User talk:Elector Dark

Chat
Could you come to chat please?

I'm actually developing the romlang and would like to ask you some questions, if that's permitted. :P --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Me harassing you again, now about Quxnaṣ. I'm going to make polysyntheticity and wtfusion parts of it and would like to know more about both. To avoid such embarrassing encounters like the previous time, could you write when you'll be available? --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Probably tonight, around 11PM your time; I'm not home r/n 12:48, April 26, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Oh. Well, I'm not quite certain if I'll be on then. I'll write you like 15 minutes earlier if I'll be available. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Wario Toad 32
The reason why I don't going to chat is because nobody seems to be on it.

Swearing
Hello,

I was wondering: are we permitted to have on our languages' pages sections about swearing? With swear words, obviously? You know, because colloquialisms and slurs tend to be in that category...

ZgorigTuķuže (talk) 03:25, April 27, 2015 (UTC)

'Ello, other admin here. I personally don't object, though perhaps it might be a good idea to put swearing under a spoiler tag, so that readers may choose whether they want to see it or not. I doubt we'd have any visitors who'd be offended by it, but in my opinion it's always best to be on the safe side. [This has been a Public Service Announcement from your Friendly Neighbourhood Admin.] 04:14, April 27, 2015 (UTC)

Nah it's not bad as long as it's handled tactfully and respectively; if I were you I'd actually make a subpage about profanity that I'd link on the main page. The link would be something like Page Name Here copied into the page and edited appropriately. 08:27, April 27, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Test Phrases
Hello there. I'm quite new user here and been working on a language for a week or so now. Is there, on this wiki I mean or elsewhere in internet, like a set of phrases with which you could "test" your conlang? I could really use such because this happens to be the first time I'm creating a language. I'm sorry to bother you with such menial thing as this, but I didn't know of who other I could've asked. Aren't admins for questions anyway?

Your (this Wiki's) template category is a mess. You don't mind if I try to organize it? -- Remos talk 11:51, April 28, 2015 (UTC)

Hello there! I'm quite new to Wikia too, although I can try to answer some of your question.

The following link has over a thousand sentences, increasing in order of grammatical complexity:

http://www.potterpcs.net/gsfa/.

Rootleft3 (talk)

Ah yes, I would've suggested those sentences as well. They're a bit nonsensical, but as for testing grammatical constructions, they're decent. As for organizing categories, I've been working on them, and would appreciate the task of organizing them to me. If you really wish to help, I just ask that you consult me first, preferably in the chatroom if possible. [This has been a Public Service Announcement from your Friendly Neighbourhood Admin.] 21:47, April 28, 2015 (UTC)

Been refraining from commenting because you guys seem to know what you're all talking about together so eh I dunno 13:08, April 29, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Dialect
So you remember the folk song in a(n old?) German dialect I've sent a shitload of time earlier? Turned out to most probably be a Franconian dialect. Irrelevant, but whatever.

Also, how to make/could you implement a chat shortcut in the monobook sidebar? And what were the methods of Prussia you mentioned? --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

1) I kinda vaguely remember sth existing O:

2) I don't think I can, unfortunately

3) Methods of Prussia? Do remind me, my memory is senile at times :c 09:29, May 31, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

1) Okay. Mentioned it because I wondered whether it's Upper German then.

2) Ah, whatever. I've seen some wikis which do have it, though.

3) Eh, I don't know anything about that. We were just playing the game of meat bicycle (aka chitchatting w/o a defined point) and you said something like "de medodn võ braißn" and then when I wondered what it is and of what it is. You said that in "standard" German it's "die Metoden vom Preußen" (sic). So I wonder what you meant. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Oh that, the rendering was basically just what it'd look in the standard; and I don't think there are any specific Prussian methods. I did later on say that it ought to be "der Preußen", but that Bavarian took the dative for those constructions. It was just an example of Bavarian and the illiteracy of Bavarians B] 11:12, May 31, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Doubt
Sorry to bother, but I've been doing some languages and when using the neat little template that shows up when doing a new language, changing yes into the conjugation boxes doesn't make it green and I've been unable to discover if I'm doing it wrong (if I have to change the box to something else) or if it's a wikia problem or something else.

Lvcrf7 (talk) 19:58, June 4, 2015 (UTC)

I think it's supposed to be "yes" in particular. Not 100% sure but that's what I use :O 21:49, June 4, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Doublechecking work
Okay, I've done a considerable amount of research into phonology, and have begun work on my language in a more serious manner. Before I get started, I wanted to know if you could check the combinatorics of my language first, and see if they make sense. I've got some other rules for the language I've written down, which I'll be putting up later on, but I just wanted to run the first part by you first. Thanks if you have the time. :) Vivaporius: "I don't need a slogan" 00:11, June 5, 2015 (UTC)

I suggest you go do your own thing with those, as Kti is a bad model because of its immense age :D But yeah they work! 14:30, June 5, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Understood. I'm hoping that the language will make sense though. Because, seriously, I honestly have no clue what information I'd have to know to even work on a language. :P Vivaporius: "I don't need a slogan" 20:50, June 5, 2015 (UTC)

Oh yeah, I'm also going to be taking some of the boxes on your pages. They look very professional. Vivaporius: "I don't need a slogan" 20:58, June 5, 2015 (UTC)

If you want, I could explain stuff to ya via Wiki chat or some external chat method (I have Skype and Steam) so things start going a bit smoother where we can smoothe them out :D 07:55, June 6, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Sure, that'll work. I've got Steam, but wiki chat is good too. So if you want to talk about this, then we can set up a time whenever you feel like it. :) Vivaporius: "I don't need a slogan" 20:06, June 11, 2015 (UTC)

I'm on right now, so Wiki chat works 20:13, June 11, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Germanic Conlang Challenge
The Germanic Conlang Challenge begins in 2 weeks!

