The Fan Language of Splatoon

[theFIZZYnator]

{zoi rutu žoiseeya} isn't quite "he had been wrong." {rutu] always goes after its verb. In a situation like this, an Inkling speaker would use a verb (likely derived) to indicate that he was mistaken instead of an adjective. {zoi žoiseeyakoi rutu} if you want to stick to that {iseeya} as the root there. I suppose you could also say {zoi si rutu žoiseeya} as well.



As soon as I read those words, the word {seto} popped into my head. Wanna use that?

I edited the translation to be    .     ,     . (This text uses Inkoding) or Zoi si seto žoiseeya. Bira zoiyo rutu žožamoa nadomaiči, wa zoi si rutu žekapežu.

Still waiting on that spreadsheet.

Also, I created some words...
kóžaboi = conlang (kóža "artificial" + boi "language")
Défunatu = Google, or any search engine (lit. search-tool)

Can we make some rules regarding English-to-Inkling loanword sound changes/substitutions? It's for people who want to say their own name in Inkling. Esperanto had those: Ludwig became Ludoviko, Washington became Vaŝingtono, etc.

Currently, I'm thinking of using + to write loanword-exclusive phonemes. e.g. ba+ = va; ča+ = tɬa, clicks+a; ha+ = χa; na+ = ɲa; etc.

EDIT: There's this thing in ConWorkShop where it gives me a set of sentences to translate so we can see how complete our grammar is, and I need some words for it.

rich
poor
garden
cautious
dangerous
square (as in plaza)
church
letter (as in mail)
post office
disaster
to stay [adj] or to keep [v]-ing
Particle for past perfect, as in I used to write a letter every month. [Idea: use past tense AND present progressive?]
Particle for past progressive, as in I was writing a letter. [Idea: use past tense AND present progressive?]
Particle for conditionals, as in I could write a letter

 

[PiyozR]

I suppose one of us should continue to update the guide after Piyoz's exit? Seeing as new words and concepts are still being created

As mentioned above, the guide is a more personal project of mine. I'd prefer it stay the way it is (save for fixing errors). But if you guys want to continue making grammar and vocab, you have my blessing to do so anywhere else you want. The Conworkshop looks like a legit place.

 

[EclipseMT]

On a side note, you guys familiar with smash?
If so, what would "four-stock" mean in this universe?

 

[PiyozR]

Can we make some rules regarding English-to-Inkling loanword sound changes/substitutions? It's for people who want to say their own name in Inkling.

That was something sitting in the back of my mind that I never got around to doing. I have never thought on a system for transcribing English into Inkling as I'm not familiar with many systems in which languages do that. I've asked tons of Chinese speakers how exactly the choose characters to spell out words from other languages. They just shrug it off and tell me it's all arbitrary. I still have no idea how they decide.

For Inkling, I tend to use characters ending in {a} where the original English's coda ends in a consonant. My name, for example. Piyoz is {paiyoza}. My name is a good example of another thing I've found works out well: using diphthong characters in place of long vowels in English. The assimilated {pai} and {iyo} take the stress in that word just as the "i" takes the stress in Piyoz. When spoken aloud, you hear the similarity and tell that it's the same word.

As for how to assign Inkling characters to replace English consonants and vowels, where do you start?

EDIT: There's this thing in ConWorkShop where it gives me a set of sentences to translate so we can see how complete our grammar is, and I need some words for it.

My suggestions:

rich : {bari}
poor : {nuo}
garden : {šeraze}
cautious : {anezia}
dangerous : {unoto}
square (as in plaza) : {kenaiiyo}
church : {sedepai}
letter (as in mail) : {paraki}
post office : {parapai}
disaster : {beanero}
to stay [adj] or to keep [v]-ing : {guuyo}
Particle for past perfect : {rutue}
Particle for past progressive : {uguzo}
Particle for conditionals : {afeŧa}

If you're happy with those, I'll add those into the Guide.

On a side note, you guys familiar with smash?
If so, what would "four-stock" mean in this universe?

