Vreleksá

Tolkien_Freak · Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 4:35 am Post subject:

So in Hellcat, you would be able to change the gender of a name based on whether or not the person was still alive? Can I see an example? How do you mark it if you don't know?

achemel · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 556 Location: up for debate

I would love to give you an example but I haven't quite figured out how to romanize the phonology; there's a good bit of screaming, so it's proving to be a bit difficult. Wink

I'll be sure to put plenty of examples down when I eventually post it under conlangs. And yes, gender does change depending on being alive or not; or if one was turned to stone, one would then become inanimate (but not dead, as rocks are thought to be somewhat sentient; also, rocks that are thrown by someone or falling in a landslide are considered to be temporarily animate or alive, and their gender changes accordingly).
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I have some small knowledge of:
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I would like to learn:
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Main conlangs:
ddamachel, tadvaradcel, ra cel, lashel, hemnalg, nomah

eldin raigmore · Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 5:55 pm Post subject:

achemel · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 556 Location: up for debate

Well, in the case of the hellcats themselves, they take both an animate and a color identification because color helps them distinguish each other from everything else in their world, and they consider themselves to be alive and animate. Getting a tan wouldn't affect color gender, since it's mostly just becoming a darker shade of an already-identified color, but dying your hair (especially a wild color like hot pink) could cause some confusion and use of another gender for you by others. Plants actually are thought to be animate because there is never less than a breeze moving through them, and so they must be alive. Dead plants, because they look so different and no longer move, are considered to be completely separate, as dead things.

Rocks are thought to be inanimate (or, alive but not moving), but dirt is considered to be dead. Metal is dead also. But generally, things that never were alive fall into the dead or inanimate categories depending on whether the hellcats think they are sentient or not.

There are provisions for dead gods and inanimate gods; for example, there is an inanimate god who inhabits a mountain, and a number of gods have died in their near-constant celestial wars. In the case of death, one's gender goes from animate to dead and non-sentient.

Green is associated with plants but it doesn't constitute its own gender. Your van (which sounds awesome) would probably be identified as inanimate, since a hellcat wouldn't know if it was alive or dead but would think of a plant, and likely neuter.

Any shade or hue of red is identified as "red" and anything associated with it; blood is animate when it comes from an animate creature, red paint is dead when it dries. Pink is considered animate because it's so bright it must be alive. Brown, yellow, orange, and any shade or hue of them are classified under "tan," and shades of gray are identified with "black."

When a color doesn't really belong to the groups "black" "tan" "white" or "red" (like green), then animate/inanimate/dead/god are turned to. If something is so strange it doesn't fit anything at all, it automatically gets the god-gender, because it must be that fantastic.
_________________
I have some small knowledge of:
English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, French
I would like to learn:
Italian, Norwegian, Gaelic
Main conlangs:
ddamachel, tadvaradcel, ra cel, lashel, hemnalg, nomah

killerken · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 134 Location: Florida

I am male, and Fiỉðâs does not have any genders.
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eldin raigmore · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 9:50 pm Post subject:

If a language doesn't have any genders, does that mean you couldn't use a mimeograph or xerographic copier etc. in it? Or, how could you reproduce a text in it?
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Hemicomputer · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 610 Location: Calgary, Alberta

eldin raigmore · Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:33 pm Post subject:

achemel · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 556 Location: up for debate

killerken · Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 134 Location: Florida

That makes me want to join the secret police!
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Kiri · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Latvia/Italy

I'm reading this and laughing! Smile

Vaijerīna has a sort of neuter gender but there is also a masculine gender opportunity, if you want to accent the male-ness of something (that is usually used on living creatures who actually HAVE a gender.) Also this sort of distinguishment only appears in singular form.
Dvarhrih has no genders whatsoever, but there is a possibility to use some sort of an adjective, if there's a special need to it.

Yes, and I'm still a male - and proud of it.

eldin raigmore · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:20 pm Post subject:

Hemicomputer · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 610 Location: Calgary, Alberta

achemel · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 556 Location: up for debate

@ Hemicomputer: THAT is a very interesting idea! Methinks I like it much.

I have a race of shapeshifting creatures which actually grow and separate from their parent's back and thus are born to be just like the parent, but upon maturing a bit they get to choose how they want to appear and what gender to maintain. Also they can change shape, which I often wish I could do. (^_^) And take pictures with my eyes... that would be awesome.
_________________
I have some small knowledge of:
English, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Spanish, French
I would like to learn:
Italian, Norwegian, Gaelic
Main conlangs:
ddamachel, tadvaradcel, ra cel, lashel, hemnalg, nomah

eldin raigmore · Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:21 pm Post subject:

achemel · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 556 Location: up for debate

twix93 · Joined: 23 Jul 2009 Posts: 57 Location: England

I'm male and Isimal has no genders, I avoid it when it comes to conlangs.

kyonides · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 301

Kexyana has the 3 typical genders, male, female and neutral / epicene. My next conlang would have 3, too, for animate, inanimate and pseudoanimate (for machinery + PC's).
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Hemicomputer · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 610 Location: Calgary, Alberta

UPDATE ON GENDER

It's not marked in the language, but the Drumu have (depending how you look at it) about four genders. They still have two main sexes (they are humans), but the gender roles in their society are assigned at a certain age without regard for the child's sex. So, you could analyse this as there being two non-sex-based genders, or four separate genders created by overlappings of role with sex. That last would be sort of like what the Bugis people have, but without the option of being a bissu. Either analysis works; it depends on the context and the time period and whether you look at a large city or a more rural area. And of course I haven't gotten all the bugs worked out yet.
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Kiri · Joined: 13 Jun 2009 Posts: 471 Location: Latvia/Italy

I realise this is some serious necromancing but oh well... Very Happy

I'm thinking about having an unusual grammatical gender system in a conlang. And I need your oppinion on it.

How about having three distinctions that combine. Everything is either:
Hot or Cold;
Sharp or Blunt;
Light or Dark;
therefore a gender marking would be HSL (e.g. fire), or CSL (e.g. a cold knife), etc.

What do you think?