Sign up here if you want to participate. If you don't want to participate in the relay, do mention it. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Misha Lexicon
I wanted to nominate Mìša as one of the potential ancestors for my descendant lang contest, but I couldn't find any lexicon for it on the wiki, and without a lexicon it wouldn't be viable to derive a descendant from. If you have a file available, could you please upload it to the wiki?

Tee Seven (talk) 02:02, June 18, 2015 (UTC)

I don't have much of a vocabulary established, but there's something to the tune of fiftyish terms penned. I'll see to putting the stuff up over the weekend~ 12:58, June 18, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Best Historical Linguistics Book
My birthday's coming up so I wanted to ask for a book in historical linguistics. I know you recommended Herbert Schendl's book, but it wasn't on Amazon and my family is a huge amazon user. However, I did manage to find four decent-looking books for only a few dollars- problem is, I can't decide which is best. Here's the links.

Historical Linguistics: An Introduction

An Introduction to Historical Linguistics

Historical Linguistics

Historical Linguistics: An Introduction

Could you please help me decide which to get?

Tee Seven (talk) 02:18, June 20, 2015 (UTC)

I recommend Schendl's book because it is a terrific, thorough, yet simple introduction to historical linguistics that doesn't bog you down in metalinguistics but just explains concepts. It's the best low-level introduction I've read, but not quite of too much merit to someone who knows a lot of things linguistic. I'd not buy Terry Crowley's book, as most of what it does is look at the history of Polynesian languages, despite its supposedly general nature. Lyle Campbell and Larry Trask do exquisite stuff, and theirs is of a higher level than the other books. Dunno about Lehmann, but either Campbell or Trask (Trask's book has a second edition that's far fresher, though a used copy hovers around $22) ought to work better for you than Schendl's booklet, especially since you have some sort of decently firm theoretical grounding.

P.S. Checked with a friend, they use Trask's book as their coursebook for their historical linguistics course in Helsinki.

10:42, June 20, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Thanks so much! I'll get Trask's book, then.

Tee Seven (talk) 13:36, June 20, 2015 (UTC)

Glad to have helped ^ ^ 15:35, June 20, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Conscripts
I heard you know how to make conscripts work on computers. If you do, could you help me with that? Thanks. Joersc (talk) 03:43, June 20, 2015 (UTC)

I used to know how, but then Wikia changed the whole thing and now it sucks and doesn't work :\ 10:42, June 20, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Is there any update regarding this topic? I've gotten a bit more into HTML and CSS lately, so I think the only thing necessary in order to revive the font on my page is the following patch embedded into the CSS:

 @font-face {

font-family:aelis;

src: url(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2049198/%C3%86lis/aelis.ttf);

}

Do you have any strings you could pull? Or otherwise, the (user)name of someone I could talk to? My page's been dormant ever since the issue surfaced, and I would like to start editing again. Thanks in advance! BinzNakama (talk) 20:22, May 7, 2016 (UTC)

It should work now! I added it. Wikia changed their font mechanisms /yet again/ so it now works. 22:23, May 7, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

You are my hero! I tried a few things and saw the font again. However, it seems that the kerning values aren't active, which the font heavily relies on in order for it to appear cursive. I'm on Chrome in Windows 8, if that's relevant. Any ideas?

BinzNakama (talk) 22:46, May 7, 2016 (UTC)

I'm on Chrome on W10, and I have no idea how. Have you tried, say, Firefox? 23:52, May 7, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Firefox doesn't seem to work either for me. In the picture, the top is the way the font appears to me on here (not kerned), the bottom is what I'm aiming for (kerned). Which one do you see?

hAnWnA4rAlAlWhAeLeAnA4rAiAqA4rAtEiWiA7tE BinzNakama (talk) 18:22, May 8, 2016 (UTC)

I indeed see the bad kerning. Yup, something's fishy. Is it due to the font? Have you looked into web-embeddable fonts? 19:25, May 8, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

I have now... There seem to be several issues at play: non-standard CSS support, vendor prefixes, browser specific CSS syntax... So I tried a few things in this JSFiddle, but I won't get the font to kern there either, not with Chrome nor FireFox. So I fear it's nothing that you or anyone else of Wikia could help solve. I still don't get it though, I don't think it's a design flaw in my font, since the image I posted above was written with my regular text editor (OpenOffice), where checking and unchecking the kerning checkbox simply does the trick. I'll dig some more into the path of the font design itself and in case I find nothing, I'll simply accept the fate of a poorly kerned text. Thanks anyway. :) BinzNakama (talk) 22:05, May 8, 2016 (UTC)

Images
Hi, I was having trouble with a page I am writing. For my page for Leerish, I am trying to make a chart to compare the letter in the latin alphabet, the letter in the native script, the pronunciation of the letter, and an example of a word using that grapheme. The problem I'm having is with the row for inserting the native script. I have small images of each letter in the script, and I am trying to insert them into the cells of the table, however I am being unsuccessful in that. I was hoping to get some help as to how I can do this, if it's at all possible.