I referred to a life in Splatoon gameplay as a "birth", that is starting from when the Inklings spawn or "are born" again and again in battle. Since a similar thing happens in Smash Bros, maybe a four stock match would be {de nežo}?

Just don't ask me to translate "JV3", "tipper effect" or "wombo combo".

 

[theFIZZYnator]

That was something sitting in the back of my mind that I never got around to doing. I have never thought on a system for transcribing English into Inkling as I'm not familiar with many systems in which languages do that. I've asked tons of Chinese speakers how exactly the choose characters to spell out words from other languages. They just shrug it off and tell me it's all arbitrary. I still have no idea how they decide.

For Inkling, I tend to use characters ending in {a} where the original English's coda ends in a consonant. My name, for example. Piyoz is {paiyoza}. My name is a good example of another thing I've found works out well: using diphthong characters in place of long vowels in English. The assimilated {pai} and {iyo} take the stress in that word just as the "i" takes the stress in Piyoz. When spoken aloud, you hear the similarity and tell that it's the same word.

As for how to assign Inkling characters to replace English consonants and vowels, where do you start?



My suggestions:

rich : {bari}
poor : {nuo}
garden : {šeraze}
cautious : {anezia}
dangerous : {unoto}
square (as in plaza) : {kenaiiyo}
church : {sedepai}
letter (as in mail) : {paraki}
post office : {parapai}
disaster : {beanero}
to stay [adj] or to keep [v]-ing : {guuyo}
Particle for past perfect : {rutue}
Particle for past progressive : {uguzo}
Particle for conditionals : {afeŧa}

If you're happy with those, I'll add those into the Guide.

My suggestion would be the following. English consonants that exist in Inkling are skipped. (English phoneme → Inkling phoneme)

/f/ → /ɸ/
/dʒ/, /ʒ/ → /ʑ/
/l/ and /ɹ/→ /ɾ/
/ʃ/ → /ɕ/
/t͡ʃ/ → /t͡ɕ/
/v/ → not sure, /b/ or /f/ or /w/
/θ/ → /t͡s/ or /s/
/ð/ → /z/
/ŋ/ → /n/ at syllable start; /i/ at syllable end
/hw/ → /w/

Vowels:
/ɑː/ /ɒ/ /æ/ /ɔː/ /ʌ/ → /a/
/ɛ/ /ei/ /ɪ/ → /e/
/iː/ → /i/
/oʊ/ → /o/
/ʊ/ /uː/ /juː/ /ə/ → /ɯ/
/aɪ/ → /ai/ (split when not available)
/oi/ /ɔi/ → /oi/ (split when not available)
/aʊ/ → /a.ɯ/

Vowels with R:
/ɑɹ/ → /a.a/
/ɛɹ/ → /e.a/
/iɹ/ → /i.a/ or /i.e/
/oɹ/ → /oi/
/uəɹ/, /əɹ/ → /ɯ.a/

/j/ at the start of a word → /i/

break up consonant clusters with {*u}, except for {č} which should be broken by {či}.

When {*a} is not available, fall back to {*e} then {*o}
When {*e} is not available, fall back to {*i} then {*a}
When {*i} is not available, fall back to {*e} then {*u}
When {*o} is not available, fall back to {*u} then {*a}
When {*u} is not available, fall back to {*i} then {*e}

With this system, Inklingized names sound more similar to Japonified names. For example, Jerry /ˈd͡zɛɹiː/ becomes {Žéri}, George /d͡ʒoɹd͡ʒ/ becomes {Žóžu}, and Claire /klɛɹ/ becomes {Kuréa}.

Alright, can you send me all the current words in the form of an Excel spreadsheet, with parts of speech and definitions?

I also need some Inkling profanity (to translate “Why the **** you lyin'?”). Do we have Inkling profanity?

EDIT: I'm trying to write a nursery rhyme, or a counting song to be exact, in Inkling. I've found only one word that rhymes with {ziéga} (ten): {žinéga} (salty). Can we make one of the new words end with {-éga}?

 

[EclipseMT]

I referred to a life in Splatoon gameplay as a "birth", that is starting from when the Inklings spawn or "are born" again and again in battle. Since a similar thing happens in Smash Bros, maybe a four stock match would be {de nežo}?

