Conlangers

Get yourself some denim and make yourself a jonlang.

Description

Will Hodgkinson is looking for a conlang expert to create a language for a novel he is planning to write next year. In the context of the novel the conlang itself is fictional, created by one of the characters who uses it to write diary entries in it, and it serves as a kind of encryption method for both other characters of the novel and the readers themselves to crack, if they wish to do so.
The job itself consists of:

• Developing a full conlang with a 1000-word vocabulary and a complete grammatical description;
• Translating texts for the novel. This does not fall under the original compensation scheme and compensation for it will have to be negotiated between employer and applicant.

An orthography may be requested for the language at a later time. Compensation for it can be negotiated if the need arises.

Employer

Will Hodgkinson

Application Period

Closed due to reached deadline

Term

The employer is looking to start writing the novel itself in May 2016. The conlang is part of the preparatory work and should be ready before then. The employer is expecting the chosen applicant to set up a working schedule with regular updates in order to keep track of progress.

Compensation

$600 ($300 upfront, $300 on final delivery) for the language, grammar description and original lexicon. Compensation for translations and other additional work to be negotiated.

To Apply

Email – “at” – “dot” – to express your interest in the project. Examples of previous work are welcome.

Note: Please assume that comments left on this post will not be read by the employer.

The following begins the creation myth of the Tylnor translated from Umod:

Before all, there was only Mognokum (1). No thoughts rippled the essence of his great mind. He was the void, and nothing existed outside of him.

Time began when Mognokum became aware and when he started to take form. His limbs stretched. His hair grew from his body, and his horns sprouted and curved through space. Yet his eyes remained closed. Ages passed in contemplation as he grew in strength and size.

His eyes opened slowly and light shown from them. That first light piercing the void, and light and darkness came into being. Mognokum exhaled and space expanded around him. Again, he exhaled, and, again, the void expanded. Three times in all, Mognokum breathed the breath of life into the void, and yet his breath knew no form. His breath, he could see with his eyes of light, and yet it continued to have no form which he could touch. A desire rose up within his mind to use his hands and body to touch a form other than his own.

Long did he consider his desire, and the form which it should take. As he pondered this, his eyes perceived a form moving toward him from out of the void. It was a form like unto his own and yet different. As the form neared, it spoke to him:

“Galyluma,” she said (2): The first word ever uttered in the void.

Mognokum could not reply for his thoughts had not yet taken the form of words. Galyluma reached out her hand and touched the cheek of Mognokum with the back of her hand. Her fingers touched his lips, and Mognokum bellowed the second word ever uttered in the void:

“We are one.”(3)

Both Mognokum and Galyluma had eyes of light and slowly circled each other, seeing each other, slowly reaching out, softly touching, and retreating. For ages, they existed in this way, two beings in the void. They discovered love and trust and commitment.

Ages passed until Mognokum and Galyluma saw another form coming toward them out of the swirling breath of life. This form was both like and unlike each of them, but Galyluma was troubled at its approach.

Galyluma put her arms about Mognokum and held him tight. Mognokum held her in his powerful right arm and lowered his head, his horns pointed toward the approaching form.

The form’s horns were pointed, its long flowing hairs trailed behind it.

Mognokum uttered the third instance of words in the void:

“Who are you?”

The form was silent and motionless. Mognokum raised his horns.

The new form leaped across the void and grabbed Mognokum’s horns, throwing his head back. The form lowered its own sharp horns and ripped across Mognokum’s chest. Pain and anger arose in the void.

Mognokum released Galyluma. She spun away from him into the void crying his name. Mognokum bellowed with rage, his divine essence seeping into the void from the wound across his chest.

The newcomer leapt into the darkness of the void. Mognokum’s eyes flared with light, illuminating the fleeing form. Mognokum had no other thought than to catch the one who had wounded him. For a time, his mind forgot his beloved Galyluma…

Commentary

(1) Mognokum is the name traditionally given to the originator of all. It can be translated as First Divine: mognok = “first” um=a particle with various meanings but, in this case, it signifies the first, best, or paramount of something. In context, it can also mean “divine” “superior” “royal” etc.

(2) Note 1. There is discussion within the orthodox Tylnor community concerning whether Galyluma was born of the thoughts of Mognokum, out of his own breath of life, or whether Galyluma was co-existent in another part of the void, and breathed her own breath of life into the void. Those who contend the latter maintain that existence came forth from the intermingling of the two breaths of each deity.

(2) Note 2. Controversy surrounds the original words of Galyluma. In fact, some early manuscripts appear to have not Galyluma but Ngalyuman. This discrepancy is significant to the Tylnor and has had numerous treatises written about it. Galyluma can be interpreted as simply her name; however, Ngalyuman can be interpreted as “I am one who is divine” [Ngaly uman]. Even those who contend the correct reading is Ngalyuman still refer to her as Galyluma.

(3) In the best texts, this is actually one word: an inclusive first-person plural pronoun: ngorok (or in later manuscripts: ngrok)