Welcome to Conlangery, the podcast
about constructed languages

and the people who create them.

I'm George Corley, and I'm going
to have to edit my intro a little

bit because I, I played the intro
live and, uh, screwed up my entry.

But, um, we have.

Uh, today, uh, a guest that, uh,
if you're watching on YouTube, you

may already be familiar with him.

Uh, it is over in Scotland.

We have Biblaridion.

Biblaridion: Good evening.

George Corley: Yeah.

And, uh, we're just gonna talk, we're just
gonna chat a little bit about conlanging

and, and about, uh, what you have.

Sort of built on, on your YouTube
channel and, uh, and things.

And, um, uh, how about actually
for us to start, how about you tell

me a little bit about how you got
into conlanging in the first place?

And like, what, what, um,
what was the impetus for that?

And what also got you into putting
your conlanging stuff on YouTube?

Biblaridion: Sure,

um, so, um, I first got into conlanging,
uh, it would have been about ten years ago

at this point, um, which is a little bit
scary to think about, uh, but I would have

been in university, and, um, I was, um,
as I recall, it just sort of spun out of,

um, Playing D& D, actually, with just my
flatmates, and we just had a game going,

and at the same time, I had also, I can't
remember why, but I had just resolved to

actually read the Silmarillion that year,
cause I'd always been a big fan of Tolkien

stuff, but I'd never actually sat down and
read through the Silmarillion properly.

And just, the main thing that I got
out of it was that there was just

something about the way that Tolkien
used Elvish in the story, just, it was

very clear that it wasn't just gibberish
that was just hastily put together.

There was clearly, like, um,
systematicity to it, in the way that if

you look at the different names of the
characters and places, there was some.

There were certain, like,
recurring derivational elements

and certain bits that would show
up in various different compounds.

And it just struck me that it
was like a really nice, cohesive

way of fleshing out the world.

And so I thought to myself, Maybe
I could try doing something similar

for this game that I'm running.

And, um, yeah, I just kind of got
carried away a little bit after that.

Um, and it really, that's basically
how I got involved in conlanging

and then my interest just sort of
carried me through the rest of it.

And as for the YouTube aspect of it, um,
I can't even really remember specifically

when or why I got the idea to make a
channel, but it was, it was never my

intention to amass an audience, I guess.

It was just something to do as a hobby.

Um, and...

I'm trying to remember the order
in which things happened, but...

The thing that I can remember
is that at various points I

had seen, um, David Peterson.

Uh, he was...

People had asked him the question,
Can you record your process?

Can you show us your process behind,
you know, how you make these languages?

And, uh, this was long before...

LangTime Studio was ever a thing, so the
answer was pretty much always no, um,

just because of both NDAs and just the,
you know, there's a matter of how much

free time he had to do stuff like that.

It would just be extra work on top of what
he was already doing, so it was completely

understandable that he couldn't.

But just, I had this lingering
thought of like, oh, maybe I

could do something like that.

And then one summer morning, for no
reason at all, I just woke up and

the very first thought that I had
that day was, yeah, I should do that.

And so I just went into the
living room, and just made a

simple conlang tutorial series.

And that was kind of that,
and then that just sort of

picked up traction, and then...

And then for no reason that has ever been
explained to me, I made a sort of follow

up video about the first conlang that I
ever made, and why it was so terrible.

And for some reason, YouTube just
decided that everyone in the world

needed to see that video, and it...

It started.

The algorithm picked it up and it, before
that video I had maybe 200 subscribers

I think, something like that, and then
overnight, as soon as I posted that

video I got a thousand plus in one go.

Um, and after that I saw clearly
I was getting some traction, so I

decided to just sort of keep doing
it, and yeah, I'm not broke yet.

George Corley: How far,

how far in was it that that happened?

That the, that particular video got?

Went viral for whatever reason?

Biblaridion: How far
into the YouTube thing?

George Corley: Yeah.

Yeah.

Biblaridion: Um So I would have first
made the channel at some point in 20...

2016 I want to say and that video.

Ooh, I think it must have been 2018.

So a couple years of just
relative anonymity and then just

the luck of the algorithm that
thing exploded for some reason.

George Corley: That's, that's,
that's really, uh, fortunate.

That's very interesting.

It's, and now you have
over 100, 000 subscribers?

Biblaridion: Something like that.

I can't remember the exact number,
but 125, 130, 000, something

like that.

George Corley: That's, that's incredible.