Thanks,

Aryo

So, the first thing you have to do is upload the images. This is done via the Special:Upload page. After that, you can follow the MediaWiki image help guide to help you acheive what you want :D Hope that does it for you~ 09:52, June 27, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Ivan the Terrible
I still can't get what sort of weed could cause you to think that the pic you've sent me most recently in chat is something funny. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

I don't know, but I found it macabrely funny, hoped you'd do so too :C 22:31, July 9, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Diachronic changes in High German dialects?
Since you speak Bavarian and are into linguistics, do you have anything with diachronic changes in High German dialects, as opposed to all the Standard German stuff that's all over the place? Joersc (talk) 05:00, July 16, 2015 (UTC)

Uhm, I do know some stuff but I dunno how useful it might be. Most of the things line up with Standard German as it's derived from a Central German variety. For the most part, there has been another consonant shift involved in Alemannic and Bavarian, 'b d g > p t k / #_'. Old High German is basically the starting point for all dialects, and Middle High German is the basis for most dialects, including Bavarian, Yiddish and Alemannic. From there on the dialects basically developed independently and you'd best look into changes leading up to Middle High German. 09:52, July 16, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Any tips?
Hi ED! I'm still very new to conlanging in general and I would really appreciate some tips on just what to do in general. I tend to not plan very well, so most of my langauges end up running straight into the ground, so if you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. Would you mind responding to this on my talk page?

Th1nkja1lbreak (talk) 16:28, July 17, 2015 (UTC)

Palatalization in Norman
Wikipedia says that in "Southern Norman" palatalization is present to a lesser extent, so "chastel" would be totally possible for a late mediaeval (Southern, ofc) Norman manuscript. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Huh, totally forgot about the Joret line. Good catch. 12:34, July 18, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

hi again.  I swear I'll delete these...
Thanks for the advice! I will definitely read it. Of those features that you mentioned, evidentiality is the only one im not fully familiar with; I'm googling it now. Interesting that you mention the dual number....I always want to include it but u run out of distinct derived affixes that don't sound weird (for a posteriori's) and in the case of a prioris, I can't THINK of any more affixes that don't sound weird :p but anyway, thanks again. Also I don't think im a Chinese Skype hooker spammer, but I may be wrong so don't hold me to that XD.

(Th1nkJa1lbreak)

PS on a scale of 1 to My-Eyes-are-legit-bleeding how bad is http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Italicys_(Traditional_Itálicce)

1) Didn't understand a thing you were saying 2) it's very unclear and has a few nonsense passages etc. s: 11:14, July 19, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Harassing
Me again (and I'll clear this section every now and then). What do you think about making the relay "a bit" nonstandard, say, doing it in IPA? I need consent on this.

Feel free to answer whenever you return - Eli's b-day is soon and I'll be in the Saakashvili-ruled butthole from 11th to 18th. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

It would indeed be quite a bit creative, though it depends on what the other results look like. I am tentatively tactfully supporting the idea, it might be a good thing. IPA might not be the best idea, but we could do it :D would be interested in hearing what other stuff you come up with for the relay, too. 19:53, August 9, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

So far I have only one other option - writing it in conventional verse, with rhyme and stress pattern and whatnot, though I'll write that suggestions will be appreciated when I'll finish at least the strong verbs. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

(Me again.) Do you have something on North Frisian? Preferably on the northernmost dialects, i.e. Öömrang or Söl'ring. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

I have Sölring here, but no Öömrang ;__; ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate 21:50, September 3, 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, that's exactly what I sought. Would be happy заиметь (to get hold of) a grammar of a Limburgish dialect which misuses palatalization, but know that there probably aren't grammars on such dialects. :P --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Is a sound change ī > ai > oi > ō (> oə) possible in a High German dialect? --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Yes but over a bigger stretch of time; it'd take at least 400 years. 18:33, September 21, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Oh, okay. I want to make a less unpronounceable and more realistic Germanic conlang, this time doing something that copies vaguely resembles Luxembourgish, particularly the SC í > ə in a 2+ syllable word (I believe that's /_$ or something). Speaking of that, could such a sound change be restricted only to roots? --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Assuming root stress, you can limit it to roots yeah. 19:50, September 21, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Now a question more fitting to the section title, yet less important compared to the others. Is there a decent source of sound changes from OHG to child languages? --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Word Creation
I don't know if I've asked you this question before, so please forgive me if I have. How do you come up with words for your languages? I'm going with a root system (person, place, tool, etc.), and have the cases in place, but I don't know how to actually come up with the words themselves. Do you just come up with words that work with your phonotactic system and then just tack everything else on, or is there some super secret method people are using that I don't know about? Vivaporius: "I don't need a slogan" 22:04, July 20, 2015 (UTC)

Basically either random words, or using a word generator such as Awkwords. Nothing fancier :\ 10:26, July 21, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Thanks. Vivaporius: "I don't need a slogan" 17:18, July 21, 2015 (UTC)

Help with languages
Hi there! I saw your reply to my proposal on the Ancestor Lang challenge, and I would like to thank you for your feedback and constructive criticism! However, there's going to be one small issue fixing all those things...