I really just wanted to know how they would cheer "Four stock" when they would be asking for the four-stock.

"Wombo combo" could be an Inkling-ization of "happy feet" because that is essentially what it is. Or I could save that for Octoling because that combo is evil.

 

[PiyozR]

[snip phonology stuff]

All of that sounds fine to me, but I'd prefer that we break up consonant clusters with {a} instead of {u}.

Alright, can you send me all the current words in the form of an Excel spreadsheet, with parts of speech and definitions?

Working on it tonight. I am just going to rip the vocab in the PDF in order by section and insert it right into a spreadsheet. Problem is that my laptop doesn't have Excel. I can only save in a XLSX file. My old college laptop might have a proper Excel license. Assuming the thing still works. Gonna take a look tonight.

I also need some Inkling profanity (to translate “Why the **** you lyin'?”). Do we have Inkling profanity?

A little. There's a direct sign of serious disrespect in {tabai nežo} (basically "eff you" but literally calling someone "stillborn"). There's {točí} as a way to curse a situation (literally "sewer"). That's closer to "damn it!" I never made anything that can be used as an intensifier like "What the **** you lookin' at?". Or any gender or race-specific slurs. I feel like Inklings would probably have some nasty slang for Octarians. However, this is a conlang for a Nintendo game so I'd rather stay true to company's family-friendly image.

EDIT: I'm trying to write a nursery rhyme, or a counting song to be exact, in Inkling. I've found only one word that rhymes with {ziéga} (ten): {žinéga} (salty). Can we make one of the new words end with {-éga}?

Sure. What word? What would fit best in the song?

I really just wanted to know how they would cheer "Four stock" when they would be asking for the four-stock.

"Wombo combo" could be an Inkling-ization of "happy feet" because that is essentially what it is. Or I could save that for Octoling because that combo is evil.

I don't think I quite understand what you mean when people would cheer for "four stock". Who plays four stock matches? Tournament rules are two stock.

That's as good a reason as any to revitalize the Octoling language.

 

[EclipseMT]

Who plays four stock matches? Tournament rules are two stock.

Melee rules are four stock, eight minutes, and I felt that if we were to do a comp-Smash reference, it should be a basic Melee phrase.

 

[PiyozR]

Alright, @theFIZZYnator ,I spent about ten hours transferring every Inkling word into an Excel spreadsheet. I then booted up my ancient college laptop and used my legit Excel program to save it as a CSV file. That's the file type described in the Conworkshop tutorial.

For one, Squidboards does not allow me to upload a CSV file here. Is there some other way I should send this to you? Email? Skype? Carrier pigeon?

Beyond that, I took a look at the saved file and noticed a problem. The CSV file does not register the notation properly. All the vowels with the acute accent marks and the consonants with the carons show up as other symbols (random punctuation and such). Not sure how/if this will make uploading this document to the website more difficult.

In other news, while I was inserting every into this Excel spreadsheet, I finally got a final word count on our conlang. As of this post, Inkling has one thousand two hundred and forty one words (counting idioms, useful phrases, grammar particles and Splatoon maps)!

 

[theFIZZYnator]

Alright, @theFIZZYnator ,I spent about ten hours transferring every Inkling word into an Excel spreadsheet. I then booted up my ancient college laptop and used my legit Excel program to save it as a CSV file. That's the file type described in the Conworkshop tutorial.

For one, Squidboards does not allow me to upload a CSV file here. Is there some other way I should send this to you? Email? Skype? Carrier pigeon?

Beyond that, I took a look at the saved file and noticed a problem. The CSV file does not register the notation properly. All the vowels with the acute accent marks and the consonants with the carons show up as other symbols (random punctuation and such). Not sure how/if this will make uploading this document to the website more difficult.

In other news, while I was inserting every into this Excel spreadsheet, I finally got a final word count on our conlang. As of this post, Inkling has one thousand two hundred and forty one words (counting idioms, useful phrases, grammar particles and Splatoon maps)!

