[kelasian]

scouting wiktionary for etymologies and randomly encountering the name of one of my linguistics profs

[kelasian]

i think it's probably been like a month since i began writing the verb section of the sentian grammar and it might be finally done now

[kelasian]

i forgot where i got the dative of sentian personal pronouns from (i just know it is irregular and is Not from the protolang's dative) and at this point i cant bring myself to change it so that it has a clear source. sentian linguists will wonder over this feature of their language for centuries

[kelasian]

also i keep finding mistakes in the sentian forms because my work with sound changes is very chaotic (i don't use any site to do them for me) and it drives me crazy.

[kelasian]

i forgot where i got the dative of sentian personal pronouns from (i just know it is irregular and is Not from the protolang's dative) and at this point i cant bring myself to change it so that it has a clear source. sentian linguists will wonder over this feature of their language for centuries

[krakrac]

started watching better call saul and there was this insanely good shot in episode 1 that i just had to draw as these two. and i was also looking for an excuse to show off the conlang im currently working on so there it is, kirjan's native language in the zelhølt script

translation:

"i miss when you didn't know sentian and i could talk about you behind your back"

"you are mean"

and ipa for those whom it may concern:

[ni ˈzaːsove zaː | kedˈvos mun ˈsentu lɨseˈlar sɨ ni ˈsɨːlɨn pa mojepˈseː brun rutarɨlˈvaː muː]

[mun‿ˈsun leːˈʒer]

[kelasian]

now that i finally have something to show, here are two simple example sentences from sentian. fun fact this is probably like the third conlang i have ever made that has a definite article (and possibly the first one that has both definite and indefinite article)

anyway im very excited to be working on this conlang that has given me nothing but pain in the past!! ive got ideas for differences between the literary and spoken language and am really looking forward to expanding upon them

[kelasian]

one of the differences that i had already worked out before the pause which is possession. except i deepened it further with reflexive forms which are used in the spoken variety usually only in the third person but are completely preserved in the literary form

[kelasian]

also have a pronunciation while im at it. nothing crazy though