creating your own writing systems and languages
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Topic: creating your own writing systems and languages
Posted By: purplepiper
Subject: creating your own writing systems and languages
Date Posted: August 04 2007 at 23:59
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is anyone here a conlanger or conscripter, meaning you create your own writing systems or languages? I am, and for some reason it has become an enduring hobby of mine! Strange eh? I've never created a language system, but i've created 1 alternate alphabet for english and i'm working on another. I use these alternate alphabets for writing secret information and trying to confuse people. It's strangely entertaining to know I can write things that no one but me can read! I also try to create scripts that are more aesthetically pleasing than english. (I practice calligraphy often...) Does anyone else do this sort of thing or am I just extremely eccentric? ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Replies:
Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 01:01
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There are clearly two possibilities here: 1. You are a misunderstood genius. 2. You are a total nutcase. I'm not sure which. -------------   |
Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 02:04
it's a combination of the two really, weighing slightly more toward the former. Perhaps I am a misunderstood nutcase, or a total genius! Tolkien did just this and tolkien created lotr. Elvish (or tengwar) is both a conlang and conscript. One of the genres on this site is named from a conscript even! Good may come of such strange passtimes! I also enjoy studying classical encryption and decryption techniques. (codebreaking etc.) My ultimate goal is to create a conscript, paired with a complex code that even the gov. would have trouble with! As an english major, such language related endeavours are of special interest to me. ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
rileydog22 wrote:Posted By: Vompatti
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 17:06
I can do that with the regular alphabet if I write fast enough.  |
Posted By: The Miracle
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 17:12
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I invented my own alphabet, super-secure with special symbols for punctuation, double letters and 5 different symbols for spaces chosen at random but all read as space. So what you get is an uncrackable bunch of characters. I tried to design the characters to be as simple as regular letters, so after I've mastered it can write in it almost as fast as regular English, reading is a little slower though. The purpose of it was... to cheat on tests...  And it worked perfectly many times. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/ocellatedgod" rel="nofollow - last.fm |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 17:22
surely if you're smart enough to do that you don't need to cheat on tests...  ------------- What? |
Posted By: Atkingani
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 17:57
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People with such capacity are normally hired by the CIA or similar agencies whatever the country you live/were born not only for coding but also for decoding other artificial alphabets/languages/codes/etc. Don't know the salary they pay...
------------- Guigo ~~~~~~ |
Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 23:37
yes! I knew I wasn't the only one doing this. My first alphabet is pretty simple, but with a very distinctive appearance. I have it completely memorized and can write it almost as fast as english, but like you, I can't read it as fast. Not sure why! The purpose of my alphabets are for doodling all over stuff, like my journal when sitting through a boring lecture. I also write notes to myself in it. Also, you can use conscripts to cheat! It could be just scribbling for all anyone else knows! As much as we'd like to think, our alphabets are probably only secure in the hands of normal people. Those cia codebreakers have all kinds of tricks, like frequency analysis and such. Thankfully, we'll probably never encounter a real codebreaker! My new alphabet is just meant to be decorative, with a garden feel to it. The letters are based on plant shapes. If you want to see other conscripts, check out 'your scripts' at http://www.omniglot.com - www.omniglot.com . ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Posted By: Ivan_Melgar_M
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 23:45
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I used something more primitive in the University, mixed letters with Logic symbols and numbers, but not to hide my messages, it was to take notes faster because I'm a very slow handwritter.
Iván ------------- 
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Posted By: moreitsythanyou
Date Posted: August 05 2007 at 23:47
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I haven't yet, but I might start soon. I've had a real interest in linguistics (one I'd like to pursue in college) and this would be a cool activity for that. -------------  <font color=white>butts, lol[/COLOR] |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 00:07
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Jean and I do something similar. We invented a totally different calendar with 13 months, each with 28 days, plus a new years day which does not belong to any month or week. And in leap years New Years Day is followed by Leap Day, also belonging to no week or month. The year beinns with the spring equinox for us.
-------------  BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 00:33
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This thread reminds me of just how weird prog fans are. I usually ignore it when people mock prog fans, but this.........
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Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:05
yes, you should try it! it's quite fun and anyone can do it. I considered being a linguistic anthropologist, but I decided i'd stick to english. if you're going to create your own alphabet, here's some pointers:
vowels should look the coolest because vowels are in every word,
consider writing in columbs or backwards to add style,
consider creating the consonants from variations on similar shapes for consistency,
don't forget a number system and punctuation marks,
try experimenting with different colors...they tend to inspire me in different ways,
watch the fancy tails and slashes...they make it hard to fit lines of script close together.
also, you gotta check out 'your scripts' at http://www.omniglot.com - www.omniglot.com !!!
------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Posted By: Dim
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:09
Wow! Purplepiper, you want to be a one man prog act and make your own landuages? Sounds like you the essence of a krautrock master... except they alredy have a langauge... ------------- 
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Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:10
you don't even know the half of it...
 HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:12
I'll be an artrock master. Don't really know much about krautrock yet. I am german though... I also enjoy exploring the depths of fusion. ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:14
who knows...that shorthand of yours, with some modification, could become a cryptic conscript! ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Posted By: Dim
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:16
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I am a metal/symphonic/spacey guitar and keyboarder -------------
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Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:30
I'm an artrock/fusion/symphonic/neo-classical/classical/mathrock guitarist. I like things to be fast, complicated, and utterly unorthodox, and usually very loud!!! King crimson is my favourite art rock group, and return to forever is my favourite fusion group. For symphonic, yes/genesis/elp. For classical, paco de lucia/segovia. For 'mathrock', most of robert fripp's riffs and gentle giant. ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Posted By: toolis
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 02:38
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did you know that when we read, we only 'see' the first and last letter of every word? so, even if the middle letters weren't in the right order, you could still read it... try it: mesuum of nruatal htsoiry... ------------- -music is like pornography... sometimes amateurs turn us on, even more... -sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue... |
Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 03:03
yeah, i've known about this for awhile. Cool huh? i'm sure there are exceptions though... ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |
Posted By: toolis
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 03:18
and of course the spelling does not affect our ability to read as well... in fact, i read somewhere that maybe the spelling will be simplified for there's no reason to exist..of course that was for Greek which is considered to be a hard to learn language... ------------- -music is like pornography... sometimes amateurs turn us on, even more... -sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue... |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 04:54
Don't you give me that. There has been a spelling reform that has been fought about for years in Germany. It is final now, and I don't like the results at all. I know how to write after this reform, but I refuse to do so. "Filosofie" instead of "Philosophie"? You can kiss my ass! The only changes I accept are to the rules of punctuation, especially the use of commas, as well as some rules about the capitalization of words; those make sense. The rest you can clearly forget. ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: toolis
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 05:03
why so negative? ------------- -music is like pornography... sometimes amateurs turn us on, even more... -sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue... |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 05:15
Quite simple: I have to live with the results of this reform and scream inside every time I read "Delfin" in a book or newspaper instead of "Delphin". They should at least have made it optional, as they had done before the reform. Some words like "Fotografie" already had that spelling allowed, but you could still use "Photographie", as I did. This is no longer allowed. Simply ridiculous. ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: toolis
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 05:23
again, i must go back to why... wasn't there a time when German used to be much different and they changed it to what it was until recently? why don't you accept that change much as your forefathers did back then? ------------- -music is like pornography... sometimes amateurs turn us on, even more... -sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue... |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 05:30
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Because a change should make sense. This change doesn't. I am not against a change in general, I am against THIS change.
------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: toolis
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 05:32
so, all these changes occuring in your language, don't make any difference? maybe, easier? are they all that insignificant? ------------- -music is like pornography... sometimes amateurs turn us on, even more... -sometimes you are the pigeon and sometimes you are the statue... |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 05:39
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They don't make things easier, in my opinion; on the contrary, since the origin of words gets lost. And I am thinking in broader terms than just the German language. How do you expect a German pupil to get "philosophy" right in other languages like French and English, where it is written with "ph" instead of "f", when in German it is "Filosofie"? And if you think I am the only one who is against this reform: Wrong. A lot of leading German authors are against it, among them Nobel Prize winner Günther Grass. ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 14:26
I agree with formal definitions of grammar, but not of words. At the present moment, the internet is killing good grammar; itinerant punctation and unpunctuated contractions are rendering the written word near unreadable. But words evolve, they should be allowed to change and mutate, absorbing words from other languages and cultures is imperitive to a languages survival. I do not understand people who want to preserve the purity of a language - English is the language it is because forever changing, because it stole useful words from every other language on the planet (even Welsh ) and because it does not have rules that froze it at some idilic moment in time. People make too much of spelling - it's irrelevant and never bothered Shakespeare any - if you can understand the meaning then what's the problem? ------------- What? |
Posted By: BaldFriede
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 15:00
I totally agree; language is a constantly evolving thing. The difference here is: A bunch of politicians hired a bunch of "experts" to change German orthography. That is not a natural and flowing process, that is a violent and totally arbitrary act.. ------------- BaldJean and I; I am the one in blue. |
Posted By: Tuzvihar
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 15:51
You know what, Friede? German spelling now looks quite similar to Polish spelling: fotografia, filozofia, delfin, etc.  ------------- "Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent." Charles Bukowski |
Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 15:57
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^^I can't help but notice some irony there....
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Posted By: Tuzvihar
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 15:58
Irony?  ------------- "Music is much like f**king, but some composers can't climax and others climax too often, leaving themselves and the listener jaded and spent." Charles Bukowski |
Posted By: thellama73
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 16:05
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A simple letter substitution code is ridiculously easy to break, and I doubt the CIA would have much use for it, but it's cool that you like to do those things. I have always been interested in language and linguistics. I once started making up my own language, but it's a nearly impossible task for one person because for a language to function at all it has to have thousands of words, plus all the rules of grammar, etymologies, prefixes and suffixes involved. Even Tolkein's best attempt falls far short of people really being able to converse in it.
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Posted By: purplepiper
Date Posted: August 06 2007 at 20:26
you're absolutely right, it is quite easy to break a simple letter substitution system. I do, however, have many more tricks up my sleeves...I've looked into this stuff quite a bit and I know a bit about how professional codebreakers crack codes, so I can elude some methods. Languages are a whole different story though! extremely difficult to create one...i've never been able to. If I did though, it would have an underlying basis on english in which it is converted directly from english. some people simply replace letters with other letters and call it a new language, but that's way too primitive for my taste and you run into all kinds of pronunciation problems. I'm working on a slightly more advanced system, but it's all just for fun! It's not suppossed to be practical...it's just a hobby. I finished my newest script yesterday! yay! ------------- for those about to prog, we salute you. |