It was some time since I wrote something into this blog. A bit trouble, some loss and just having "nothing to say" were the reasons. But now, I've got news for you.
iWizard
One of the saddest parts of iWizard are about to be sketched down. I won't tell you this one.
But, recently I had some ideas for the last chapter - Heading two Last Terms which is not that sad. iWizard should not become too sad, so I try to make the best of what happened.
Lingua Romanica
Some progress...
- stress rules <to be continued>
- definite articles (they look like crap -.-)
- some interrogatives
- personal pronouns <to be continued>
- relative pronouns (they look and sound worse than the definite articles and need to be finished)
- conjugation tables of regular present and simple past verbs, planned subjunctive present, past (future) and maybe a dedicated passive like Latin, present conjugation of "to be" (essere, stare)
- 22 of 256 basic words (8 in family, 6 in religion, 5 in animals, 3 in colors)
A partial description of the sound changes from Vulgar Latin to Lingua Romanica is on paper:
- collapse of quantities (a vowel trapezium has been made: seven (or eight, counting y) distinct phonemes, like Italian and Spanish), nine in an older variant (Proto-Romance in general)
- collapse of diphthongs
- r becomes a or u in certain places, cl becomes chi before a, o, u, an i is added to initial s
- open e and o become ie, uo in open and closed syllables (except former æ)
- various cases of metaphony (e.g.: vinea -> vinia)
For this reason, I try to obtain The Language Construction Kit and its addition Advanced Language Construction Kit (if it is available in fall/autumn this year).
Oh, right: I'm very impressed by the new MacBook Pro's Retina display. And price.
*$ 2600 for a thing with no hard drive and no optical drive - they must be kidding...*
That's it for now - stay hungry, foolish and tuned.
Sonntag, 1. Juli 2012
Freitag, 8. Juni 2012
Italy: The Penultimate Chapter
Well... There's not much to explain the title of my newest blog-post: I'm really going to visit Italy. And if you know that I write a fantasy-themed book, it's not difficult to imagine what it will be about. Anyway, there has not been much progress (neither on paper nor on my Mac) of actual writing, but I have accumulated many ideas in my brain.
You know how quickly your plans can be ruined. I'm no different:
In iWizard, a friend of mine (I mean, a friend of the main character) should have attended the class trip to the Tuscany, but she is unable because of various reasons.
First, I was like *damn crap, the best part is ruined*, but on the second thought it turned out better for her.
What a good thing I get new ideas within a blink of a second...
For Lingua Romanica I have arranged a past tense, two connection words ("and" and "or") and a few words have found their way into the language: religious terms as well as family related words.
And more ideas of sound change are yet to be written down (my language will look like freaking Italian of the Middle Ages...).
And there is one more thing: On June 11, there will be the WWDC Apple Developer Conference. ...What the hell? I won't be up-to-date for 4 more days after the event! Damn...
Anyways, stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
You know how quickly your plans can be ruined. I'm no different:
In iWizard, a friend of mine (I mean, a friend of the main character) should have attended the class trip to the Tuscany, but she is unable because of various reasons.
First, I was like *damn crap, the best part is ruined*, but on the second thought it turned out better for her.
What a good thing I get new ideas within a blink of a second...
For Lingua Romanica I have arranged a past tense, two connection words ("and" and "or") and a few words have found their way into the language: religious terms as well as family related words.
And more ideas of sound change are yet to be written down (my language will look like freaking Italian of the Middle Ages...).
And there is one more thing: On June 11, there will be the WWDC Apple Developer Conference. ...What the hell? I won't be up-to-date for 4 more days after the event! Damn...
Anyways, stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
Sonntag, 13. Mai 2012
News...News...News...
Today I voted for a new parliament in the politically most important state of Germany since the old coalition failed to survive two more years - Losers (actually not funny, but it's ridiculous).
Anyway, there are more news than that:
iWizard
After a damn day on a lake (this part has to be rewritten to *be* on water and in another place anyway - work is being done) the main character has to collaborate on a poster presenting the research output. It would be better if he was not so tired.
In an argument, regarding his ongoing rests from work he quickly leaves the hostel.
After a seemingly endless struggle within pain he realizes that he changed (again).
Looking up to the sky he knows what happened with him. Then, he hears someone coming near him...
In this part I tried to explain some magic scientifically. Even if it's productive nonsense, I do so because certain religious groups say that magic is a sin (or similar). I once read something like "Every technological advance unexplainable to us is magic". So I could sell this book not only as a fantasy novel, but a science-fiction novel as well. Also, the part is lighting a little bit on the "magic society" of Germany.
Another thing is that the book becomes more embarrassing to write the further it goes (don't ask me why), but this shall not hinder me. Also, I'm trying to be a bit more secretive with iWizard (not with Lingua Romanica, however).
You would be surprised to hear what ideas are coming to me (and into this book) while I am at school - especially one teacher is literally a co-author. ^^
Well, no news for Lingua Romanica (yet), so stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
*EDIT* I found the quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Clark's three laws (Wikipedia).
Anyway, there are more news than that:
iWizard
After a damn day on a lake (this part has to be rewritten to *be* on water and in another place anyway - work is being done) the main character has to collaborate on a poster presenting the research output. It would be better if he was not so tired.
In an argument, regarding his ongoing rests from work he quickly leaves the hostel.
After a seemingly endless struggle within pain he realizes that he changed (again).
Looking up to the sky he knows what happened with him. Then, he hears someone coming near him...
In this part I tried to explain some magic scientifically. Even if it's productive nonsense, I do so because certain religious groups say that magic is a sin (or similar). I once read something like "Every technological advance unexplainable to us is magic". So I could sell this book not only as a fantasy novel, but a science-fiction novel as well. Also, the part is lighting a little bit on the "magic society" of Germany.
Another thing is that the book becomes more embarrassing to write the further it goes (don't ask me why), but this shall not hinder me. Also, I'm trying to be a bit more secretive with iWizard (not with Lingua Romanica, however).
You would be surprised to hear what ideas are coming to me (and into this book) while I am at school - especially one teacher is literally a co-author. ^^
Well, no news for Lingua Romanica (yet), so stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
*EDIT* I found the quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - Clark's three laws (Wikipedia).
Sonntag, 29. April 2012
Multiplication...
OK, I've diverged from my iLog style, but I'm stepping back into it.
iLog - April 29, 2012
iWizard
I have juggled with the idea of increasing the number of chapters in my book to seven. I'll do it.
I'll do it because of the relatively short storyline (8 months) and it's better to accommodate the titles to the occurring events in the book. I have the titles, but I have to sketch down some dates.
Lingua Romanica
I have scribbled down a true latinate neuter for my "replacement Latin", seemingly switching genders whether it's singular or plural (having endings in -o in the former and in -a in the latter case). I've kept the situation that neuter singular endings are built from masculine singular accusative (or in this case, directal [combined accusative and ablative]).
And I currently reorganize my scribbling pad, as I use it to rapid prototype my whole grammar book before I transfer it into my iMac - using iBooks Author, making already the preview a perfect product - with just few corrections.
So, that's it for now - stay hungry, stay foolish, stay tuned!
iLog - April 29, 2012
iWizard
I have juggled with the idea of increasing the number of chapters in my book to seven. I'll do it.
I'll do it because of the relatively short storyline (8 months) and it's better to accommodate the titles to the occurring events in the book. I have the titles, but I have to sketch down some dates.
Lingua Romanica
I have scribbled down a true latinate neuter for my "replacement Latin", seemingly switching genders whether it's singular or plural (having endings in -o in the former and in -a in the latter case). I've kept the situation that neuter singular endings are built from masculine singular accusative (or in this case, directal [combined accusative and ablative]).
And I currently reorganize my scribbling pad, as I use it to rapid prototype my whole grammar book before I transfer it into my iMac - using iBooks Author, making already the preview a perfect product - with just few corrections.
So, that's it for now - stay hungry, stay foolish, stay tuned!
Donnerstag, 19. April 2012
Back on the Line
Phew... I was away - I spent my holidays in Poland - and had no sufficient access to the internet.
At least, I've got to tell you some things.
I I finally brought the official biography of Steven Paul Jobs four days ago - I'm almost through it (over 620 pages).
][ My selfmade Romance has got a major overhaul - again - in grammar. I've taken a look at the "inspiring spark" - Wenedyk, a constructed alternative language: If Polish became Romance...
So I have stripped a couple letters off the "oblique" case and shuffled around in the "directal" case.
I began the work on personal pronouns and interrogatives (that is - words for asking a question).
Also, the first small batch of (general) vocabulary is coming to paper - categorized.
/// My book has gained only a couple of lines - nothing special is going on there. It is so boring I don't want to proceed, even if the best part of the first chapter is just ahead.
Also, I've been reckoning to break up the tree chapters into a total of seven... maybe.
This was four days ago.
Today Lingua Romanica might get an additional declension class - the neuter would become a sole class, inheriting classical Latin neuter endings (u or o in singular, a in plural), the "neuter class" up to now would become a general class for all genders (actually, that's what it is now anyway), a kind of "consonant" class like in Latin. But for this, I've got to get feedback from other conlangers.
Why a fourth class? Because Spanish and Italian have a class ending in -e, which is used for all genders.
And Lingua Romanica will be related very closely to Latin, Spanish and Italian, no matter how much I will work on making it different from actual Romance languages.
Furthermore, I have tinkered about incorporating some Greek and Slavic (Polish) elements.
I have been thinking about giving my language a proper place - in a different world.
It would be used as a de-facto standard language in Italy and Spain, where the emperors of 10th-century Europe have agreed on thee Romance languages to be used as a substitute for Latin and the local forms of Vulgar Latin. And where Poland was not too weak to fight against the Germans in later centuries, forming a commonwealth with Lithuania, Czech territory (then Bohemia) and a part of the Ukraine and fighting successfully against their enemies.
I got the idea while creating a map of western and central Europe for an old strategy game.
What a plan...
Stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
At least, I've got to tell you some things.
I I finally brought the official biography of Steven Paul Jobs four days ago - I'm almost through it (over 620 pages).
][ My selfmade Romance has got a major overhaul - again - in grammar. I've taken a look at the "inspiring spark" - Wenedyk, a constructed alternative language: If Polish became Romance...
So I have stripped a couple letters off the "oblique" case and shuffled around in the "directal" case.
I began the work on personal pronouns and interrogatives (that is - words for asking a question).
Also, the first small batch of (general) vocabulary is coming to paper - categorized.
/// My book has gained only a couple of lines - nothing special is going on there. It is so boring I don't want to proceed, even if the best part of the first chapter is just ahead.
Also, I've been reckoning to break up the tree chapters into a total of seven... maybe.
This was four days ago.
Today Lingua Romanica might get an additional declension class - the neuter would become a sole class, inheriting classical Latin neuter endings (u or o in singular, a in plural), the "neuter class" up to now would become a general class for all genders (actually, that's what it is now anyway), a kind of "consonant" class like in Latin. But for this, I've got to get feedback from other conlangers.
Why a fourth class? Because Spanish and Italian have a class ending in -e, which is used for all genders.
And Lingua Romanica will be related very closely to Latin, Spanish and Italian, no matter how much I will work on making it different from actual Romance languages.
Furthermore, I have tinkered about incorporating some Greek and Slavic (Polish) elements.
I have been thinking about giving my language a proper place - in a different world.
It would be used as a de-facto standard language in Italy and Spain, where the emperors of 10th-century Europe have agreed on thee Romance languages to be used as a substitute for Latin and the local forms of Vulgar Latin. And where Poland was not too weak to fight against the Germans in later centuries, forming a commonwealth with Lithuania, Czech territory (then Bohemia) and a part of the Ukraine and fighting successfully against their enemies.
I got the idea while creating a map of western and central Europe for an old strategy game.
What a plan...
Stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
Dienstag, 13. März 2012
Jumping Forward in the Book, Taking a Step back in the Language
March 13, 2012
iWizard
Now it happened: In the middle of the night, the main character transformed into a supersize chinchilla under the influence of the full moon, while one of his roommates becomes a vampire. So beware hanging out with rodents or bats for too long. ^^
There's another guy, awakened by screams - he is so feared he wants to flee out of the room, but the vampire blocks the door and wants to bite him. The main character hinders the vampire to do that, putting himself into danger - but the vampire smells something that tells him not to bite the main character. They finally go to bed.
The next morning, the previously feared guy left the room while the other two slept. The main character must get rid of the hair on the bed sheet before others notice. What will make the day a disaster is the awfully bad mood he has because of the lack of sleep. In the evening, the main character feels dizzy again - preparing the poster for his presentation for the next day...
I will probably change the beginning of the first chapter, it just doesn't fit into the storyline. But I already have a good idea for that.
Lingua Romanica
Nothing terribly new, but still a step of significance: I have changed the singular nominative/vocative ending of the male declension to -u because Corsican and Sardinian still have it instead of -o like Italian and Spanish. Again, this fits more into my plan because the definite article for male Romanian words is "ul". Furthermore, Portuguese -o is spoken "u" (e.g. "pego" is pronounced "pegu").
As you see, there's still a long way to go. As you noticed, I changed the name of the language because there is no "common romance" equal for all areas of the former Roman Empire, but each of todays romance languages went more or less its own way. Instead of being "common", the Lingua Romanica will emphasize on Western-Romance areas (from Portugal to Italy).
Still, much of the grammar will be reverse-engeneered (or, let's say imported) from Italian, Spanish and what I can find about Vulgar Latin and Medieval Latin grammar, words will be created by the classic comparative method - comparing words of the most significant romance languages (and newly created Latin words).
Do you remember my Anti-ACTA song? With this language, ACTA will not be able to censor my work! And that's the "new Latin" that is mentioned in the song.
Wait, there's one more thing: I am also interested in calligraphy and design a handwriting style reminiscent of Francesco Petrarch's (actually Petrarca) handwriting that formed the base for our modern Antiqua-style typefaces (like Times New Roman). Actually, the "antique" (old) letters derive from the Carolingian Minuscule which is no older than 1,200 years, reaching back to Charlemagne. The Humanists thought the minuscule was coming straight from ancient Rome! LoL, what a mistake... Anyway, my calligraphic hand is called "Petrarquina" (and is still not looking satisfactory) in honor of the first Humanist, who paved the way for todays Italian - that's how the circle is completed.
I am planing two versions of it: a cursive, more relying on Petrarch's letters and a formal, complete with capitals, punctuation and accented letters.
iWizard
Now it happened: In the middle of the night, the main character transformed into a supersize chinchilla under the influence of the full moon, while one of his roommates becomes a vampire. So beware hanging out with rodents or bats for too long. ^^
There's another guy, awakened by screams - he is so feared he wants to flee out of the room, but the vampire blocks the door and wants to bite him. The main character hinders the vampire to do that, putting himself into danger - but the vampire smells something that tells him not to bite the main character. They finally go to bed.
The next morning, the previously feared guy left the room while the other two slept. The main character must get rid of the hair on the bed sheet before others notice. What will make the day a disaster is the awfully bad mood he has because of the lack of sleep. In the evening, the main character feels dizzy again - preparing the poster for his presentation for the next day...
I will probably change the beginning of the first chapter, it just doesn't fit into the storyline. But I already have a good idea for that.
Lingua Romanica
Nothing terribly new, but still a step of significance: I have changed the singular nominative/vocative ending of the male declension to -u because Corsican and Sardinian still have it instead of -o like Italian and Spanish. Again, this fits more into my plan because the definite article for male Romanian words is "ul". Furthermore, Portuguese -o is spoken "u" (e.g. "pego" is pronounced "pegu").
So the "straight case" (casus rectus) is (singular male) -u, (plural) -i; (female) -a, -ę; (neuter) -(consonant +) e, -es.
As you see, there's still a long way to go. As you noticed, I changed the name of the language because there is no "common romance" equal for all areas of the former Roman Empire, but each of todays romance languages went more or less its own way. Instead of being "common", the Lingua Romanica will emphasize on Western-Romance areas (from Portugal to Italy).
Still, much of the grammar will be reverse-engeneered (or, let's say imported) from Italian, Spanish and what I can find about Vulgar Latin and Medieval Latin grammar, words will be created by the classic comparative method - comparing words of the most significant romance languages (and newly created Latin words).
