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Today we review the Akana conlang Kataputi.
In other news, the Sixth Language Creation Conference happened. Links below. Also, George is getting his Masters.
Top of Show Greeting: Old English/Anglo-Saxon (translated and read by Scott Brewer)
Links and Resources
Announced bits
Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets
Hi guys!
Just a quick comment on the LCC6 videos. Right now only the recorded live streams are online, but we are planning on having separate videos for the various presentations as well. It’s going to take some time to get them ready though (also, don’t mention that too loud to everyone, but we are looking into captioning them as well, to make them more accessible. This will take a long time though…).
On a more general level, the LCC6 was really a blast, and I hope it shows through the videos :).
admin
Yes, I didn’t know at the time of recording that we wouldn’t have the separate videos yet. I’ve linked to the livestream recordings.
Ossicone
I was at LCC6 and it was great.
I enjoyed all of the presentations I saw and the few people I talked to were very nice.
thedukeofnuke
Hello George, William –
It’s a pleasure seeing one of my creations reviewed! You’ve given me some interesting thoughts and ideas for how to better develop and describe the language.
As you’ve no doubt guessed, I’m strictly an amateur (my degree is in engineering). All of my linguistic knowledge is gleaned from the internet and from the few textbooks I’ve scavenged from CUP, and as a result my theory is patchy; I’m always trying to learn more, though, and you’ve brought to my attention a number of things that could be improved on! The behaviour of ergative languages – and especially the antipassive – evidently still eludes me…
As you note, Kataputi was created to a deadline for a reconstruction relay. Some things that are missing or behave oddly come from areas of the parent language, Proto-Dumic, that weren’t fully fleshed out; others are from my own lack of knowledge. The sound changes and grammatical changes are still not published.
Most of the morphophonological puzzles are the results of sound change from Proto-Dumic. (Spoilers are below for anyone who still wants to follow the relay).
The syllable structure was CV(N), with initials /p t k s/ alternated with /w ð ɣ r/, and each voiced initial turned into the corresponding unvoiced consonant after a coda nasal. In the 2000 years between Proto-Dumic and Kataputi, the key sound changes were: ɣ > Ø, p > ɸ > h, ɣ > Ø, ms > mps > mph > mp, ns > nts > nth > nt, and then VNC > VːC; this is the cause of the odd consonant alternations. (Mutations, declensions, and conjugations I, II, and II all result from etymons in CV-, CVn-, and CVm- respectively.)
If you have any questions or advice, or would like to know more about the Akana project, please don’t hesitate to contact me; my Gmail is duxnuclearis. 🙂
All the best,
“duke”