The Illumian language

[Zarincos]

i recently got races of destiny, and it has some phrase charts which i think are pretty cool. normally, i wouldn't care, but for the sole purpose of a true code (saying: "hey, Dasfay, want to sack some houses?" and just saying you're speaking in a different language doesnt work with most people). i have gotten a fair amount down, but i'm looking for comments/additions on it, so here it is:

Numbers:

Tar -zero
Yote-9

Words:

Ak -a
Thak-the
Bo -is
Yes -by
Vu -to
Ra -at
He -end
Kalu -of
Tak -not
Vash -game
Ghaut-winner
Relak -declare
Haetal-ritual
Halak -page
Gau -blank
Du -you
Desh -watching
Zey -dearly
Lek -yourself
Skel -sell
Kireyu-advantage
Pau -press
Loh -house
Qwa -hello


this doesnt have to be exact, they just have to get your meaning, for instance, you could say He Kalu Haetal which means "end of ritual" which might mean to disrupt it or just prematurely end it somehow. like i said, comments, additions, anything is welcome.

[mikeejimbo]

You know, I was thinking about making a language for a race in an RP, and I wasn't sure how to go about it. How did you start yours?

[heretic]

A few of my friends and I speak a language that involves inserting the same repetitive syllable in between every syllable in a normal word. It takes twice as long to speak, but it is unintelligible to the uninlightened and doesn't require a vocabulary since it just reworks existing words. I'd share it here, but I'm sworn to secrecy.

Sorry.

[Eighth_Seraph]

...okay. Anyway, Zarincos, I really like the idea. Maybe giving the characters an Intelligence check or bards a Bardic Knowledge check (admittedly a bit of a stretch) to get a rough idea of what's going on?

[cferejohn]

You know, I was thinking about making a language for a race in an RP, and I wasn't sure how to go about it. How did you start yours?

How realistic do you want it to be? If you really want to spend some time on it, read The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker. If you can digest it, you should know how to create a realistic grammar and such. Really interesting, but kind of involved...

[mikeejimbo]

A few of my friends and I speak a language that involves inserting the same repetitive syllable in between every syllable in a normal word. It takes twice as long to speak, but it is unintelligible to the uninlightened and doesn't require a vocabulary since it just reworks existing words. I'd share it here, but I'm sworn to secrecy.

Sorry.

Sounds like that language from that PBS kids show: Ubbi-Dubbi. Mostly it was putting "ub" in the middle of words.

How realistic do you want it to be? If you really want to spend some time on it, read The Language Instinct by Stephen Pinker. If you can digest it, you should know how to create a realistic grammar and such. Really interesting, but kind of involved...

I wasn't going to go for too realistic, but I might check that out anyway. Thanks!

[Shadow of the Sun]

I just make a cypher. My general method for making a cypher is to choose a perfect pangram and replace every letter in the alphabet with its corresponding letter in the pangram (aka, with "Veldt jynx grimps waqf zho buck" A would be replaced in a word with V, B with E, C with L, D remains the same etc.) It works fine if you treat it as a phonetic language.

[Zarincos]

sorry, i haven't been on in a while, but to answer the questions i've seen, i started the language by using races of destiny phrasebook, assigning each syllable or sometmes each word one of the words form the translation, changed a few things because of incongruities (one phrase that used the word "the" twice had no repeating syllables) and then added Tak because that somehow sounds right. i could quote some of the phrases if anybody needed.

it doesnt have to be very realistic, although shadow, i want to be able to actually speak it, like i heard there's a klingon dictionary.


i wouldn't give them a knowledge check, after all, it's just another language, and they might figure out by the tone of voices that someone's in an argument.

[Peregrine]

Me, I'm one of those weird language nuts who actually invents their own entire languages. (Conlangs, they call them; I'm not a fan of the word myself, but if you whack it into Google you'll come up with all sorts of resources.)

The problem with a simple letter substitution is that it really does in fact become quite unpronounceable. Just look at Haley's cryptogram speaking. Your best bet for a simple but more practical fake language is -- well, exactly what you're doing, a word-for-word cipher for English.

If you want something more natural, well, the sky's the limit! I can go on a bit more, or else you can just Google 'conlang' and see where it takes you.

[dead_but_dreaming]

A few of my friends and I speak a language that involves inserting the same repetitive syllable in between every syllable in a normal word. It takes twice as long to speak, but it is unintelligible to the uninlightened and doesn't require a vocabulary since it just reworks existing words. I'd share it here, but I'm sworn to secrecy.

Sorry.

Swedish kids has been doing this for ages. Rorövovarorsospoproråkoketot, anyone?

[Zarincos]

ok, so, now that we've gotten past why and how i'm doing this, now we can get back to exactly why i posted this-feedback. i want to think up names for basic things to hold a small conversation (such as words for hello, goodbye, steal, houses, assasinate, burn; ok, got a little carried away). i've been thinking Loh should mean house, what do you think?

[dead_but_dreaming]

I think it's cool. It reminds me of the Polish word for dungeon, loch (I've never realised until now that it's the same as scotish for lake).

[Zarincos]

how about Qwa (probably pronounced like Kwa) as hello?

[joe]

A few of my friends and I speak a language that involves inserting the same repetitive syllable in between every syllable in a normal word. It takes twice as long to speak, but it is unintelligible to the uninlightened and doesn't require a vocabulary since it just reworks existing words. I'd share it here, but I'm sworn to secrecy.

Sorry.

My girlfriend and a few of her friends have a secret language just like that. I can understand occasional words, but it usually just comes out as gibberish to me, which is what they refer to it as.

Just taken by surprise to see she's not the only one with a language like that.

[heretic]

It is sweet. People have absolutely no idea what we're saying. It takes forever to have a conversation though.

[mikeejimbo]

It is sweet. People have absolutely no idea what we're saying. It takes forever to have a conversation though.

I just use Latin for that. More people would know what we're saying, but it's not that many.