Information Entropy of Constructed Languages Megan Crossing
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A Brief Introduction to Constructed Languages
A Brief Introduction to Constructed Languages An essay by Laurier Rochon Piet Zwart Institute : June 2011 3750 words Abstract The aim of this essay will be to provide a general overview of what is considered a "constructed language" (also called conlang, formalized language or artificial language) and explore some similarities, differences and specific properties that set these languages apart from natural languages. This essay is not meant to be an exhaustive repertoire of all existing conlangs, nor should it be used as reference material to explain or dissect them. Rather, my intent is to explore and distill meaning from particular conlangs subjectively chosen for their proximity to my personal research practice based on empirical findings I could infer from their observation and brief use. I will not tackle the task of interpreting the various qualities and discrepancies of conlangs within this short study, as it would surely consist of an endeavour of its own. It should also be noted that the varying quality of documentation available for conlangs makes it difficult to find either peer-reviewed works or independent writings on these subjects. As a quick example, many artistic languages are conceived and solely used by the author himself/herself. This person is obviously the only one able to make sense of it. This short study will not focus on artlangs, but one would understand the challenge in analyzing such a creation: straying away from the beaten path affords an interesting quality to the work, but also renders difficult a precise analytical study of it. In many ways, I have realized that people involved in constructing languages are generally engaging in a fringe activity which typically does not gather much attention - understandably so, given the supremacy of natural languages in our world. -
Hergé and Tintin
Hergé and Tintin PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:32:26 UTC Contents Articles Hergé 1 Hergé 1 The Adventures of Tintin 11 The Adventures of Tintin 11 Tintin in the Land of the Soviets 30 Tintin in the Congo 37 Tintin in America 44 Cigars of the Pharaoh 47 The Blue Lotus 53 The Broken Ear 58 The Black Island 63 King Ottokar's Sceptre 68 The Crab with the Golden Claws 73 The Shooting Star 76 The Secret of the Unicorn 80 Red Rackham's Treasure 85 The Seven Crystal Balls 90 Prisoners of the Sun 94 Land of Black Gold 97 Destination Moon 102 Explorers on the Moon 105 The Calculus Affair 110 The Red Sea Sharks 114 Tintin in Tibet 118 The Castafiore Emerald 124 Flight 714 126 Tintin and the Picaros 129 Tintin and Alph-Art 132 Publications of Tintin 137 Le Petit Vingtième 137 Le Soir 140 Tintin magazine 141 Casterman 146 Methuen Publishing 147 Tintin characters 150 List of characters 150 Captain Haddock 170 Professor Calculus 173 Thomson and Thompson 177 Rastapopoulos 180 Bianca Castafiore 182 Chang Chong-Chen 184 Nestor 187 Locations in Tintin 188 Settings in The Adventures of Tintin 188 Borduria 192 Bordurian 194 Marlinspike Hall 196 San Theodoros 198 Syldavia 202 Syldavian 207 Tintin in other media 212 Tintin books, films, and media 212 Tintin on postage stamps 216 Tintin coins 217 Books featuring Tintin 218 Tintin's Travel Diaries 218 Tintin television series 219 Hergé's Adventures of Tintin 219 The Adventures of Tintin 222 Tintin films -
HARD-TO-REMEMBER NAMES THAN a RUSSIAN NOVEL” — Special Names, Their Significance, Types, and Relative Hierarchy in J
UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ “MORE HARD-TO-REMEMBER NAMES THAN A RUSSIAN NOVEL” — Special Names, Their Significance, Types, and Relative Hierarchy in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Quenta Silmarillion A Pro Gradu Thesis in English by Tommi Ojanperä Department of Languages 2007 HUMANISTINEN TIEDEKUNTA KIELTEN LAITOS Tommi Ojanperä “MORE HARD-TO-REMEMBER NAMES THAN A RUSSIAN NOVEL” Special Names, Their Significance, Types, and Relative Hierarchy in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Quenta Silmarillion Pro gradu –tutkielma Englannin kieli Toukokuu 2007 108 sivua + 1 liite Tutkielman lähtökohtana on perusteltu väite, että J. R. R. Tolkienin romaanissa Quenta Silmarillion (1977) erikoisella ja poikkeuksellisen laajalla nimistöllä on erityisen merkittävä asema ja että tätä nimistöä tutkimalla ja analysoimalla monipuolisesti, sekä kvalitatiivisesti että kvantitatiivisesti, voidaan saavuttaa merkittäviä tuloksia koskien romaania kokonaisuutena. Tutkimuksen ensisijainen tarkoitus on tutkia nimistöä etenkin kvantitatiivisesti ja nimien frekvenssejä tutkien rakentaa luokittelu eri nimien merkittävyydestä. Nimistöä käsitellään tästä näkökulmasta ennen kaikkea kokonaisuutena, mutta tarkempaa huomiota kiinnitetään etenkin poikkeuksellisen usein esiintyviin nimiin. Nimistön kvantitatiivisen tutkimuksen perusteella pyritään selvittämään, mitkä romaanin henkilöt, tapahtumapaikat ja ryhmät vaikuttavat olevan merkitykseltään erityisen suuria. Tässä suhteessa romaania tutkitaan toisaalta kokonaisuutena, toisaalta 24 luvusta koostuvana rakenteena. Lisäksi pohditaan mm. laajan nimistön tuottamia -
Literatura Latinoamericana Mundial Latin American Literatures in the World Literaturas Latinoamericanas En El Mundo
Literatura latinoamericana mundial Latin American Literatures in the World Literaturas Latinoamericanas en el Mundo Edited by / Editado por Gesine Müller Volume 5 / Volumen 5 Literatura latinoamericana mundial Dispositivos y disidencias Editado por / Edited by Gustavo Guerrero, Jorge J. Locane, Benjamin Loy y Gesine Müller This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme ˗ Grant Agreement Number 646714 ISBN 978-3-11-067365-4 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-067367-8 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-067379-1 ISSN 2513-0757 e-ISSN 2513-0765 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. For details go to: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2019949720 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 Gustavo Guerrero, Jorge J. Locane, Benjamin Loy and Gesine Müller, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston The book is published with open access at www.degruyter.com. Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Contenidos Gustavo Guerrero, Jorge J. Locane, Benjamin Loy, Gesine Müller A modo de introducción. Literatura latinoamericana: inflexiones de un término 1 1 Gatekeepers -
Edward Sapir's View About International Auxiliary Language
EMANUEL KULCZYCKI EDWARD SAPIR’S VIEW ABOUT INTERNATIONAL AUXILIARY LANGUAGE Introduction The search for common attributes of all languages is connected with the search for characteristics which differentiate languages. If some attributes cannot be found in every language, what is cause of this situation? Is it linked up with the origin of language or with users of the language? People inquire about such matters because the multiplicity of natural languages generates incomprehension and handicaps human communication. The minimum number of languages in the world has been set at 4,000 and the maximum at 8,000. In spite of this people can communicate over communication’s barriers which are generated by the multiplicity of mother-languages. But that diversity worries and disturbs. A Danish linguist Otto Jespersen wrote: „An American may travel from Boston to San Francisco without hearing more than one language. But if he were to traverse the same distance on this side of the Atlantic, he would have a totally different story to tell (…) he would then hear perhaps Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, Czecho-Slovakian, Hungarian, Rumanian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Greek, and then in Egypt Arabic and a little English (…) He would not have heard of the languages spoken in Europe. The curse of Babel is still with us”1. It means that we have to use more than one language to 1 O. Jespersen: An International Language, Allen & Unwin, London 1928; <http://www.geocities.com/ /Athens/Forum/5037/AILneed.html>. 66 Emanuel Kulczycki communicate with another man. So some universal language – an international auxiliary language could make whole social communication easy. -
Constructed Languages: ESPERANTO
Journal of Modern Education Review, ISSN 2155-7993, USA October 2015, Volume 5, No. 10, pp. 1017–1025 Doi: 10.15341/jmer(2155-7993)/10.05.2015/011 © Academic Star Publishing Company, 2015 http://www.academicstar.us Constructed Languages: ESPERANTO Sevda Huseynova Sohrab (Qafqaz University, Azerbaijan) Abstract: “What is language!?” The question has been answered differently at different times. V. Humbolt, A. Shleykher, H. Shteyntal, G. Paul, and other linguists put forward various considerations about the language. Language is creative and productive by nature, a person using it can set up an infinite number of sentences and express thoughts. Throughout history, numerous languages seriously impeeded the development of relations between people. People have searched ways for getting out of this problem. As a result, the idea of creating a universal world language has occurred. Universal world language refers to a language which can be easily understood by all individuals of different nations. As a way of solving this problem, linguists have proposed to create a substituting constructed language. The most common constructed language is Esperanto. This language posses simple phonetic, grammatical, lexical structure. The language created by Zamenhof can be studied and remembered easily. According to historical facts, Esperantists (Esperanto-language speakers) established a country called Amikejo. They even celebrate The World Esperanto Day as a holiday once a year. Key words: linguists, universal world language, constructed language, Esperanto, Zamenhof, Esperantist, Amikejo 1. Introduction “What is language!?” The question has been answered differently at different times. V. Humbolt, A. Shleyher, H. Shteyntal, A. A. Potebnya, G. Paul, F. F. Fortunatov, I. -
Glossopoeia a Contrastive Phonological Study Of
DEPARTAMENT DE FILOLOGIA ANGLESA I DE GERMANÍSTICA Glossopoeia A Contrastive Phonological Study of Sindarin and Klingon Treball de Fi de Grau Author: Mónica Malvárez Ocaña Supervisor: Hortènsia Curell Gotor Grau d’Estudis Anglesos June 2020 jyE qhE5 `B 7r$`B6E tiT16E lE5 Law pain i reviar mistar aen. Not all those who wander are lost. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to Dr. Hortènsia Curell, not only for her help and support during these difficult months that I have been abroad, but also for giving me the opportunity and the freedom to explore other fascinating linguistic areas, such as glossopoeia. I would also like to thank my friends and family for always pushing me to go one step further and to think outside the box. I discovered the universe of Middle-Earth during my childhood, and for that reason, it will always have a special place in my heart. Before going to bed, my father used to read The Hobbit to me. I remember being mesmerized by the story and the characters, and even now, as an adult, I am still mesmerized by what J.R.R. Tolkien created. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 2 2. Constructed Languages ............................................................................................... 3 2.1. Classification of Conlangs ................................................................................ 3 2.1.1. Historical Classification .................................................................... -
1 Constructed Language and Linguistic Theory Marc Van Oostendorp To
Constructed language and linguistic theory Marc van Oostendorp To appear in: Klaus Schubert (ed.) Planned language: From plan to reality. Association Belgique de Linguistique Appliquée, 2000. 0. Introduction ‘Natural language’ is arguably the most central concept within linguistic theory —it defines its object of study —, but it is hardly ever discussed outside the first pages of introductory textbooks. It is usually taken for granted that everybody knows what the label means, and that it can be applied to American English, Yidiny and Eastern Javanese, but not to tonal music, the programming language Prolog, or the languages of the Elves in the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. Many interlinguists — those scholars concerned with the study of consciously planned languages meant for international communication — follow this line of reasoning to some extent, if they defend the validity of their interest in Esperanto (cf. Schubert 1989, Tonkin and Fettes 1996 for fairly recent overviews). They argue that Esperanto is markedly different from other planned languages, because it has been used in a much wider range of communicative situations, because it has become associated with a separate ‘Esperantist culture’, or because it is learnt by children as one of their native languages. For this reason, Esperanto would have started to differ from its competitors: it would be the only ‘language project’ that has succeeded in becoming a ‘real (natural) language’. This line of argumentation is examined in this article. I study the relevance of some planned or constructed languages other than Esperanto, viz. Interlingua, Ido, Europanto and Spocanian. These have been made up in slightly different ways, all serve different goals and different philosophies have guided the construction of their respective grammars. -
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Fiat Lingua Title: Language Creation in Early Learning Author: Danny Garrett MS Date: 09-11-2016 FL Date: 10-01-2016 FL Number: FL-00003D-00 Citation: Garrett, Danny. 2016. "Language Creation in Early Learning." FL-00003D-00, Fiat Lingua, <http://fiatlingua.org>. Web. 01 October 2016. Copyright: © 2016 Danny Garrett. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Fiat Lingua is produced and maintained by the Language Creation Society (LCS). For more information about the LCS, visit http://www.conlang.org/ Language Creation in Early Learning1 Danny Garrett September 12, 2016 Abstract This paper explores how conlanging impacts learning outcomes for middle school students in a structured English classroom. Starting in May and ending in the same month, 6th and 7th graders from Iberville Charter Academy in Plaquemine, LA created conlangs for their end-of-the-year English projects. 44 students participated. I, their teacher, oversaw the project, taught the necessary material for it, and studied the project’s pre- and posttest data. The data and highlighted student works are presented in this paper, framed in their proper historical, pedagogical, linguistic, and literary contexts. To protect student identities and statuses as minors, all student names are fictional and thus obscured in accordance with California law. 1 According to the U.S. Department of Education, “Early Learning” means state-licensed education for infant- and kindergarten-aged children (ed.gov). In the title, I use the term poetically to emphasize that conlanging is usually practiced at the college level, not the middle school level. -
In Praise of Fluffy Bunnies
In Praise of Fluffy Bunnies Copyright © 2012, Richard Forsyth. Background Reading John Lanchester's Whoops!, an entertaining account of how highly paid hotshot traders in a number of prestigious financial institutions brought the world to the brink of economic collapse, I was struck by the following sentence: "In an ideal world, one populated by vegetarians, Esperanto speakers and fluffy bunny wabbits, derivatives would be used for one thing only: reducing levels of risk." (Lanchester, 2010: 37). What struck me about this throwaway remark, apart from the obvious implication that derivatives were actually used to magnify risk rather than reducing it (doubtless by carnivores ignorant of Esperanto), was its presumption that right-thinking readers would take it for granted that Esperanto symbolizes well-meaning futility -- thus highlighting the author's status as a tough-minded realist. This is just one illustration that disdain for Esperanto in particular, and auxiliary languages in general, pervades intellectual circles in Britain today, as in many other countries. And if you dare to raise the subject of constructed international languages with a professional translator or interpreter be prepared not just for disdain but outright hostility. Of course professional interpreters are among the most linguistically gifted people on the planet, and can't see why the rest of us shouldn't become fluent in half a dozen natural languages in our spare time. (Not to mention the fact that a widespread adoption of Esperanto, or one of its competitors, would have a seriously negative impact on their opportunities for gainful employment.) Thus Esperanto has become a symbol of lost causes, to be dismissed out of hand by practical folk. -
Mutual Intelligibility and Slavic Constructed Interlanguages : a Comparative Study of Ruski Jezik and Interslavic
Mutual intelligibility and Slavic constructed interlanguages : a comparative study of Ruski Jezik and Interslavic ** Jade JOANNOT M.A Thesis in Linguistics Leiden university 2020-2021 Supervisor : Tijmen Pronk TABLE OF CONTENTS Jade Joannot M.A Thesis Linguistics 24131 words 1.1. Abstract 1.2. Definitions 1.2.1. Constructed languages 1.2.2. Interlanguage 1.2.3. Mutual intelligibility 1.3. Object of study 1.3.1. History of Slavic constructed languages Pan-Slavic languages (19th century) Esperanto-inspired projects Contemporary projects 1.3.2. Ruski Jezik & Interslavic Ruski Jezik (17th century) Interslavic (21th century) 1.3.3. Shared aspects of Ruski Jezik and Interslavic 1.4. Relevance of the study 1.4.1. Constructed languages and mutual intelligibility 1.4.2. Comparative study of Ruski Jezik and Interslavic 1.4.3. Historical linguistics 1.5. Structure of the thesis 1.5.1. Research question 1.8. Description of the method 1.8.1. Part 1 : Approaches to Slavic mutual intelligibility and their conclusions 1.8.2. Part 2 : Study of Ruski Jezik and Interslavic I.1. Factors of mutual intelligibility I.1.1. Extra-linguistic factors I.1.2. Linguistic predictors of mutual intelligibility I.1.2.1. Lexical distance I.1.2.2. Phonological distance I.1.2.3. Morphosyntactic distance I.1.2.3.1. Methods of measurements I.1.2.3.2. The importance of morphosyntax I.1.3. Conclusions I.2. Mutual intelligibility in the Slavic area I.2.1. Degree of mutual intelligibility of Slavic languages I.2.2. The case of Bulgarian 2 Jade Joannot M.A Thesis Linguistics 24131 words I.2.3. -
The New Yorker 11/9/20, 9:20 PM
Utopian for Beginners | The New Yorker 11/9/20, 9:20 PM Annals of Linguistics December 24 & 31, 2012 Issue Utopian for Beginners An amateur linguist loses control of the language he invented. By Joshua Foer December 17, 2012 here are so many ways for speakers of English to see the world. We can glimpse, glance, visualize, view, look, spy, or T ogle. Stare, gawk, or gape. Peek, watch, or scrutinize. Each word suggests some subtly different quality: looking implies volition; spying suggests furtiveness; gawking carries an element of social judgment and a sense of surprise. When we try to describe an act of vision, we consider a constellation of available meanings. But if thoughts and words exist on different planes, then expression must always be an act of compromise. Languages are something of a mess. They evolve over centuries through an unplanned, democratic process that leaves them teeming with irregularities, quirks, and words like “knight.” No one who set out to design a form of communication would ever end up with anything like English, Mandarin, or any of the more than six thousand languages spoken today. “Natural languages are adequate, but that doesn’t mean they’re optimal,” John Quijada, a "fty-three-year-old former employee of the California State Department of Motor Vehicles, told me. In 2004, he published a monograph on the Internet that was titled “Ithkuil: A Philosophical Design for a Hypothetical Language.” Written like a linguistics textbook, the fourteen-page Web site ran to almost a hundred and sixty thousand words. It documented the Quijada’s invented language has two grammar, syntax, and lexicon of a language that Quijada had spent seemingly incompatible ambitions: to be three decades inventing in his spare time.