Wow, ten hours?! Oh man! I think if you give me the .xls, .xlsx, or .ods file, I can make it work.

Also, I've finished the counting song except for the one last line that's supposed to rhyme with ziéga.

Téna Zapí Nežúzu // This Little Tentacle
a nursery rhyme by Čimáikezoi* (theFIZZYnator)
* lit. soda person

// Inklings are humanoid, but have ten tentacles instead of four limbs.
// Two of them correspond to our legs, two more correspond to our arms, and the other six, growing out of their head, correspond to our hair.
// For the first two verses, the singer points to their left leg and then their right leg, respectively.
// For the third, the singer points to their left arm, and for the fourth, to their right arm.
// For the fifth through the tenth, the singer lifts each hair tentacle from left to right.
// A human singer can attempt to “play along”, by lifting the left side of their bangs for the fifth, the hair behind the left ear for the sixth, the hair behind the right ear for the seventh, the right side of their bangs for the eighth, and the hair at either side of the top of their head for the ninth and tenth.

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo u // This little tentacle is named 1
I tóyu téna ko páigi wa debú // I use this to run and walk
I šidé demáno, i máinu sotú // I like to move, I love to jump
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo u // This little tentacle is named 1

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo íyo // This little tentacle is named 2
I fúno debú da ŧúge wa haíyo // I want to walk on the moon and the sun
Óyene eyanukói, i si žepaíyo // When I kick, I am skilled
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo íyo // This little tentacle is named 2

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo ča // This little tentacle is named 3
Ŧakó kiží suitakói pinú pifá // Hot energy flows below the skin
Óyene ugékoi, i šáno kižá // When it gets dirty, I reach for a towel
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo ča // This little tentacle is named 3

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo de // This little tentacle is named 4
I-eya fa eyóbu pu muŧá fetafé // My five fingers can grip a balloon
I žo fúno zoi fíše su waišé // I don't want it to fly away high
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo de // This little tentacle is named 4

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo fa // This little tentacle is named 5
I pu eyasukói zoi žomé fi birá // I can color it dark or light
I kášinokoi* zoi ki šerá // I decorate* it with a flower
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo fa // This little tentacle is named 5
* new word, lit. to make beautiful

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo ke // This little tentacle is named 6
Zoi si čidáwa múyo, pa pu bihé // It is full of ink, you can see
Zoi čimaikekói óyene mi gidé // It fizzes when I sing
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo ke // This little tentacle is named 6

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo we // This little tentacle is named 7
Zoi si héni zapížu da eyužié // It's like the hair of my grandpa
I huinési huró héni móye ayožié // I'll take care of it like grandma does
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo we // This little tentacle is named 7

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo za // This little tentacle is named 8
Zoi žo atí oyúbu kári patá // It is not covered by a hat
Zoi rúye onái i-eya žiká // It grows above my shoulder
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo za // This little tentacle is named 8

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo šobí // This little tentacle is named 9
Zoi si biwái ri mišáiya fi fečí // It is happy in school or a festival
Gúyokoi zoi oéi i gúža žizí // To keep it fresh, I always keep in mind
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo šobí // This little tentacle is named 9

Téna zapí nežúzu séyo ziéga // This little tentacle is named 10
Óyene i atí béya, zoi židá zinéga // When I'm splatted, it gets salty
Zoi rúye óta i-eya enažéga // It grows from the top of my head
Téna zapí nežúzu séyo ziéga // This little tentacle is named 10​

So why isn't there a word for "to sit"? "To touch"?
I coined "enažéga" (top of the head) to rhyme with ziéga.

 

[PiyozR]

Wow, ten hours?! Oh man! I think if you give me the .xls, .xlsx, or .ods file, I can make it work.

Okay, then. How should I send that to you?

I love that counting song! Is that based on any real song or completely original for this conlang? If you like, I can add it to the PDF.

a nursery rhyme by Čimáikezoi* (theFIZZYnator)
* lit. soda person​

​

How clever.

 

[theFIZZYnator]

Okay, then. How should I send that to you?

I love that counting song! Is that based on any real song or completely original for this conlang? If you like, I can add it to the PDF.

