Linguistically Insane

Muhahahah

[linguisticallyinsane]

Intro Post!

Hello! Call me Vigilus! idk what pronouns you use for me, just don't be rude.

i am very insane about linguistics and languages and such and such, as such I have made a discord server for conlangers:

https://discord.gg/K9T57wAT8P

Im LGBTQIA+ friendly, if you aren't friendly towards the LGBTQIA+ community then go away please

[jettfisch]

I’m making a conlang, and my friends [who have no language experience whatsoever] wanted to do something with it. I let them have ONE singular thing to decide on.

Now my language has a base three counting system. Don’t trust anyone with your languages. Betrayal.

[linguisticallyinsane]

a glorious image I made, enjoy

[tower-of-hana]

All gender is made up but my gender is more made up than yours because I am a conlanger.

[linguisticallyinsane]

A history and summary of my conlang

Sequvisk

A polysynthetic language, specifically an agglutinative polysynthetic language, although some members of it’s related language family are fusional instead. Using particles to properly put its ridiculously long words together in a usable order and reduce the need for more clutter, making the words more of a list of objects and then the particles show what is what and how they go together, also marking pronouns and possession within the word. It has a complex system for clause coordination. 

Sequvisk comes from an ancient empire which formed speaking an archaic language now known as Sequnes, spread across the archipelago. The empire later splintered into smaller independent states, leaving multiple dialects while Sequnes was used as a diplomatic lingua franca by the nobles in multiple of the independent states, which eventually was passed down to the merchants where it morphed from classical Sequnes into modern Sequvisk for trade and diplomacy purposes and is now spoken primarily by merchants, scholars, adventurers, nomads, and mercenaries, as well as anyone who needs to travel between islands often, it is rarely a first language, as most people have a home dialect, but it is pretty universally understandable between dialects.

a text sample in the alphabet/syllabary

kinda inspired by hangul, written top to bottom, right to left. written here is a poem about nature.

ill probably post more about this conlang in the future, I'm really enjoying how it's going.

[omnybus]

I think what I love most about mythology is that the “Trickster God/Spirit” is an archetypical character found in almost every body of folklore. It’s like “Oh, here’s our God of the Sun, our God of the Sea, our God of Fertility, and our God of Being A Wretched Little Gremlin Who Causes Problems On Purpose”

[victusinveritas]

[the-lost-alchemist]

How Mexicans feel about duendes too.

[designertrances]

True. Most Irish people, as Norwegians do with Trolls, will happily let the 'fairies' be a thing to make tours for tourists and idle threats to make children behave. Most Irish people will have a very normal and mature explanation of fairies as a common folk mythology that expresses some dimension of Irish culture but are not, obviously, to be taken literally.

And most Irish people, if you ask them to move a stone from a fairy circle will immoveably, flatly respond with 'absolutely fucking not'.

Construction projects have had to halt and be abandoned for it.

[roach-works]

At work me and a couple coworkers (black, white, and mexican) had a fun discussion on whether there are more ghosts at a hospital or a cemetery.

everyone individually took a moment to specify that ghosts probably aren't REAL real. then weighed in on where and why.

for the record my position was that there's probably way more ghosts in hospitals because that's where people die horribly, but since you can only see ghosts in dark, solitary conditions, graveyards at night is where the majority of ghost sightings occur. hospitals are usually well lit and busy, so even if they're crammed with ghosts the living are too damn busy to see them. meanwhile if a cemetery has even one ghost that followed her corpse there from the hospital, she'll be spotted because that's where all the ghost hunters go to look.

this theory was received as extremely sensible, and a coworker drew the conclusion that that's why abandoned hospitals are even scarier than graveyards. once the place gets abandoned then you can tell how much ghosts got built up.

we all liked this explanation a lot and explained it to everyone else all night. and of course, none of us believe in ghosts.

