Exploring language since '89
My goal going into 2025 was to complete the Conlang Year prompts as written—as written and on a daily basis. But I quickly “discovered” something I already knew about myself. It is difficult for me to stay motivated to work on the same project daily and to hold back on work when I have ideas […]
Pénýsonačàòkvánàpáhèšỳmínuuttimiíltumo. “Let them bake for 30 minutes or until they brown.” Today was a fun one! I created a reflexive form of sóno “to bake” to use it intransitively in this clause. Paired with the imperative pé- and subject index marker -a, it translates to “let it/them bake”. The preposition čàò- means “near, around”, which […]
Àŋósonàhúppétékwep’àỳvówekki. “Make small snips into the top of the pastry.” This clause uses the verb tékwe, a verb meaning “to snip” or “to make a small cut in”, with the core object being the thing that is snipped or cut into. For the core object, I needed to create a word meaning “pastry” and chose […]
Àlúpéŋákkaìáákuŋktòŋmémfiwe. “Press and seal edge with a fork.” Today’s Lexember entry includes a few words already existing in the language, such as lú “edge” and ŋákka “to press” (yes, I see now that the little accent mark over the first “a” is missing in the image above!). I needed a verb meaning “to seal”, so […]
Àwéspéžítsòŋósanỳjúnnepe. “Fold dough over mixture in a half moon shape.” Today’s Lexember entry starts with pieces already established in the language: core-object-marking à-, wése “dough”, imperative pé-, and žíte “to fold”. Following the verb is a new preposition, sò- “over, above”, which comes from the verb sóno “to cover”. Its object is ŋósahe “mixture”, a […]
Àŋósahàsétipé’ássìŋóílsolsìjúnastòŋhóppi. “Spoon apple mixture onto half of a flattened circle of dough.” At first, I created the verb éssoppi, which is the verbal instrumental prefix attached to the nominal root hóppi “spoon”, to create a verb meaning “to spoon”, as in today’s bit of instruction. However, the more I thought about it, the more it […]
Àŋóčuppéþólšúho. Àwéhàmválpéhálpàjúnmíse. “Sprinkle flour onto a surface. Roll a ball of dough into a thin disc.” In the first clause, I used the word úho, which means “top” but specifically a top of something standing that is more or less flat, like the top of a table or the back of a four-legged animal. In […]
Àwéspékíkkamsìžíkife. “Divide dough into eighths.” I created the verb kíkkame meaning “to divide” or “to separate”, which is a compound of kíke (“to break”) and láme (“to pull”). The core object is the dough (wése), and then žíkife (“eight”) is treated as a nominal element functioning as a non-core object.
Àŋúsonàþáppéžísìtésysìvómuno. “Set the oven to (gas) mark 4.” ** Today’s Nómàk’óla entry more literally translates to “Set the oven heat to the fourth mark.” While I created a word for “stove” earlier this month, I hadn’t yet created a word for “oven”. I wanted them to be distinct because my nisse historically cooked food on […]
Ànómispépéssèþáfe. Pépíllemaŋósahe. “Remove the skillet from heat, and let the mixture cool.” The first clause more literally translates as “move the skillet away from heat”. While all the pieces already existed in the language when I translated this today, I can’t quite remember if I had previously introduced the verb ése “to move”, and I […]