How clever.

You can send it over to me via email or over Squidboards. It's an original song, but the melody I thought of is really close to I'm a Little Teapot, so use that for the meantime. Can I get an approval for the last line that I coined, though?

 

[PiyozR]

The eighth lesson of Inkopolis University is here! Today it's all about verb tense. The first three of them, at least.

 

[PiyozR]

At long last, the last video lesson in Inkopolis University is here! This ninth lesson brushes up on some basic, useful words and phrases from this conlang. You know, I was planning and drafting this series about a year ago. It's crazy to think how far we've come with this project since Splatoon came out last year.

You guys think I should try tipping game blogs to our project again?

 

[SyMag]

I say go for it, why not

 

[Jonathx]

Sorry that I haven't been very active recently; was travelling and been catching up on things ever since.

Yeah, that's all well and good, but there's a lot of wasted space regardless. Some of the unmapped codepoints (e.g. the VyVV letters) can be mapped to special symbols like I said. I suggested adding the three forms to prevent this sort of bullshit from happening. (Bullshit being every country using a different way to distinguish between two or more forms of the same letter.)

I totally understand the dislike for wasted space, but inkling has an unusually high number of pronounceable-but-not-actually-used syllables and polysyllables, so the holes, which make things easier on the computer-science end of encoding, are more glaring than for most languages on the linguistics end of encoding. *shrug*

The Unicode-Inspired way to say "no I really want this SPECIFIC form of a character" is to have alternate forms supplied in a later section, whether that be in the same block (Greek has several archaic characters and variant versions of normal characters used for math encoded this way) or more commonly in a new block entirely (Most the CJK extensions are there to address the specific kind of bulls*** you referred to, but they haven't gotten to everything yet because Han characters are a HUGE set, and there's the whole Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols block for similar occasions where the specific form of a letter matters in English or Greek). Based on previous discussions by @Ikaheishi and I, the current plan would encode Octoling nearby in a much more compact manner (because the majority of the characters are alphabetic instead of syllabic, and most the syllabic sections are complete sets as opposed to inkling's largely incomplete sets), and then there would be space left over in the section for another block containing Splatoon-related dingbats. Maybe the dingbats section could be made shorter to add in an "alternate inkling presentation forms" block?

But Unicode generally doesn't like encoding alternate versions of characters because for the vast majority of cases alternate forms don't affect how the character is understood by a reader. Whether the two "V"s that make up "W" meet at the top (like in most modern fonts) or overlap at the middle (like in the Wikipedia logo) only matters if you A. have a specific aesthetic you are going for, which is the job of fonts, or B. are having a discussion ABOUT the letter W and its different forms (ie what we're doing right now). So while it makes sense to us to encode all the variant forms of {rai}, since we're discussing them right now, for the average user having to select WHICH {rai} they want would just be confusing. And most fontmakers will want to cater to these people by just giving them the form that looks best in their font, not us linguistics nerds, and having the alternate forms in another section allows the few fontmakers who do want to cater to us to do so while still maintaining a clear default form for the majority of times when it doesn't matter (I mean, even on this thread we usually are using {rai} in ways that don't require discussion of it's specific form), allowing maximum compatibility with other fonts. Ironically, me trying to explain why alternate presentation forms are usually left for later is one of the occasions where they'd be really useful...

 

[Jonathx]

And found another thing I wanted to reply to...please forgive the double-post!

I feel like Inklings would probably have some nasty slang for Octarians. However, this is a conlang for a Nintendo game so I'd rather stay true to company's family-friendly image.

The sunken scrolls do credit the Inklings' victory in the great turf war to their "superior number of limbs." Thus I'd imagine there'd be some pejorative phases involving Octarians being "a few limbs short" of a full inkling, or grading their accomplishments as a "four out of five." Also, Capt. Cuttlefish regularly calls them "Octojerks" (maybe {piésu biéyu} or {za biéyu} "octo-mouth" as a play on {ŧakó biéyu} "hot mouth" being used for "jerk" or "bully"?) which I'd imagine is a similar level to calling a British person a "limey" or a German a "kraut"--a moderate racial insult used in military context that can be used in a more joking manner in time of peace/for your allies or a more serious derogatory one for your enemies in time of war. There are probably worse ones than that too, but I agree that we should keep "profanity" in-game at an E10+ rated level since it is a Nintendo game.