I'm very new to all this and have no idea what I'm doing.

So I would love your assistance in things such as the syntax and the stress rules and the sort. Thank you for your time! OrangeHills 21:29, July 23, 2015 (UTC)

Adverbial clause
Can I make adverbial clauses appear, let's say, only in either the beginnings of sentences or between the subject and the verb (SVO word order)? Also, what other syntactical stuff do I need? I'm working on Old Pelhaforan at the moment. Sunazhum (talk) 01:31, July 24, 2015 (UTC)

You generally can, yeah. 13:32, July 24, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

About that syntax....
So, ED, I hear you are pretty insistent on "complete" syntax so would you mind sharing what you consider a decent syntax so that I can improve mine?

There exist individuals with severe diarrhea of the mouth but also a constipation of the ideas that is just as severe (talk) 20:28, July 29, 2015 (UTC)

Like, at the very least a decent overview of phrases, subordinate and relative clauses, passives and auxiliary constructions and whatnot, interrogatives, maybe even topicalisation and emphasis. 21:55, July 29, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

See that "Describing Morphosyntax" book, it will aid you in that no less than ED. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

лукс лайк кауфман ыз луркинг...

Thanks guys! I think i have at least that, ED, and Kaufman, I'll look into the book.

There exist individuals with severe diarrhea of the mouth but also a constipation of the ideas that is just as severe (talk) 21:50, August 2, 2015 (UTC)

I am totally lurking. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

New Feature
I had an idea that indead of or in addition to the "top edited pages," you (I ask you instead of AK since you're the programmer o3o) could program some magical softwear that picks up the most visited (by log-in with a maximum of one visit per week) 5 pages on the site per week in the language template (since Ak adds that template to all the languages). I ask because a most visited page is more accurate in which conlang is more popular (rather than most edited). I mean: feel no obligation or anything, though. If you don't want or you think it's bad, feel free to burn me out, I wouldn't be offended o3o

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 05:50, August 7, 2015 (UTC)

Not something we can actually do on Wikia, plus it'd be pretty hard to program. Don't get me wrong, it's a good idea, just not one we can reasonably pull off (PS it's a category, not a template). ED

No, yeah, it's fine. I completely understand. I'm not a programmer so I wouldn't know: I was just putting it out there (though, someone else already had I bet o3o).

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 16:00, August 7, 2015 (UTC)

Esperanto Classification
I was talking with Osswix, Andalie, Rototom, and Jœrsc and we got into a conversation about a priori vs. a posteriori. I said Esperanto and Snowska (Andalie's lang) aren't a posteriori because they just take words from other sources, their grammar isn't related at all, and they don't have any real sound changes; they said that they are because the words are still "from" the language. What do you think? If doesn't really fit into either category, could I suggest a new term, langue au frankenstein (Language of Frankenstein in French) meaning languages that are just compilations of other languages (such as Esperanto, Parlomas, and Snowska).

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 23:25, August 19, 2015 (UTC)

They're technically not a posteriori in that they do not come from other languages, they merely steal, but they're not quite 100% a priori in that they still take a lot from natlangs. Frankenlangs is a good ad-hoc term I guess heh. I guess it could work, though they still are a priori to the biggest extent of their being. 11:06, August 20, 2015 (UTC)~ ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Thank you (my point is proven!)

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 03:09, August 26, 2015 (UTC)

Any reason you deleted Ido? To feel big? Novparl 5.150.74.26 16:44, August 28, 2015 (UTC)

That's pathetic. The main reason was really the lack of the information in the article, and the reason like "it's so widely known hurr durr" is not enough to justify it. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Romanido revert
Hello! Do you mind deleting the Romanido page? I'm planning to revert Latineo to the original name and make a few improvements. Thanks. Lwyx (talk) 21:09, September 17, 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks again! Lwyx (talk) 18:56, September 30, 2015 (UTC)

Partnership
Hello, how are you? I am FrenchTouch, second-in-charge and editor-in-chief of THE BEST PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE, a website about self-written literature, and editorial shit, hosted by Wikia.

In view of a future expansion in our major literature universe, we would like to establish a partnership between us two, as well as the Conworld Wikia and the Fiction Wikia, for the sole reason that our concepts are very similar, if not really identical, and that we really appreciate the work done here, because in all honesty, most pages I've seen on Conlang and Conworld are already a "Fucking Genius" class to me, seriously.

As told to an administrator over at Conworld, we would like you to be one of our first partner, for we would really want a wiki like this one to walk with us as we find it of an irresistible quality. Plus, I might contribute here a little, and/or get help from some contributors, for we are trying to construct a few languages too for a universe of our own.

So, if you want to see the message at Conworld, here it is. We will make sure to find the right way to create a solid bond between us, and be sure to take all the time you need.

