Conlang Relay and reminder of LCC abstract deadline
Hiyas conlangers!
As we prepare for LCC 10 on April 22-23 (digital conference), we’re also getting started on the conlang relay.
If you’re interested in participating in the conlang relay, please email Kelvin Jackson (Kechpaja) at kechpaja<at>kechpaja<dot>com to sign up.
Important: Include any dates between February 10-April 10 that you are NOT available to receive the torch. The exact dates of the relay will depend on the number of participants. Additionally, if you consider the conlang that you’re planning to use for the relay to be “unusual” (e.g., 2D writing system, very alien grammar and/or mode of transmission), please let Kelvin know-if there is enough participation from this category, there may be an “unusual ring.”
Never been part of a conlang relay? Here’s what you need to know: The relay master (Kelvin) will prepare a text in a conlang (the torch) and will send that text as well as any documentation needed to translate it to the first person in the relay. Over the subsequent 48 hours, that person will try to translate the text into a common language (e.g., English), and then into their conlang. Once the translation is completed, they send the torch to the next person in the relay (including the materials to be able to translate). At the end of the relay, the relay master then does a final translation. During the LCC, we’ll present the relays through the various iterations and compare how much the original text changed in translation. Relays operate on a tight schedule to ensure people have at least 48 hours to do the two translations (out of the previous conlang and into their own conlang), so don’t be surprized when you receive instructions that if you do not complete your translation on time, you will be skipped.
Additionally, we are still accepting abstracts to present at LCC 10. You can submit an abstract to talk about any aspect of conlanging-from showcasing personal conlangs to how-to talks to formal analyses of conlangs. To submit your abstract, follow the instructions below. Important: Abstracts are due by Monday, January 23.
The Language Creation Society is currently accepting submissions from those wishing to present at the 10th Language Creation Conference (LCC 10). LCC 10 will be a virtual conference, hosted on Zoom and YouTube live on April 22-23, 2023.
To submit an abstract for presentation, please email your abstract to president<at>conlang<dot>org by January 23, 2023.Your abstract should not exceed 250 words (title/authors, pictures/graphs/figures, and references do not count towards word limit) and include the following important information:
- Title
- Author(s) names (with optional affiliation)
- Author(s) email address(es)
- Your local time zone (will be used for scheduling presentation of successful abstracts)
After January 23rd, we will review abstracts and provide notifications of acceptance/decline by February 22, 2023. Note: The length of presentations will not be finalized until presentations are confirmed. We will aim for presenters to have a 30-minute window, including a 10-minute question period; a select few presenters will be offered a 60-minute slot, including a 15-minute question period. Talks devoted to a specific conlang will be considered for lightning talks, which will be 15 minutes, including a 5-minute question period. These times may be adjusted based on requirements of the final program.
Additionally, we are also seeking proposals for panel discussions. You may submit a proposal for a panel discussion on a topic relevant to conlanging (Examples: at LCC7, we had a panel discussion on the role of conlanging in the academy; at LCC8, we had a panel discussion on conlangs in popular fiction; and at LCC 9, we had a panel discussion on the benefits of natlang study groups for conlangers). If you wish to submit a panel proposal, please give a short description of the topic to be discussed; a couple example questions that the moderator could start off the discussion with; and three-to-five panelists to populate the panel, with a brief bio for each panelist. You should discuss the proposal with your suggested panelists before submission to confirm that the panelists are willing to be involved, and that they plan to attend the conference.
All documents should be submitted in PDF format.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.Fiat Lingua!
Hi all!
So, this is the period of the year where a significant number of people in the world celebrate the end and restart of a semi-arbitrary cycle, as well as a number of festivities either related to that end of cycle time or not. In other words, Happy Holidays to all those who celebrate them (and we also wish you all a nice time if you don’t).
While I know you all are busy with Lexember, if you’ve got a free moment, and your conlang(s) has/have greetings, sayings and other wishes related to this period of the year, feel free to reblog this post and add your words to it, if only to share a little bit of joy in our small virtual world.
