I Hope Im Not Just A Mutual To You But Also A Really Annoying Stranger Who Is Somehow Always Going Through

Day 13 (16 in base 7) of writing my novel again.

Today, in addition to adding about 700 words to Part Two, I also made a bunch of translations into Modern Ipol. I probably translated about two hundred words of English into Ipol, and I will post one snippit of it here:

Pijteshijv sispeen pijte sis Nistemiks sis Nurrif sis Leerf pifijz. Pijteshijv losr shise tismostijv sispeenes pijte sis leerfine sis koleerf pite, Ir Nusnijv, spuw's sis spine, por sisla's pijte sju sis koleerf ejr sotenaks sis Nistemiks piste.

Ipol is the language of the Hero of Life's Confederacy of Zeneste. It started as the dialect of the capital, Ir Nouzonif, where it diffused, becoming a standard language for Zeneste. It replaced Classical Zispoel as the language of government and official business one-hundred and fifty years ago.

A couple notes:

ij and uw are symbols for long i and long u respectively.

j before a vowel is the palatal glide /j/.

Nistemiks literally means "the states" but it's also the most natural translation for 'Zeneste.'

Maybe at a later date, I'll do a post that breaks down this translation, but that's all for now!

“The characters in my novels are my own unrealised possibilities. That is why I am equally fond of them all and equally horrified by them. Each one has crossed a border that I myself have circumvented.”

— Milan Kundera

In the context of Meiste, absolutely. It's only now that I realize I've never described the names of the characters, nor how they relate.

Iziser - A borrowing from Classical Zispoel "Izilseor," which is a name found in the Epic of the Hero of Life. It was once used to mean 'one who eats,' and metaphorically extended to 'one who is in love,' then 'one who loves.'

Hotautebz - Hotau is to literally ascend. It's an Old Ytos word for to ascend, plus "tebz" which is another old word for person.

Lozerief - Classical Zispoel for 'life,' definitely supposed to be a pun since she's the Hero of Earth, not life.

Are you the writer who carefully chooses OC names for their meanings, or are you the writer who picks whatever sounds good?

The High Valyrian adjective jessie "joyful" was coined in honor of my fiancée, Jessie Sams, and the glyph was made thinking of her. I've known Jessie for ten years at this point, but our lives led winding paths that eventually led us to each other. We started working together in 2019 on Freeform's Motherland: Fort Salem, and I've wanted to work with no one else ever since. When I proposed to Jessie, I gave her a ring with a Valyrian inscription inside. That inscription featured her name glyph: Ao jessives ñuhys iksā, which means "You are my joy".

I'd never planned on getting a tattoo in my life, but we came up with an idea that meant a lot to both of us. I'd created a glyph for the word "joy" in High Valyrian and based the sound of that word on Jessie's name. She, in turn, had created a word based on my name in her language Zhwadi (it means "create"). Her writing system is also logographic, so there's a character associated with that. Consequently, we each decided to get each other's "names" tattooed on ourselves. Now a part of us will always be with the other. :)

Day51 of rewriting my novel

University has gone back to session so I’ve had less (no) time to write, but what with American holidays, I’ve gotten a chance to increase my word count a little bit! Just figured I’d post an update.

Day 15 (21 in base 7) of rewriting my novel.

I hit 20,000 words today! I'm so excited. This also means that I am just over 9,000 words on Part Two, which also makes me proud.

Today I also really focused on fleshing out Odapir as a conlang, and I have a little ways to go before I finish deriving Modern Odapir from Middle Odapir.

Fun fact, by the way, Odapir is an exonym, since Odeineikō is the endonym in Middle Odapir.

As a treat for reading this far into my blog, have a description of Middle Odapir phonology:

Middle Odapir Phonology

Stops: p, b, t, d, k, g

Nasal Stops: m, n

Affricates: pf, ts, c (palatal affricate)

Fricatives: f, s, sh (palatal fricative), h

Liquids: w, j (palatal approximant)

Tap: r (alveolar tap)

Vowels

High: ī, u, ū

Mid-high: o, ō

Mid-low: e, ɜ

Low: a, ā

Diphthongs: əi, ei, əu, au, ou

That's all for now. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update!

Day 36 (1:06) of rewriting my novel

Today was a day I didn't even think would be hard for me writing-wise, but it was. The vision in my head was "and Tagif, Hota, and Izi all go to Tolftorrijv uneventfully," but I decided to torture Tagif and Izi with their father's journal.

