Category: Learn/Brainstorm/Try

Goal: Write an original text appropriate for your speakers and their world Note: You will be translating this text into your language. Tip: If you are developing a writing system, keep this text shorter. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Most of the prompts this month target two major tasks: a writing system (if you are developing one)…

Goal: Consider if you want to create storytelling-specific features Note: Genre-specific features can include grammar, word choice, and text structure. Tip: These features can reflect how your speakers share stories. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Consider if you want to create features in your language that are specific to storytelling, such as a narrative tense that only…

Goal: Brainstorm ways your speakers will share texts Note: Consider if a writing system is appropriate for your speakers. Tip: Explore different writing systems, including existing ones you might adapt to your conlang. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Think about your speakers and their world and how they would share information. Will they have written texts? If…

Goal: Translate the final section of the text Note: Double-check nouns and verbs, especially, making sure they are inflected as needed. Tip: A quick spot-check on the previous sections can get you ready for today’s work. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Translate the final section of the text. It can help to do a quick spot-check on…

Goal: Translate the third section of the text Note: Be mindful of any grammatical features you need to incorporate. Tip: Keep up the good work and get ready for the final push! Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Keep going with your translation, tackling the third section of the text. Be mindful of grammatical features that need to…

Goal: Translate the second section of the text Note: Keep looking for areas where you might shift wordings to better fit your language. Tip: If a section is harder than you anticipated, you can change up how you divided the text. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Today’s goal is to translate the second section of the text.…

Goal: Divide the text into four sections and translate the first Note: Put together all your foundational work and smooth out the translation as you go. Tip: The sections of translations don’t need to be of equal length. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try First, take a moment to divide the text into four sections—you will tackle one…

Goal: Select an appropriate short text to translate Note: Start with an existing text to take your language out for a “text drive.” Tip: You can take inspiration from past conlang relays! Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try It’s time to take your language out for a “text drive”! Find a short text you want to translate into…

Goal: Consider what verbs are allowed in quotative constructions Note: Some languages allow more flexible quoting verb options. Tip: Quoting verb variety can be genre-dependent. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Today’s goal is to consider whether you want to allow more flexible quoting verb options within your quotative constructions. In some languages, very few verbs participate in…

Goal: Brainstorm ways to distinguish direct from indirect speech Note: You can consider verb choice, subordinator(s), and grammatical features. Tip: These can be distinguished in the quotative and/or the reported speech. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Today’s goal is to explore and brainstorm strategies specifically for distinguishing direct from indirect speech. One option is not to distinguish…