That's, that's just um, It's, it's
really surprising, you know, to see

that from, you know, you know, what
I know of the conlanging community

before, which has always been kind
of small and, um, close knit, but it

seems like you're drawing in a lot of
people, at least watching your stuff.

So

it's

Biblaridion: I mean, to be fair,
I have to say that the because I

have, um, conlanging content, but
I also have speculative biology

content, where I have this series
where I'm making an alien planet.

And the audience for that series vastly
outnumbers the audience for conlanging.

But even then, the conlanging
side of things is not

insignificant, I don't think.

I'm still getting, you know,
10, 000 plus views, typically,

on conlang related video.

So there's definitely a sizable

conlanging community
presence in my audience.

George Corley: That's interesting.

Um, yeah, so...

So, you have the, the alien biology stuff,
you have all kinds of world building

stuff, and you have the, the conlanging.

It started with uploading
conlanging videos, did

it?

Or?

Biblaridion: Yeah, it was originally,
um, exclusively, um, conlang related

stuff, um, and then I offhandedly
mentioned in a Q& A video that, um, I

did biology at university, and that,
you know, I could maybe talk about that

if people wanted me to branch out a
bit, and so I got some people saying

yes, you should do that, and so I
thought, okay, I'll give that a go and

see if it works, and it has worked, um.

George Corley: Yeah, yeah.

Biblaridion: It's a, at the moment,
those are my two main sort of, um,

themes for videos on the channel.

My two specialist areas are conlanging
and speculative biology, but I do

have plans in the not too distant
future to merge them to some extent,

because-- I don't think this counts
as spoilers-- um, the final episode of

Alien Biospheres, which is coming out
hopefully later this year or early next

year, will be about the evolution of
sapient life, and once we have that,

that opens the door for alien conlangs.

So, look forward

to that.

George Corley: That's, that's
definitely interesting.

Um, well, let's, let's, since this
show is about conlanging, let's, let's

talk a little bit about your conlangs.

Um, I will say one thing, I have
watched some of your conlang

showcases, and I definitely do
like the way that you derive things

historically, and I have especially...

Um, uh, something that has piqued
my interest is, like, the way that

you have evolved writing systems,
um, because you tend to do, um, you,

you tend to seem to, like, follow a
historical through line, and you're

not necessarily focused on, like, the
traditional categories of writing systems

while you're making it, it seems like.

Can you talk a little bit about what
your approach to writing systems is,

what your approach to conlanging is?

Biblaridion: Sure.

Um, so, yes.

I would say I'm pretty, uh, I'm a big fan
of the historical approach to conlanging.

Um, it's, uh, I've not always been
that way but I just found that

naturally I've gravitated towards
that methodology as I've went along.

And, um, so, with the writing
systems, um, I have, let me think,

I think I have five writing systems.

Well, I've got, I've got five
languages currently that I have not

yet, uh, destroyed or got tired of.

Um, I've got two that are in
desperate need of a revamp, and

I've got several dozen that are just
trash and are thoroughly abandoned.

Um,

So, and then within those, I have five
different scripts, uh, split among

two different, uh, script families.

And, I...

Let me think about the right
order to describe these things in.

So I suppose, the earliest, the first
script that I made, or at least the first

idea for a script that I had, um, just
very early on in my conlanging days was,

this was long before I was into the method
of, uh, historically deriving things.

I just had the idea that, um, I still
don't know if there's actually a name

for this, but I wanted to have a script
where the whole syllable, including the

onset, the nucleus, the coda, any other
consonants or diphthongs or what have

you, was all conveyed in a single glyph.

I don't know if there's actually a
name for that, but there are languages

like, um, some of the Brahmic
scripts, um, do things like that.

Um.

George Corley: Well, I mean, uh,
but, so, to clarify, you're not just

talking about a syllabary, right?

You're

talking about something...

Biblaridion: No.

Or, it...

Perhaps it could be called a syllabary,
but it also encodes additional, like--

syllabary, as I understand it, in
the traditional sense, means, you

know, consonant plus vowel within a
single character, but this would be

complex onset and potential, like,
complex coda and complex, if there's

a diphthong, all of that would just be
expressed within a single character.

And I don't know of, uh, like I said,
there are, I think there are some Brahmic

scripts that are capable of indicating,
you know consonant clusters within a

single syllable, but I don't know of any
that do it, like, particularly robustly.

Um, I, I suppose Hangul kind of
does that, because it arranges

everything into syllable blocks.

George Corley: Yeah, it's, well, Hangul
is, is, it's an alphabet, but arranges

things into syllable blocks, right?

Biblaridion: It's an alphabet

with a very strange writing

direction.

