I just got my account back. It was broken because I haven't posted anything in a while and maybe because all the old threads and things got lost at one point. Anyway, I am currently working on three conlangs. They are all connected to each other in a way through my conhistory. I haven't done anything with them for a while because I've been doing other things, but I have started to work on Tikolmian again because I'm writing a story that involves it.

They are all spoken by cats (except Sylvanian), but Tikolmian is also spoken by people. The island of Tikolmia has cats, people and other species including rabbits and mice living in harmony (the cats, of course, are catching mice and other things). Fooblian is spoken on the planet of Foobar in the country of Fooblia. No people live there, but a lot of cats do. Sylvanian is a rabbit language, but somewhere back in the conhistory it is linked to cats. A lot of the conhistory has to do with cats, because I like cats (and other animals).

Well, I figured out how to get a picture and a sig. I wanted to change the sig to include the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have others do unto you) in Tikolmian but I realized that I didn't know how to translate it. Oh well, for now I'm stuck with a sig that doesn't mean very much.

Okay, even though nobody seems to be interested in this thread, I'm going to post some stuff about my conlangs in it.

Tikolmian was, if I recall correctly, my second conlang. It is a "codelang", which means it is made up of English words with all the consonants changed to different ones and the vowels changed to different ones. I got this idea for making a language from another conlang, Viozian. I didn't actually use my own letter mapping - I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the mapping for Viozian was and then I applied it to English to make Tikolmian.

The first word in my sig is the Tikolmian name for Tikolmian (Tikolmil). I notice a lot of these conlangs on this forum are referred to by their non-anglicized names, but I always anglicize the names of my conlangs. Not that either way is better. Tikolmian makes the name of a language by taking away the -ia or -a ending from the name of the country and adding -il (Fūblil, Sylvanil, Cynredil, Anglil...). Fooblian adds -ī for the same purpose. You may notice "Fūblī" in my sig - that means Fooblian. Sylvanian adds -i, so Sylvanian would be "Sylvani". So, now you know what's in my sig - the names of my three active conlangs and some Tikolmian text.

Here's a phonology for Tikolmian, at least an attempt at one. The pronunciations are in X-SAMPA.

a - /a/
b - /b/
c - /k/
d - /d/
e - /e, E/[sup]1[/sup]
f - /f/
g - /g/
h - /h/
i - /i/
j - There is no "j" in Tikolmian or Viozian. This is because there is no "q" in Dutch.
k - /k/
l - /l/
m - /m/
n - /n/
o - /o, O/[sup]2[/sup]
p - /p/
q - /k, kw/[sup]3[/sup]
r - I don't know how to do this in X-SAMPA. It's a tap.
s - /s/
sz - /z/
t - /t/
tl - /l/
u - /u/
v - /v/
w - /w/
x - /S/
y - /i, j/[sup]4[/sup]
z - /z/

1 - /e/ in an open syllable, /E/ in a closed syllable.
2 - /o/ in an open syllable, /O/ in a closed one.
3 - /k/ before a consonant, /kw/ otherwise.
4 - /i/ in a vowel position, /j/ in a consonant position.

This is a phonology for Fooblian. It's kind of similar. I don't know if it's any different.

a - /a/
b - /b/
c - /k/
d - /d/
e - /e, E/
f - /f/
g - /g/
h - /h/
i - /i/
j - I haven't decided if there is a "j" in Fooblian. There probably is, but I don't know how it's pronounced if there is.
k - /k/
l - /l/
m - /m/
n - /n/
o - /o, O/
p - /p/
q - /k, kw/
r - I forget, probably a tap
s - /s/
t - /t/
u - /u/
v - /v/
w - /w/
x - /S/
y - /i/
z - /z/

I would post a phonology for Sylvanian, but I haven't got one yet. Oh, and if you see a long sign (macron) over a letter, that means it's long and probably stressed. For example: zekō (three) = /zEko:/

The number system for Tikolmian is base three. I forgot most of the numbers I had and it was never a complete system anyway, but here it is.

1 - iso
2 - meci
3/10 - zekō
4/11 - zekō iso
5/12 - zekō meci
6/20 - mecima
7/21 - mecima iso
8/22 - mecima meci

The Fooblian system is probably base three too, but I haven't got any numbers in it. The Sylvanian system is base ten, but I don't have that either.

That's all for now.

Oh, nuts, I tried to put in superscript numbers and it didn't work. How do you do superscript?