Have a nice day, see you later, and good luck. Regards, FrenchTouch (talk)

Hey, would you mind linking your wiki to us here :? 20:08, September 21, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate


 * Oh, of course, excuse my stupidity and forgetfulness, here it is. I hope you appreciate it. And pro-tip, don't stop to our editorial point of view and ambient "bastardness," in reality we are amical :)

FrenchTouch (talk)

New Challenge
How do I start a challenge? I was thinking of doing a "xenolang" challenge where the goal is make an a posteriori lang that isn't germanic, romantic, or slavic and the winner is the one with the most realistic, well done, interesting lang: unless there's another challenge after the germlang challenge. I assume that I have to run it by the admins (ie, you), so I asked you and AK.

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 19:35, September 21, 2015 (UTC)

You start a challenge by pestering a few people's talk pages, making a blog post some time in advance and set the rules with as many loopholes patched up as you can manage. I don't think anything's up after the Germlang challenge; this one gets my full endorsement! 19:54, September 21, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Xenolang Challenge
You are hereby invited to my Xenolang Challenge. Here is the sign-up and the details.

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 21:57, September 21, 2015 (UTC)

A Prioris
Hi ED! Sorry if this is too broad, but do you have any general advice on a priori conlangs? I'd really appreciate anything that might help.

Thanks,

My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met! (Diskutoj) 19:59, September 24, 2015 (UTC)

Ooh boy. This question is so goddamn broad like... there's a whole field of linguistics — historical linguistics — dedicated to just this. I suggest you start there. A good introduction I sometimes suggest is Herbert Schendl's Historical Linguistics which I got for 7€ a few years ago. Take a look at this very talk page, too; there are some good resources here. I can't really explain it to you in concise terms since the question is absurdly broad and open-ended. I can answer specific questions though. 23:15, September 24, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Ya, it is broad. Sorry about that. I've read Advanced Language Construction by the guy who made the LCK but it wasn't that helpful in dealing with the 'out of your ass' type stuff. I'll have to check out Historical Linguistics, though. Thanks for the reccomendation.

My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met! (Diskutoj) 23:22, September 24, 2015 (UTC)

Yo, I changed the rules.
I have amended the rules on the modern slavlang challenge, and you may now hand out as many or as few downvotes as you so choose. The voting procedure is now relatively standard and your voting practices will no longer be affected. Hope you reconsider your choice to not participate!

Thanks,

My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met! (Diskutoj) 13:10, September 28, 2015 (UTC)

Germanic Conlang Relay
The Germanic Conlang Relay has begun! Visit the page for more info. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

Questions About Borrowing
Hey, ED. So I have a lang with the productive rules V + [+nasal con.] > Ṽ and [æ e i u] > [a æ ɨ o], both only in closed syllables. So if it were to borrow a word from a neighbor, say "kusten," would this be rendered "kostį" (vowels also tended to rise when nasalized) if it was borrowed at the time these rules were productive? Or would it stay closer to "kusten?"

Thanks,

Tee Seven (talk) 23:23, October 13, 2015 (UTC)

Sound changes affect mostly every word in its lexicon, but at the same time, sound changes are historical (take for example the sk > ʃ in early English; 'ship' vs. 'skin' the latter of which is a later Norse loan). Therefore, if the word had been taken before or during the period of sound change, it would change, but not if it appears afterwards. Unless the sound changes apply to every word loaned in the language at that time (such as nasal vowels for French loans from English). I would assume that yes, it would be 'kusten' > 'kostį.'

Danke schön :D

Do you have any PDFs or whatnot lying around that discuss Proto-Slavic and/or how it developed into the modern Slavic languages? I found one document that listed sound changes from PIE to late Proto Slavic, but it was rather complex, didn't adequately explain the prosodic system and also didn't touch on morphology or syntax. You got anything better?

Marek Szymonski (talk) 00:57, November 8, 2015 (UTC)

Alas, not really. Of monoliths, there's only the Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon that you can probably dig up on the internet. I'd suggest looking at Old Church Slavonic grammars and looking at where the differences might be (as the time gap between OCS and PSl. is roughly one to two hundred years). 09:34, November 8, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Sidebar
Would you kindly add the chat link to the Monobook sidebar? Doesn't seem like something hard. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

I will indeed, though not right now; I'll have to first look into how it works as I'm not too canny on Monobook. Expect it done by the end of the week, Sunday-inclusive. 12:09, November 16, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Expected it by the end of that week. Облом.

If you don't know how to do it, add * Special:Chat?useskin=wikia|Chat here after the forum link. --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

I admit to failure, had other irons in the fire and forgot about this one. Done. 15:50, November 27, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Small Morphosyntax Question
Whaddup,

So I was wondering, would it be realistic to for the superlative of an adjective by prefixing the definite article to the comparative form? Lemme illustrate what I mean: so I have s kēro ēkje (the animal good, ie the good animal), s kēro ēkjinge (the animal better, ie the better animal.) Could "the best animal" be kēro s ēkjinge? Or should the definite article be prefixed to both the noun and the adjective (ie s kēro s ēkjinge)?

Marek Szymonski (talk) 03:58, December 24, 2015 (UTC)

Generally, systems tend to keep the article in the same place regardless of the degree of comparison. Not aware of exceptions 16:50, December 24, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Delete
Can you delete my Harson, Spanito and New Hunnic pages? Please do it! Thanx!