George Corley: Yes, but, um, yeah,
I, I get what you're talking about.

Um, so, like...

So, you're talking about, you wanted
to encode everything into, in a

syllable, into one, one glyph space.

Then, how did you go about
getting to that point?

Biblaridion: Yeah, so, I tried at
least five or six times to make the

idea work in a non historical fashion.

I just had like a...

Uh, a table on my computer of this is
what the consonant glyph looks like, this

is what the vowel diacritic looks like,
this is what the coda thing looks like.

And I tried so many times to make it
work in any kind of favorable way,

and it just, it never felt right.

It just, it didn't, the, it was so
hard to get it where the consonant

glyphs and the diacritics felt like
they actually belonged together in

the same script, and it would work
for one glyph but not for another,

and it was, it was very frustrating.

So at some point, I just decided that...

If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do
it right, and that meant going back

and establishing a proto system.

Um, and this was at around the time
when I was first properly getting

into historical conlanging, so I
basically decided to try and contrive

some historical explanation of how
the script came to be the way it is.

And, um, that was...

The way I did it is
essentially I said that the...

earliest version of this script
was actually used by a different

culture and a different language.

And, uh, for one thing, the earliest
version of the script was a, uh,

syllabary in the style of, um, Sumerian
cuneiform, in the sense that there

were glyphs for both consonant vowel
sequences and vowel consonant sequences.

So if you wanted to write a CVC
syllable, you would put the CV

syllable, and immediately followed
by the VC syllable, and the fact

that the vowel characters overlap,
you just know that you're supposed

to read that as a single syllable.

Um, I basically just copied that,
except I also decided that they, um,

instead of just having it linearly,
they just smushed the onset and

the coda together into one thing.

Um, just for stylization.

Um.

So that took care of the combining
the onset and coda into the same

glyph, but then I had to think of
how I wanted to handle the vowel

diacritics, because at this point all
I have is a very unwieldy syllabary.

And so I basically, um, resorted
to, again, kind of like what

happened with Hangul, where in
Korean they were using the Chinese

characters for a pretty long time.

I can't actually remember, I mean,
Hanja is still around, right?

George Corley: Yeah, well,
they, they have to learn it.

Um, Korean names are based on
hanja, I think, and, uh, they

like still have to learn it.

It's used for ceremonial purposes, but for
the most part, Hangul is what they use.

I can.

Biblaridion: Yeah, cuz I, I don't
speak Korean, I'm not very good

at Korean, but I, as I understand
it, Chinese characters are not

particularly well suited for Korean.

So at some point, Emperor Sejong to say, okay, we really

need to make something that
works better for our purposes.

And so I basically pulled the same thing
in this language where, um, the script

got borrowed into this different culture,
they decided that this was completely

not fit for their purposes at all, and
that they were going to have to revamp

it .And basically the way they revamped
it was by ignoring whatever the vowel

in the, uh, syllable character was.

Because by the way, by the time
they borrowed this script, it was

over a thousand years old, and the
writing system, the, the, spelling

system was atrocious at this point.

So, uh, they said, okay, we'll
just ignore what the vowel is.

And we'll just write her own
little diacritic on top to

indicate what the vowel is.

And once that happened, you
now have the three pieces.

You've got the onset, the coda, and, uh,
the vowel somewhere around as a diacritic.

So that was how it all sort of solidified.

Basically, I just pulled every trick in
the book that I could think of to, to get

the system to work the way I wanted to.

George Corley: Well,
that's, that's really.

Yeah, that's really interesting hearing
your, your thought process on that.

And I'm sure you have plenty of
this in, in your videos and stuff.

But it's, it's interesting to go
through it like that because, like,

I think very often conlangers are
like going to make the choice of,

I'm going to make an alphabet.

I'm going to make an abjad.

I'm going to make an abgida.

And, like, it's not...

evolved that way, or it's not thought
of as an evolving thing, but the

way that, you know, every writing
system that exists looks right

now has those kinds of historical
influences that are, are very relevant.

So I thought it was, it was interesting to

hear about that in your videos.

Um,

Biblaridion: I would

say that I biggest P.

Oh, sorry.

Um, I was just gonna say I think
my biggest piece of advice here to

anyone, uh, who wants to make a sort
of naturalistic writing system is to

intentionally have it go through, uh, some
kind of transition from point A to point

B, whether it's a switch in the type of
writing system as in like went from an

abjad, to an alphabet, to an abugida, what
have you, or if it's just as simple as

changing the, um, the instrument and the
medium just because in so doing, there

will inevitably be some quirks that are
picked up along the way that will make it

more distinct than just being an alphabet
or an abjad, it will necessarily have some

kind of interesting thing that sets it
apart and makes it its own unique thing.

