Foxthroat
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Kitten
Posts: 22
Likes: 11
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Foxthroat on Oct 31, 2016 16:30:05 GMT -6
A Conlang-Building Exercise in Feline Linguistics
Right, with the pretentious name that doesn't fit in the bar above out of the way, on to the conlang! So I’ve been working on a cat conlang (catlang) for a while now. I don’t recall what exactly prompted me to do it, only that it was a combination of running my blog, roleplaying, further developing my cats’ mythology, reading Grey’s (the awesome blogger on Ailuronymy) fanfiction tidbit, delving into trying to get ahold of a copy of Watership Down, and then working on a conlang for elves in another world I’m building. Whatever the reason, I set out to build a conlang. I’d never /really/ done such a thing before. I’ve obtained a couple of books on linguistics from the library, and am utilizing the internet and Tolkien in an attempt to work it all out. Anyhow, I wouldn’t say I have a ton yet, but as I build it, I’ll perhaps post a little more here, and certainly more on my own world-building blog. Some notes:
Syntax for past/present/future: The cats’ language has no distinguishing of past-present-future verbs; rather the syntax (word order) indicates this.
Past: Object, Subject, Verb. Rabbit, Murhel catch. (translates to Murhel caught (the) rabbit.) Present: Subject, Verb, Object. Murhel catch rabbit. (translates to Murhel catches (the) rabbit.) Future: Verb, Subject, Object. Catch Murhel rabbit? (translates to Murhel will catch (the) rabbit.)
Eye Contact:
Cats never keep eye contact while speaking, unless they are actively being hostile. Eyes follow body language or the directions and things indicated; otherwise they remain on the speaker’s chest.
No Articles:
There is no a/an/the. Nor is there this/that/these/those. Such things are indicated through gestures with the ears, tail, head, and direction of gaze.
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Foxthroat
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Kitten
Posts: 22
Likes: 11
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Foxthroat on Oct 31, 2016 16:33:30 GMT -6
On to the alphabet:
Vowels:
a – ah (mouth wide open, comes from back of the throat, soft ahhh sound)
u – oo (lips pursed, faint ‘grunt’ ooh)
i – ih (lips curl to sides in ‘grimace’, ih)
e – ee (lips curl to sides in ‘grimace’, long soft eeee)
o – unh (tilt chin slightly hold mouth a little open, back of throat ‘grunt’ unhh)
Current Consonants: N – nn; nuh (either press tongue to top of mouth, nn; or press briefly nuh)
S – ss; (drawn-out slight hiss)
M – mm, muh (bring lips together mm; bring together and open, muh)
H – huh (back of through ‘huff’ huh)
R – rr (slightly rolled)
L – ll (drawn-out)
C – kuh (always hard sound)
T – tuh (short, sharp)
D - dh (short, low)
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Foxthroat
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Kitten
Posts: 22
Likes: 11
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Foxthroat on Oct 31, 2016 16:38:42 GMT -6
Numbers: So, I've somewhat based the higher numbers off of the way French counts. Otherwise, I implemented more numbers as I went through the 'history' of cats developing numbers as their groups and social complexity evolved with their beliefs. To begin with, they had four numbers:
1 – un (oohn), the number of the self (the self number)
2 – it (iht), the number of the self and another (sometimes erroneously called the ‘mate number’ by housecats, for non-housecats often have more than one mate)
3 – ahm (aahmm), the number of the self, another, and a kit or the self and parents (the kin number) this number is a base for the word ‘family’ – ahmed (ahm-eed)
4 – res (rees), the number of the paws (typically four). This word also means ‘foot’ or -foot depending on context.
So we have 1, 2, 3, 4 – un, it, ahmn, res.
And for a while, that’s where counting stopped. But then the early clowders added four more numbers:
5 – res-un (rees-oohn), or four-and-one
6 – res-it (rees-iht), or four-and-two
7 – res-ahm (rees-aahmm), or four-and-three
8 – res-res (rees-rees), or four-and-four
Anything beyond that was ‘scu’ (skoo) the word meaning sky/stars (depending on context) and so indicating a vastness of numbers.
The invention of 9
Then the Wanderers came along, and they changed things up.