LanguageProfessor

No problem~ 19:16, December 26, 2015 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Transitivity Question
In this a priori I'm making, Lalakhmet, I was thinking of having no intransitive verbs. As in, every verb must take an object of some form. I was thinking that it would work because the verb could simply take a filler pronoun or a reflexive pronoun to still have an object but semantically it'd be "intransitive." Would this work?

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 01:23, January 3, 2016 (UTC)

If done properly, I think it would. I'm doing that atm w/ one of my projects. 02:51, January 4, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Modern Slavlang Challenge Is Starting
Hi!

Just a reminder, the Modern Slavlang Challenge begins on 21 January 2016. I have updated the rules and information on the challenge, and the new challenge page can be found here. Please read them, because they are slightly different from the original announcement.

Happy Conlanging!

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION (Talk) 20:16, January 10, 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, mr. Inquisitor~ 20:25, January 10, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Товарищ курфюрст...
Would you kindly translate "Even the last night's storm couldn't wake me up" to Icelandic? I'm thinking of setting that quote as my VK status which'd say I've tapped out quit, and I want it to sound *loud voice* badass. So, would you do me that little favor? --DAH BUY000R! (wall | crimes)

I'm going to contact my personal Icelander as that one's a lil bit too hard for me X) but yeah, I can, if you're willing to wait a lil bit. Feel free to poke me if I forget about it. 12:27, January 13, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Товарищ курфюрст, тут моя нетерпеливость просила передать Вам шлепок по плечу. --Кауф Торговец (почта/судимости) 14:56, January 16, 2016 (UTC)

Thanks c:

"Jafnvel stormurinn seinustu nótt gat ekki vakið mig", basically 20:21, January 16, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Don't mind. I should thank you (and/or your personal Icelander) for this :D --Kauf the Trader (Offers go here) 13:04, January 17, 2016 (UTC)

Deponent, Erg-Abs, blah
Like with my transitivity question, I have another about voicing. I put this as an explination for one of the forms I want in Lalakhmet (it's too long to explain right here):


 * "Deponent: ssentially, this switches the focus of the verb; in other words, the subject of the agent gets transferred over to the object. Thence switching the alignment from nominative-accusative to ergative-absolutive."

Would this work? Like, does it make sense?

Edit: It's not the "grammatical form" thing, I changed it to be considared a voice.

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 23:04, January 13, 2016 (UTC)

Deponent verbs are essentially verbs that lack a voice (usually active) and make up for it using a different voice. Latin did this by just conjugating a deponent passive verb in the passive but using it as if it were active:
 * egō tē vere-or
 * 1 2 fear-1
 * I fear you

These verbs are lexically determined. You might be looking at something closer to a genuine passive. 01:19, January 14, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

It's funny. I was just looking at my passive vs. deponent explination, and I realized that they were basically doing the same thing XD. So yeah, I just made a fancy passive. I just removed the "deponent" thing from the page since it did the same thing as the passive: make the sentence erg-abs. Thanks though.

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 01:33, January 14, 2016 (UTC)

No probs :^) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Mestian
Mestian is truly great (not just to get points or anything, like just saying). So, I wanted to ask you. Where did you think of all of the words? As in, what inspired their forms and such. Then, why/how did you make all of those different stems and such. I wanted to know so I can think of a better Lalakhmet.

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 02:01, January 23, 2016 (UTC)

Hey, glad to hear someone likes it :D

I mostly come up with them on the fly; what I do is generally look at some words I'm missing, some semantic area or definition (ash, small mammals, gems) and then coin the words on the fly. The stems are mostly regular — with stress shifts, as in qáma::qamássa — but the few irregular ones are mostly explainable through diachronics: an example would be lĩją::lijjímmą, deriving from líẖjəw::liẖjímwə, where the *ẖ gave different outcomes in stressed and unstressed syllables. I generally worked on it from 0.25 steps into the past, so to say. 02:13, January 23, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Oh, awesome. So basically, you make up words not caring for how they sound, given that they align with the phonotactics. Ok, mistake 1 solved: I always get really picky with sound and stuff, like "does it sound real?," but I should know that that's nonsense o-0. Then, you get the regular stem, and go through a simplification-esque trial where consonants/vowels change slightly to flow better. Basically, it just takes a lot of time.

If I got that right, thanks!

Maxseptillion77 (talk) 02:29, January 23, 2016 (UTC)

Not really. I don't think much about each word, I just go for a sound combination that 1) fits the grammar (has to have a specific nominative suffix) 2) fits the phonotactics 3) sounds good to me. I'm not too picky: most words end up flowing together one with another — they won't sound real when compared to English, but neither will Danish. Each word has two stems: a direct stem (no stress shifts) and an oblique one (with shifts); many words have a stress shift, and those with a long falling tone (the one represented by ãẽĩõũỹę̃ø̃) usually feature minor consonant alternations in the oblique stem. It takes me more to define a word than come up with its sound system, basically XP 02:37, January 23, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

clean up history
Hello! I marked some flags I made myself for speedy deletion. Thanks, Lifuzio (talk) 22:29, January 29, 2016 (UTC)


