The Fan Language of Splatoon

[PiyozR]

rip

I don't frequent Kotaku, either. I just think they'd find it interesting.

I am gonna burst so much into laughter if "jama" becomes the word for "hindrance, nuisance" like it is in Japanese, and maybe if it turns out other words are loaned from Japanese.

I have seen your work, and doesn't it look like it shares phonetic structure with Japanese?

Considering that I don't know Japanese a lick, Inkling only sounds similar to it. It does not share any similarities about grammar or word form to my knowledge. I could easily make /d͡ʒama/ if I wanted to. In fact, I just did. I wrote it in my notes for my videos.

I believe Word can export in PDF form.

So when the font is done, I can just type it all out in Word and export it? Brilliant! The amazing things we can do with technology!

 

[EclipseMT]

Considering that I don't know Japanese a lick, Inkling only sounds similar to it. It does not share any similarities about grammar or word form to my knowledge. I could easily make /d͡ʒama/ if I wanted to. In fact, I just did. I wrote it in my notes for my videos.

How big would you say the Inklings are with loanwords, considering they might have adopted a considerable portion of Japanese culture?

 

[цııര=៲]

Nice start, PiyozR!

It's a personal thing, but my approach to conlanging Inklish would be to make as much sense as possible of the original utterances we have available (namely the two songs -- one subtitled -- and the Squid Sisters' in-game news dialogue). We only have one clearly translatable phrase -- say fwaa! or "stay fresh" -- so why not make the fan language at least match that?

Meanwhile, you've probably seen my notes on what we have by now. Obviously our few sources are hardly comprehensive, but I'd encourage you to make your phonology (sound rules, for any non-linguists reading this) line up with these. E.g. there only appear to be a handful of diphthongs, like /aj/ and /oʊ/ (English 'I' and 'Oh'), while /z/ seems to be nonexistent.

Saj fwaa!

 

[цııര=៲]

How big would you say the Inklings are with loanwords, considering they might have adopted a considerable portion of Japanese culture?

===

Also, all versions from Word 2010 onward can export to PDF.

Well FWIW, I'm convinced that the Final Boss song contains the lyric "DON'T PANIC BOY" (with an Inklish accent; "doun paenik poa"). A case could be made that the other song contains "You want an action now" (most of the 2nd line -- "yuwani naeksha na wenoukhii"). YMMV -- and if it does I'd love to hear your opinions in the other thread :)

Say fwaa!

 

[EclipseMT]

Sorry the quadruple or so post; at the time my Internet connection was rather unstable.

But if I have to make it valid, Word 2010 and later can export to PDF.

 

[EclipseMT]

Well FWIW, I'm convinced that the Final Boss song contains the lyric "DON'T PANIC BOY" (with an Inklish accent; "doun paenik poa"). A case could be made that the other song contains "You want an action now" (most of the 2nd line -- "yuwani naeksha na wenoukhii"). YMMV -- and if it does I'd love to hear your opinions in the other thread :)

It makes sense with the Japanese analogy, as a lot of Japanese phrases have a loanword equivalent. Many stock phrases included.

 

[aggravatedTranscription]

This is totally irrelevant, but man, EclipseMT and цııര=៲, you two need to get different avatars, cause at first I thought one of you was spamming the thread.

 

[PiyozR]

How big would you say the Inklings are with loanwords, considering they might have adopted a considerable portion of Japanese culture?

I imagined Inkling as a combination over centuries of the remnants of English and Japanese. As for specific loan words, I don't foresee too many of them existing.

 

[EclipseMT]

This is totally irrelevant, but man, EclipseMT and цııര=៲, you two need to get different avatars, cause at first I thought one of you was spamming the thread.

I'm relatively new here, but I will avert any other potential encounter like this.

EDIT: As of this post, it's pretty obvious how I did it.

 

[цııര=៲]

This is totally irrelevant, but man, EclipseMT and цııര=៲, you two need to get different avatars, cause at first I thought one of you was spamming the thread.

Fixed, if very unoriginally.

