I've done a little more thinking about the Glyphica, and paid a visit to
the Language Construction Kit site. Given that this is a rather arcane
lagnuage, here are some questions to think about:
Besides marking nouns for plurality and subject/object, do you mark for
direct v. indirect object? Gender? Do you have a way of indicating
number beyond "one" or "many"?
Are verbs marked by person, gender, or number?
What distinctions do you make with the verbs?
* Tense
* Completion (a/k/a perfection)
* Aspect (single act, act-in-progress, habitual act, repeated act)
* Mood (Indicative/Subjunctive/Negative/Imperative)
* Evidentiality
* Intransitive/Transitive/Reflexive
* Static/Dynamic (describes a state/reports a change in state)
* Deference between speaker & listener
As an example, one Austronesian language has 4 past tenses and three
future tenses, plus present tense, allowing them to describe events on a
continuum of remote past, near past, yesterday, last night, this moment,
immediate future, near future, remote future.
Given that the Glyphica Arcana are tied to magic, I'd say there
definitely needs to be a way of indicating imperative verb forms.
Perhaps the symbols for the Ones of the Ephermera in certain positions?
The Glyphica remind me a little of the magic glyph tattoos that Weis &
Hickman invented for their Death Gate novel series.
Andrew
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Andrew Janssen wrote: > I've done a little more thinking about the Glyphica, and paid a visit to > the Language Construction Kit site. Given that this is a rather arcane > lagnuage, here are some questions to think about: > > Besides marking nouns for plurality and subject/object, do you mark for > direct v. indirect object? Gender? Hopefully yes for direct vs. indirect objects. No for Gender. > Do you have a way of indicating number beyond "one" or "many"? Yes. (Need to write that up.) > Are verbs marked by person, gender, or number? person undecided, gender and number no. > What distinctions do you make with the verbs? > * Tense > * Completion (a/k/a perfection) > * Aspect (single act, act-in-progress, habitual act, repeated act) > * Mood (Indicative/Subjunctive/Negative/Imperative) > * Evidentiality > * Intransitive/Transitive/Reflexive > * Static/Dynamic (describes a state/reports a change in state) > * Deference between speaker & listener I'm playing around with these. I'd like to use most of them but there's a problem with the limited number of potential markers. > As an example, one Austronesian language has 4 past tenses and three > future tenses, plus present tense, allowing them to describe events on a > continuum of remote past, near past, yesterday, last night, this moment, > immediate future, near future, remote future. > > Given that the Glyphica Arcana are tied to magic, I'd say there > definitely needs to be a way of indicating imperative verb forms. > Perhaps the symbols for the Ones of the Ephermera in certain positions? Definitely need an imperative marker. Hopefully it will rather ornate. > The Glyphica remind me a little of the magic glyph tattoos that Weis & > Hickman invented for their Death Gate novel series. One source of inspiration, yes. Jefferson http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/Exq_Main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
Jefferson wrote: >>What distinctions do you make with the verbs? >> * Tense >> * Completion (a/k/a perfection) >> * Aspect (single act, act-in-progress, habitual act, repeated act) >> * Mood (Indicative/Subjunctive/Negative/Imperative) >> * Evidentiality >> * Intransitive/Transitive/Reflexive >> * Static/Dynamic (describes a state/reports a change in state) >> * Deference between speaker & listener > > > I'm playing around with these. I'd like to use most of them but there's a > problem with the limited number of potential markers. > Well, there's always the possibility of using color as a marker. It wouldn't be practical for a common language, but for an arcane language? >>As an example, one Austronesian language has 4 past tenses and three >>future tenses, plus present tense, allowing them to describe events on a >>continuum of remote past, near past, yesterday, last night, this moment, >>immediate future, near future, remote future. >> >>Given that the Glyphica Arcana are tied to magic, I'd say there >>definitely needs to be a way of indicating imperative verb forms. >>Perhaps the symbols for the Ones of the Ephermera in certain positions? > > > Definitely need an imperative marker. Hopefully it will rather ornate. Heh. I suspect that most spells would incorporate the Ones of Flowers, Cups, Lamps, & possibly ships somehow, with Flowers(Do!) and Lamps(Be!) the most common. Are you familiar with the MAGE 2 MAGE spell system? A fellow named Robert M. Riemann developed it in the late 80s-early 90s, but he abandoned it around 1993. He created a Spell Description Language that described magic spells like computer programs (The author Rick Cook does something similar in his 'Wiz' series). There's a copy of what Riemann did at http://the-infinite.org/archive/Mage2Mage.txt , although he didn't quite finish the project. He never got around to extending the system past physical effects and into biological and psychic effects. Anyway, you might find it an interesting read. Andrew ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
Andrew Janssen wrote: > Jefferson wrote: > >>>What distinctions do you make with the verbs? >>> * Tense >>> * Completion (a/k/a perfection) >>> * Aspect (single act, act-in-progress, habitual act, repeated act) >>> * Mood (Indicative/Subjunctive/Negative/Imperative) >>> * Evidentiality >>> * Intransitive/Transitive/Reflexive >>> * Static/Dynamic (describes a state/reports a change in state) >>> * Deference between speaker & listener >> >> >>I'm playing around with these. I'd like to use most of them but there's a >>problem with the limited number of potential markers. > > Well, there's always the possibility of using color as a marker. It > wouldn't be practical for a common language, but for an arcane language? Hmmm. It's a thought. I've been thinking more about stone carvings, but inlays of different materials and colors could be interesting. I'll let the idea percolate for a little bit. >>>As an example, one Austronesian language has 4 past tenses and three >>>future tenses, plus present tense, allowing them to describe events on a >>>continuum of remote past, near past, yesterday, last night, this moment, >>>immediate future, near future, remote future. >>> >>>Given that the Glyphica Arcana are tied to magic, I'd say there >>>definitely needs to be a way of indicating imperative verb forms. >>>Perhaps the symbols for the Ones of the Ephermera in certain positions? >> >>Definitely need an imperative marker. Hopefully it will rather ornate. > > Heh. I suspect that most spells would incorporate the Ones of Flowers, > Cups, Lamps, & possibly ships somehow, with Flowers(Do!) and Lamps(Be!) > the most common. > > Are you familiar with the MAGE 2 MAGE spell system? Thanks. Interesting read, but not exactly my style. Jefferson http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
