The Fan Language of Splatoon

[theFIZZYnator]

Question: How does Inkling deal with relative clauses?

Also, let's add a word for "sound" and "clap", since they are missing.

New version of the (Octoling) Guide up, with some minor changes.

In addition, I threw up the current version of the font, as well as a charmap to display which keys are mapped to which character as per the (old) orthography.

>ɧ
ohgodwhy.png

 

[EclipseMT]

>ɧ
ohgodwhy.png

Should have I put /dz/ instead? Besides, Welsh LL's phoneme has been in the (Octoling) language since the first real edition of the guide, and is all but just as unpronounceable for us (AmEnglish) speakers. Can't speak for the Brits here

 

[EclipseMT]

I figured I might throw this out as a Calamari cultural note. All of this is original.

=Turf Wars in Calamari County=
Calamarin Inklings did their turf wars radically different compared to Inkopolis. The most obvious difference was that there were five members in a team (alongside a few lower-tier randoms, typically those learning the sport, who would serve as filler to hold the game in place unless the primary 5 members push), compared to the Inkopolis four, and, in general, venues (called Fields of Conquest) were larger. Usually, there would be only three Fields of Conquest used in competitive play, but others (especially makeshift ones) could be used in a recreational setting. Respawning was still a feature.

Another big difference was the objective. The standard turf war Inkopolis kids perform for their battles is almost nonexistent west of the Barrier. Instead, Western battles are set up in a manner like a symmetrical "defend your fort" type game. The primary objective was to overrun the enemy's fort and capture an artifact (usually a Zapfish) and present it to win. The only thing standing between their way was the heavy fortifications of the fort. Respawning was also still a feature. Because of this setup, matches have an indefinite length (the longest recorded match under professional constraints lasted 84 minutes straight). The only other way to end is through gentleman's agreement.

Reliance on Squid Form was also downplayed (some orgs rule against this). Instead, the game presented an emphasis on the equipment a player uses - hardcores would spend ridiculous amounts of time and money to tune their gear to perfection. The first person to discover techniques and setups which proved beneficial in combat would, in general, be unstoppable. This near-non-reliance of an Inkling's natural abilities meant that other species were open to participate (this is especially popular among Highlander folk). Pro orgs would inspect each team's player's gear before a match and establish rules for players to conform in order to balance competitive WTW.

In general, recreational groups slide by relatively quick. The average time for such a match is seven minutes (though some games can last shorter or longer depending on the skill of the player). Professional games last slightly longer, and, for the most part, would have faster-paced standoffs. In-game, the apex of achievement would be killing all five members of a team in rapid succession, and this would be known as |pentakiru| to the locals. If witnessed by and/or performed against someone of high standing, this is the highest honor a Calamarin can have in the sport, and usually was the first step to his or her team being signed in top tier.

Another distinguishing featurette of CalTurfWar was the fact that the press did not directly monitor the sport, like in Inkopolis - their purpose is to cover it.

 

[PiyozR]

You want me to add that to the Guide?

You know, I haven't uploaded the newest version in weeks. Been a bit busy.

 

[EclipseMT]

You want me to add that to the Guide?

You know, I haven't uploaded the newest version in weeks. Been a bit busy.

Be my guest.

 

[PiyozR]

I just updated the PDF guide on the IU website. Unless anyone has any other content they'd like to add or any errors to point out, I'll consider that portion of the conlang project complete. Yeah, pretty much last call for vocab and grammar or anything cultural you can think of. I just started a full time job in another country so expect to not see me around here any more when work starts.

 

[Jonathx]

I just updated the PDF guide on the IU website. Unless anyone has any other content they'd like to add or any errors to point out, I'll consider that portion of the conlang project complete. Yeah, pretty much last call for vocab and grammar or anything cultural you can think of. I just started a full time job in another country so expect to not see me around here any more when work starts.

Two little things I noticed looking through the guide
1. The pejorative idioms for Octolings/Octarians from post #837 are nowhere to be found. I wouldn't mention it, except for you saying that you'd consider adding something in that vein to the idioms section.
2. In the geometry section (and including the post linked from it), there's no equivalent to poly-, so you can refer to any SPECIFIC polygon or polyhedron, but not to polygons or polyhedra in general. So as not to add new words where an existing one would do, I would suggest making a note that {hegá} ("any") is used in this case. So a general polygon would be an "any-number-of-sided-shape".