Xajas, Izi and Tagif's father, kept a journal off and on for like 900 years, and the last entry is about him battling his cancer. Here's a quote:

I told him to be loyal to himself first. Above all else, that is what he needs. I will always regret that I was not there to be with him when he needed me most. I believe it is his love that has kept me alive since Dolgof went away. That luck has run dry.

Last month, Lozef helped me write my will. I left everything to Izi. I explained to him everything I never could. About his mother, his sister, Lozef, the Heroes, and how his mother left the throne of Zeneste to him. Lozef promised she would see to it that I got it. 

But I know better than to be so blind to how lawyers work here. They're greedy. They'll rip the will to shreds if they ever get their hands on it. The courts refuse to digitize it, so once it's gone, it's gone for good. Lozef is smart, and she's clever, but she'll never be more cunning than those damn lawyers.

My only hope is that Izi is clever enough-and bold enough-to find this journal before it's all spoiled to him. That he may remember me for who I was: not through the rose-tinted glasses of a child, but through the retrospective eyes of a century-old man who died before he could ever truly know me.

And to Iziser, my loving son, if you are reading this, I owe you the world. You're a strong kid. You'll be an even stronger man. Whoever is lucky enough to share your company I adore. Relish your life while you have it, young man. There is no Hero of Life to keep us alive. Only ourselves.

Part of this is also to highlight how brutal and capitalist the Zenestian legal system is. After Xajas dies, no matter how hard Lozerief fights to protect him, everything is taken from Iziser, including his house. The lawyers destroy the will and take everything, agreeing never to speak of this. This is an unfortunately common practice in Zeneste.

words to use instead of ______

"Very"

Mild: clearly, decidedly, distinctly, markedly, considerably, notably, largely, recognizably, especially, indubitably Moderate: especially, surprisingly, substantially, uncommonly, chiefly, incredibly, obviously, unmistakably, considerably, awfully, wonderfully, particularly Bold: profusely, unequivocally, strikingly, astonishingly, exceedingly, absolutely, exceptionally, extremely, unquestionably, vastly, incontestably

"A Lot" (time)

Mild: often, oftentimes, sometime Moderate: frequently, usually, various, generally Bold: regularly, recurrent, persistent

"A Lot" (size)

Mild: many, much, several Moderate: numerous, bountiful, considerable Bold: multitude, profuse, vast

"Big"

Mild: sizable, ample, large, considerable, great, above average, important Moderate: ponderous, significant, crucial, vast, copious, magnificent, substantial Bold: enormous, immense, colossal, extensive, endless, paramount, boundless, prodigious, imposing, gigantic, voluminous, limitless, essential

"Small"

Mild: slight, limited, trivial, minor, light, puny, superficial, undersized, dinky, negligible, faint Moderate: scant, petite, inconsiderable, microscopic, dwarf, unsubstantial, minimum, miniature, tiny Bold: insignificant, minute, meager, infinitesimal, ineffectual, undetectable, inconsequential

"Good"

Mild: acceptable, favorable, agreeable, pleasing, satisfactory, satisfying, super, able, relevant, accomplished, efficient, reliable, ample, useful, profitable, adequate, adept Moderate: great, honorable, admirable, commendable, sound, splendid, superb, valuable, wonderful, worthy, clever, proficient, qualified, apt, skillful, thorough, wholesome Bold: excellent, exceptional, gratifying, marvelous, reputable, stupendous, superior, exemplary, virtuous, expert, solid, advantageous, flawless, extensive, perfect

"Bad"

Mild: cheap, dissatisfactory, faculty, off, mean, wrong, unpleasant, unwell, low, grim, sour, regretful Moderate: careless, defective, inferior, imperfect, deficient, rough, ill-suited, inadequate, unsatisfactory, delinquent, sinful, unruly, wicked, rancid, grave, harsh, terrible, downcast Bold: awful, unacceptable, corrupt, dreadful, putrid, erroneous, detrimental, ruinous, vile, villainous, diseased, adverse, evil

The Coalition

This most is mostly an info-dump about a part of Part Three (and Part Four) that I'm working on, but if you'd like, keep reading for spoilers!

The Western Zenestian Coalition

The Western Zenestian Coalition was founded with the sole purpose of recapturing Ir Nouzonif. The founding document dictates that, though it itself is not a governed nation, all states that participate must agree to build a militia, refuse to fight amidst themselves, and plan to recapture Ir Nouzonif under the leadership of the Three Heroes (Iziser, Taguchif, and Hota.) The founding member states were the state of Zenée and Tolftorrijv.