[were--ralph]

choose

glass half full

ass half empty

Voting ended onMar 9, 2025

[were--ralph]

STAFF MAKE POLLS EDITABLE I LOOK LIKE A FOOL BECAUSE OF YOU NOW

[were--ralph]

STOP REBLOGGING THIS VERSION 😭

[gupdoo3]

Do you ever get nervous bc your conlang isn't as naturalistic or as well-thought-out as those of the literal masters of the craft and so that must mean it's Literally Garbage

[kohlrabi]

GWORL

[dedalvs]

The problem with art is that it's a subjective medium that, through its very nature, invites comparison. You listen to one song and think it's pretty good then listen to another and like that one even better. Then you find someone who thinks the opposite. Then you find someone who thinks both songs are trash. All the while the ones who wrote those songs may never have even heard of each other—may never have even been alive at the same time. Neither would have ever imagined they'd be in competition, yet, years later, there they are, as a result of conversation between people they've never met.

As subjective as art is, consider J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis—specifically, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. If one of these is better, it's going to be The Lord of the Rings. Lewis would've said so—even Tolkien, if pressed. Lewis and Tolkien were friends, they encouraged each other as writers, they shared ideas, their works have similar themes—you can see the influence in both works—but if you had to choose one, it's The Lord of the Rings, hands down.

But does that mean The Chronicles of Narnia is worthless?

There are tons of people who've read and enjoyed the Narnia books over the years, and I'd say a sizeable portion (myself included) who never knew until much, much later that Tolkien and Lewis knew each other—that the two series had anything to do with one another. Something which seems terribly relevant at one time may be all but forgotten at a later date. (For example, did you know the Beatles and the Beach Boys had an intense rivalry in the 60s? I didn't. I'd heard about the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, but the Beatles and the Beach Boys...? I doubt if I ever realized they'd even heard of each other.)

It's a difficult thing to do, I know, but if you have an idea—a drive that pushes you toward some artistic goal—you have to follow it while you feel it and then evaluate/revise/edit it later. You have to let the thing be what it's going to be. When something is new, the unfamiliar are going to see it as strange, and may offer you suggestions on how to make it look more like something they're familiar with. That may, indeed, help it be more recognizable and more acceptable to a current audience, but it may be robbing the work of an opportunity to be unique and original.

Going back to Narnia, consider the world building in the first book examined through the lens of Tolkien. My, but it looks sloppy! I mean, there's a random ass lamppost in a fantasy world? Fauns are there, as well as talking animals, and then…Santa Claus?! Santa Claus?! And the Tolkienite is asking how all these things tie together, what exactly the nature of magic is, what land Santa Claus hails from, how he interacts with the "real" world, etc. From the perspective of hard world building, you can imagine someone saying to Lewis, "Hey, maybe consider pruning literal Santa Claus from the book. It doesn't make sense." And if he didn't hold fast to his vision, maybe he does that. Maybe he also tightens up some of the other looser aspects of the world building. And maybe the end result is something a little more Tolkienesque—and, essentially, not at all The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

I took a course on Samuel Beckett (author of the play Waiting for Godot) and we read almost all of his work. He started with novels. He actually served as transcriptionist for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake when Joyce lost his sight. His first novel, Murphy, reads like someone who's trying to sound like James Joyce. There's definitely Beckett in there, but it's like he's trying to take his vision and push it through a Joycean mold. Now, there's nothing wrong with James Joyce, of course—he's one of the greats—but he's not Samuel Beckett. And it wasn't until Beckett loosed himself from these shackles that we saw what it was he could do. And, truly, he went on to produce some stuff that no one else could ever have produced (cf. Worstward Ho!). It's not necessarily better than Joyce, but also, Joyce isn't necessarily better than Beckett. Truly, it does not matter. Each of them produced something truly unique—true to themselves—and the world is better off for it, whether you like one or the other better, both, or neither. (Incidentally, this is another of those pairings that may surprise. Did you know Samuel Beckett literally transcribed Finnegans Wake for Joyce late in Joyce's life? I didn't, until that class I took.)

Back to the point of the post, there are two things I'd say:

Yes, your work may not be as good as someone else's. Chances are your work now isn't as good as your work five years from now. So? If you don't do what you're doing now your work five years from now won't be better. You can look at my early language work. It's not as good as what I do now. If I didn't do it, though, I wouldn't be where am I now. Oh, and you know what? At the time, I thought my work was fucking incredible. I was wrong, but sometimes if you don't have fans, you have to be your own fan to get you to where you need to be.