Like that's what happened with the My
other script family is that I just had

the idea of trying to evolve an alphabet
from an abjad in a kind of a similar

way to how the the Greek alphabet came
from Phoenician and they just sort of

they despaired at the lack of separate
vowel characters and so they just

thought I we'll reuse some of these
consonant symbols that we don't need

and just pretend that they're vowels.

And I kind of did a similar thing, but,
um, along the way, just because of the

way that language happened to work, where,
uh, they had purely open syllables at this

point, um, and so there has to be a vowel
there, there can't not be a vowel there,

because consonant clauses aren't allowed.

So they just decided, okay, if there
isn't a vowel written there, we'll

just assume that there's an A there.

There's just an /a/ vowel.

And so what you ended up with is,
again, I'm not actually sure if there's

a special name for this particular
type of system, but it's, depending

on how you look at it, it's either an
alphabet with an inherent vowel, or

it's an abugida that has separate vowel
characters, if you see what I mean.

George Corley: Ah, yeah.

Yeah.

And that's, that's, that's the
thing that I liked when I was...

Looking at your writing systems,
particularly, is that they are

sort of in between the standard
classifications, which, you know,

if you look at it, I don't know that
anything is purely an alphabet, purely

a syllabary, purely an abugida, right?

Uh, just if you, you start looking at
examples and you see like, okay, well,

Japanese has these two syllabaries,
but the N coda is a separate character.

And it's, you can say, okay,
well, it's sort of like a moraic

thing, but it's still, it's still
something a little bit different.

Maybe some more recent, more deliberately
derived scripts will be more like a

pure instantiation of something but
like even in English sometimes we

use the letter X as a syllabic glyph.

Right?

Or...

Biblaridion: As a

syllabic glyph?

George Corley: Well I mean syllabic or
maybe logographic or maybe I don't even

know like what what what is it when
you say X ray and you spell it X R A Y?

It's, uh, it's,

um,

Biblaridion: Or like those road signs
where it says truck X ing, like truck

crossing.

George Corley: Yeah, yeah.

Well, then it's, it's sort of
being used as a logogram, right?

Um, but, uh, there's, there's always these
sort of cross, cross purposes, crossways,

and some systems are more of one category
than others, but they are generally,

you know, going to be interesting,
going to have their unique features.

So it's, it's interesting that you end
up with these sort of in between scripts.

Um, the, uh, okay.

So getting back into like
what you're doing right now.

So you say you are planning to talk
about the development of sapient

creatures, which could lead into
constructing alien languages.

And that's sort of in the future.

Are there specific plans you want
to share about that or any other

particular plans about the channel
that you're interested in sharing?

Biblaridion: Um,

so, um, to be honest, a lot of the stuff
I have planned for after alien biosphere

is finally over is still very tentative.

And as for the, for the alien languages
thing specifically, um, I don't exactly

know how I'm going to proceed with that,
because there's multiple aspects to that.

I mean, I have done some
non human conlanging before,

but really not very much.

Um, I had a couple of sketch languages
for, um, creatures that are essentially

human, at least as far as the vocal tract
is concerned, with, you know, things

like elves and dwarves and things that if
there's any difference in the vocal organs

at all, that can just be hand waved away.

Um, and I did have one language
a long time ago for a, um,

species of sort of reptilian, or
specifically crocodilian humanoids.

Um, and that was my only real
attempt to make something,

like, distinctly non human.

Like, I actually thought about how
the phonology would be different.

Um...

And it didn't really
amount to all that much.

Like I, I said no, no labials,
because they don't have lips.

Um, that's kind of obvious.

But, um, also I just had this idea that
the, um-- So, so crocodiles have a, uh, a

special palatal valve in their throat that
closes when they go underwater to stop

the water from flooding their airways.

Uh, and so I thought, oh, that could
maybe be like a point of articulation.

Um, and so I added this sound series
that I called the pseudopalatal series.

Um, but in the end, I realized
that didn't really affect anything

because I can't pronounce it.

Humans in general can't pronounce it.

And I just sort of said that it could
be approximated with uvular sounds

if humans were trying to speak it.

And I don't know, it was just sort
of a footnote in the grammar that

didn't really come up very much.

So I wasn't really very
satisfied with that.

But for this project, for Alien
Biospheres, we have a very distinctly

non human or even non vertebrate sort
of setup, because their respiratory

systems work completely differently.