 * thanks. Now, do you mind cleaning the history of Romanido? I'm making a fresh start. Thanks. Lifuzio (talk) 20:16, February 1, 2016 (UTC)

I can't clean a page's history. It's there and it's not going away, alas :\ 19:54, February 1, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate


 * would a page deletion (after a backup) work? Lifuzio (talk) 20:16, February 1, 2016 (UTC)

E-Mail
My email won't receive they wiki profile confirmation message, what do I do?Snowcaves (talk) 00:02, January 30, 2016 (UTC)

I don't know how to fix that — you might have to contact Wikia staff :\ 12:32, January 30, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

How does one create a template?Snowcaves (talk) 00:44, February 2, 2016 (UTC)

teh piccy
Where your avatar did go? D: The hand of many fingers is disappeareded. ;-; [This has been a Public Service Announcement from your Friendly Neighbourhood Admin.] 19:58, March 21, 2016 (UTC)

Oh never mind. :L It was just my internet being lame and not wanting to load it. Stupid university wifi. [This has been a Public Service Announcement from your Friendly Neighbourhood Admin.] 20:02, March 21, 2016 (UTC)

Is still here! Never getting rid of that one, I think, as it represents my KGBesque grasp on everyone's neck on here c: 00:39, March 22, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate 

LOL. [This has been a Public Service Announcement from your Friendly Neighbourhood Admin.] 02:47, March 22, 2016 (UTC)

Poke
No.

Короче. Я перейду на русский, так как следующую ересь на английский перевести проблематично. TL;DR ensues.

Значит, суть в чем... Есть один китаец, ВНЕЗАПНО не из тех, кто продает на рынке сомнительные вещи, а очень даже образованный, но не лингвист, его имени писать не буду. Так вот он заявляет, что китайский язык един (ага, прям как Аллах) и все его диалекты практически ничем кроме тона не отличаются, и, зная закономерность, очень легко понимать и говорить на всех диалектах/большинстве оных. Сам заявляет, что 3 владеет в совершенстве и может говорить на большинстве. Еще, согласно ему же, китайский за несколько тысяч лет вообще не изменился не только в письменной форме (что отчасти является правдой), а и в разговорной (откуда ему знать???). Подкрепляет это тем, что он китаец и владеет 3 диалектами, посему жид, который в китайском не шарит, должен его слушать. Я же так никогда не считал, и был убежден, что различия в фонетике между китайскими диалектами весьма значительны, а китайский претерпел даже со времен средневековья значительные фонетические изменения.

Кому теперь должно быть стыдно, китайцу, который про родной язык мало чего знает, или же мне из-за своих неверных убеждений? --Kauf the Trader (Offers go here) 09:30, March 29, 2016 (UTC)

It's been quite a while! Long time no see ~ Has also been a long time since I've had to flex my Russian knowledge skills. He's in the wrong; sounds like the average "I speak seventeen languages (but don't test me on it)" polyglot. As documentation of older forms of Chinese exists (certain words used to rhyme that no longer do, and certain words that rhyme didn't use to), his basic premise is easily shot down. His lack of knowledge is obfuscating his ego. He's the one who should be ashamed X) 19:33, March 29, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

"Then, you and your friend are still wrong because the language never changed. Don't fuck with me, little boy. I've been through hell on learning all that. I know decently enough."

So basically, everything you said is utter nonsense just because you haven't been educated in China and don't know a shitload of Chinese dialects.

I think it's actually Yatalu or Osswix (or Qytokant/Oos/any other stereotypical Dutchie) disguised as a Chinese person. --Kauf the Trader (Offers go here) 22:04, March 29, 2016 (UTC)

"Wikipedia is bullshit, internet is bullshit, everything (besides my opinion) is bullshit." << stuff summed up.

I give up --Kauf the Trader (Offers go here) 20:30, March 30, 2016 (UTC)

Ah, yes, I totally forgot my Cantonese right there. How silly of me. How can I live? People like that both amaze and disgust me. I hope his mother's proud, at least; top-notch pseudoscientist. 20:54, April 2, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Wario Stuff
AK put me in charge of the conworld project. So I'm sorry if I looked like a troll. It's all a misunderstanding but AK said I'm allowed to run the conworld project. ——

You're running it – straight into the ground. Please don't. You're not allowed to run it anymore because you're making people run away. 15:55, April 14, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

imgur
Could you please update MediaWiki:External image whitelist to to support i.imgur.com? The process is explained here. Thank u. Hyenaste 18:21, April 18, 2016 (UTC)

I somehow lack the privileges needed to edit the page. Miraculous. I'll be looking into it right now. 18:48, April 18, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Very strange. Hope you figure out what's up. Hyenaste 20:39, April 18, 2016 (UTC)

Yes please ask staff if you could. If you don't have the permissions to edit the page, it's probably just an oversight or mistake or something. Hyenaste 01:57, May 11, 2016 (UTC)

It was actually a security feature. They've added imgur pages to the list. Hope that's good enough; I can contact them again if you do need more help with the thing o: 11:12, May 12, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

User Page
Hi. The page with my user name wants me to create a user name; I'm not sure why, since it of all pages should know that I already have a user name. What should I do?Hinotema (talk) 21:24, May 14, 2016 (UTC)

It wants you to make a page for it, not to create the username itself. You should make the page :'D 11:16, May 15, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Doubt
Hello,

Where can I see(if possible) who follows a certain page on the wikia?