Yes, your work may not be as good as someone else's, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have value—and not because you're going to get better later because of it. There's someone out there that may like the work you're producing right this second just because. They may love the sound of it. They may love your unique twist on a case system. You may look back on the work you're doing now ten years from now and say that it is objectively shit, but then ten years after that someone on the internet will find it and say they love it, despite what you think. That's art. That's audience.

Most importantly, you can't let the voice inside you cut you down before you've had a chance to do what you're doing or else you'll do nothing. When negative thoughts come, you acknowledge that they're there, and then you tell yourself that it's just talk. Don't ignore the negative thoughts: shine a spotlight on them. Recognize that they are thoughts, and as thoughts, they can be pushed aside by something as insignificant as a damn commercial jingle you can't get out of your head. Some of the vilest thoughts I've ever had—crippling self-doubt, negative self-talk—can't even go ten seconds in the ring against the fucking "You won't get a lemon at Toyota of Orange" jingle that's come back to me at odd moments every day since I first heard it in 1987. Some musical hack that I hope to beat to death one day created a five second jingle that has spent more time in my brain than some actual humans I love and adore, and, believe you me, that stupid jingle is way more powerful than any voice in my head that says, "You're worthless trash"—and if that's true, how pathetic is that negative self-talk? What power does it really have over you?

Sometimes comparison helps. Sometimes it helps you grow; sometimes it gives you new ideas. But it has its time and place, and that time and place is not amidst creation. That time is your time, and I'd encourage you to let it be just that: your time to create.

[aboutoriginality]

[ferrousferrule]

For those of you who dont get to see fireflies. Yes they are real and yes they are gentle

[kick-a-long]

Fuck. I can’t believe how much I needed to see something sweet and beautiful and needless right this very moment.

Thank you. I’ll try to get it to more people in need.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Looking up how many phonemes exist in different languages because I’m that guy and apparently Hawaiian only has 13 phonemes.

I don’t know what to say about that. That’s not a lot. I think it’s cool you can have a language with so few sounds.

[kinglucasmasalla]

The Shukwoto Caste System (Part 1)

When the Shukwoto States conquered the Shukweso Continent, they imposed their Caste System upon all the ethnic groups they subjugated (Chukwezi, Ðeodisć, and Fusō).

Everyone is born into a Caste, but some can move up and many downwards

The Ngozidji (The Servants of Ngozimenhaza)

The Ngozidji are the aristocrats. Ethnic Shukwoto Men and Women who descend from the 60 Legendary Heroes who brought the Shukwoto together and began their 500-year conquest of Shukweso.

They have powers given to them by their god Ngozimenhaza and passed down the generations.

Privileges: Only Full or Half Shukwoto People can be in this caste, Can serve as Judges, Full Voting Rights, Can serve in Legislature, Can Contract Djombazi, Priority in employment, Lower Castes must defer to them. Self-Governing and Self-Policing. Freedom of Movement across the entire country.

Restrictions: Cannot marry below Kazibadji.

Ngozidji are known for their arrogance, extreme wealth, and privilege. They control most corporations and run the federal and constituent governments. They're politically extremely conservative and emphasize and celebrate social hierarchy.

They are generally skeptical of egalitarianism.

[translunaryanimus]

CHENESHT HOMEPLANET - ÂCHLANHTE Star: K-Class, Main Sequence 'Phetchâ' [Petkaa] - Comes from the word for white [Phe] and a contraction of Tlechâ [T'châ - Halo or Radiance. Has godly connotations] Position from Star: Second Axial Tilt: 15 degrees Gravity: .83g Vegetation: Dark Greenish Teal Supercontinent Name: Eshtmhêt [esht-meet] - People Path/People Track Planet Name Meaning: Âchlanhte [Aaklante] - Usually roughly translated as 'All Our Egg'. The name spawns from a Têphecha religious belief that the planet they live on was the first egg laid by one of their gods. Each culture has their own version of this story, but the Têphecha version is the most commonly told to other sophonts.