So I have some very vague ideas for
phonological stuff, but very vague.

Um, and as for the grammar, and like
the syntax and pragmatics, I have

absolutely no idea at this point,
because I don't know how to factor in

alien psychology into neurolinguistics.

That's a bit much for me

at the moment.

George Corley: Well, I mean, that's,
that's the big question because we...

I don't know if we can actually determine
how a different brain structure would

build that language differently.

We can do stuff like phonology
because like the bodies are different.

Are, is this, are, is this gonna
be an, like, an oral language?

Are they going to...

Biblaridion: I think so.

George Corley: Or because, yeah,
because that's, that's also a different

challenge because you could, you can
figure out the shape of the air tract

and all of the articulators, but
simulating sounds from an alien biology

I think is a lot more difficult than
doing what a lot of people do, which

is an alien sign language where you
just know what have to know what the

visible articulators look like, right?

And generally how the muscles could move.

Whereas, like, even modeling
human speech is difficult.

Biblaridion: Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm, again I really don't know
how exactly I'm going to tackle

it at this point, but we'll see.

I doubt it.

I'm going to flesh it out in,
I'm not going to have like a

world of alien conlangs properly.

That's, I think that's a little
bit too much, just too much in

general, but we'll at least touch
on things and see how they go.

George Corley: Well, you started
this for Dungeons and Dragons games.

Do you use your languages
in roleplaying games still?

Biblaridion: Um, not.

I don't play nearly as often as I used to,
for one thing, but it's um, not really.

Like,

I'm trying to think of any decent
examples, but for the most part

it just doesn't really come up.

Um, I might, you know, almost as an
easter egg, if I need some sort of,

um, incantation or some sort of, you
know, ancient message in some mysterious

language written, I might, you know,
transcribe it in one of my languages,

but it's never a very, um, integral part
of the, uh, of the story or the game,

usually.

George Corley: Right, right.

That, that makes sense.

So it's, it's...

Difficult, unless you have a whole
group that is interested in that kind

of thing to, like, actually use that.

Biblaridion: All of the languages that

I've made that I have still, um, that
I haven't destroyed yet, um, with

the exception of the most recent one.

Um, they all do exist in the same
conworld, um, and it's the same conworld

that I, um, in which I was running games
when I first had the idea to make a

conlang, um, although it's changed a lot.

Um, so theoretically, you know, if I ever
ran a game again in that setting, all the

languages would be there and be present,
and the players could interact with them.

Um, I'm just not really sure what
the best way of doing it would be.

But I think, believe you have an episode
about that on this very podcast, so.

George Corley: Yeah, I, I, I do.

Um, and I have also, like, had the idea
of, like, if I restarted my streams that

I would, um, start with a project to make
my own versions of, like, all of the...

Exotic languages, the, the
spellcasting languages for D& D.

So, Draconic, Sylvan, uh, Celestial,
Infernal, and is there another one?

Biblaridion: Abyssal?

George Corley: I mean, there's,
there's tons of things.

What?

Abyssal?

Yeah.

I don't know what, yeah.

I don't know what's,
what's the difference.

Is Abyssal like the old
ones, or is that primordial?

Biblaridion: It's been a while

Biblaridion: I think
Abyssal is for demons.

George Corley: Okay, I think I would
start with the, uh, the, the Draconic,

because it's sort of a, it's in the,
like the Prime Material Plane that

the dragons live, so they are sort
of more of a naturalistic entity,

but then you could, you could go
out and go in wild directions with

all of the outsiders.

But, I don't know.

It's a thought.

Would you be interested in using
something like that in your games?

Or would you prefer to
actually make it yourself?

Biblaridion: Um, I was actually...

Didn't, um, I could be completely
confabulating this, but I think in one

of the D& D books, they did actually
have a brief section on Draconic grammar.

George Corley: They probably have it.

They probably have something, but
like, I wouldn't even wanna look at it.

.
Biblaridion: Yeah, I,
it's probably not much.

But.

George Corley: Yeah, I would

Biblaridion: I seem

to remember coming across that at some
point and just being quite intrigued

that they decided to make note of that.

George Corley: Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

It would be, it would be something
interesting to make, so, but, uh, it

would be, you know, And, uh, maybe,
you know, if we could get people

together, then we could do like a,
one of those D and D streams and I

could use it, but that would be fun.

Uh,

Biblaridion: I would be up for that, yeah.

George Corley: But uh, yeah, yeah.

Um, but so it's, it's interesting.

