xesite/blog/reconlangmo-1-name-ctx-history-2020-05-05.markdown

---
title: "ReConLangMo 1: Name, Context, History"
date: 2020-05-05
series: reconlangmo
tags:
 - conlang
 - lewa
---

I've been curious about how language works for a very long time. This curiosity
has lead me down many fascinating rabbit holes, but for a long time I have
either been cribbing off of other people's work or studying natural languages
that don't have a cohesive plan or core to them. [Constructed
Languages][conlangs] (or conlangs as I will probably be calling them from here
on out) are a simpler model of this. You might be familiar with
[Klingon][tlhnganhol] from the Star Trek series, the [various forms of
Elvish][elvish] as described by J. R. R. Tolkien or [Dothraki][dothraki] from
Game of Thrones. This series will show an example of how one of those kinds of
languages are created. 

[conlangs]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language
[tlhnganhol]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon_language
[elvish]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvish_languages
[dothraki]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dothraki_language

Recently a challenge came up on [/r/conlangs][rconlangs] called
[ReConLangMo][reconlangmo] and I've decided to take a stab at this and flesh
this out into a [personal language][perslang].

[rconlangs]: https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/
[reconlangmo]: https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/gbgvu0/reconlangmo_2020/
[perslang]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_language#Personal_languages

This post will be the first in a series (with articles to be listed below) and
is following the prompt made [here][reconlangmo1prompt].

[reconlangmo1prompt]: https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/gd8z18/reconlangmo_1_name_context_and_history/

## L'ewa Overview

The language I am going to create will be called L'ewa (⁄l.ʔɛ.wa⁄, also
romanized lewa for filesystems). This word is identical in English and in L'ewa.
It means "is a language". The name came to me in a shower a while ago and I'm
not entirely sure where it came from.

This language is being designed as a personal language to help me keep a diary
(more on that later) and to act as a testbed for writing a computational
knowledge engine, much like IBM's Watson. I do not expect anyone else to use
this language. I may pull this language into fiction (if that ever gets off the
ground) or into other projects as it makes sense.

Some of the high level things I want to try in this language are ways to make me
think differently. I'm following the weak form of the [Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis][sapirwhorf] by this logic. I want to see what would happen if I give
myself a tool that I can use to help myself think in different ways. Other
features I plan to include are:

[sapirwhorf]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity

- A [seximal][seximal] number system
- A predicate-argument system similar to [Lojban][lojban]
- Nounlessness (only having verbs for content words) like [Salishan][salishan]
  languages
- An [a-priori][apriori] (or made up) vocabulary
- Grammatical markers for the identity of the thinker of a sentence/phrase/word
- Make each grammatical feature and word logical, or working in one way only
- Typeable with standard QWERTY en-US keyboards
- A decorative script that I'll turn into a font

[seximal]: https://www.seximal.net
[lojban]: https://lojban.pw/cll/uncll-1.2.6/xhtml_section_chunks/chapter-tour.html#section-bridi
[salishan]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salishan_languages
[apriori]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language#A_priori_and_a_posteriori_languages

## L'wea as A Diary Language

When I was younger, I used to keep a diary/journal file on my computers off and
on. I was detailed about what I was feeling and what I was considering and going
through. This all ended abruptly after my parents were snooping through my
computer in middle school and discovered that I was questioning fundamental
aspects of myself like my gender. I have never really felt comfortable keeping a
diary file since then. I have made a few attempts at this (including by using a
dedicated diary machine, air-gapped TempleOS machines and the like), but they
all feel too vulnerable and open for anyone to read them.

This is my logic for using a language that I create for myself. If people really
want to go through and take the time to learn the ins and outs of a tool I
created for myself to archive my personal thoughts, they probably deserve to be
able to read them. Otherwise, this would allow me to write my diary from pretty
much anywhere, even in plain sight out in public. People can't shoulder-surf and
read what they literally cannot understand. 

---

I plan to continue going through this series as the prompts come out and will
put my responses on my blog along with explanations, analysis and sample code
(where relevant). I will probably also reformat these posts (and relevant
dictionary files) to an eBook and later into a reference grammar book. 

Like I said though, this project is for myself. I do not expect this language to
change the world for anyone but me. Let's see where this rabbit hole goes.