WhereFMF Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) Ladies and gentlemen, I have developed the barely-mentioned Skakdi into a full language. That is, I have created a rudimentary language framework, and all that needs to be filled in is the vocabulary. Also conjunctions. I didn't make up any conjunctions. Edit: and prepositions. Read all about it here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/7b3wjeaxjcs6669/Skakdi.pdf Edited November 5, 2015 by WhereFMF 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hip Historian Iaredios Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) Reading this .pdf file makes me realize there are still words I don't know. It's like reading A Princess of Mars all over again. I am impressed by your work in building a language almost from scratch, albeit skeletal in depth. You should share this with your family. Edited November 5, 2015 by Sir Iaredios Quote A RUDE AWAKENING - A Spherus Magna redo | Tzais-Kuluu | Pushing Back The Tide | Last Words | Black Coronation | Blue Man Bound | Visions of Thasos ن We are all but grey specks in a dark complex before a single white light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pohatu: Uniter of Stone Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Dude... you're the new Tolkien. This is absolutely amazing. 2 Quote I HATE SCORPIOS ~Pohatu Master of Stone, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopekemaster Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Interesting stuff you've got here. Great work! Quote My Writing Blog (more writing coming soon!) My Bionicle/LEGO Blog (defunct) Hyfudiar on Spotify (noise/drone/experimental music) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hip Historian Iaredios Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) Dude... you're the new Tolkien. This is absolutely amazing.Don't you mean the third? *rim-shot* Edited November 5, 2015 by Sir Iaredios 1 Quote A RUDE AWAKENING - A Spherus Magna redo | Tzais-Kuluu | Pushing Back The Tide | Last Words | Black Coronation | Blue Man Bound | Visions of Thasos ن We are all but grey specks in a dark complex before a single white light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldero Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Reading this .pdf file makes me realize there are still words I don't know. It's like reading A Princess of Mars all over again. I am impressed by your work in building a language almost from scratch, albeit skeletal in depth. You should share this with your family. "What have you done this week, my child?" "Me? I just developed the framework for a fictional language out of several mismatched words, suggested linguistic patterns and mouth anatomy. How about you?" In all seriousness, this is pretty flippin' amazing. I'll hopefully expand on this topic with some phrases and perhaps some sentences later on. Liberties may have to be taken, of course. Please continue blowing my mind in future. 3 Quote < -< =<o>= >- > Ha! I tricked you into reading my signature! < -< =<o>= >- > Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhereFMF Posted November 6, 2015 Author Share Posted November 6, 2015 Go ahead! I'm eager to see what others create with this framework! I made a mistake on page 5 with the word "soirin". It is a multisyllabic word that doesn't contain a k. Let's just say it's instead "soikin". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Hip Historian Iaredios Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Reading this .pdf file makes me realize there are still words I don't know. It's like reading A Princess of Mars all over again. I am impressed by your work in building a language almost from scratch, albeit skeletal in depth. You should share this with your family. "What have you done this week, my child?" "Me? I just developed the framework for a fictional language out of several mismatched words, suggested linguistic patterns and mouth anatomy. How about you?"What parent just says that casually?! 2 Quote A RUDE AWAKENING - A Spherus Magna redo | Tzais-Kuluu | Pushing Back The Tide | Last Words | Black Coronation | Blue Man Bound | Visions of Thasos ن We are all but grey specks in a dark complex before a single white light Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evil_jaga_genius Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 I'm curious, why do you say the Skakdi use hexadecimal numbers? Quote Avatar by Nicholas Anderson (NickonAquaMagna)My blog: The Jaga's Nest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhereFMF Posted November 6, 2015 Author Share Posted November 6, 2015 (edited) It's because I think hexadecimal is a superior number system. If you want a canonical explanation, cultures don't always develop number systems based on the number of fingers they have. I'm aware of one language that has words for "one", "two", "many", and nothing else; and another (Filipino, I think?) that counts by 27, using their eyes, nose, armpits, all their upper torso's features. Maybe Skakdi use their spines. We don't even know how many fingers the Skakdi have (although movie screenshots show Matoran and Toa with ten). Edited November 6, 2015 by WhereFMF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toa Jaxus Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 Why do you think the hexadecimal system is superior? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRRT Posted November 6, 2015 Share Posted November 6, 2015 (edited) Very interesting stuff! Great work. I'm wondering if there is any rationale behind the word-creation, or is it mostly a priori? I've done a little creative work on a Skakdi dialect of the Matoran Language, and one of the phonotactic patterns that stuck out to me was the fact that Skakdi doesn't seem to have any stop consonants in word-initial position. The closest it gets is the equivalent of a fricative (zaktan, vezok, hakann, skakdi, thok, etc.) or an approximant/nasal (reidak, nektann). Any other patterns you've identified? Also, note that the term fenrakk looks suspiciously Skakdian in origin to me, in which case you could add [f] to the sound inventory. That said, it would interfere a bit with your explanation of stress (always assigned to a [k]-containing syllable), since BS01 lists the pronunciation as ['fEn.rak]. Likewise, the island name Zakaz would seem a good candidate for a Skakdi term, but would also interfere with the stress rule (BS01 says ['zej.kaz]). Edited November 7, 2015 by Tolkien 4 Quote BZP Blog: In a hole in the ground there lived... || A Matoran Dictionary, 2nd Edition (c. 2013) || Matoran Grammar: A Primer=====Tumblr: outofgloom.tumblr.com || Matoran Language Resources=====Brickshelf || Majhost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhereFMF Posted November 7, 2015 Author Share Posted November 7, 2015 I would accept adding [f] to the language, since it's another labial approximant you could make while smiling. But the word "Fenrakk" couldn't possibly be of Skakdi origin. The Fenrakk species was created by the Makuta and inhabited Voya Nui long before the Piraka arrived. I take English pronunciations of Skakdi words as Anglicizations, and assume that the Skakdi would pronounce it [zɑ'kɑz], just like [fræns] versus [fʁɑ̃s]. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRRT Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 (edited) I would accept adding [f] to the language, since it's another labial approximant you could make while smiling. But the word "Fenrakk" couldn't possibly be of Skakdi origin. The Fenrakk species was created by the Makuta and inhabited Voya Nui long before the Piraka arrived. I take English pronunciations of Skakdi words as Anglicizations, and assume that the Skakdi would pronounce it [zɑ'kɑz], just like [fræns] versus [fʁɑ̃s].Fair enough, although saying that fenrakk "couldn't possibly be of Skakdi origin" is a bit strong. It could easily be the case that the species-name Fenrakk is the "Skakdicization" of an otherwise normal Matoran name, and that we are simply introduced to the Skakdi-version of the name because Fenrakk is primarily associated with Vezon. The reason I mention it is that the surface form of the name looks quite Skakdi-ish--at least, no other Matoran word exhibits an ending -kk, but one word that is closely associated with the Skakdi does, namely irnakk, and that ties in with the possibility that gemination of (some) final consonants seems like a good candidate for a Skakdi innovation (hakann, nektann...). Maybe, maybe not... I assumed your stress rule was based on the pronunciations listed for words like vezok [vej.'zak], nektann ['nEk.tan], avak [ej.'vak], etc., taking them as literal pronunciations (at least in terms of stress), rather than just Anglicized forms (which was why I thought you explicitly listed reidak ['rej.dak] as an exception). That said, you don't actually have to disregard a word like Zakaz. You could simply alter your syllable-structure rules slightly such that Skakdi (rather weirdly, but hey it's Bionicle) prefers to minimize onset consonants word-medially, so a word like zakaz would be syllabified /zak.az/, hence stressed on the [k]-containing syllable: /'zak.az/. This would still leave reidak /'reid.ak/ as your one exception, but you could then also make the logical step that the names hakann and zaktan (which BS01 is missing a specification of stress for) are syllabified/stressed /'hak.ann/ and /'zakt.an/. Awesome stuff, either way. =) Edited November 7, 2015 by Tolkien 1 Quote BZP Blog: In a hole in the ground there lived... || A Matoran Dictionary, 2nd Edition (c. 2013) || Matoran Grammar: A Primer=====Tumblr: outofgloom.tumblr.com || Matoran Language Resources=====Brickshelf || Majhost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSciFiGuy Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Whoa! This is amazing! I love how you broke it down to its roots. Gotta go develop some words for this. See what I can construct! Quote Bionicle: ANP aims to create narrated versions of all the Bionicle books, with voice actors for each character, and music taken from various media to enhance the story. Check here if you're interested in voicing a character, and here for the chapters that've already been released!Formerly: Tahu Nuva 3.0Looking for a Bionicle Beanie. Black one with the symbol on it. Contact me if you are willing to sell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erasmus Graves Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 Man, this is some seriously cool stuff. Constructing a sophisticated language system from a couple of words is very impressive. Now, I reckon I'll just go and start developing some more words. What are we without conjunctions? Quote "Mutiny, Booty and Entropy" - The Three Vices of the Frostelus[flash=250,100]http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/sprxtrerme/BANNERS/thornax.swf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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