I can see the pages that I follow but I want to see all the users that have a certain page.

Alexrealinho (talk) 13:42, July 12, 2016 (UTC)

You can't :< your best bet is asking individual users, otherwise there's no other way to know. 13:59, July 12, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Thank you, can't they add it?

Alexrealinho (talk) 15:01, July 12, 2016 (UTC)

That's a Wikia feature — we, the admins, can't, but you could contact Wikia with your concern 15:41, July 12, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Conlang Assistance
Hello,

I had been searching online for conlangs derived from Old Norse for inspiration and I had stumbled across your conlang Vāgøgjaskt on this website, which enticed me to join. First off, I just want to say that I think Vāgøgjaskt is brilliantly done and I am amazed at the complexity and amount of thought you put into the grammar. I am also trying to develop a conlang derived from Proto-Germanic/Proto-Norse called Fjallandskt and set for the modern day, and I was wondering if you could give me any tips or ideas on how to construct the grammar? I’ve seen that you’ve merged the weak and strong adjectives in Vāgøgjaskt (which I like as adjectives usually give me the biggest headache), and I want to do stuff like that - perhaps simplify verbal conjuration or derive new suffixes from different particles or whatever. My ultimate goal is to develop the conlang into something that resembles Icelandic or Faroese yet completely incomprehensible to both due to changes in grammar, despite using the same word stock. As I am rather a noob with grammar, would you be interested in assisting me?

Ælfwine (talk) 03:18, July 17, 2016 (UTC)

Thanks a lot!

If you want to derive a language from Old Norse (unlike me; Vāgøgjaskt is from Proto-Germanic, but is close to Old Norse), you have a bit of digital 'shopping' to do. Your checklist should at the very least include:
 * Geographical location of your Norse-lang; if you're aiming at something about as complex as Faroese or Icelandic, your best bet is to go west of Iceland: Greenlandic Norse was a thing (there's even a Wiki page on it), and there's ample room in eastern Canada (think Vínland) for more Norse; continental Norse didn't fare as well (save for, say, Elfdalian).
 * A really good dictionary of Old Norse; I heartily recommend Zoëga's dictionary of Old Icelandic (close enough to Old Norse) as it's so far covered all cases of Old Norse words I needed to look up.
 * A good grammar of it; there's this fairly good grammar that I've occasionally used.
 * If you're having trouble with adjectives, remember that strong adjectives go with indefinite nouns, and weak adjectives go with definite nouns; they're called strong and weak because their declensions resemble strong and weak nouns ("svartr" declines like "úlfr" (strong), "svarti" declines like "bogi" (weak))
 * Lots of time, research, cross-referencing etc; Rome wasn't built in a day, and you'll find that deriving a conlang from a pre-existing language takes quite a bit of effort to make it look good. I actually think I didn't quite succeed with Vāgøgjaskt on that point, but I'm still learning!

If you need help, I'm always eager to offer mine; Germanic languages are kind of my passion and I've accumulated a lot of books and info on them over the years, so feel free to shoot me a message on here — or even if you want to, tell me when you're free and we can talk on this Wiki's chat. You'll find that Old Norse had quite a fun sort of convoluted grammar that's still occasionally fairly remarkably different even from Icelandic and Faroese. 17:26, July 17, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

Brilliant, thanks for the resources. It's quite difficult getting good resources on Old Norse (at least without shelving out a lot of money.)

I made Fjalland for a sort of geofiction project of mine, so it doesn’t really exist “in the real world” so to speak, but as an anologue of the “real world,” and just like the real world there was a Proto-Germanic language family and they split and so forth. (And this language family is the same as actual PG :p) From a linguistic standpoint, I intend Fjallandskt to be closer to a western Norwegian version of Elfdalian, or perhaps similar to Sognamål in that regard, although as a national language instead of being a sort of lost-lang on par with Norwegian and Swedish. I do have an idea for an Old Norse language based in RL Greenland that is heavily agglutinating and uses double vowels in it's orthography, however, but it's on the backburner for now.

The main struggle I have with a posteriori languages is trying to balance the plausible with the artistic, or trying to derive a realistic looking language from it's parent without recreating say, Icelandic or Norwegian. Right now I am on the conservative side, which I want the language to look like it is a relative of modern Icelandic or Faroese while having it's own intricities.

I'm mostly free tonight, so I'll probably hop on the chat - if you want to contact me in other ways, I also exist on the CBB and I have an account on Conlang Workshop (although admittingly I haven't done much with it.)

Ælfwine (talk) 00:56, July 18, 2016 (UTC)

An idea of yours
Edit: I am not sure anymore. Would you be willing to talk in the chat about the stuff? Just say a time.

Ælfwine (talk) 22:53, September 3, 2016 (UTC)

Feel free to use it — as for chat, I'm roughly free after 18:00 GMT+1+DST on, say, Monday; does that sound ok? 00:53, September 4, 2016 (UTC) ~) The Elector, Darkness Immaculate

I think I can see to that.

Ælfwine (talk) 18:46, September 4, 2016 (UTC)