Guidelines for posting conlangs (read first)
Posted: 11 May 2010 08:13
Before you present your conlang, bear these in mind:
1. Make sure there is actually some phonology, grammar or distinctiviness of the language to be posted about.
2. The term conlang, on this board at least, refers to an actual artificial language; just copying the grammar of english (or some other language) and replacing the words results in what is called a cipher. You can post ciphers and other types of playing with natural languages, but please post them in the Linguistics & Natlangs forum.
3. Provide phonological information about your language. If possible, use IPA or X-SAMPA. If not, you may describe the phonological values of characters by comparing them to pronunciations in English or other languages, but bear in mind these may be considered ambigous (if possible, specify a dialect, etc).
(the above may not apply when you only specifically want to show a certain distinctive non-phonological element of the language, e.g. morphology or syntax)
4. Try to express yourself in a civilised manner (e.g. use proper capitalisation and punctuation). This is a language forum, not a dating chat.
In addition to the above, if you're new here, please take hints from other members of the board if they try to teach you something, without taking offense. Not everyone must have full linguistic knowledge when first attempting conlanging, but wanting to improve is a very nice human feature.
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Addendum: And if you aren't new here, try to present your hints and criticisms to those that are in a way that makes it as easy as possible for them not to take offense. ;) Don't bite the newbies. If you politely criticize someone and they decide to take offense and start spewing flames in your direction and whatnot… Well, don't bite them anyway. We don't want any flamewars here. If someone starts to start one, or otherwise posts offensive material, notify me or one of the moderators, and we'll take care of it. And this, of course, applies to all forums, not just Conlangs.
1. Make sure there is actually some phonology, grammar or distinctiviness of the language to be posted about.
2. The term conlang, on this board at least, refers to an actual artificial language; just copying the grammar of english (or some other language) and replacing the words results in what is called a cipher. You can post ciphers and other types of playing with natural languages, but please post them in the Linguistics & Natlangs forum.
3. Provide phonological information about your language. If possible, use IPA or X-SAMPA. If not, you may describe the phonological values of characters by comparing them to pronunciations in English or other languages, but bear in mind these may be considered ambigous (if possible, specify a dialect, etc).
(the above may not apply when you only specifically want to show a certain distinctive non-phonological element of the language, e.g. morphology or syntax)
4. Try to express yourself in a civilised manner (e.g. use proper capitalisation and punctuation). This is a language forum, not a dating chat.
In addition to the above, if you're new here, please take hints from other members of the board if they try to teach you something, without taking offense. Not everyone must have full linguistic knowledge when first attempting conlanging, but wanting to improve is a very nice human feature.
---
Addendum: And if you aren't new here, try to present your hints and criticisms to those that are in a way that makes it as easy as possible for them not to take offense. ;) Don't bite the newbies. If you politely criticize someone and they decide to take offense and start spewing flames in your direction and whatnot… Well, don't bite them anyway. We don't want any flamewars here. If someone starts to start one, or otherwise posts offensive material, notify me or one of the moderators, and we'll take care of it. And this, of course, applies to all forums, not just Conlangs.