 

[Cdr. Sigma Skye]

Ok, I what I plan to do with the language is perform one of Michael Jackson's songs for an SFM Splatoon remake of the Speed Demon music video.

Here's the lyrics for Speed Demon:

I'm headed for the border [i ža no se zoaro(?)]
It's on my mind [si i ya riépo(?)]
And nothin' really matters [wa žoki že si duyo(?)]
I've got to be on time [i subí ya zóiyo(?)]
Look in the view mirror [i háoka oyáemará {can roughly mean "mirror"} (?)]
Is he hot on my tracks [kué zói súine i(?)]
Is he getting nearer [kué nákia pi(?)]
I feel some heat is on my back [i gápie ŧakó kué ya i haíse]

Speedin' on the freeway
Gotta get a lead way
(Speed demon)
Doin' it on the highway
Gotta have it my way
(Speed demon)
Mind is like a compass
I'm stoppin' at nothin'
(Speed demon)
He say, "pull over boy and get your ticket right"

And nothin' gonna stop me
Ain't no stop and go
I'm speedin' on the midway
I gotta really burn this road

Speedin' on the freeway
Gotta get a lead way
(Speed demon)
Doin' it on the highway
Gotta have it my way
(Speed demon)
Mind is like a compass
I'm stoppin' at nothin'
(Speed demon)
He say, "pull over boy and get your ticket right"

Speed demon, you're the very same one
Who said the future's in your hands
The life you save could be your own
You're preachin' 'bout my life like you're the law
Gonna live each day and hour like
For me there's no tomorrow

Go! Go! Go! Go! Aaow!

Speedin' on the freeway
Gotta get a lead way
(Speed demon)
Got fire in my pocket
I just lit a rocket
(Speed demon)
I just, pull over boy and get your ticket right
(Speed demon)
Pull over boy and get your ticket right
(Speed demon)
I just, pull over boy and eat your ticket
Pull over boy
Pull over boy and get your ticket right

Pull over boy
Get your ticket right
Pull over boy
Get your ticket right
Pull over boy
Pull over boy and
Get your ticket
Eat your ticket
Get your ticket
Eat yo', get yo'
Get your ticket right

UPDATE 1: First Verse "Roughly" Translated. Jeez, this is tough to make it all rhyme bilingually.

 

[PiyozR]

The sunken scrolls do credit the Inklings' victory in the great turf war to their "superior number of limbs." Thus I'd imagine there'd be some pejorative phases involving Octarians being "a few limbs short" of a full inkling, or grading their accomplishments as a "four out of five." Also, Capt. Cuttlefish regularly calls them "Octojerks" (maybe {piésu biéyu} or {za biéyu} "octo-mouth" as a play on {ŧakó biéyu} "hot mouth" being used for "jerk" or "bully"?) which I'd imagine is a similar level to calling a British person a "limey" or a German a "kraut"--a moderate racial insult used in military context that can be used in a more joking manner in time of peace/for your allies or a more serious derogatory one for your enemies in time of war. There are probably worse ones than that too, but I agree that we should keep "profanity" in-game at an E10+ rated level since it is a Nintendo game.

That's clever. I can add something like that to the idioms list later this week.

@Cdr. Sigma Skye Do you want someone to translate the entire song? Because that's a long song. I'm not sure anyone here will have the time or energy to do that. I sure don't. Not for free.

 

[Cdr. Sigma Skye]

Do you want someone to translate the entire song? Because that's a long song. I'm not sure anyone here will have the time or energy to do that. I sure don't. Not for free.

I'd do it, but I can't find the inkling equivalent for demon.

UPDATE: I'd pay good money, to get it done, since I'm pressed for time.

UPDATE 2: I just translated the first verse. Anything inconsistent, don't hesitate to criticize, with constructive suggestion.