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This Month's Posts: Graffito ·
Certified Mail ·
Befriending the "Traitorous" Translators ·
Pleading the Fith ·
Mottomatic ·
Site for Sore Eyes ·
Search and Ye Shall Find ·
Undue Influence ·
Tile Setting ·
Express Yourself ·
Neo Lights ·
Heavy Metal Ümlaüt ·
Introduzione di Mauro Baglieri ·
The Resourceful Aaron Morse ·
Top Down Processing ·
Click Here ·
It's Dead, Jim ·
Broken Link in the Chain of Foolishness
Next Month's Entries Graffito - 2/28/05 - 11:41 am Graffiti is one of my favorite neographies, since I use it all the time. I started using it on the Palm III and used it through a series of Palms. At one point, I even took handwritten notes using Graffiti, it was so ingrained into my brain. Graffiti is even supported on Windows Mobile devices (né PocketPC), where it is called "Block Letters" (sorry, Palm, I switched to a Dell Axim last year). To celebrate Graffiti, I created a Langmaker transliteration of it and added that graffito to the site.
Certified Mail - 2/28/05 - 9:57 amAaron Morse, editor and updater of the Resources directory, writes:A reminder to people submitting or updating entries on Langmaker! Please remember to proofread your entry, especially the URL. Even just one mistake and it won't work. If the URL is invalid, we can't be sure that the site exists.
Also, please include your e-mail address when it prompts you for one at the bottom of the page. If something is wrong or questionable, the members of the team can then get back to you and resolve it quickly, instead of having to wait for you to correct it or contact Langmaker about it. Your e-mail will not appear on the Langmaker site: it is simply so that we can get back to you and resolve any problems with your submission. Given the volume of spam out there, I certainly understand your reluctance to pass on your e-mail address, but only two members of the Langmaker team receive this address (me and the editor or updater of the directory you're submitting to). Thanks to all of you for your contributions: this site would be ten times smaller without your help!
Befriending the "Traitorous" Translators - 2/27/05 - 12:35 pmWhile I've had people ask for permission to translate parts of Langmaker.com, and have always granted it, the only thing ever completed is a Hungarian translation of Gymnastics with Onomastics.
It is hard work to do translations! For those who really interested, I would encourage them to translate the Model Language newsletters first.
I will obviously link to any translations. Anyone who wants is welcome to register and host langmaker.br, langmaker.de, etc. and translate as much of my site as they wish.
Pleading the Fith - 2/23/05 - 8:32 pmFith has recently inspired much commentary on CONLANG-L. This is a coincidence, since after not touching Fith in nine years I've recently been expanding it in preparation for participating in a translation relay this weekend. Out of the messages have grown two good articles: LIFO Introduction, by Mark Reed, explaining the basics of stack-based grammar (the discussion of Fith assumes familiarity with stacks, which are now introduced properly), and Shallow Fith, an interesting Fithian-human interlanguage proposed by Jörg Rhiemeier.
Mottomatic - 2/22/05 - 7:35 pmThe home page now randomly displays the Langmaker Motto in different conlangs (look on the right side under the Random Conlang box). The Motto field is a translation of "Share the Secret Vice - Invent a language!" One of my favorite translations so far is the Mikiana translation, Shennen ten sykra vissa - Consten yen langana.
Thanks to some of the folks on the Langmaker 2 mailing list for providing the initial ten translations. To have your language included, update its profile and fill in the Motto field.
Site for Sore Eyes - 2/21/05 - 11:49 amI'm so glad that I'm running a site feedback survey because I never realized how many people disliked the site's design and found it hard to navigate, as the following answers show.
What do you most dislike about my blog/journal/site?
- "The home page is garish and awkward. I would like to see it more purposely designed and easier to grasp the purpose of the site for a first-time viewer."
- "The layout/graphics. They're pretty good but not good enough."
- "The busy three-column layout and anti-eye-catching color scheme."
- "The design is a bit... hmmm..."
