Zompist Bboard Again

David and Jessie Peterson created conlangs for the movies: Chakobsa (and its orthography) the language of the Fremen, and the secret handsigns used by Paul and Jessica (and maybe also the sign language used by a Harkonnen pilot?). Sardaukar is only a phonology; and there are no Galach or "Harko...

This sounds like Wilbur , at least what I remember of it. Was still developped recently (2023). Unfortunately, it's Windows-only (haven't tested with Wine yet) and closed-source (but free). (mal)Chances are, you've already tested it I discovered it at Worldbuilding Pasta , which may contain the exac...

That's what we meant! To see if we could "formalise" those statements. A good test of the flexibility of a given SCA (maybe it'll give bradrn ideas for further Brassica tweaks).

Jonlang, would you care to share those plain language sound changes here? We're no AI, but some of us could translate that into formatted input for our favourite SCAs. I'd like the challenge, using Lexurgy.

To get back on topic: What (hypothetical) tools would you like to have or find useful ? Detailed tracking of each word from the proto-lexicon to the daughters, allowing to apply one-off sound changes, analogy, and see the lexical relationships between words at each stage of the language. That is to...

Speaking of which: how does Typst compare to LaTeX, in your opinion? I’d consider switching, but I know LaTeX well enough by now that I can do almost anything in it, and that’s not something I’d like to give up. I like that there are no intermediary files. Otherwise, to a casual user like me, who f...

One of my great annoyances with SIL Toolbox (which I use for dictionaries) and its MDF format is that it produces typeset output as RTF, which is an utter pain if you don’t have access to Microsoft Word. I’ve been thinking of writing a program to convert it to LaTeX instead, given that I reimplemen...

Yes, it's the root, o- is the augment before the class prefix proper (except in class 5), didn't want to be that precise here.

I don’t know any language in which the noun retains its gender marker on derivation, but it seems very likely to me that such a language exists somewhere. Class shift of nouns (used for augmentatives and diminutives) in Otjiherero (Bantu, Namibia) may either replace the class prefix, or it is retai...

The worried reactions of those humans are what will be interesting. The ensuing drama could be its own pay-off. Maybe a character will be set in a negative view of aliens no matter what, and butt heads with their conspecifics; maybe the initial wariness will lead to overtly cautious steps that will...

Do you have that kind of folk healers in Germany? I'd expect you do -- the cultural gap is not that great. Here in my corner of "culturally German" France, we have Schlofer ('sleepers') as the name for sorcerers folk healers. They're still a thing in rural settings, especially in the moun...

Coupeurs de feu are folks that can supposedly cure burns. In France, people wholeheartedly believe in them, even otherwise rational people. That includes medical professionals. (I personally don't. People will judge you for not calling one if you get burned!) Yeah, two family members treated for ca...

Torch sent to bradrn.

What do the three supplementary forms of hecūsih correspond to? Can that verb be used intransitively as is?

I did, as an optional subject in le lycée and then college. Though it wasn't for conlanging purposes. There are some languages I got an interest in because my artistic tastes ran their way, but serious study for the purpose of communication/comprehension was not the point.

If you're not particularly in a hurry, neither will I. I still have to translate parts of the grammar and lexicon of Dri Mreatt from French to English.

Got it, should be ready by next week, weather permitting.

If there's still a spot, I'd like to participate with Dri Mreatt.

Over in France, results have been so good for Le Pen and so bad for Macron that Macron has called a snap election for Parliament. I don't know enough about the French constitution to know what exactly that means. It means that the President will have to chose a Prime Minister from the new majority ...

Non-academia conlangers are invited to present posters about their own creations. Are you involved in planning this conference too? I got the impression that it’s specifically for research about conlangs and conlanging, rather than presenting the conlangs themselves (which, after all, would be of l...