ETHNICITY NAMES AND MEANINGS

Llalâphe [Lalaape] - Fisher Fenhêalch [Feneelt] - Derived from an old word for Soil [Fenhach] Têphecha [Teepeka] - Stilt or Pole Lhbore [L'bore or Labore] - Large or Tall, sometimes translated as 'Giants' Ôernh [Oorn] - Derived from an old word for Water [Ôrnha] Chlâsle [Tlaasle] - Beader Nhâchchech [Naak'kek] - Weaver

More information under the cut

Âchlanhte's lower axial tilt and lesser gravity cause seasonal patterns to be far more mild than those of earths. The poles barely freeze or melt, the swamps stay wet and humid, and the haze of airborne algae stays easily suspended in the sky, turning it a foggy mint color. The predictable and mild seasons also allowed for easy, early chenesht settling across a vast majority of the Supercontinent's surface which led them to becoming the dominant species, and eventually, the only sapient one.

Some of you may remember This Earlier Post in which I touched a little on natural color variants within Chenesht, consider this the expanded version. Chenesht have 7 distinct ethnic groups which, for the most part, are also their cultural groups. I've covered the Chlâsle and the Nhâchchech briefly before in other posts and plan to eventually go more in depth on the other 5. In terms of cross referencing with the older post, the Chlâsle are the 'standard' coloration, the Nhâchchech are the 'polar' coloration, and the Têphecha are the 'central' coloration. While the colors in this post are still canon, Chlâsle are no longer considered the standard coloration as they're one of 7 ethnicities.

Âchlanhte's supercontinent Eshtmhêt has experienced very little tectonic drift since merging several million years before the dawn of civilization, allowing the various Chenesht cultures to stay socially and technologically connected and up to date with one another throughout their development. It's because of this that all Chenesht largerly speak the same language, with the only differences being slang terms and the occasional differing words between cultures. Each dialect is rougly 90% mutually intelligable with any other, with the Llalâphe and the Ôernh having the most linguistic drift. The 'correct' names for each ethnicity are sometimes debated due to variations on what they're called by themselves vs by others, ie. the Nhâchchech also being called the Eshtchchonh (pattern people) by the Chlâsle. The ones listed here are the popularly accepted proper names.

[opashoo]

"Friend, there are scavengers watching."

Suns gives Spearmaster a heads up. The text is in my own conlang that I'm using as a Reconstructed Ancient. It reads "!A toganggan .Chiengga mulngjer"

This was originally a practice sketch animation to figure out how to animate quadrupeds but it became a much broader practice piece.

[laurelaicoop]

New and improved Traveler's Jhabber with a corresponding Traveler's Sign chart as an added bonus. Since half the main cast of Threshold People sign fluently (and one signs exclusively) and Earth plays no part in the universe I've made, I have to make that language from scratch too! Some worldbuilding tidbits under the read more.

Traveler's Jhabber is the official Universal Language of the LIPA (Laurelai Inter-Planetary Alliance), and anyone going through flight certification, from pilots to engineers to diplomats, is required to learn it. Traveler's Sign came a bit later and was also added to the required curriculum, though, unfortunately, most people stop using it once out of the academy unless it serves a practical purpose for them.

Logograms are exclusively for the written form of Traveler's Jhabber. You'll always find a logogram of one of the alien species directly next to proper nouns so you can keep track of who is what, who owns what, and where it all came from. The language-identifying logograms are used less frequently in everyday texts.

[wanderinginksplot]

I am a Clone Wars-era Star Wars fic writer. I've been staring at mando.org for literal years to find slang, fic titles, and nicknames. I once read every entry to make sure I knew all the options for some term or another.

How did I just realize that the Mandalorian word for droid is beskar'ad? Mandalorians literally call droids, "Iron-child".

That is the cutest thing I've ever heard.

[aureentuluva70]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: one of the only few bad things about Tolkien's legendarium is that it makes 90% of all other fantasy worlds look either completely or somewhat mediocre in comparison.

Like, what do you mean you don't have a fictional language for your fantasy world? WEAKLINGS

[aureentuluva70]

This man right here gets it.

[thesaltofcarthage]

Tolkien invented some languages and then made up entire universes so he could have people speak them.

[kosher-martian]

Tolkien writing down "Brandywine" after laboriously labeling his map first in primordial Valarin, then translating the map through millennia of language evolution until finally arriving at English like an elaborate and wholly unnecessary game of telephone: *chuckles*