- "The layout. The update news should be on top of the page. Something should be done about these tables with the default border everywhere. More framing and more space everywhere might help too. Navigation is tough, and sometimes the link bar on the left side of the page is covered by a graphic or ad (Though this might just be my browser playing with me)."
- "Front page seems cluttered."
Before we gather your demographic information, do you have any final comments on the site or this survey?
- "Keep up the good work... If you can find the time and the power, a site rehaul is long overdue."
- "I forgot to put this earlier. I think you should do a new layout, if at all possible. As shown by Websiteoptimization.com, Langmaker.com takes ages to load on dialup connections, plus I don't find the design to be that appealing. When I first visited Langmaker.com, it took me a long time to figure out where I could find the conlang index, etc. It's improved a bunch, but could use some renovation."
- "Please revise the site's navigational layout. It's rather hard to find things in the state it's in right now."
- "There's so much info on it! It's hard to find things sometimes -- I had to really dig last week ... but I'm not sure, offhand, how I'd recommend reorganizing it."
- "Navigation could be a lot easier. It's sometimes hard for me to find what I'm looking for if I go hunting for something specific."
The new design unveiled today is an attempt to address these comments. To clarify the navigation, I've restructured the directories and added a more » link; every page now has a link to a "parent" page under the Langmaker logo. I like concrete suggestions, so go take the survey! If you already have, you can contact me with further ideas for improving the new design.
Search and Ye Shall Find - 2/20/05 - 4:22 pmIn the survey I asked, "What do you most dislike about my blog/journal/site?" Some responses:- "The fact that finding anything in specific is nearly impossible. I love the content, but your site design needs a little work."
- "It's rather hard to find things in the state it's in right now."
- "Sometimes it is difficult to find a specific language on this site."
Part of this is just the fact that there are now over 4,000 pages on the site: it's hard to provide short, convenient paths to all of them. For now, I have added an advanced search capability. If you have specific ideas on how to improve site navigation, please contact me.
Undue Influence - 2/19/05 - 9:20 pmTo the survey question, "What information were you hoping to find but didn't?", someone wrote, "It's difficult for me to find languages that are inspired by certain other languages. For instance, if I'm looking for English-based conlangs, it's difficult to find them without scrolling through each individual language."
That's a great point. I've added a new index, Conlangs by Natural Language Influences, to remedy this. It doesn't list every natlang influence, just those of the most prominent natural languages (those with two-letter ISO codes).
If anyone out there really wants it expanded to three-letter ISO codes, then they will need to do some data formatting to assist me; contact me for details.
Tile Setting - 2/18/05 - 7:38 pmThanks to all of you who have completed the Site Feedback Survey -- if you haven't had a chance to take it yet, please do so now. I really appreciate the feedback, especially the following comments:- "Keep up the good work... If you can find the time and the power, a site rehaul is long overdue."
- [What do you most dislike...?] "The layout / graphics. They're pretty good but not good enough."
As a small step towards a re-haul I've replaced the old directory graphics with the following:| Legend | Directory | Entries |
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 | Conlangs | 1,312 |  | Neologisms | 1,636 |  | Babel Texts | 365 |  | Neographies | 173 |  | Resources | 167 |  | Books-Media | 181 |  | Site News | 252 | | | Total | 4,086 |
Using the Scrabble piece for "conlangs" was inspired by a Mia Soderquist comment about her using Scrabble tiles for random word generation: to me, the image suggests word building and by extension conlanging. The Chinese red ink and wax suggests exotic writing or neographies to me. I've placed large images of each icon on the home page/introduction to each directory.
Since I've now made it easy for me to update the directory icons, if you want to come up with a set of images to signify these topics, I'll rotate them occasionally. The images would need to be 32 pixels wide. For details, contact me.
Express Yourself - 2/15/05 - 11:14 pm
Neo Lights - 2/11/05 - 4:36 pmEthan Dickey is the new Editor and Updater of Neographies, as well as the Updater of Neologisms. Welcome, Ethan!