We’re looking forward to see your texts!
Fiat Lingua!
Mmm… So I’ve not developed the culture surrounding Haotyétpi enough to know whether its speakers have any special greetings in this time of year (I expect they would have something surrounding the solstice, just not sure what). Work in progress basically.
As for Moten, it’s basically spoken here and now, but celebrations are all borrowed from our own festivities due to the nature of the language. So I’d say in Moten season greetings would simply be:
Noel opa Imonuj |ledan!: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Announcement: Call for Presentations for the 10th Language Creation Conference
The Language Creation Society is currently accepting submissions from those wishing to present at the 10th Language Creation Conference (LCC 10). LCC 10 will be a virtual conference, hosted on Zoom and YouTube live on April 22–23, 2023.
To submit an abstract for presentation, please email your abstract to president<at>conlang<;dot>org by January 23, 2023.
Your abstract should not exceed 250 words (title/authors, pictures/graphs/figures, and references do not count towards word limit) and include the following important information:
- Title
- Author(s) names (with optional affiliation)
- Author(s) email address(es)
- Your local time zone (will be used for scheduling presentation of successful abstracts)
After January 23rd, we will review abstracts and provide notifications of acceptance/decline by February 22, 2023. Note: The length of presentations will not be finalized until presentations are confirmed. We will aim for presenters to have a 30-minute window, including a 10-minute question period; a select few presenters will be offered a 60-minute slot, including a 15-minute question period. Talks devoted to a specific conlang will be considered for lightning talks, which will be 15 minutes, including a 5-minute question period. These times may be adjusted based on requirements of the final program.
Additionally, we are also seeking proposals for panel discussions. You may submit a proposal for a panel discussion on a topic relevant to conlanging (Examples: at LCC 7, we had a panel discussion on the role of conlanging in the academy; at LCC 8, we had a panel discussion on conlangs in popular fiction; and at LCC 9, we had a panel discussion on the benefits of natlang study groups for conlangers). If you wish to submit a panel proposal, please give a short description of the topic to be discussed; a couple example questions that the moderator could start off the discussion with; and three-to-five panelists to populate the panel, with a brief bio for each panelist. You should discuss the proposal with your suggested panelists before submission to confirm that the panelists are willing to be involved, and that they plan to attend the conference.
All documents should be submitted in PDF format.
Stay tuned: More information on LCC 10 will be available soon, and in the New Year, we will announce the call for participants for the LCC 10 conlang relay!
Fiat Lingua!
We’re Back Baby!
So, after nearly two years of radio silence, we’re finally back! Sorry about that everyone, we’ve been having a hard time maintaining our social media presence, and this place felt the brunt of it. But we’re now back and with a brand new social media manager, who should make sure we never go this quiet again.
Now, for those who have forgotten who we are, and those who discover us now thanks to this post, a quick introduction:
We’re the Language Creation Society, a California-based non-profit organisation with international reach and membership. Our main purpose is the promotion and furthering of the art, craft and science of language creation (conlanging) through conferences, books, journals, outreach activities, or other means (like literally, it’s in our articles of incorporation and everything!). Basically, we’re an organisation of conlangers, for conlangers, and for conlanging as a whole.
How do we do this? By many means. We’ve got a Jobs Board for conlangers who want to practice their craft professionally. It’s set up so as to ensure people who do conlanging for others are paid fairly for their work (it’s a work in progress) and don’t end up in disadvantageous contracts. For people who are interested in doing something conlang-related academically, we’ve got the LCS Presidents’ Scholarship, which is a (modest) amount of money we award to people with interesting academical projects that align with our main purpose. For general conlang-related projects, we’ve got the LCS Grants (currently the most famous project we supported financially is probably the Conlanging, The Art of Crafting Tongues film, the first full-length documentary on conlanging ever made). But our main article is the Language Creation Conference, for many conlangers the only way for them to ever meet other conlangers face to face. So far we’ve organised 8 face-to-face conferences in North America and Europe (all with live streaming and online participation for those who couldn’t join), one online-only conference (thanks COVID), and due to circumstances outside our control our next conference will be online-only as well. But we’ll get back to doing face-to-face conferences someday!
