Inkling Fan Language Sister Project: Octoling Language

theFIZZYnator

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A few things to note:

We already have a passive verb conjugation.

I might, however, move that into a transitive verb prefix.

We also have a question verb prefix and a conditional mood conjugation.

EDIT: The glottal stop.

I am considering to make it a stop following a consonant with no attached vowel.

I am also considering adopting a "strong/weak adjective" system or at least some other way to add another adjective ending (*i) just so I can add the word |derai| et.al. with that ending.

I just need to figure out how to make it work.
Okay, so the passive modifier is a no-go.

The question indicator is probably redundant or useless in full sentences, but would have a useful function in sentence fragments and one-word questions, like "Me?", or "The one that's on the computer?". It could also prove useful when emphasizing the exact aspect in question, as in "You want me to go there?" (when the speaker doesn't question that he/she needs to go somewhere, but is questioning the place required to go), or "You want me to go there?" (when the speaker unexpectedly finds out whose command it was), or "You want me to go there?" (when a newbie Octoling is surprised with her first assignment).

The [-i] ending for adjectives could be incorporated if you make a rule, such as "if the adjectivified noun ends with a short vowel that isn't , use [-i]; otherwise, use [-na]." I'm not too thrilled on mirroring Japanese this much in the Octoling language, though; the ingame setting is supposed to be tens of millennia after the inexorable demise of Japanese.

By the way, the sentence structure would be: (q.part is short for question particle; all verbs are infinitive unless otherwise notated; subject and object markers notated by S and O)
You want me to go there.: [You] S [me] O [there] [go] [want].
You want me to go there?: [You] S [me] O [there] [go] [want (interrogative)]?
You want me to go there?: [You] S [q.part.] [me] O [there] [go] [want]?
You want me to go there?: [You] S [me] O [q.part.] [there] [go] [want]?
You want me to go there?: [You] S [me] O [there] [q.part.] [go] [want]?
You want me to go there?: [You] S [me] O [there] [go (interrogative)] [want]?
 

EclipseMT

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In regards to the interrogative mood, that can be represented by an intonation at the end of a verb or the interrogative prefix |aya| before a conjugated verb (which goes at the end of a sentence).

The former is mostly informal.

EDIT: Moving |aya| before a noun places emphasis to an element in a question. How's that?
 
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theFIZZYnator

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In regards to the interrogative mood, that can be represented by an intonation at the end of a verb or the interrogative prefix |aya| before a conjugated verb (which goes at the end of a sentence).

The former is mostly informal.

EDIT: Moving |aya| before a noun places emphasis to an element in a question. How's that?
Sounds alright to me. Vhat about the other elements I suggested in the prior post?
 

EclipseMT

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Sounds alright to me. Vhat about the other elements I suggested in the prior post?
What you suggested as the passive modifier is now the transitive modifier.

The other modifiers are alright, except what is the conditional mood, if it is not the "if it is..." conjugation |eba| we already have?

Also, in terms of accent patterns, I am not sure whether to make that arbitrary.
 

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Some things I noticed when creating the guide.

The grammar particles are gonna need to be one character, and at the current state, there are no characters for them. I mapped them to the extra particles that were used for verb conjugations and made the future tense a verb infix.
 

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Okay, everyone, it's been quite a night. But, I have been working on it. Now, just so you guys know how far up I am in it...

Here is the first official copy of the Octoling Language Guide, written up to but not including vocabulary (but I have set provisions for this).

......if Squidboards can quit acting up and upload my file.

EDIT: Apparently it works on the Inkling thread. What gives?

OTHER EDIT: Finally, it's up, after 15 minutes. Gonna call it a night.
 

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theFIZZYnator

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Some things I noticed when creating the guide.

The grammar particles are gonna need to be one character, and at the current state, there are no characters for them. I mapped them to the extra particles that were used for verb conjugations and made the future tense a verb infix.
Why do they need to be one character? In Japanese, there are two-mora particles/prepositions like から and まで. If you insist, though, I believe we can abandon /th/ and /dh/ and assign them to two of them.
 

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Why do they need to be one character? In Japanese, there are two-mora particles/prepositions like から and まで. If you insist, though, I believe we can abandon /th/ and /dh/ and assign them to two of them.
The basic case-marking particles are all one character, but everything else can be more than one character.
 

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I read over the PDF just now. It's looking good, but somehow the Octoling glyphs show up as Latin characters rather than the intended ones.

Looking forward to seeing more and possibly contributing!
 

theFIZZYnator

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I read over the PDF just now. It's looking good, but somehow the Octoling glyphs show up as Latin characters rather than the intended ones.

Looking forward to seeing more and possibly contributing!
It shows up for me, since I have Sucker Sans installed. Hopefully Eclipse will attach it in the next build.

Also, Octobetical order is I E Ë A Å O U Ü.
 

EclipseMT

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It shows up for me, since I have Sucker Sans installed. Hopefully Eclipse will attach it in the next build.

Also, Octobetical order is I E Ë A Å O U Ü.
I was kind of going the Swedish route where after z comes å and the diacritical vowels.

EDIT: Recompiled the PDF; it should display now. I had it set to minimum for online publishing (which I believe does not compile text as bitmaps), but if that does not work, then here is the font as well.

Next update: Verb infixes, as well as some of the vocabulary. Keep up with that word creation.

EDIT: What should *u becomes *ete be in terms of a new conjugation? {sareteiyu} = alternative "is being...."? (this is the last of Japanese false cognates I am going to make for grammar)
 

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EclipseMT

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New PDF. Added a few words, but it was becoming late to the point where I couldn't finish adding the already-created words. Feel free to keep adding some more.

We also have the first palindrome in the language (hint: it's a verb).
 

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theFIZZYnator

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New PDF. Added a few words, but it was becoming late to the point where I couldn't finish adding the already-created words. Feel free to keep adding some more.

We also have the first palindrome in the language (hint: it's a verb).
I think you should differentiate 3 and 5 more, since |sha| and |la| are minimal pairs. Also, reorder the vowels in Octobetical order since the consonants are in Octobetical order. It doesn't really make sense to have one in Octobetical order and the other in Latin.
 

EclipseMT

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N.B.: All Inkling pop culture elements are straight-off-ripped from the Common Tongue (which, btw, is represented in-game as the viewer's language, like how Tolkien represents Westron as English).

It's Japanese in this case.

Native terms for the rest.

List:
|Aori|
|Hotaru|
|Fes|
And others.

EDIT: |yoroshikë| for "fresh?"

And/or |ikau| can be slang for "to remain," "to stay"
 
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theFIZZYnator

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N.B.: All Inkling pop culture elements are straight-off-ripped from the Common Tongue (which, btw, is represented in-game as the viewer's language, like how Tolkien represents Westron as English).

It's Japanese in this case.

Native terms for the rest.

List:
|Aori|
|Hotaru|
|Fes|
And others.

EDIT: |yoroshikë| for "fresh?"

And/or |ikau| can be slang for "to remain," "to stay"
There are already words for Callie, Marie, AND Splatfest, I'll have you know.
 

EclipseMT

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There are already words for Callie, Marie, AND Splatfest, I'll have you know.
What were they listed as in Octo language? I was talking about in this case.

PRACTICAL: I am gonna look at all the words in a Swadesh list and create words for them.
 
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EclipseMT

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Gonna need some help with transitive-intransitive distinction translations. English doesn't do it, but Japanese does.
 

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