Zompist Bboard Again

I finally forced myself to start writing my novel, and have nearly finished the first chapter. I'm not sure how much conlanging to put in it, though, nor whether to replicate the base-12 counting system.

alice wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2026 2:26 pm I finally forced myself to start writing my novel, and have nearly finished the first chapter. I'm not sure how much conlanging to put in it, though, nor whether to replicate the base-12 counting system.

Congratulations!

got at least a draft of a plan for which languages to borrow place names into gothic from, although i need to look a bit closer at medieval trade routes

alice wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2026 2:26 pm I finally forced myself to start writing my novel, and have nearly finished the first chapter. I'm not sure how much conlanging to put in it, though, nor whether to replicate the base-12 counting system.

That's nice! Some while ago I forced myself to start writing my novel. I only got one page done and it was terrible.

I'm writing a novel. The problem is it's very long-winded. It's litfic, slow-burn, so long is normal, but I'll need to trim it down if I ever want to publish it.

Imralu wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2026 12:46 am I'm writing a novel. The problem is it's very long-winded. It's litfic, slow-burn, so long is normal, but I'll need to trim it down if I ever want to publish it.

Good luck.

Brought another song to near-signoff status (i.e. "one last listen to determine if I need to do any more to it"). Ten done, nine to go.

alice wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 2:39 pm Brought another song to near-signoff status (i.e. "one last listen to determine if I need to do any more to it"). Ten done, nine to go.

Congratulations!

alice wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2026 2:39 pm Brought another song to near-signoff status (i.e. "one last listen to determine if I need to do any more to it"). Ten done, nine to go.

Congratulations!

Boredom begets money, I guess.

lëtzeshark wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 5:16 pm Boredom begets money, I guess.

Is that the new rule now? OK, where can I collect mine the next time I get bored?

In any case, pretty bird and nice architecture!

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 5:37 pm In any case, pretty bird and nice architecture!

I agree. What castle is that? It looks familiar.

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 5:37 pm

lëtzeshark wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 5:16 pm Boredom begets money, I guess.

Is that the new rule now? OK, where can I collect mine the next time I get bored?

You have to make it yourself. :P

hwhatting wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2026 2:42 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2026 5:37 pm In any case, pretty bird and nice architecture!

I agree. What castle is that? It looks familiar.

Thanks (to you both)! It's a picture I took from the top of the Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra, Portugal.

lëtzeshark wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2026 6:55 amIt's a picture I took from the top of the Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra, Portugal.

I, too, have taken a picture there, although I have yet to use it on anything, let alone a (admittedly, very snazzy) con-banknote¹.

¹ Almost, but not quite, a con-currency.

Somewhat belated question: how common is it, in real life, that a banknote contains a caption explaining what it depicts?

alice wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2026 2:26 pmI finally forced myself to start writing my novel, and have nearly finished the first chapter. I'm not sure how much conlanging to put in it, though, nor whether to replicate the base-12 counting system.

Interesting question. English already has words for 12 and 12² at least, so you certainly could without much difficulty. Expressions like "three dozen" are already commonplace after all. Nonetheless it's fair to say that many people will resent having to parse "six gross eleven dozen and four" for "one thousand".

Devised a plan for the vowels of my great ancestor lang and its descendants:

Early Stage Ancestor
/a aː e eː i iː o oː/ (/i iː/ cannot precede /j w/)

Late Stage Ancestor (labialized consonants are merged with plain, but not before turning adjacent vowels to /o oː/)
/a aː e eː i iː o oː/

Pre-Pre-Old Vrkhazhian (postalveolar sibilants merge with median sibilants, mid vowels are raised)
/a aː i iː u uː/

Pre-Old Vrkhazhian (postvelar consonants are lost, but not before turning adjacent vowels to /e eː/)
/a aː e eː i iː u uː/

Old Vrkhazhian
/a aː e eː i iː u uː/

Some major isolglosses of the descendants of Late Stage Ancestor, similar to Centum-Satem:
Isogloss A: merger of /t͡ɬ t͡ɬʼ d͡ɮ ɬ/ with /t͡s t͡sʼ d͡z s/ (de-lateralization)
Isogloss B: merger of /t͡ʃ t͡ʃʼ d͡ʒ ʃ/ with /t͡s t͡sʼ d͡z s/ (de-palatalization)
Isogloss C: merger of /t͡ʃ t͡ʃʼ d͡ʒ ʃ/ with /k kʼ g x/ (de-palatalization and retraction)

Most languages will be of the first two

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2026 3:47 pm

alice wrote: ↑Mon Jul 27, 2026 2:26 pmI finally forced myself to start writing my novel, and have nearly finished the first chapter. I'm not sure how much conlanging to put in it, though, nor whether to replicate the base-12 counting system.

Interesting question. English already has words for 12 and 12² at least, so you certainly could without much difficulty. Expressions like "three dozen" are already commonplace after all. Nonetheless it's fair to say that many people will resent having to parse "six gross eleven dozen and four" for "one thousand".

I imagine base-12 users behave toward numbers like 100₁₂, 1000₁₂, 10000₁₂, etc. like we behave toward 100₁₀, 1000₁₀, 10000₁₀, etc. That is, the tendency toward wanting nice even clean numbers rather than something like 5391. So the reader will likely only encounter clean dozens, grosses, and great grosses

What bothers me is that you can have dozenth but no equivalent for gross. Grossth? Grost? Grossest?

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2026 4:32 amI imagine base-12 users behave toward numbers like 10012, 100012, 1000012, etc. like we behave toward 10010, 100010, 1000010, etc. That is, the tendency toward wanting nice even clean numbers rather than something like 5391. So the reader will likely only encounter clean dozens, grosses, and great grosses

Well yes. I was simply acknowledging that more complicated uses of dozenal would confuse and annoy readers, even if simpler ones might work.

Remember that amongst programmers it is common to think of powers of two as 'round numbers' rather than powers of ten.