Heavy Metal Ümlaüt - 2/10/05 - 5:06 pm
Introduzione di Mauro Baglieri - 2/09/05 - 4:42 pmPlease say "Ciao" to Mauro Baglieri, our new Editor of Neologisms (Redattore dei Neologismi). He's been processing, research and formatting about 40 neologisms a week since the beginning of the year.
| Name/Alias | Mauro Baglieri |
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| Site | https://pagina1.altervista.org |
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| Nationality | Italian |
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| Country Lived In | Italy |
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| Natlangs Spoken | Italian, English, French |
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| Your Conlangs | Pig Latin |
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Why You're
Helping
Langmaker | I am an ESL [English as a Second Language] teacher, and I love languages, and I believe that the Web is a great way to learn from colleagues and inspire language awareness. |
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The Resourceful Aaron Morse - 2/08/05 - 4:22 pmI'd like to introduce Aaron Morse, who has been acting as the Resource Editor & Updater since the beginning of the year, as well as a Conlang Scout. Thanks for your help, Aaron!
| Name/Alias | Aaron Morse |
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| Site | https://artlangs.com |
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| Natlangs Spoken | English, German |
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| Your Conlangs | Diarenye, Kurash, Sialy |
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Past Contributions
to Langmaker | I don't remember all of them. I've submitted a conlang, five neologisms, seven resources and a book (Eragon). |
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Why You're
Helping
Langmaker | "Because it's such an amazing resource for conlanging. Because I will enjoy keeping it updated, and because I constantly use it when I'm conlanging." |
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Top Down Processing - 2/06/05 - 6:55 pmKatherine Hudson wrote, "I would think that because Sindarin is equally intricate and certainly quite unique from Quenya (especially with regards to phonological phenomena such as consonant mutations and vowel changes), captivating the interest of linguists and language enthusiasts of all parts of the world, it would be necessary to give it equal mention next to Quenya in a 'Top Ten List'."
EEFanSite wrote, "I think Quenya should be on top. It's much more better than Esperanto, even though it's not finished."
Thanks for the feedback. I'm standing by the list for now. I do occasionally think of bumping Amman-Iar and Talossan in favor of Verdurian and a language to be named later, but I'm not quite ready to do that yet. And it has been nice recently to hear of renewed interest in Talossan.
Click Here - 2/05/05 - 6:46 pmGoldDust53kt writes, "I'm having a hard time finding information of the Khoisan language family. I'm interested in the types of clicks the languages have and how they sound. Also, could there be such a thing as vowel click?"
There is no such thing as a vowel click. I haven't found any Khoisan sound files, but click here for recordings of the five IPA clicks: bilabial, dental, alveolar, palatoalveolar and alveolar lateral.
It's Dead, Jim - 2/03/05 - 11:46 pmStar Trek: Enterprise was canceled today. It was the most linguistically interesting of the five different series, with a Universal Translator that was sometimes a tool for the onboard linguist rather than a Magic Box. I'll miss it, because next season would have been about the founding of the Federation (funny, that's what I thought the first season was supposed to lead into). Sigh.
Links:
Broken Link in the Chain of Foolishness - 2/02/05 - 11:13 pmMuch recent correspondence about broken links. Unfortunately I've been swamped ever since my second hard drive crash and am only slowly catching up.
After the crash, I added a 129th post-apocalyptic rodent that would use the disk less often by comparing the size of a regenerated page to its previous size before writing it to the hard drive. Unfortunately, I foolishly expected that if the page didn't exist its size would be returned as zero -- an error resulted instead, and new files weren't being uploaded. I foolishly didn't test this part of the code (it worked as intended for modified files) but just went live with it.
As I said, I've been swamped. If not for my new editorial staff (introductions to follow), we would have had no new headlines these past weeks. Anyway, the 130th post-apocalyptic rodent is happily spinning and has just uploaded 116 files that were missed. Thanks to everyone for their encouragement!
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