We puzzle through the very difficult and complex subject of thematic roles and role marking, and then review the awesomely complicated Okuna. Top of Show Greeting: Standard Telèmor Links and Resources: Fiat Lingua paper Chemehuevi (predicate marking langauge) Lexical Semantics Featured Conlang: Okuna (formerly known as Tokana) An excerpt from the grammar: Compare also the following... Read more »

We finish out our Holy Trinity of Verbs with Mood — a slippery, slippery subject if there ever was one.  Of course, after trying to make some sense out of that, we move on to review South Eresian Top of Show Greeting: tzoi Rescources: Wikipedia on Mood Conlang: South Eresian (blog) Feedback: Email from James... Read more »

The second in our TAM series, we spend a good deal of time on the basic perfective/imperfective distinction as well as talk a little about how you can go totally crazy with many, many more aspects.  Then we review the incredible Siwa. Top of show greeting: Salthan Featured Conlang: Siwa (CBB Thread) Feedback: (First of... Read more »

The first of our episodes of the holy verbal trinity of TAM.  We initially planned to do Tense and Aspect as one episode, but the more we talked about tense the more complicated it became, so the aspect discussion is pushed to next week.  We also have a wonderful time talking about the insanity that... Read more »

We throw out some tips for how to kick certain creative habits you might have developed as you create languages.  Then we review the Akana language Tmaśareʔ. Top of Show greeting: Myonian Links and Resources Spokan Hupa Featured Conlang: Tmaśareʔ Feedback: Okuno Zankoku (email) Since you always want to know, I’ve just started a sketch of an... Read more »

We give you some info on verb framing — that is the typology of how languages describe motion, as well as some discussion of postural verbs, aka positionals, and all the wondrous variety you can create with them.  Also, we review [k]enyani. Greeting: Gomain by Zach Hart Links and Resources: A run-down of all the posibilites for... Read more »

Alternate Titles: AND … tits, Bugger is for Sodomy, Dog Japan’d, When “Damn it” Just Won’t Cut it, What Did My 16th Great-Grandfather Do to You? Today we talk all about taboo words.  Make sure you have your headphones in or are by yourself when you listen, because we are going through the gamut of... Read more »

We have no Will today, but we do have Adam Skoog from Sweden.  After a good discussion about personal names where I continually refer to Chinese naming conventions, we talk with Adam about his wonderful language Kozea and the kooky videos he has created with it. Classical Tailancan by Dewrad Links and Resources Chinese style... Read more »

Today we talk about nonconfigurationality, that is what languages do with word order when it’s not needed to show semantic roles.  William regales us with tales of Navajo animacy-based word order, Nahuatl shifting its numerals around, and Ancient Greek’s confounding tendency to separate adjectives from their noun phrases.  Also, we talk about Ayeri, a wonderfully... Read more »

We talk about how to organize your conlang, from organizing your notes to writing the grammar and lexicon, and what software is out there to help you.  Also, some stupid example sentences, and a little old language called Alurhsa. Pre-show intro: Ancaron language by ZBB’s Lyhoko Leaci. Resources and Links: LaTeX The Field Linguist’s Toolbox The... Read more »