pauraque_bk | amiu - "fish wish" and a map

For

meer meej

X-SAMPA /mE:_(falling)r\ mE:j/

meer

(Saltwater) fish. Pictogram.

meej

Wish. The phonetic is meer, and the determinative is "nose".

This is a strange case, as the phonetic+determinative works in English as well as in Amiu. I didn't realize this until after the fact; I'd been using the gloss "desire" for meej, but "wish" is equally good.

seifergrrl is next in the icon queue. Still room at the end of the line.

*

The Luen people live on a planet not unlike our own, most of which is uncharted at the time contemporary with the language I've been describing. Their stories say that they came across the eastern plains to make their home between jee Néong (the Range of Dawn) and ruiw (the Gulf). They call this country jingnong (our land).

This is a preliminary map; I haven't worked out all the place-names yet.

A point of interest is Gold Lake -- called so by the Bay people whose dialect I am describing, and who primarily associate the Lake people with the minerals they sift from their waters. The Lake people themselves are more concerned with the lake's status as a gateway to and from the unliving world, and call it jing láer "the land's womb". (The small peninsula on the east side of the lake is nicknamed rónné "the big clit".)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So how would one get ahold of one of those icons?

Just tell me what you'd like it to say, and I'll make it (after the three ahead of you).

Pretty icon! And nice map. I did wonder if the language was related to some more developed fictional race, because I probably missed the explanation the first time round. -_-

Thanks. I don't think I've posted much in the way of explanations; I just jumped into the language. I wonder if people would be interested in "LotR appendix" type stuff like histories and mythologies.

J'avais tellement envie de telephoner quand tu serais la!
ta voix, elle est comment??
Normalement on dit que j'ai vraiment l'accent francais; mais sans doubte, tu entends tres bien!

eh bien oui - je suis une etre humaine!!!!

Est-ce que c'est possible que tu es

asphodeline?

il est bien possible!!!!!
(et, finalement, j'ai compris ce que dit la femme!!! - je prefere le 'managers office'!)

Ooh, it's lovely! The two characters seem to look like flying fish. I needed that bit of fishiness today, thanks.

You're welcome. :)

How did you create such a cool writing system? I always get stuck after the first few symbols...
And while I'm not sure if I want an icon with your language, I am curious how you'd translate "conlanger (language maker)". Or "fan" (like a fan of a show, or book).

I think the thing with writing systems is to try to make them reflect a consistent visual "vocabulary". Chinese characters use only a few different kinds of strokes. The same could be said of English letters. Likewise, if you look at Amiu text, you see the same kinds of hooks, curves, and loops over and over again in different characters. My advice is, don't try to reinvent the wheel with every symbol: re-use the elements you've already established. (This can also tie into developing an artistic style for a con-culture.)

To get a sense for consistency within a writing system, I looked at a lot of books and sites, including AncientScripts.

Once you've got a good system going, a cheap trick for improving the look of any script that's written with lines (rather than, say, shapes) is to write it with a calligraphy marker. You can get a disposable one at any art store.

"Conlanger" is an easy derivation:

ammíiu "language" (that which is spoken)
> ammíioe "language maker"

The Luen don't really have the concept of "fan", but maybe:

máí "obsession"
> máée "obsessed person"

Then you could add the group plural to make Náéem "fandom". *g*

Yeah, yeah? Nice map. So where are the speakers of Paaquìha:? (sp?)

Oh, yeah, and you never replied to my reply to your suggestion of doing some more collaboration on them?

The albatross people nest in the Windreach Islands, off to the west of the map area.

Sorry for being somewhat unresponsive; I'm a bit up to my neck over here. I read the article on your pair-bonders... is the idea of full puberty being delayed until bonding from a real species? Boy, I could really use a good book on this subject.

The albatross people nest in the Windreach Islands, off to the west of the map area.

I thought that I remembered they'd be about there, but I didn't know if they were on the map, or mostly off the western edge. Sounds like, yeah "about there, or off the western edge" ;)

Sorry for being somewhat unresponsive; I'm a bit up to my neck over here.

No problem, I'm just following up.

I read the article on your pair-bonders... is the idea of full puberty being delayed until bonding from a real species?

I can't recall having ever heard anything described like that. I'm pretty sure it's at the very least reasonable, with increasing probability with increases in strength of pair-bonding, and intelligence/complexity of social interactions.

But I'm doing synthesis largely by intuition. But here's some of my background data which led me there:

Humans experience a spurt in brain growth right around the onset of puberty (just before-just after). A brain growth spurt primes the brain for new neural pathways, i.e. new skills. This brain growt almost certainlt happens mainly to allow adolescing individuals to make a jump in the complexity of social interaction and network-tracking.

In an intelligent pair-bonding species, I expect new pathways to be needed at the beginning of the courtship process, when an adolescent first starts evaluating and interacting with potential mates, and again at soem mid-point to the process, allowing the the strong mental templating of the pair-mate, and also, in social species, the skills for adult societal interaction. A spurt that occured too much before pairing behavior started, might get paritally "used up" with other skills that the individual was practicing. This would lead to dysfunctional reproductive behavior and would be selected against.

Another fact that lead me, was that breast development in human women doesn't finish until the time of their first pregnancy, (and probably other mammals too, but it's harder to show, because there's less variation in time of first pregnancy). Parts of the development don't happen until they are needed.

Also, sexual behavior doesn't occur in pre-bonded adolescents in species like albatross (long-lived, discrimainating, strong pair-bonders). Which suggests developmental changes between pre-sexual and sexual individuals.

Some less direct things:

In the most species with the most intensively studied pair-bonding, montane voles, puberty is socially delayed: onset doesn't start until they leave their parent's den. There is no such social inhibition of puberty in closely related, non pair-bonding species.

Besides being an example of delayed puberty in pair-bonders, though not exactly the same delay, it is also an example of social effects on development/endocrine phenomena.

And last, there's a theory with some amount of data backing it up that within human variation, late puberty and strong pair-bonding (among a couple of other things) should be corelated.

Boy, I could really use a good book on this subject.

Yeah, um ... yeah.

...and loving your Amiu icons.
Could you make me one for "Raven Mama"? (Or raven mother, or mother of ravens... am also willing to accept blackbird)

Thanks! And sure, you're after

chresimos.

amiu - "fish wish" and a map

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Been lurking a while...

Re: Been lurking a while...