The player ahead of you will send you two things:
- An audio recording in their conlang
- A grammar of their conlang, which should include
- a phonology section
- a traditional "grammar" section that details relevant morphology and syntax (please be judicious)
- an English-Conlang dictionary that contains
the words found in the text, homophones, and near-homophonesthe words found in the text in a form sufficient to decipher the text, as well as, optionally homophones and near homophones
- an audio translation of said text into your conlang
- a description of the necessary grammar to gloss said text, containing a phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon necessary to translate the text
Expected turnaround time is a week, which is longer than a typical relay. This is a soft cap. I understand the modality of the relay may make it more difficult to translate, however, please try not to stretch it too much. Two weeks should be a very reasonable time to finish the task. If you foresee that you have a very busy or stressful week before your turn begins, or shortly thereafter, kindly give a heads-up in time and we can shift you to a later position. If you run through two full weeks without completing it and there is no sign that it will be done very soon after, your turn will be passed over to avoid the relay stalling.
This is an inaugural/preliminary relay, so I do expect some coordination difficulties. The base text is shorter than the typical relay text to compensate. Please try to work together to limit the extent of such problems.
Finally, some recommendations based on past relays, and expected difficulties:
While there are many types of sound files that do exist, please try to be reasonable, and accommodative if someone cannot open the audio file. Vocaroo provides good audio recording/hosting services.
You do not have to record the audio file in one go. Within reason, splicing together multiple takes is okay. Please be reasonable with this.
If you have vocal dysphoria, it is okay to 'pitch' the audio file up or down so as to better fit your identity. Please try to maintain the original speed of the audio.
If you cannot for the life of you find a word from the audiofile in the lexicon you've been given, don't hesitate to message your predecessor, using a timestamp, or your best approximation of what the word is. No-one is infallible and we forget random words all the time. :)
Once you have translated your given text into English, consider doing a quick rewrite to smooth over any awkward phrasings or non sequiturs. Not only will this improve the coherency of your English translation and make it easier to render in your language (and later to decipher!), but it will also help the process of Chinese Whispers along!
I hope to begin the relay sometime during the week of September 4th - 8th, and hope to finalize the participant list at that time. If there are a large number of sign ups, multiple rings may be made. My desire is to provide, alongside the written English translations to show change, an audio file with the translations to show the changes, so the optional audio English translation would be much appreciated. It is not mandatory. The English text is mandatory regardless of if an audio file is provided
Participants:
- Qwed117 - HTAP — Sept 6th
- Loglorn - Suave Sept 6th — Sept 12th
- Üdj - Laakitlantu (preference for earlier) Sept 12th — Sept 25
- Yrusia - Stách'í Góónína (preference for earlier) Sept 25 — Oct 12
- Kiwikami - Alál Oct 12 — Oct 30
- Mándinrùh - Atili (NB: switched with Jackk) Nov 3 — Nov 18
- VaptuantaDoi - Gkǀx’åƛa Nov 18 — Dec 9
- Jackk - Borlish Dec 9 — Dec 15
- DzêtaRedfang - Atruozan Dec 15 — Dec 19
- Hand of Kyal - Taara Dec 19 — Jan 12
Znex - Yorkish Jan 12 — pass Apr 18- Conlang-creature - Verlonqa Apr 20 —
Let me know if you have any suggestions. Have fun!