The white symbolizes Cognition (and, later, the White Army of Odapir.) The yellow symbolizes Doom, and the teal symbolizes Mind. These are the colors of the Three Heroes.

Speaking of the White Army, they seceded from Odapir before the coalition was founded, but they later join once they secure control of the border with Ir Nouzonif province. Another state is allowed to join with the approval of a simple majority of current member states.

The founding document also dictates that, upon the capture of Ir Nouzonif, all member states will be independent and recognized by all others. This is mostly for Zenée and Tolftorrijv, since they are states of Zeneste, and the White Army, who seceded from Odapir.

The Great Coalition

After the Hero of Earth joins the coalition in leadership, the states of Ytos, Itaush, and Atepsi, as well as the rebellion group in Pisteeks, the coalition grows into being most of the world, all with the goal of capturing Ir Nouzonif. Maybe I'll make a follow-up post about the Great Coalition.

Introducing: Néndisfas

Consider this post a very brief introduction to my in-progress conlang, Néndisfas.

In summary, Néndisfsho is a fusional language with phonemic pitch-accent, personal agreement in verbs, and split-ergative based on animacy.

Phonology

Consonants

/p/, /b/, /m/, /t/, /d/, /n/, /k/, /g/, /ŋ/, /kʷ/, /gʷ/

/f/, /v/, /s/, /ʃ/, /z/, /xʷ/, /h/

/w/, /j/, /ɾ/, /l/, /ʎ/, /ʟ/

Not much to say here but for the three way /l/, /ʎ/, /ʟ/ distinction held-on from the protolanguage.

Vowels

Five-vowel system with length distinction, making 10 vowels. Not interesting at all here.

Phonotactics

Max syllable: CV(C)(C)(C) / CV(C)#

Indeed, this means that the maximum size of a consonant cluster could be 4-consonants long,

Morphology / Syntax: Grammar

Verbs

Verbs (and predicative adjectives) are simple, comparatively, to the syntactic nonsense going down with nouns.

Verbs take a prefix for perfective and passive, and a suffix for past or present and to agree with the subject in gender (animate, inanimate).

Due to sound changes, verbs fall into one of six categories, but classes II, III, and IV all have alternate forms.

Nouns

Néndisfsho nouns take on one of two genders: Common or Neuter. Common nouns were derived from old animate nouns, and neuter nouns were derived from old mass nouns. The nouns which didn't fit with either were grandfathered in.

Due to sound changes, nouns take on one of six endings depending on their class. Classes I, III, and V have alternate forms.

Nouns also inflect for one of 5 cases: Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, Allative, and Commitative. The Allative, though, is beginning to be used like an Ergative, marking an animate subject of an intransitive verb, and an animate object of a transitive verb.

Take, for instance, the following sentences:

Yés-e váw-i ve-kát-ur-o.

Yessei.C-NOM car.N-ACC PRV.drive.PST.ANIM

"Yessei had driven the car."

Since the car is not animate, Yessei is rendered in the nominative, and the car is rendered in the accusative. In the following sentence, however:

Yés-ivā búm-pe kéht-us

Yessei.C-ALL dark.N-NOM hate.PRES.INAN

"The dark hates Yessei."

Here, the nominative case is reanalyzed as an absolutive, and the allative as an ergative.

This structure could be rewritten with a passive, like

Yés-ivā (búp-ko) ver-kéht-o

Yessei.C-ALL (dark.N-GEN) PASS.hate.PRES.ANIM

"Yessei is hated (by the darkness)."

Here, the genitive marks the agent, and the allative (ergative) marks the subject. Yessei, in this context, is treated as the object of a transitive verb, rather than the subject of an intransitive verb.

The reason this is so messy right now is because the language is in the middle of evolving the ergativity.

Other Notes

Néndisfas has no "true" 2nd or 3rd person pronouns, because pronouns are a completely open class in Néndisfas. The general 1st person pronoun is "gémse, géra, gésho" (I, me, my).

This is probably a language I'll wind up using as a meme language throughout my writing. It originally started as a language used in the deserts of Southern Atepsi, but now it's Yessei's first language, so I decided it can be both. In the context of Meiste, though, this is a long-dead language.

Paging the usual suspects: @quillswriting @oldfashionedidiot @ominous-feychild

Also if y'all have translation suggestions don't hesitate to drop them in my asks or as a reply/reblog to this post lol.