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- # Panglossia
- ## Goals
- The purpose of this project is to produce phrasebooks in computer-generated languages
- to add flavor to role-playing games or other media.
- ## Anti-goals
- This project does not aim to produce comprehensive grammars, dictionaries, or other
- resources for learning or using the generated languages. The goal is to generate just
- enough of the language for it to be plausible and feel like it has some historical depth.
- ## User persona
- A dungeon master (henceforth, "the DM") who is preparing an encounter with NPCs from
- a culture different from the PCs' culture, and wants the NPCs to have their own
- language.
- ## Proposed approach
- - In order to provide a feeling of verisimilitude and make the language immediately
- usable by the DM, the output of `pangloss` is a phrasebook. A set of stock phrases in
- English are translated into the target language. Since each English phrase can be parsed
- and tagged by hand, this approach obviates the need for the program to parse or interpret
- English text.
- ### Constructing the Phrasebook
- - generate a phonology.
- - How many vowels are there? A/I/U or A/E/I/O/U?
- - Are there diphthongs?
- - Does length distinguish vowels?
- - What contrasts between consonants are there? How many points of articulation? Is there a voicing distiction? Aspiration? Glottalization? Palatalization?
- - What is the syllable structure like?
- - What sounds are most frequent?
- - generate basic grammar rules
- - What's the word order among verb, subject, and object?
- - What's the word order among noun, adjective, numeral, quantifier, article, prepositional phrase, and relative clause?
- - Is there grammatical gender? Masc/Fem, M/F/Neuter, Animate/Inan., or something else?
- - Is there grammatical number? Singular/Dual/Trial/Plural/Paucal?
- - What constituents of the sentence must agree? Is agreement by gender, number, or both?
- - How are cases marked? Subject/Object, Ergative/Absolutive, Trigger, some kind of exotic theta-role marking?
- - Where are cases marked? IIRC, Swahili marks them on the verb, by adding affixes that agree in gender with the noun constituents of the sentence.
- - Are there prepositions, postpositions, or case affixes for marking oblique roles?
- - What tenses/aspects/moods are distinguished?
- - generate root words in an ancient form of the language
- - More or fewer syllables may be required per root depending on the number of possible syllables in the language.
- - For each sentence in the phrasebook, choose a *phrasing*. I.e. how does the language translate this abstract
- conceptual structure into words?
- - For example, in English we say "I like my pet axolotl". Spanish using a different phrasing: "My pet axolotl pleases me." Irish uses yet another: "My pet axolotl is good for me."
- - Having a variety of phrasings in the language model makes it less likely that the resulting language will
- look like a word-for-word translation of English.
- - Build the sentences from the ancient roots, inflecting them appropriately with grammatical affixes.
- - Apply sound changes to the ancient sentences to modernize them.
- - Write the resulting sentences in a quasi-phonetic transcription.
- ## Priorities
- MVP: generate a phonology and some roots; do a morpheme-by-morpheme translation of the English text.
- The phonology can just be letter frequencies + syllable structure.
- # Toponyms
- ...
- # Greetings
- Hello.
- Greetings.
- Many greetings.
- I greet you.
- Welcome.
- You are welcome.
- # Introductions
- I am a warrior/priest/musician/poet/wizard/traveler/alchemist
- And you?
- Who are you?
- Are you a warrior/priest/musician/poet/wizard/traveler/alchemist
- What is your business with us?
- Why do you seek us?
- Why do you seek me?
- Whence do you come?
- Whither are you going?
- # Lost
- What is this place?
- Where does this road lead?
- We are lost.
- Which way to ____?
- # In Battle
- Hold positions!
- Wait for my command!
- Attack!
- Help us!
- Save us!
- Someone hear me!
- Can anyone hear me?
- Where are the soldiers?
- Fall back!
- Kill them!
- # Gratitude
- Thanks.
- Thank you.
- Many thanks.
- You have my thanks.
- The bards will sing your praises!
- # Party
- I like this song.
- That was a good poem.
- This is a good drink.
- Bring us drinks!
- Bring us more meat!
- Come eat with us!
- Come drink with us!
- This tastes like blood.
- How do you eat this?
- Are you supposed to swallow them whole?
- I have a headache.
- Where is the bathroom?
- # Emo
- Forever.
- They are gone.
- I am sorry.
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