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Do you have a must read list for those who wanto to create conlangs?
I do! Start with an intro linguistics textbook (or my book), then Campbell’s Historical Linguistics, Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By, Joan Bybee, William Pagliuca, and Revere Perkins’ The Evolution of Grammar, and have Heine and Kuteva’s World Lexicon of Grammaticalization handy. Also Thomas Payne’s Describing Morphosyntax.
I've heard 'asalamu alakum' in the background to one of the scenes, khal drogo also introduces himself as 'ana khal drogo' which is Arabic- I'd it fair to say the dotharaki tribe are supposed to portray Arabs and the middle East?
Drogo does not introduce himself that way, and you didn’t hear assalaam al’aikum in the background. Others have thought this before, and they pointed out where, and I told them what was being said, and they agreed they misheard. If you think you spotted a different place, though, feel free to find the video on YouTube (it’s all up there) and send me a timestamp. It would be extraordinary, though, because the only one connected to the show that knew any Arabic was me, and I never instructed anyone to say anything in Arabic, and I didn’t provide any vocals for the show (i.e. my voice doesn’t appear on there anywhere).
Anyway, even if that was the case, I don’t know how you jump to “Are the Dothraki supposed to be Arabs”. First of all, I, the language creator, didn’t create them. Second, neither did the showrunners of Game of Thrones. The writer of the book series A Song of Ice and Fire did, George R. R. Martin. Furthermore, he has said himself that they were based on the Mongolians of the Silk Road era and a mishmash of Native American tribes. You can google this.
That said, are the Dothraki portrayed well as the only major non-white race in the books? Eh. Really the only saving grace is that practically no one comes off well; everyone sucks. That’s not a great defense, though. As the language creator, though, there really wasn’t much I could do about it, outside making the language the way I wanted, and even then there are times where I was overruled.
Do you like cartoons?
Of course! Among my all time favorites are The Real Ghostbusters, Batman: The Animated Series, TaleSpin, Teen Titans, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, and Muppet Babies. I mean, probably many, many more, but those are the ones that come to mind. Oh! The Simpsons, Archer, Rick and Morty, Metalocalypse, Home Movies, Futurama, The Boondocks, Bojack Horseman, and Daria. My life, man. MY LIFE!
So what is the etymology of the word "Heda" in trigedasleng. Since we know that the name of the first commander is Becca Pramheda, is it possibly in relation to Becca's last name? Pram-"head", with Pram being close to the grounder word for first "Praim". Other sources claim it is from the English word "Header" but it seems a bit too coincidental to be by accident.
Etymology is “head” + -a from Trigedasleng. Becca’s actual last name is not “Pramheda”: that’s just what she’s referred to as (kind of like Oedipus the King). And, indeed, pram ≈ praim. You can pretty much always render ai as a in Trig. (That was my original plan, after all. Ai wasn’t supposed to exist anymore—same with au.)
What is your favorite TV show and why??
The Prisoner. It wasn’t my favorite until the very last episode, when it’s revealed (SPOILER) that the entire struggle was internal. Blew my mind.
Hey! So at the con you explained a bit about how Austronesian alignment comes about. I'd love to read more about it, but I haven't had a whole lot of luck looking for information about it myself. Are there any resources you could point me to?
Google “trigger system”. Some of my responses should come up. Basically, though, remember that languages can have different passives (i.e. passives of direct objects vs. passives of indirect objects) and different applicatives (benefactive applicatives, instrumental applicatives, and locative applicatives), and you can have one of each on the same verb—and languages can change how often they use passives and applicatives—and you’ll get to Austronesian alignment pretty quickly.
What language is your Inha work from Emerald City based on?
None whatsoever. It’s an a priori language. A priori languages do not draw their grammar or vocabulary from any other language.
Dothraki follow up question: I do see the difference between kash and affin now, but I am now confused about the difference between arrek and affin. If you don't mind, could you explain this to me?
Arrek means “then” but in the distant future (as opposed to ahhaz which is regular “then”). The entire rek series, though, is used for precisely this function:
Jini reki tih anha. “This is what I saw.”
Anha vo nesok rekke dothra me. “I don’t know where he went.”
It stands for “that which” or “the place that” or “the time that”, etc.