I have no idea how to subscript here. Anyway, I like your conlang so far. How long have you worked on it?

You might get more interest if you started off with something more than just a phonetic inventory. Personally, I find these posts rather uninteresting. As someone wiser than me once said, it's like posting a list of ingredients. I'd much rather have a taste of the finished cake.

I was going to post more about this later and not make my comment too long, linguoboy, so you will get a taste of the "finished cake". There is a limit on how long you can make your comments, in case you weren't aware. Also, not trying to be offensive, but you might get more interest yourself if you actually "baked a cake" yourself instead of criticizing others' languages. Please post your conlang if you have one. I'll be interested in it for sure. In other words, zia izokel mi cusme zōl ziel izokelol zo mi tik qapa.

Anyway, here's a slice of cake for you. These are the verb forms, at least the ones I have right now.

-os (infinitive)
-o (present tense)
-oz (past tense)
-a (imperative)

I can't think of any more tenses right now except the future tense, which is done with an auxiliary verb (caqos).

Oh, sorry - I should have told you what that sentence said. It means "do unto others as you would have others do unto you".

I didn't actually just post a phonetic inventory. I also posted the number system.

Also, you could be helpful and tell me how I do superscript. I tried to do it but it didn't work. It would be nice to know how.

Anyway, at least someone commented on my thread. I've been waiting a long time. Thank you.

Oh, I know. I just don't understand why everyone starts off with an ingredient list. Even online cookbooks typically give you a snapshot first.


What an odd comment! What makes you think I come here to stir up "interest" in myself? People post conlangs here for comment because it's difficult to get others to pay any attention to them in real life. It's an obscure hobby, and even those who share it are typically more interested in working on their own conlangs than critiquing others. (Even such an accomplished conlanger as Zompist, author of the Language Construction Kit, recently confessed to me that he basically never reads anyone else's conlangs.) But my hobbies are more mainstream, so I don't have the same problem.

I'm not sure how new you are to conlanging, but if you stick with it for a while, you'll eventually discover that it's a challenge to get any feedback at all. Perhaps then you'll reconsider your prickly attitude toward criticism. Or not--doesn't really matter to me either way.


No allomorphic variation?


What's the etymological meaning? "Go", "want", or something more unusual?


do-IMP other-PL-OBL to as you-SUBJ do-? other-PL-SUBJ you-OBL to would have?



True enough, but I'm not Janko Gorenc.


What on earth makes you think I'm deliberately withholding this information? I didn't know the answer to this question, so I decided to be helpful in other ways.


Hmm, you may be coming around even sooner than I predicted...

Oh, I know I used the cake metaphor a lot, but could we please stop comparing my conlang stuff to cakes? It isn't anything like a cookbook. A phonology isn't an ingredient list. A piece of translated text may be a snapshot, but a cookbook isn't quite comparable to conlanging.



Well, you're on the Omniglot forum, so you must have something interesting to say other than criticism. What are you doing on the conlang threads if you aren't posting your own conlang?



That isn't true at all. People pay plenty of attention to me in real life. I am posting my conlangs here because I want to talk about them and because I think they will get interest.



I have been conlanging for months, maybe years. Everywhere I have mentioned it there has been interest. I am relatively new to Omniglot, but already I have gotten plenty of interest (not much from you, sad to say).
What prickly attitude toward criticism? I am just fine with it as long as it's constructive. Some of your criticism is constructive, but most of it appears not to be.



I don't know what you mean by this, but I don't have a complete tense system and also there are no conjugations.



You mean the auxiliary verb "caqos"? The meaning of that is "will".



do-imp other-pl to want-gerund you-possessive do-gerund-pl other-pl-possessive you to for like-adj

At least that's my literal translation of it. You may have a different system. I am not familiar with all the various cases there can be and I don't remember what the oblative is.



I know you're not Janko Gorenc. I wasn't implying that you were. That was an odd thing to say.



Well, you seemed to be more interested in criticizing my posts instead of being helpful.



Criticizing my posts and arguing with me isn't helpful.



"Coming around"? That's an interesting thing to say. I'll never "come around", as you call it - I'll stand my ground. Actually, I was mostly saying that to imbecilica.

And, when I said "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", I was trying to tell you that you should be posting your own conlang stuff instead of picking on others' conlang stuff. If you want me to do my conlangs perfectly, then why don't you try?