Also I believe @theFIZZYnator wondered about how to construct relative clauses?

 

[PiyozR]

Two little things I noticed looking through the guide
1. The pejorative idioms for Octolings/Octarians from post #837 are nowhere to be found. I wouldn't mention it, except for you saying that you'd consider adding something in that vein to the idioms section.
2. In the geometry section (and including the post linked from it), there's no equivalent to poly-, so you can refer to any SPECIFIC polygon or polyhedron, but not to polygons or polyhedra in general. So as not to add new words where an existing one would do, I would suggest making a note that {hegá} ("any") is used in this case. So a general polygon would be an "any-number-of-sided-shape".

Also I believe @theFIZZYnator wondered about how to construct relative clauses?

1: Sorry, totally forgot about those. Gonna type those up tonight.

2: Honestly, I hardly gave that whole geometry and shapes section any thought. I'll add some simple terms for polygon and polyhedron.

3: Sorry, Fizzy, I didn't see your post. Relative clauses work in Inkling just like they do in English. That was part of the design of this being a simple, basic and accessible conlang for Splatoon fans. I suppose I should provide examples, shouldn't I?

"Inkopolis is the place where I live." {mižúo náipie si mamái wáibo i iyóči}
"I know what you did last summer." {i sáne zamó pa zéni sonái móye rutú}
"Nine A.M. is when the Rank Battles starts." {šobí dáoyu si óyene gačí šípuwe káišo} (For some reason, I like the sound of placing words indicating time at the front of verb phrases. To me it reads and speaks much more clearly than by putting them at the end like you probably would do in English.)
"Piyoz is a smart guy who is also very good-looking." {paíyoza si nóči eyumái šuáti wúi si henú kášino}
"I like to drink juice that I juice myself." {i šidé gáizo zúso dité i udói zusokói} (The difference between the two previous examples is that {šuáti} is used for relative clauses concerning people and {dité} is used for objects, situations, ideas and really anything that's not a person of any sapient species.)
"This is the brush that grandfather gave me." {čidú si hunépo i ya éyudu doré rutú i} (As can be done in English, a conjunction is not used here in Inkling.)

Think I should include these examples in the guide?

 

[EclipseMT]

Relative clauses work in Inkling just like they do in English. That was part of the design of this being a simple, basic and accessible conlang for Splatoon fans. I suppose I should provide examples, shouldn't I?

I like how I made a project that is a foil to this. While you made it to be more practical and accessible, I made mine just for the sake of making one, adding whatever elements I felt like. I also was more liberal in terms of what I made.

 

[SyMag]

Think I should include these examples in the guide?

Absolutely

 

[PiyozR]

Somehow I got around to showing this conlang to one of the girls in my office today. She was blown away by our project. I was then blown away, too, when she pointed out that the Inkling character {ba} looks strikingly similar to the Chinese character 巴 also pronounced like "ba". Coincidence? Or did I subconsciously assign that phonology and never even realize it until over a year and a half?

I'll let you be the judge.

/gravedig

 

[Vylion]

Wow what a disaster of a person I am. After saying I'd have time in summer, I completely disappeared. And now that I'm actually busy and have a lot of thinks to do, here I come back.

(...) Also, now that you're shelving the project, a broad question for all: where should the community have a constantly updated list of vocabulary in case people invent more words?

Could you point us to an example of one of these online conlang tools? I'd be okay with it if it looks like it would be a good way of doing this

Going back to this (sorry for doing such a big time leap), ConWorkShop was one of such tools. I think I read it was already mentioned here while trying to catch up with everything.

Also, I know it's not practical to expect this project to get a big following at some point in the future, but in the offshoot chance it happens (and when it happens, should it happen), we could make some kind of shared blog or account in a popular social network so people would be able to "submit" new words as needed. Just as a way of synchronization between people, just so we don't end up with 3 completely different unofficial words for the same thing. However, for the time being, I think this thread completely satisfies this need.