So your YouTube channel taking off
is sort of like an accident then.

Biblaridion: Very much so.

George Corley: Yeah.

But, in the same way, I think it's really
valuable that that happened because

you are, uh, I think, when we were
talking, when I was talking to David

and Jessie, um, in an earlier, in the
first video episode, you know, they were

talking about, like, there's a whole
bunch of people getting, interested

in Conlang because of YouTube and
it's drawing in more people so it, it

is very, a very interesting and very
valuable position that you're put in.

I hope that's not a lot of pressure.

Biblaridion: Um, yeah, sometimes
thinking about it, it's um, um, I don't,

yeah, it's a, I'm, I'm very happy that
things have happened the way they have.

I never would have thought this would be.

A possibility, at any point.

Um, yeah, I hope I don't manage
to screw things up, I guess.

George Corley: I don't think you will.

Um, yeah.

So, and, um, another thing in your
channel that I think is really

Interesting is, I was watching the
playlist of your What is it called?

The Conlang.

Biblaridion: A case study?

George Corley: Yeah,
the conlang case study.

Where you are going through your process,
which is, it's sort of the same sort of

deal that David's doing with Langtime
Studio and, and stuff like that.

Was that, you talked about how you
had started when people were asking

David about putting his process
out there and, and recording it.

Is, was that...

Also the impetus for
doing that kind of thing?

Biblaridion: Um,

so as far as I remember, for that, um, it
was actually, um, So as I say, all of my

other conlangs exist in the same conworld.

Uh, but then I have this, um, poorly
formed idea for another potential project

that I might work on at some point.

And so I sort of preemptively
decided, I'll probably need

a conlang for that one too.

So, I thought.

I suppose someone might be interested
if I were to record my process,

and so I just kind of went for it.

I was a little bit, um,
hesitant to upload it at first,

because it feels very, sort of,

I don't know, like, I'm not sure I would
be interested in watching it if I could.

It's just sort of me sitting and just
staring at the wall and trying to think

about things for, like, a couple of hours,
but people apparently like it, and, um,

yeah, it's good for me, because I get,
um-- It's a form of multitasking, because

I can get some conlanging work and some
YouTube work done at the same time.

Um, yeah, so, um, it's
proceeding quite well, I think.

Um, and I'll carry on doing it until,
ultimately, the language is complete,

or as complete as a conlang can be.

Um, and then I will turn that into a
proper, uh, conlang showcase, like I've

done with all of my other languages.

And after that point, I guess I'll find
another conlang to start making, and

the cycle will begin again.

George Corley: Yeah,

yeah.

Well, it is very interesting, and
I, I suggest people check it out.

Um, it is, like, you say that you're
staring at a wall trying to figure

things out, but there's, there's
quite a bit of commentary involved.

And it is interesting to see you go
back and forth on choices sometimes.

Biblaridion: Yeah.

George Corley: And sort of, it's not,
it's not entirely a linear process.

Getting, getting everything out there
and done, um, and, you know, I think

more people sharing how they do things
is beneficial because there's a wide

variety of, of things that people do.

Um, there, and, uh, there doesn't
have to be just one way to do this.

Um, well, I think I have asked most
of the questions that I think I've

asked all the questions that I was
particularly interested in, but is

there any other, are there any other
things that you particularly want to

share in terms of advice, in terms of
plans for the future, in terms of like

anything that you want to be putting out

there?

Biblaridion: Um, I suppose my, my sort
of main piece of advice, I think the, I

think the two most important things in
conlanging, in my experience, is, um,

number one, um, have a clear idea of
what your goals are from the beginning,

because the conlanging, and like any art
form really, is inherently subjective.

And so the only real, uh,
objective criteria for assessing

whether a conlang is good or
not is comparing it to its goal.

So...

If you establish from the very
beginning that the goal of the language

is naturalism, then the, whether or
not it's naturalistic becomes the

only way of assessing whether it's
good or bad, if you see what I mean.

So, that goal can change if
you allow it to, but that was

among many, many other things.

That was one of the things that
went wrong with my first language,

because I simultaneously...

I kept going back and forth between
wanting it to be a naturalistic

language that was spoken by a culture
of people, but also for it to be like

a perfectly logical, philosophical
language that describes the universe in

as precise a way as possible, and those
are two mutually incompatible things.

And so, that was, as I say, one of the
many, many reasons why it fell apart.

Um, so, yes, um, keep your goals in mind,
and the other one is to, um, understand

that it's a learning process, um, and that
you will get better if you keep doing it.

