From a5d22e3ec8ea97d5d316703b191b095cf9ecef14 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christine Dodrill Date: Fri, 29 May 2020 20:33:47 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] reconlangmo 8: storytelling/poetry (#159) --- blog/reconlangmo-8-storytelling.markdown | 142 +++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 142 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/reconlangmo-8-storytelling.markdown diff --git a/blog/reconlangmo-8-storytelling.markdown b/blog/reconlangmo-8-storytelling.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..244df68 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/reconlangmo-8-storytelling.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,142 @@ +--- +title: "ReConLangMo 8: Storytelling" +date: 2020-05-29 +series: reconlangmo +tags: + - conlang + - lewa +--- + +# ReConLangMo 8: Storytelling + +In the [last episode][rclm7] of [ReConLangMo][reconlangmo], we covered +conversational discourse as well as formality and other grammatical moods. I +also covered my goals for the gender system of L'ewa. Here I will cover the +closest thing L'ewa has to culture, the storytelling and poetry norms. L'ewa is +also a language designed for [spellcraft][spellcraft] and [sigil +magick][sigils], so those norms will be covered too. This is a response to [this +prompt][rclm8]. + +[rclm7]: /blog/reconlangmo-7-discourse-2020-05-25 +[rclm8]: https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/gszhy9/reconlangmo_7_storytelling_and_poetry/ +[reconlangmo]: /blog/series/reconlangmo +[spellcraft]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incantation +[sigils]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigil + +## Stories + +Stories are told as statements that happened in the past. Stories are structured +in the same way that you would structure them in English. There is a scenario, a +call to action, a refusal of the call, then the story goes on in the standard +way. Casual retelling of events is done without a narrative, and the events are +just relayed using casual sentences. + +The particle `qu` can be repeated at the beginning of a story to enable the +"story time" flag. Story time sentences can be figurative. Each sentence in the +story progressively builds up the narrative to explain the themes and lessons +that are trying to be conveyed. + +Stories are told using the narrative present tense. Speakers also relay +secondhand information directly. + +## Poetry + +One of the morphological side effect of L'ewa root words is that only the first +four letters of each word are unique. As a side effect of this, you can make any +word rhyme with any other word if you want it to. L'ewa can become l'ewi, l'ewo, +le'we or l'ewu if the poetry demands it. Poetry can be done in any meter or +rhythm depending on the mood of the speaker. Poetry can also be formatted using +fixed-width text. Here are a few examples: + +``` +le l'ewa de kirta +xi firga to renma + +The language of Creators +is beneficial to all people +``` + +``` +a'o ro zimpu ti +e'o so vorto + +I hope you understand this +How many words? +``` + +I don't think I have enough vocabulary to make any more yet. + +## Spellcraft + +These poems are worked into sigils by interlocking the words together into a +larger figure. Here is an example based on the first poem: + +![](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/707952638813143051/716075404405768202/dotgrid-20K10-824701.png) + +Ideally this would would include the letters spiraling around things, but my +current tools are limited in what they can do. Sigils don't need to follow +normal grammar rules. They can bend and break them as much as they want or need +in order to flow nicer. If they need to, they can also make up words that don't +normally exist in the dictionary. These words should be documented in the +dictionary at some point, but there is no big rush. + +## Gender and Third Person Pronouns + +Previously, I haven't gone into details about the third person pronouns in +L'ewa. This was done very, very intentionally. One of the goals of L'ewa's +handling of gender is to abolish the gender binary as much as possible. This +means that any content word can end up being used as a pronoun. In order to +avoid ambiguity, only part of the content word is used to form something +matching the particle rules I was vaguely gesturing about in the post that had +details about colors. To recap: + +> Compound words still need to be fleshed out, but generally all CVCCV words +> will have wordparts made out of the first, second and fifth letter, unless the +> vowel pair is illegal and all CCVCV words are the first, third and fifth +> letter unless this otherwise violates the morphology rules. + +Let's say that your gender is the word for "is meat", or `dextu`. This would +mean the third person pronoun form would be `de'u` (`eu` isn't a valid vowel +pair so the glottal stop is used to break it). + +``` +de'u qu tulpa lo l'ewa +They (de'u) built a language. + +mao qu madsa lo spalo +They (mao) ate an apple. +``` + +If you want to declare your gender, you can declare it with the word `zedra`: + +``` +lo spalo xi zedra +An apple is (my) gender. +``` + +This would then make their pronoun `sao`. + +You can ask someone what their gender is with the gender question particle +`zei`: + +``` + xoi + xoi ro zei + lo mlato xi zedra + zei + lo 'orka xi zedra +``` + +From then Mai would be referred to using the pronoun `mao` and Cadey would be +referred to using the pronoun `'ka`. + +If you need a generic third person pronoun, use `ke'o`. + +--- + +This seems to be the end of the ReConLangMo series in /r/conlangs, but I will +definitely continue to develop this on my own and post about it as I make larger +accomplishments. This has been a fun series and I hope it gave people a high +level overview of what is needed to make a speakable language from nothing. + +Be well.