reconlangmo 7: discourse (#155)
* reconlangmo 7: discourse * Update reconlangmo-7-discourse-2020-05-25.markdown
This commit is contained in:
GitHub
parent
6491a0b124
commit
3547d569d1
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,285 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
title: "ReConLangMo 7: Discourse"
|
||||
date: 2020-05-25
|
||||
series: reconlangmo
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- conlang
|
||||
- lewa
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
# ReConLangMo 7: Discourse
|
||||
|
||||
Previously on [ReConLangMo][reconlangmo], we covered a lot of new words for the
|
||||
lexicon of L'ewa. This helps to flesh out a lot of what can be said, but
|
||||
conversations themselves can be entirely different from formal sentences.
|
||||
Conversations flow and ebb based on the needs/wants of the interlocutors. This
|
||||
post will start to cover a lot of the softer skills behind L'ewa as well as
|
||||
cover some other changes I'm making under the hood. This is a response to [this
|
||||
prompt][rclm7].
|
||||
|
||||
[reconlangmo]: https://christine.website/blog/series/reconlangmo
|
||||
[rclm7]: https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/gqo8jn/reconlangmo_7_discourse/
|
||||
|
||||
## Information Structure
|
||||
|
||||
L'ewa doesn't have any particular structure for marking previously known
|
||||
information, as normal sentences should suffice in most cases. Consider this
|
||||
paragraph:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
I saw you eat an apple. Was it tasty?
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Since `an apple` was the last thing mentioned in the paragraph, the vague "it"
|
||||
pronoun in the second sentence can be interpreted as "the apple".
|
||||
|
||||
L'ewa doesn't have a way to mark the topic of a sentence, that should be obvious
|
||||
from context (additional clauses to describe things will help here). In most
|
||||
cases the subject should be equivalent to the topic of a sentence.
|
||||
|
||||
L'ewa doesn't directly offer ways to emphasize parts of sentences with phonemic
|
||||
stress like English does (eg: "I THOUGHT you ate an apple" vs "I thought you ATE
|
||||
an apple"), but emotion words can be used to help indicate feelings about
|
||||
things, which should suffice as far as emphasis goes.
|
||||
|
||||
## Discourse Structure
|
||||
|
||||
Conversationally, a lot of things in L'ewa grammar get dropped unless it's
|
||||
ambiguous. The I/yous that get tacked on in English are completely unneeded. A
|
||||
completely valid conversation could look something like this:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
<Mai> xoi
|
||||
<Cadey> xoi
|
||||
<Mai> xoi madsa?
|
||||
<Cadey> lo spalo
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
And it would roughly equate to:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
<Mai> Hi
|
||||
<Cadey> Hi, you doing okay?
|
||||
<Mai> Yes, have you eaten?
|
||||
<Cadey> Yes, I ate an apple
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
People know when they can speak after a sufficient pause between utterances.
|
||||
Interrupting is not common but not a social faux-pas, and can be used to stop a
|
||||
false assumption from being said.
|
||||
|
||||
## Utterances
|
||||
|
||||
An utterance in L'ewa is anything from a single content word all the way up to
|
||||
an entire paragraph of sentences. An emotion particle can be a complete
|
||||
utterance. A question particle can be a complete utterance, anything can be an
|
||||
utterance. A speaker may want to choose more succinct options when the other
|
||||
detail is already contextually known or simply not relevant to the listener.
|
||||
|
||||
L'ewa has a few discourse particles, here are a few of the more significant
|
||||
ones:
|
||||
|
||||
| L'ewa | Function |
|
||||
|-------|------------------------------------------------------|
|
||||
| xi | signals that the verb of the sentence is coming next |
|
||||
| ko | ends a noun phrase |
|
||||
| ka | marks something as the subject of the sentence |
|
||||
| ke | marks something as the verb of the sentence |
|
||||
| ku | marks something as the object of the sentence |
|
||||
|
||||
## Formality
|
||||
|
||||
The informal dialect of L'ewa drops everything it can. The formal dialect
|
||||
retains everything it can, to the point where it includes noun phrase endings,
|
||||
the verb signaler, ka/ke/ku and every single optional particle in the language.
|
||||
The formal dialect will end up sounding rather wordy compared to informal slangy
|
||||
speech. Consider the differences between informal and formal versions of "I eat
|
||||
an apple":
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
mi madsa lo spalo.
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
ka mi ko xi ke madsa ku lo spalo ko.
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Nearly all of those particles are not required in informal speech (you could
|
||||
even get away with `madsa lo spalo` depending on context), but are required in
|
||||
formal speech to ensure there is as little contextual confusion as possible.
|
||||
Things like laws or legal rulings would be written out in the formal register.
|
||||
|
||||
## Greetings and Farewell
|
||||
|
||||
"Hello" in L'ewa is said using `xoi`. It can also be used as a reply to hello
|
||||
similar to «ça va» in French. It is possible to have an entire conversation with
|
||||
just `xoi`:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
<Mai> xoi
|
||||
<Cadey> xoi
|
||||
<Mai> xoi
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
The other implications of `xoi` are "how are you?" "I am good, you?", "I am
|
||||
good", etc. If more detail is needed beyond this, then it can be supplied
|
||||
instead of replying with `xoi`.