Um, and if you're like me, then
anything that you've made that's

older than, like, six months, you will
cringe in terror and be incredibly

embarrassed by, but that's okay.

Uh, as long as you just, uh, keep on
doing it, you will keep on improving.

Um, yeah, I think that's what I
have to say in terms of advice.

George Corley: Actually, I, I will
actually, before we go, cover one more

thing, because, so, you said several
times that you have conlangs in the past

that you have, quote unquote, destroyed.

Um, what is your philosophy on that?

Why, why is, why do you do that?

Because, like, in the past, I have
taken early languages and, like,

revised them, or I just sort of
abandoned them and let them be.

I don't know if I have destroyed them.

Uh, David Peterson famously has all
of his old, early, really terrible

languages still up on his website.

So what, why do you destroy them and how,
what does that mean that you destroy them?

Biblaridion: So, yeah, the manner of
destruction kind of depends on exactly

how I, in some cases it is just, yeah,
I just let them fester on my computer

and just never think or touch them
again, and in other cases I do just

straight up delete them because I
just can't stand the sight of them.

Um, in some cases it's just
because, yeah, I just...

Don't like them, but in other cases it's
because the ideas, the sort of, to use

a biology term, the niche that that, um,
conlang and that culture of speakers, uh,

had in the world as I conceptualized it
no longer made sense or no longer exists.

Um, and so even if I were to go
back and revive it, there wouldn't

really be a place in the world for
it to exist in in the same way.

Um, I'm trying to think of a specific
example, but, um, I, I, I don't know

if other people do this, but I do this
quite a lot where I kind of like to, I

like to make prestige languages, like,
I, I like to give languages a certain

sort of, um, um, stereotype isn't the
right word, but, um, like people within

this con world, like, uh, Nekāchti is
supposed to be uh, the language of logic,

and science, and progress, and the, you
know, every, you know, educated person,

all the stuffy academics, they all know
how to speak Nekāchti, because that's just

what the educated person does, whereas
Oqolaawak is the language of, like, art,

and poetry, and expression, et cetera.

Um, but there have just been several
points where I've had ideas for

specific languages that fill, yeah,
certain cultural vibes, or, that, that

for whatever reason, they just, The
concept no longer makes sense with

how everything else is playing out.

So at that point I just deemed, okay,
there's no point in, because all of

the languages that I still have, I have
revamped and revised five or six times.

I continuously go back and
change things about them.

But at some point that just
becomes just impractical.

So I just ditched them.

George Corley: Okay.

Okay.

I didn't know if you had, if you
actually like deleted them from your

stuff and destroyed your notes, or
you just, you just left them alone.

But, uh, that's

--
it's interesting

Biblaridion: My first language
I have well and truly deleted.

George Corley: Oh, okay.

Um, it is, it is interesting that
idea that you had a niche for the

language in the world, and then that
niche got filled by something else,

or was no longer needed for something,
and then that led to abandonment.

That's not really...

I suppose for me, it has not really been
a thing that came up because I have...

In the past, I have taken a conlang that
was meant for one world and transplanted

it into another world, which is, um,
I don't know if it would necessarily

work in all cases because, you know,
sometimes it's dependent on all the other

languages in the world in this, these
particular cases it sorted itself out.

But, um, it's interesting to me to,
to say, like, oh, um, it's, it seems

like a very, you know, very much the
advice of kill, kill your darlings for

writing, where if something doesn't
fit, you throw out the work that you

did, or at least, you know, put it, put
it somewhere else and don't actually

use it in the original work, right?

Uh, but.

Biblaridion: I'm curious, when you
say transplant it into this other

world that it wasn't originally
intended for, um, is that because

the old world no longer exists?

Or is it still, do you still maintain
the old world, but you've just moved

this language from one to the other?

George Corley: Um,

that's a good question.

Um, it's, I don't know if I would
say the old world doesn't exist.

It was, I was not working
on that world anymore.

And the place where I left it, it
probably didn't really, like, fit.

It, it may not have actually fit.

So, I will tell you, this
has happened to me twice.

Um, so

Aeruyo started out as sort of spirits
that were worshipped by the Xala,

who lived on a moon of a gas giant.

And the idea was the Ayurveda lived
on the gas giant somehow, right?

But...

I started conceiving of that world
a bit further away from fantasy and

more into science fiction tropes, and
kind of gave up on the idea of, like,

literally existing spirits in that world.

And then moved that into a
world that had humans in it that

I was writing a novel about.