And with that said, I'm going to refloat some suggestions I made, poorly timed with the PDF overhaul so they had to be put back for a while... These are now a quiestion to all: what do you think of these? Not to be put into the PDF obviously, but to incorporate them in our vocabularies.

I'm just adding the 2 generic words of "shape with a certain number of sides" or "polygon" and "shape with a certain number of faces" or "polyhedron"; it seems stupid to speak of stuff if we can't say what kind of stuff they are. Almost like having words for "apple", "strawberry", "pear", "peach", ... but having no word for "fruit".

The whole list of vocabulary I've ever suggested (minus the ones that have already been added to the pdf) in this thread is here:

Literature and writing:

• {Hazhiero}, noun meaning "writing, script" (also "alphabet", "syllabary"). (Note at the end of the post)
• {Anerohazhu}, noun meaning "log" or "recording". From {anero} meaning "happening" and {hazhu} meaning "text", so it literally means "text of happenings". Semantically shifted to refer to any kind of recording, be it in actual text or in another medium, like audio or video.
• {Aneroshaizhu}, noun meaning "chronicle" or something similar; from {aneroshai hazhu}.
• {Anézhume}, noun meaning "log book, journal"; from {anerohazhu éyome}, literally "book of recordings".
• {Teshízhume}, noun meaning "diary"; from {teshi anézhume}, literally "personal book of recordings". Can also be linked to {teshi hazhu eyome} "personal text book".

Geography:

• {Hunagaeda}, noun meaning "mountain range", literally "mountain line".
• {Shumadinaga}, noun used to refer to a cold, high mountain that has snow on its peak all year long. From {shumadi hunaga}
• {Shumadinagéda} [changed from original post's {shumanagéda}], noun for a mountain range made exclusively of mountains with eternal snow. From {shumadinaga eda} (I honestly don't know if we ever will use this one but I got excited about having a word for an specific kind of mountain)
• {Shaeruro}, noun meaning "barrier". Any kind of barrier.
• {Rusimara}, noun meaning "fence"; from {rusiro} and {mara}.
• {Shaenaga}, noun meaning "geographical barrier".

Other:

• {birióno}, noun for sea anemone. Also, "busy head", in the meaning of "having a lot of hair", "having wild hair", "having puffy hair", or "having flashy or extravagant hairstyle", or something on those lines.
• {birionozói}, noun for sea anemone people.
• {sanebada}/{sabada} noun for "direction", from {sanero} "knowledge" and {badáido} "path". I was unsure which one so I asked for feedback, but got none.
• {sabachímo} noun for "address", from whichever it is "direction" and {chímo} house. Semantically shifted to refer to any kind of addresses, and not just houses or buildings.
  
• {nagízhe}, descriptor meaning "recently"; from {nakí} "near" and {gízhe} "present/current".
• {ómoshi}, noun for "polygon", literally "2D shape with some number of sides".
  
• {ometái}, noun for "polyhedron", literally "3D shape with some number of faces".
• {hudómo} descriptor for "low" (as in less in quantity/magnitude), from {hudó} "less/fewer" and {ómo} "some".

-------

By chance, I've happened to find {hazhiero} in PiyozR's Seinfeld translation, and I can't deduce what exactly the Inkling meaning is (seems to substitute "hypothetical phone call"). Could it be a mistake with {hazhieshái}? Since {hazhieshái} is the word used in all other mentions to "hypothetical phone call". Anyway, even in the case it's {hazhiero} I think the word can keep both meanings.

Also, I think that if we make a new word using the standard derivation suffixes, even if it's out there so people can derive the most obvious things and avoid the need for having both "to work" and "worker" in the pdf, for those that aren't 120% obvious I think we should sometimes still specify them. For example, I feel like {hazhiero} for "script" and whatever use it has in the Seinfeld translation, and {zhizaipai} for "poin of view" (also from the Seinfeld translation), literally "location where thought takes place", are not that obvious.

I don't care which proposal is used for polygons and polyhedrons, we can go with Jonathx's (hégashi, hegametái); but I left it there because I found it funny that we would think of very similar etimologies.

Some more vocabulary suggestions:

• {eyomegái} "library".
• {anezhumegái} "archive", following my {anézhume} suggestion.
• {wafikói} "to be surprised".

