Tûn Boá |
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About this site:This site is made for Richard Littauer's linguistic studies involving conlangs. Conlangs are languages that are entirely made up, sometimes for fun, sometimes to bring about world peace, sometimes for money, and sometimes for fun again. The Language Creation Society is a society in charge of making them for the third and fourth reasons (but not the first). Richard Littauer is a member, as he happens to like conlangs, and wants to be a better member of the conlanging community (although he is not in the hire of the LCS, which is a different deal.) The LCS has graciously decided to give it's members web space for their projects - and so that is why this site exists. It was coded and designed exclusively by richard, but he won't pretend to care if you copy all of the code. All of the content is copyrighted by Richard Littauer, however. But not the current arboreal background picture. That was taken by his friend George. Good ol' George. If you want a different picture, try these. Apologies for the high-res, I like them that way: Tûn Boá, if you're wondering, is Llárriésh for "Hello", more or less. It means, more generally, "I hope that we can share information, that our minds can become one through the process of sharing ideas." About me:I am a University of Edinburgh undergraduate studying Linguistics, with one year left in my MA degree. I was born and raised in the US, mostly in Connecticut, where I grudgingly attended the Kingswood-Oxford school. My academic interests are: evolutionary linguistics, the simulation of language, constructed languages, historical sociolinguistics, phonology, poetic languages (especially concerning epics), lexicography, and language preservation and documentation. I am particularly interested in, or have studied: Greek, Latin, Japanese, Korean, Old English, German, and some constructed languages, as Na'vi and Dothraki. Non-linguistic interests include anthropology, biology, history, classics, literature, creative writing, economics and political science. Other interests, as for most people, include things like sleeping in the grass in the sun on an island somewhere in the bay, or the concept but not the actuality of rain. More links to what I do can be found here. About Conlangs:If you want a fairly weird introduction, here's a talk I gave at the University of Edinburgh on Conlangs...About the name Llama:This has a rather long history. It all started with my webcomic. I'll post below the reason that I ended up calling it 'The Burnt Fen Maunderings': § Originally, the site was hosted at www.fenne.co.uk, because I loved the word fenn (for a variety of reasons, not all phonetic), and found one day, browsing through my OED, that fenne is an old word for dragon. Couk turned out to be an old spelling of coke, and so Dragon Ash was born. But I couldn't keep that name, as I didn't want to get into copyright issues with a Japanese Hip Hop Band (of all of the things I could have chosen to vie with, that was a good choice.) I went back to the phragmites roots, and found out that fenne is Old Frisian (an awesome language, if only for the name) for fen. Burnt Marsh, Marsh Coal, Marsh Arsh - again, more to mind. I thought I had hit the clov on the ham when I ran into Fen-Fire and Ignis Fatuus - Two names for Will of the Wisps. But those are taken elsewhere, and again, I don't want to run into copyright issues. Of course, the sound of the word fen is partly why I chose the name in the first place: probably one of my favourite sounding words, along with fell, which also has a variety of meanings. So I decided not to go for variants, like slough (too much Bunyan, too little onion) or bog - so fen. And, having wiki'd Burnt Fen, I ran across an article, which claims that "Burnt Fen is said to take its name from having been burnt by Hereward the Wake." That is pretty much the most awesome awesome ever. I mean, a fen that has been burnt down (note the significance in burnt: has to deal with both couk, inherent in .co.uk, and the actually meaning for fenne, being, of course, dragon) by a guy who's surname is only the Wake, from whom some Robin Hood stories are drawn, an Anglo Saxon outlaw and opposition leader. That is exactly the vein I was looking for. So, I subsequently chose the name "The Burnt Fen Maunderings." Why 'Maunderings?' Well, I want this comic to wander, to deal with many issues I find relevant to life, mostly humorous, but also to cover depression, love, and most of all, history and nature. As a young child, wandering in or near marshes was one of my favourite things to do. To maunder is the perfect word for this: it means to talk in a rambling, foolish, or meaningless way, as well as to wander aimlessly and confused. I also love the progressive form, and the definite article, so, The Burnt Fen Maunderings it is. If you want, call it Burnt Fen - I don't mind. Call it Dragon Ash, if you like. Don't bother me none. I am content. § I hope that all made sense. Now, how on earth is this relevant to Llama's? Check out this site - not burntfen.net, which is mine, but burntfen.co.uk. That's right. Alpacas. That's just awesome. Also, llamas are cool. Also, I've always loved the Emporer's New Groove. Also, for some reason, I ended up calling my language Llárriésh, and then needed a short name that people could pronounce - so it became llama. Also, when one has made such an awesome shirt, what else can one do but find some way to market it? (buy it! I'll get money). And yes. Those are the real, stupid reasons. I will end my missive with this: llllllllllllllllllllamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Buy llama merch! |
richard @ conlang . org