Um, and then that world had the earlier
version of Istatikii, which was, uh,

Pahran, I called it, and that, you know,
it could have stayed in that world, but

the novel I was writing for that world,
I kind of abandoned, and then I didn't

want to give up Istatikii, so I was...

continued developing it for a while.

I still never completely finished
all the sections of the grammar that

I was writing, but, um, I stopped
that and I have considered moving

Istatikii over into another world.

Um, I will say that in all these
cases, I had not really developed

a whole ecology of languages around
these that was influencing each other.

So if you have done that, then it's going
to be harder to transplant a language

from one world to another, right?

Uh, but since I hadn't done that, it
was a thing of I, I have this thing.

I could, I could probably use
this or a descendant of it to get

names for this other work, right?

So, yeah, that was the, the general idea.

Biblaridion: Hmm, I see.

George Corley: Yeah, um, but
is, it is interesting to...

to hear that you sort of have
old conlangs that you've just...

I mean, we all have abandoned
projects before, right?

Um, but the, the particular language
you use of saying you've destroyed

them is, was evocative, and I
was interested in exploring that.

Biblaridion: Mm hmm.

George Corley: Um, all right.

Well, I think we can wrap up this episode.

Any final thoughts before we go?

Biblaridion: Um, um, let me think.

Anything else to say?

Um, I will say actually one, one
other minor thing that occurred to me

while we were talking about writing
systems that I didn't vocalize.

Um, something that I think, uh,
doesn't get, uh, taken into account

as much as it possibly should,

uh, is that, so writing as a concept was
only independently developed something

like a dozen times in the real world.

George Corley: Mhm.

Biblaridion: And even among those, only
like four or five of them really took off.

And basically every script in
the world can be traced back

to one of those four or five.

Um, but I do see, and I have been
guilty of this myself in the past, um,

I see a lot of projects where it's like
every single language, or every single

language family, has its own unique
script that is completely independent

of all the other scripts in the world.

And there's...

It's entirely possible.

You could say that there is some, you
know, ancestry there that you're just not

fleshing out, which is fine, but it's...

So like, um, when I was talking earlier
about the development of like the Nekāchti

script and the Oqolaawak script is
like keeping in mind that ancestry of,

you know, what were the sort of proto
systems that gave rise to all of these

other writing systems, trying to keep
that in mind, especially if you have

some, um, knowledge or understanding
of how those protosystems worked,

that can be really informative as to
how, again, you get from point A to

point B in a way that gives you, um,
fun quirks that violate the typical,

um, alphabet, abugida, abjad, etc.

Just gives you more fun
things to play around with.

Yeah, it is, it is very...

It is a very good point,
because, uh, like...

And if we look at just scripts that,
like, extant scripts that evolved

naturally, uh, that actually brings
it down to, like, just two origins.

Because most of the scripts
that are still in use are

traced back to ancient Egyptian.

And then you have, uh, Chinese, which
is, has remained in use and also, um,

spread to Japan and have the, the kana.

But like,

Biblaridion: yeah, it's really those two.

George Corley: There's no Yeah.

What?

Biblaridion: Yeah, it's really those

two are the, the

two quite big ones.

George Corley: Cuneiform
is gone like entirely, uh.

Uh, the Mesoamerican glyphs,
they probably are still used for

ceremonial purposes somewhere.

Um, and, like, what else?

We don't even know if khipu was entire,
was writing before Spanish contact or not.

Uh, the Indus Valley script, we don't
know, like, what exactly happened to that.

Yeah, so, so, it is interesting, that,
uh, that you could get away with like

just one or two origins of writing and
fill out your entire world that way.

Whereas a lot of conlangers, I don't
know, feel a need to just like have

everybody do their own completely
independent, isolate writing system.

And, uh, I mean, there's, there's
reasons that that can then feel good.

And it can be, nice stylistically,
but there's also like real world

reasons why that actually happened,

and the way that why, why, you
know, having just a few origins of

writing is what ended up happening.

You know, it's, uh, the writing arises
in specific social circumstances.

But anyway, it's, it's been great
talking to you and, uh, thank you

for all of this information and, uh,
I wish you the best of luck on your

YouTube career continuing forward.

George Corley: And continue to
be someone to attract new...

people to the conlanging hobby.

Biblaridion: Thank you.

Also, I'll just throw in as well that
this this podcast was instrumental in

getting me comfortable with a lot of the
nuts and bolts of conlanging, so thank

you very much for providing that resource.

It's been invaluable.

George Corley: Well, we try.

I try.

But yeah, thank you for coming on.

And to everyone listening or watching,
uh, I'm gonna say happy conlanging.