Of course, all these activities cost money. Which is why we encourage people to join our organisation as a member, which will give you many benefits, including the power to help decide what we actually do. The more people join us, the more we can do to help conlangers and conlanging as a whole. Not just thanks to a larger budget (we fully depend on membership fees for our income, and everyone working at the LCS does so as an unpaid volunteer), but because you can bring your ideas to the table and help us provide the best support we can to the conlanging community in general and our members in particular.
So this is us. In the next weeks, expect more announcements from us as we pick up steam (I’ll also share videos from the latest Language Creation Conference from our Youtube channel). In the meantime, feel free to reblog this post so everyone can be made aware of our return to Tumblr, and our Asks are also open to anyone who has any question concerning us or conlanging in general. We’re here to support you, so don’t hesitate to get in touch!
And since it’s the season, happy Lexember everyone!
Great news for conlangers everywhere!
We are announcing the first edition of VATUM, a free quarterly collection of original conlang literature!
Readers can either access the document as a PDF for free or choose to purchase a physical copy. Both these options are available at: https://www.desduwij.com/vatum
A huge thanks to the very first contributors: Chris Brown, James Hopkins, Anthony Harris, Jeffrey Brown, and Franc Kravos; and special thanks to editor Jackson Bradley!
I know it’s always tasteless to pick on newbies, but I can’t help find it very tiring to see conlang beginners ask “What makes a good Proto-Language?” or “What do proto-languages usually include?” I see these asked a lot on conlanging forums. Someone then has to explain that a proto-language is not inherently any different than an attested language, that “proto-language” is not a type of language, it is just a reconstructed earlier state of any two or more language varieties. I guess I can see how people might get the idea that they’re something special, but if you are thinking that and you’re asking because you want to try your hand at diachronic conlanging, then I feel like you haven’t fundamentally grasped what the diachronic development of language actually is
New conlang job available! Language Expert Needed for Fantasy TV Series.
Description
A TV producer is looking for a conlanger to support our writer in creating lines of dialogue for fantasy characters including fairies and other mystical characters in a fantasy adventure TV series set in Medieval Britain (up to around 1100AD).
While we are not looking to construct a whole language, as in ‘Game of Thrones’ or ‘Lord of the Rings’, we are looking to add to the culture and texture of the world by having a dedicated set of rules / words / differences in the way that these non-humans communicate. We would ideally be looking for someone based in the UK, who has some familiarity with or understanding of Medieval British languages and/or folklore so that the dialogue created fits with our time period.
You will be working together with our writer to help create specific lines of dialogue within the existing scripts.
Find out more!
Thinking about the next Language Creation Conference yet? We are!
Hello Conlangers!
We are proud to announce that we are now open to receive proposals from people interested in hosting the eighth Language Creation Conference (LCC8) in 2019.
A checklist and summaries of previous LCCs are available here: https://conlang.org/language-creation-conference/.
The deadline for submitting a proposal is Thursday, September 27. Please send your proposals to [email protected].
The winner will be announced in late October/early November.
Fiat lingua!
The deadline is approaching! If you plan on sending a proposal, consider warning the LCS people in advance so they know to expect it.
Thinking about the next Language Creation Conference yet? We are!
Hello Conlangers!
We are proud to announce that we are now open to receive proposals from people interested in hosting the eighth Language Creation Conference (LCC8) in 2019.
A checklist and summaries of previous LCCs are available here: https://conlang.org/language-creation-conference/.
The deadline for submitting a proposal is Thursday, September 27. Please send your proposals to [email protected].
The winner will be announced in late October/early November.
Fiat lingua!