Tûn Boá

About

This was a month-long project. The goal was to make a fully-functional, beautiful, and realistic artistic constructed language within one month. The language os called Llárriésh, or Llama to foreigners. The initial parameters are listed below: End Goals:
  • A 99% workable grammar
  • A lexicon of > 1000 lexemes
  • A working amount of colloquial and conversational phrases and idioms
  • A socioanthropological description of the language group
Promises:
  • to make 1 post per day >500 words, for 30 days.
  • to answer every question asked concerning the language
  • to write about the process of creating the language (not included in the 500 words)
Final Test:
  • Translation of Genesis 11:1-9
  • A song
  • A poem
  • A short story of over 500 words
  • A sample conversation

Afterwards

Here is the post I made at the end of the month (with digressions and all) concerning the end of the project. You can comment on it here.

RomóHú: Boá. Well, as you may have noticed, this post is very late. I apologise. My sister got married, and I didn't end up having the time (at all) to work on this until just about now. This was the last of my sisters (the second of the twain) to get married, and it was a very big event, especially as I was a groomsman, having gotten to know the groom very well over the past six weeks I lived with him. He's Colombian, and had at least one impact on the language: the ruwena is a traditional garb that he brought home, and I liked the sound so much it became the word for moon. But enough: I have decided that this will be the last post of that month, and should wrap it up. From here on out, the blog is moved to my Conlang site.

So, let's look at my initial goals:

End Goals:
  • A 99% workable grammar
  • A lexicon of > 1000 lexemes
  • A working amount of colloquial and conversational phrases and idioms
  • A socioanthropological description of the language group
Well. Interesting. The first one is so illy defined that I wonder if I was drunk. Still, I did manage to make a grammar frame upon which I can adjust tiny things - the grammar is there, underlying all of the little idiomatic things that I'd lay out over the course of the language. I'd say it is 50% done, maybe more. The final verdict? I am content. Second: a lexicon of 1000 lexemes was not accomplished, to my dismay. However, I rushed far too much. I made mistakes in orthography, I made ridiculous words. Still, I had 890 by the end, not a mean feat for 29 days. I also consider this good. The third: a working amount? What does that even mean? No, I don't consider this accomplished - but I consider the goal pointless, so scratch that. As for the fourth goal - well, I sort of laid that out. The language certainly held a wide breadth of socioanthro semantic notions. How many languages have anchovies before a word for, say... hug? Not many, I warrant.

Promises:
  • to make 1 post per day >500 words, for 30 days.
  • to answer every question asked concerning the language
  • to write about the process of creating the language (not included in the 500 words)
Well, I did manage the first one. I think that a wedding is perfectly valid excuse not to do one final day. So yes, I am content. I certainly, also, did the second. And I also did the third. I am a man of my word. I am proud of this.

Final Test:
  • Translation of Genesis 11:1-9
  • A song
  • A poem
  • A short story of over 500 words
  • A sample conversation
Here is where I get iffy. I did the first one, halfway through the month. So that's a check mark, hooray. I made a song - I made two versions, even. Also a win. I translated tons of words trying to get to a poem, but I never did get around to it. However - the song could be construed as poetic, perhaps? So let's say that's a half-win. As for the story, 500 words is a ton. I certainly translated 500 english words, although the end count in llama was only 339. I am going to say that I failed this, but not by much. I could do the other 161 right now, which is the important thing. And no, I never got to a sample conversation. But considering that I made the language so absurdly difficult as to be impossible to learn, I don't really mind.

So - did I succeed in my month long attempt? I am going to go out on a branch and say yes (and hope the branch doesn't crack under peer review.) I made a language with it's own feel, it's own vibe, it's own way of looking at things. It works, for the most part. Yes, I made many mistakes, some serious. But conlanging isn't about getting it right the first time, nor the final time - it's about trying, and having fun, and making something your own. Right? I think so. And so, I proudly declare this project finished.

But this is not the end! I will keep posting about Llárriésh at the new blog. I will also use that blog to talk about other languages of mine which I plan to make. I will refine this one until, hopefully, I can speak it myself. And I will continue to take reuqests for translations, questions, concerns, comments, and insults. Just follow me over to http://llama.conlang.org.

What do you all think?

By the way: Bóúkti, if you don't remember, is an ending marker, used in opposition to boá. I think it is fitting as the name for this post. Don't you?



richard @ conlang . org