They kept the first 8 numbers, un, it, ahm, res, res-un, res-it, res-ahm, and res-res. They also kept scu (skoo)—but now they gave it a defined value, 9, the combined number of the divine and semi-divine figures they worshipped: Urun, Selir, Urmur, Irhir, Murhel, Lumca, Nemhel, Nemsir, and Mursir. With this advent, scu the number became a semi-sacred thing, with connotations of spirituality and perfection. The Wanderers began to think in terms of scu—scu members of their council. Scu clans of their folk.
And then the Glarings…
The story goes that the First Glaring, now 16 cats that form another sub-pantheon for the currently existing Glarings, determined that with their numbers so increased, scu was not yet enough. So they created more numbers, up to 18, the average toes of cats:
10 – scu-un (skoo-ooh) nine-and-one
11 – scu-it (skoo-iht) nine-and-two
12 – scu-ahm (skoo-aahmm) nine-and-three
13 – scu-res (skoo-rees) nine-and-four
14 – scu-res-un (skoo-rees-oon) nine-and-four-and-one
15 – scu-res-it (skoo-rees-iht) nine-and-four-and-two
16 – scu-res-ahm (skoo-rees-aahmm) nine-and-four-and-three
17 – scu-res-res (skoo-rees-rees) nine-and-four-and-four
18 – itscu (it-skoo) two 9s
Among the Glarings, itscu is now a ‘perfect number’ as it indicates two nines, thus doubling its ‘specialness’.
Most cats can count to 9, among the Glarings, Wanderers, and some Mobs and Clowders. The Glarings and some Wanderers tend to be the only ones who count to 18, and even fewer among those can work out numbers beyond 18. Normally the term en-scu (een-skoo) ‘many 9s’ is used instead.
Of course, this doesn’t included terms such as ‘a pelt’s count’, a ‘whiskers’ count’ a ‘paw’s count’, etc. which are rather dialect-sensitive.
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Foxthroat
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Kitten
Posts: 22
Likes: 11
Pronouns: she/her
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Post by Foxthroat on Oct 31, 2016 16:51:39 GMT -6
Colors, Body Parts/Suffixes, and Other Words
I know this is a ton to dump, but I figured I might as well go ahead and get it out.
Colors:
The colors that cats name are not as wide as our own. They see differently, and label the limits of what they see. Brown, black, white, yellow/golden/cream), gray/blue/silver, and red-green.
There are very basic colors:
Brown – nem (neem)
Black – lum (loom)
White – lun (loon)
There are colors than encompass several shades:
Yellow/golden/light/cream – mur (moor)
Gray/blue/silver – han (haan)
And there is a’ color’ entirely unique to cats: red-green. They are colorblind to it and so have a ‘color’ than encompasses both.
Red/russet/ginger/orange/green – ceturmelunca (keet-oor-meel-oon-caa), which is derived from fire (cetur) and leaves (melunca) to mean ‘the color of fire and leaves). Often shortened to urca (light-fur)
Body Parts/Suffixes:
muin-e (moo-ihn-ee) -- belly
tec (teek) -- claw
muc (mook) -- face
muctec (mook-teek) -- fang
ler (leer) -- foot
ce (key) -- fur
cit (khit) -- kit
rut (root) -- nose
muler (moo-leer) -- pad
lere (leery) -- paw
ca (kaa) -- pelt
scu (skoo) -- sky/stars/head
luler (loo-leer) -- leg
hel (heel) -- stripe
sir (sihr) -- spot
rad (rahd) -- tail
sesin (seesssihn) -- throat
muher (moo-here) -- tongue
ses-e (seesss-eee) -- voice
mes (meesss) -- whisker
Other words:
ahmed (ahm-eed) -- family
ses (ssseesss) -- breath
e/-e (eee) -- spirit/life/self
mu (moo) -- soft
mun (muhn) -- hard
her (here) -- wet
rit (riht) -- dry
in (ihn) -- center
cetur (keet-oor) -- fire
melunca (meel-oon-caa) -- leaf/leaves
melun (meel-oon) -- tree
ur (oor) -- warm
ir (ihr) -- cold
sel (seel) -- bitter/jealous/harsh/rough
Other:
Un- (oon) at the beginning with a pause indicats the opposite of what is said. So, Un-ur (oon-oor) is another way of saying cold; ‘the opposite of warm’.
-un (oon) at the end with a pause indicates ‘not’. So nem-ur (neem-oor) is Brown-not, so ‘not brown’
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