I suggest either {gedó hudó} (lit. "more less") or {géhu géhu} (repeating the first syllables for "more" and "less", since many languages use repetition in this expression) for "more or less". What do enápa think it's better?

And I suggest the phrase {boi gáichiro} for "translation", from {boi} "language" and {gáichi} "to change" + {ro} which changes it into a noun.
And so, "to translate" would be {boi gáichi}.

--------

@theFIZZYnator now that you're back... I think I sent you a PM about it, but honestly, I perfectly could have forgotten to actually click "send"; and I didn't wait for an answer because you had already said you were leaving the project indefinitely way back in the thread, so I didn't know how much time it would take you to see it, and didn't want to bother you much. I reused your Inkling renders from your font into a ligature-based font with the help of FontForge. I hope you're ok with that... (I also made you appear in the metadata and credits, I hope you're ok with that too...).

In case you're curious, this was the first time I ever talked about it.

 

[PiyozR]

Yo, Vylion, sorry it took so long to reply. I'm working full time and dealing with government visa business. I finally got the chance to spend a part of this afternoon looking through your suggestions and applying them to the PDF guide. All very good stuff! Here are some highlights.

{daido} = "direction", just sounds natural to me
{čimozái} = "address", as in a combination of "house" and "number"
I swear I can distinctly recall creating a word for sea anemone and clown fish. Chances are they were lost in the overhaul. In any case, I added those and new rods for "shark" and "whale".
Near "library" and "archive" I added "police" and "police station".

The Seinfeld word {hažiero} was definitely a mistake. The word "hypothetical" doesn't even appear in that line of dialogue!

I don't think I understand what you mean with your suggestion of {hudómo}. Can you give an example in English and Inkling?

I will hopefully update the PDF on the website tomorrow night or so.

 

[Dual]

Wait a second...the official language for Splatoon is not Woomy? I've been lied too! This does look pretty cool though.

 

[Vylion]

Ah, cool! I like your alternative for direction better.

Examples with "hudómo" (as I always do, there could perfectly be another word that already fills this role and I'm just reinventing the wheel):
"i žiné hudómo múyo" = "I am low on ink" ("I have low ink")
"i sotú hudómo" = "I jump low (a low height)"
"i židá hudómo homáo" = "I despair a little" ("I become a little orange")
"i rugá rutú hudómo tičá" = "I bought few clothes"

 

[PiyozR]

Ah, cool! I like your alternative for direction better.

Examples with "hudómo" (as I always do, there could perfectly be another word that already fills this role and I'm just reinventing the wheel):
"i žiné hudómo múyo" = "I am low on ink" ("I have low ink")
"i sotú hudómo" = "I jump low (a low height)"
"i židá hudómo homáo" = "I despair a little" ("I become a little orange")
"i rugá rutú hudómo tičá" = "I bought few clothes"

Ah, I see what you mean now. We already have a word for that: {uya}, which is placed before a word to indicate "a little", "a small amount", "a few", "for a short time".

Sorry I haven't gotten to updating the PDF with what I've already added in there. I swear I'll do it the next time I am on my website. Promise.

 

[Coelpts]

good morning, it's 3 am.
a proposal for some more words:

kído: Fiction
kídozói: Actor
kídokói: To act
hunepokói kaóta: To tell a story (lit. to 'long paint')
Picture: žaré
žatu: Television (hóčižatu- News TV, zaráižatu- Weather TV, etc.)

 

[PiyozR]

good morning, it's 3 am.
a proposal for some more words:

kído: Fiction
kídozói: Actor
kídokói: To act
hunepokói kaóta: To tell a story (lit. to 'long paint')
Picture: žaré
žatu: Television (hóčižatu- News TV, zaráižatu- Weather TV, etc.)

I've added those words and a few others along with some corrections in the guide. I finally got around to updating the PDF on the website.

Anyone else willing to generously provide vocab or grammar and point out errors is still welcome to do so. Just don't expect me to get on it within the day like I used to.

 

[calthax]

So, what's the next thing to do now? Just wondering right now.

 

[PiyozR]

So, what's the next thing to do now? Just wondering right now.

Anything you want, really. I don't plan on making any more updates to the PDF or any more videos. At this point, use this language to your heart's content. It's everyone's now.