|
||||
|
||||
"Goodbye" is said using `xei`. Like `xoi` it can be used as a reply to another
|
||||
goodbye and can form a mini-conversation:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
<Cadey> xei
|
||||
<Mai> xei
|
||||
<Cadey> xei
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Emotion Words
|
||||
|
||||
Feelings in L'ewa are marked with a family of particles called "UI". These can
|
||||
also be modified with other particles. Here are the emotional markers:
|
||||
|
||||
| L'ewa | English |
|
||||
|-------|----------------|
|
||||
| `a'a` | attentive |
|
||||
| `a'e` | alertness |
|
||||
| `ai` | intent |
|
||||
| `a'i` | effort |
|
||||
| `a'o` | hope |
|
||||
| `au` | desire |
|
||||
| `a'u` | interest |
|
||||
| `e'a` | permission |
|
||||
| `e'e` | competence |
|
||||
| `ei` | obligation |
|
||||
| `e'i` | constraint |
|
||||
| `e'o` | request |
|
||||
| `e'u` | suggestion |
|
||||
| `ia` | belief |
|
||||
| `i'a` | acceptance |
|
||||
| `ie` | agreement |
|
||||
| `i'e` | approval |
|
||||
| `ii` | fear |
|
||||
| `i'i` | togetherness |
|
||||
| `io` | respect |
|
||||
| `i'o` | appreciation |
|
||||
| `iu` | love |
|
||||
| `i'u` | familiarity |
|
||||
| `o'a` | pride |
|
||||
| `o'e` | closeness |
|
||||
| `oi` | complaint/pain |
|
||||
| `o'i` | caution |
|
||||
| `o'o` | patience |
|
||||
| `o'u` | relaxation |
|
||||
| `ua` | discovery |
|
||||
| `u'a` | gain |
|
||||
| `ue` | surprise |
|
||||
| `u'e` | wonder |
|
||||
| `ui` | happiness |
|
||||
| `u'i` | amusement |
|
||||
| `uo` | completion |
|
||||
| `u'o` | courage |
|
||||
| `uu` | pity |
|
||||
| `u'u` | repentant |
|
||||
|
||||
If an emotion is unknown in a conversation, you can ask with `kei`:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
<Mai> xoi, so kei?
|
||||
hi, what-verb what-feeling?
|
||||
|
||||
<Cadey> madsa ui
|
||||
eating :D
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
This system is wholesale stolen from [Lojban](https://lojban.github.io/cll/13/1/).
|
||||
|
||||
## Connectives
|
||||
|
||||
Connectives exist to link noun phrases and verbs together into larger
|
||||
noun phrases and verbs. They can also be used to link together sentences. There
|
||||
are four simple connectives: `fa` (OR), `fe` (AND), `fi` (connective question),
|
||||
`fo` (if-and-only-if) and `fu` (whether-or-not).
|
||||
|
||||
### OR
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
ro au madsa lo spalo fa lo hafto?
|
||||
Do you want to eat an apple or an egg?
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### AND
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
ro au madsa lo spalo fe lo hafto?
|
||||
Do you want to eat an apple and an egg?
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### If and Only If
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
ro 'amwo mi fo mi madsa hafto?
|
||||
Do you love me if I eat eggs?
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### Whether or Not
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
mi 'amwo ro. fu ro madsa hafto.
|
||||
I love you, whether or not you eat eggs.
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
### Connective Question
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
ro au madsa lo spalo fi lo hafto?
|
||||
Do you want to eat apples and/or eggs?
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
## Changes Being Made to L'ewa
|
||||
|
||||
Early on, I mentioned that family terms were gendered. This also ended up with
|
||||
me making some gendered terms for people. I have since refactored out all of the
|
||||
gendered terms in favor of more universal terms. Here is a table of some of the
|
||||
terms that have been replaced:
|
||||
|
||||
| English | L'ewa term | L'ewa word |
|
||||
|-------------------------|-------------|------------|
|
||||
| brother/sister | sibling | xinga |
|
||||
| mother/father | parent | pa'ma |
|
||||
| grandfather/grandmother | grandparent | gra'u |
|
||||
| aunt/uncle | parent | pa'ma |
|
||||
| cousin | sibling | xinga |
|
||||
| man/woman | Creator | kirta |
|
||||
| man/woman | human | renma |
|
||||
|
||||
In some senses, gender exists. In other senses, gender does not. With L'ewa I
|
||||
want to explore what is possible with language. It would be interesting to
|
||||
create a language where gender can be discussed as it is, not as the categories
|
||||
that it has historically fit into. Consider colors. There are millions of
|
||||
colors, all sightly different but many follow general patterns. No one or two
|
||||
colors can be thought of as the "default" color, yet we can have long and
|
||||
meaningful conversations about what color is and what separates colors from
|
||||
eachother.
|
||||
|
||||
I aim to have the same kind of granularity in L'ewa. As a goal of the language,
|
||||
I should be able to point to any content word in the dictionary and be able to
|
||||
say "that's my gender" in the same way I can describe color or music with that
|
||||
tree. These will implicitly be metaphors (which does detract a bit from the
|
||||
logical stance L'ewa normally takes) because gender is almost always a metaphor
|
||||
in practice. L'ewa will not have binary gender.
|
||||
|
||||
Issue [number two](https://tulpa.dev/cadey/lewa/issues/2) on the L'ewa repo will
|
||||
help track the creation and implementation of a truly non-binary "gender" system
|
||||
for L'ewa.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
I've been chugging through the Swaedish list more and more to build up more of
|
||||
L'ewa's vocabulary in preparation for starting to translate sentences more
|
||||
complicated than simple "I eat an apple" or "Do you like eating plants?". One of
|
||||
the first things I want to translate is the classic [tower of babel
|
||||
story][babel].
|
||||
|
||||
[babel]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel
|
||||
|
||||
Be well.
|
||||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue