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The Loquacious Lord Grimm

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Posts posted by The Loquacious Lord Grimm

    The nephilim language

    in Avernum Trilogy (2000-2002 original versions)

    Posted

    Quote:
    Originally written by Thralni, Nephil translators & co.:
    The nephilian grammar is online!

    Before you start to shout at me for doing a worthless job, take your time to go through all the explanations. Endings and postpositions and suffixes can be changed. I myself am contemplating on doing that. It is the basic structure of the language which I'm pround of.
    Very nice, Thralni.
    I like the use of cases.
    And I especially like the separation of animate and inanimate
    I am a bit confused about a few things (no, I'm not shouting):
    • Do you intend for the case system to encompass the entire grammatical structure for nouns, or are you going to be introducing other grammatical structures, such as prepositions?
    • You mention "Nephilian's" parallels to Greek and Latin cases. Both classical languages have an accusative case, specifically denoting the direct object. The closest you have to that is the terminative; and if I understand it correctly, it only works with transitive verbs. Is there something that I'm missing?
    • How do you get an inanimate nephil? or can you?

    Dikiyoba, call it more of a hobbyist's interest. I myself am a student of communication, and find such things interesting. My counterpart at Lenar Labs simply thinks that creating a form of spoken and written communication is fun. Of course, his only research into the construction of language was on Tolkien Elvish… laugh
    -Lord Grimm

    The nephilim language

    in Avernum Trilogy (2000-2002 original versions)

    Posted

    Sars Harvi, Thralni.

    Fellow developers of language have come to input their meager knolwedge.

    Depending upon where you are with the development of the "Nephilian" language, you may want to consider the following:

    What does the word "Nephil" mean? Is it simply a tranliteration (or an attempted transliteration, in light or your previous posts) into the common tongue, or a word in the common tongue used to describe this particular race? If it is a transliteration, why would they call themselves nephilim; what does it mean in their language, and what significance would it have in their culture?

    As has been observed by many in this string, language does not develop in a vaccum: it is influenced by the experiences of those who use it. Take for example, the modern usage of "gay", or Hamlet's exclamation of "get thee to a nunnery!" Different periods of time and regional colloquialisms will influence the evolution of a language. Changes may or may not occur.

    Consider the evolution of usage from "ducky" in the 1920s to the modern "cool".

    We speak, of course, from a communicative standpoint, not technical.

    Our greatest advice is that you keep the civilization of the Old Tongue in mind as you write the Old Tongue.

    Dor tefu Nosk (may the Three Factors (Fate, Fortune, and Time) be with you), Thralni.

    -Lord Grimm, speaking for himself and the Silent Assassin

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