Do you remember my Anti-ACTA song? With this language, ACTA will not be able to censor my work! And that's the "new Latin" that is mentioned in the song.
So, stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
Wait, there's one more thing: I am also interested in calligraphy and design a handwriting style reminiscent of Francesco Petrarch's (actually Petrarca) handwriting that formed the base for our modern Antiqua-style typefaces (like Times New Roman). Actually, the "antique" (old) letters derive from the Carolingian Minuscule which is no older than 1,200 years, reaching back to Charlemagne. The Humanists thought the minuscule was coming straight from ancient Rome! LoL, what a mistake... Anyway, my calligraphic hand is called "Petrarquina" (and is still not looking satisfactory) in honor of the first Humanist, who paved the way for todays Italian - that's how the circle is completed.
I am planing two versions of it: a cursive, more relying on Petrarch's letters and a formal, complete with capitals, punctuation and accented letters.
Mittwoch, 7. März 2012
Apple-Event! Let's see what they released! (Written at the time of the keynote)
7:00 p.m. MEZ - It's beginning!
7:02 - Timothy Cook is on stage: "PC is no longer the center of digital world."
7:04 - Amsterdam retail store, quarter sales numbers...
7:12 - Apple promises TV shows in 1080p and a new Apple TV! iOS 5.1 coming shortly.
7:20 - Moving from Apple TV (available March 16) to iPad - reviewing: more often chosen than gaming consoles!
7:24 - Bashing Android! *hahaha* LoL
7:25 - We're going to see the new iPad in...
3
2
1
...
7:30 - NOW, THERE'S iPad 3! 264 ppi, new camera, 2048 x 1536 pixels on screen! And - OMiG - an Apple A5X processor! And it's a QUAD-core CPU! Of course, LTE is on board.
7:53 - No Siri for iPad, but you can still tell it texts to note down for you...
8:25 - Sorry for the delay, I'm eating pizza... WHAT?! THAT'S IT? Dios mio, the keynote is over...
So, where's other innovation?
Let's see... the iPad 2 will stay at a price of $399 WiFi-only, the new iPad is ranging from $499 to $829.
On the apps side, iMovie for iPad - new version, GarageBand for iPad - new version... iPhoto for iPad?! $9.99 - BRAND NEW. That's it, really. No Mac, no Apple television set.
Actually I'm a bit disappointed about the non-iPad hardware and software, but Apple can't handle everything on one eve. But the "new iPad" is called really only "the new iPad"... a bit confusing.
More from my side hopefully at the weekend.
Stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
7:02 - Timothy Cook is on stage: "PC is no longer the center of digital world."
7:04 - Amsterdam retail store, quarter sales numbers...
7:12 - Apple promises TV shows in 1080p and a new Apple TV! iOS 5.1 coming shortly.
7:20 - Moving from Apple TV (available March 16) to iPad - reviewing: more often chosen than gaming consoles!
7:24 - Bashing Android! *hahaha* LoL
7:25 - We're going to see the new iPad in...
3
2
1
...
7:30 - NOW, THERE'S iPad 3! 264 ppi, new camera, 2048 x 1536 pixels on screen! And - OMiG - an Apple A5X processor! And it's a QUAD-core CPU! Of course, LTE is on board.
7:53 - No Siri for iPad, but you can still tell it texts to note down for you...
8:25 - Sorry for the delay, I'm eating pizza... WHAT?! THAT'S IT? Dios mio, the keynote is over...
So, where's other innovation?
Let's see... the iPad 2 will stay at a price of $399 WiFi-only, the new iPad is ranging from $499 to $829.
On the apps side, iMovie for iPad - new version, GarageBand for iPad - new version... iPhoto for iPad?! $9.99 - BRAND NEW. That's it, really. No Mac, no Apple television set.
Actually I'm a bit disappointed about the non-iPad hardware and software, but Apple can't handle everything on one eve. But the "new iPad" is called really only "the new iPad"... a bit confusing.
More from my side hopefully at the weekend.
Stay hungry, foolish and tuned!
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