 

[EclipseMT]

Fixed, if very unoriginally.

Invert solves everything. :)

 

[цııര=៲]

I don't know if this will help you in your project, PiyozR, as my reconstruction of Inklish seems to differ from yours... but I made a chart of the Inklish sound-space, which I've linked from this post. Hope you enjoy!

Say fwaa!

 

[calthax]

I predict when the fan language of Inkling is finished, the Octarian fan language is going to start. Is there plans to do that in the future?

 

[PiyozR]

I predict when the fan language of Inkling is finished, the Octarian fan language is going to start. Is there plans to do that in the future?

Most likely not.

 

[Adam.the.Squidder]

Most likely not.

I mean you already have some characters from it, maybe make your own similar style characters?

 

[PiyozR]

After some time out of town and some time being deathly sick, I've but together some lessons plans for a video series teaching Inkling lessons! The Google Doc of my lesson plans can be found here. Anyone interested is welcome to give it a read and toss me some feedback. Right now I'm planning on working on ten YouTube videos condensing all the vocab and grammar into them. An irl friend who's studying video production is willing to do this with me. I'll keep you updated on this and the PDF when I get to making that.

Any news on that font with all the Inkling characters?

 

[Joseph Staleknight]

Oh, this looks neat! Yeah, as soon as we get that complete font in I'm definitely looking forward to seeing those videos.

Also, I've been making some Inkling words related to Splatfest titles. While I don't have them in the Inkling alphabet proper, I have worked out their etymology and pronunciation. Here's what I have so far*:

Splatfest: Beeya Beotadaoyu (lit. "splat good time". Sometimes contracted to Bebeota)

NA Splatfest titles:
Fanboy/-girl: shidezoi (lit. "liking person")
Fiend: jepaiiyozoi (lit. "skilled one")
Defender: ranazoi (I invented rana for "to defend" for this one)
Champion: sofuruzoi (lit. "win-ascending one")
King/Queen: ojiezoi (lit. "ruling one". Again, I invented ojie for "to rule, govern")

EU Splatfest title adjectives (most of these are invented, but some are based on already-established words):
Normal: oyo
Full-On: gigai
Super: zetsa
Charismatic: kashijepai (contratction of kashino "beautiful" and jepaiiyo "skilled")
Eternal: joputsuko (lit. "cannot [be] killed")

*Here, e is assumed to be "ay" as in PiyozR's notation, i is "ee", etc.

Please let me know what you think. Gooyo oei~!

 

[PiyozR]

Joseph those are excellent! I'm going to write those in my notes just in case I need them in my videos or any educational material that I end up making.

Portmanteau's are easy and convenient ways of establishing a vocabulary, eh? Nice use of /zoi/. You could really attach that on to any verb or adjective to indicate a person of that disposition or that status. The only one that may be deceptive there is /djo pu tsu ko/ for "eternal". Without any sign for a passive voice, that combination leans towards "cannot kill" instead of "cannot be killed." And thirdly, what character(s) could form the sound /ojo/ meaning "normal"?

 

[Joseph Staleknight]

Joseph those are excellent! I'm going to write those in my notes just in case I need them in my videos or any educational material that I end up making.

Portmanteau's are easy and convenient ways of establishing a vocabulary, eh? Nice use of /zoi/. You could really attach that on to any verb or adjective to indicate a person of that disposition or that status. The only one that may be deceptive there is /djo pu tsu ko/ for "eternal". Without any sign for a passive voice, that combination leans towards "cannot kill" instead of "cannot be killed." And thirdly, what character(s) could form the sound /ojo/ meaning "normal"?

Thanks!

I'm not sure if we already have a passive voice, but if we do I'll be sure to amend the word for "eternal" accordingly. As for "ojo", in your notes (the file inkling_grammar2.jpg, actually) you said that a single vowel placed two consecutive times in a word are pronounced with a /j/ between them. So I decided to extend that to two /o/s in a row. Hence, "ojo" -> OO.

 

[Adam.the.Squidder]

What about the words that appear on the Splatfest shirts? If you need an image I have it!