Conlanging can be overwhelming for even the most experienced conlangers—especially in the beginning stages of a new project when swirling swarms of ideas create a flurry of possibilities. I break the process down into daily prompts for a yearlong experience. One year, one conlang. Join me in making this a Conlang Year!
Pénéwehaŋú. Jošwìþútofwèwéti. Konàhúpéfóhopwiínnepe. “Let the apples cook until they are soft. Stir them occasionally.” I already had the transitive verb éhaŋe “to cook” in Nómàk’óla, and the first clause features its reflexive (intransitive) form: néwehaŋe. The “let them VERB” construction is formed with the imperative prefix and a specified subject. In this case, the subject…
Àsèwétipépílufakòŋkánellèkòáíttapippelèkòkáldemumma. Þihaápéfóhopwi. “Sprinkle the apples with cinnamon, allspice, and cardamom. And then stir.” This entry starts with a humdinger of a clause because it’s got three longer borrowed words all functioning as the object of the preposition kòŋ- (“with, using”). Like kánelli (“cinnamon”) and áíttapippele (“allspice”), cardamom is not native to Finland, so there is…
Àsỳfílèlómalinèkòtímjamipé’áse. Þetàŋóílsolàhópžèhèwínuvontpé’áse. “Add sprigs of rosemary and thyme. Or add 1/2 teaspoon of dried herbs.” Today’s entry was a fun one, requiring three new words and a handful of constructions I haven’t used yet (or at least not often). I extended the meaning of fíle “grass, blade of grass” to also mean “sprig” in the…
Àþúúkkoppépóttiiwešèwéti. “Drizzle syrup over the apples.” The word þúúkkoþo means “syrup” and is a compound that literally breaks down into “slow sap” (referring to its thicker density than sap is when initially collected). While Finland has maple trees, the sugar maple trees necessary for maple syrup are not native to the area, so the nisse…
Àŋúlaunèllíssuuppé’áse. “Add 1/4 cup of white sugar.” I had all the words I needed for today’s translation! That left me thinking about what other cooking- and holiday-related words I might want in Nómàk’óla. And I landed on ginger—one of my favorite spices to add to both savory and sweet dishes. With ginger not being native…
Àllímelassipépákkasìŋúlauno. Aáèkòèwétipéfóhopwi. “Measure 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Stir it in with the apples.” When creating measurement words, I had created a noun for roughly 1/4 cup: ŋúlauno, which comes from the word for “ladle” (which is an instrumental noun form built on the verb root meaning “to dip”). For “brown sugar”, I decided to…
Ànómispétólšítotehaŋe. Þihàháŋkpéžísìmí. “Put skillet on stove and turn to medium heat.” I needed a word for “stove” and decided to create the basic root ítoko for “stove” or “fireplace”—the kind of stove you wouldn’t necessarily cook on except to put something on top to warm up. To specify a stove for cooking, you use a…
Àsèwétipétólsìnómise. Àsólèšỳŋúènáþimpé’áse. “Place apples in skillet. Add two tablespoons of butter.” While this entry is a bit hefty, it consisted primarily of units I already had in the language. In fact, the only new word I needed was nómise “skillet, pan”, which is a compound of nófo “pot” and míse “short”. It delights me to…
Àkífèšèwétipépwéfèþú’o. “Peel and dice three apples.” I decided to create the root éti that originally referred to any tree fruit but then because apples were the most common, the word narrowed to refer to apples more specifically. Now if you want to refer to tree fruits in general, you use the reduplicated éčeti. This isn’t…
Àwéspépémežiíltu’o. Pénálaléþuŋwésìsólèšỳtúnti. “Wrap and chill the dough. Let it rest for at least two hours.” Today’s entry required quite a few new pieces in the language! I needed verbs for “wrap” and “chill”. For “wrap”, I created the root méé, meaning “blanket”, and then added the instrumental verbal derivation to create émee “to wrap, to…
