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Anyone interested in critiquing my conlang?



Let me just begin by saying that I am amazed at how deep many RomConLang
members delve into their craft.  I am a foreign language nut (I speak
Spanish and French and am now teaching myself Italian) and am very schooled
in parts-of-speech terminology and very basic/introductory linguistic
terminology (i.e. phonetics, syntax, inflections).  I also have an amateur
yet avid interest in etymology and something I call comparative linguistics.
Compared to most eighteen-year-olds, I believe I am significantly more
advanced when it comes to foreign language studies and linguistics.  But you
guys really give me a run for my money!  These latest discussions about a
Romance family tree and the reason for the deus --> dios transformation
could not have been more up my alley!  Most of you are so knowledgeable and
skilled at deductive reasoning!

 

Okay, that having been said, let me try to get to the point of this message.
On top of being a foreign language nut, I am also an aspiring writer.  These
two hobbies came together quite nicely when I began developing the idea for
an epic fantasy in which warlocks/witches use their own language to cast
spells.  I thought it would be very interesting if this language was a
Romance language.  Thus was born the Brujeric language.

 

Brujeric is, I think, somewhat different among romconlangs in that it is not
descended directly from Latin at all.  Instead it is a roughly equal blend
of two of Latin's natural descendants (French and Spanish).  This is largely
because I may be the only member of this group who, while he knows three
Latin-descendant languages, does not know a word of Latin itself.

 

A basic overview of Brujeric: Almost all of its phonetics is borrowed from
Spanish, with a few distinctions thrown in that will hopefully give the
language a unique."flavor," if you will.  Grammar is about evenly split
between Spanish and French.  Most of Brujeric vocabulary is French derived,
usually adapted to fit the very Iberian phonetic system (For example,
"much/many" in Brujeric is "bocupo/bocupos" from French "beaucoup.").
Wherever I can I also use my combined knowledge of French and Spanish as
well as English derivations to surmise an "estimation" of what the original
Latin word was and then use some derivation of that estimation in Brujeric.

 

I currently have 12 pages of linguistic information and basic vocabulary.  I
have, to date, determined such things as pronunciation, formal titles (i.e.
Mr., Mrs., etc.), all cases of pronouns, familial terms, common names,
interrogative words (i.e. how, when, where, when, why), regular verb
conjugation (in the indicative mood), and the inflected forms of each of the
five "primary irregular verbs" (what I call the first five verbs most of us
learn in a foreign language class): estir (to be), avir (to have), alir (to
go), faicer (to do; to make), and dir (to say; to tell).  I will probably
very soon be contemplating the subjunctive tenses.

 

I am quite proud of the work I've done so far, but I also crave feedback.  I
am not quite ready to launch a website (largely because I'm not sure if my
computer has the proper software), so I'm offering to e-mail the 12 page
outline of Brujeric (in Microsoft Word format) to anyone who's interested in
taking a look at it, analyzing it, and/or offering their honest opinion or
suggestions (Be not shy.  I take criticism like a saint.)  Someone who has
at least some knowledge of French and/or Spanish would be most qualified,
but anyone in this group is welcome to take a look.  In turn, your feedback
will be much appreciated.

 

Thanks, 

 

Greg

 

 



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