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Monday, April 13, 2015

21E™

   Its been too long since my last post but I came across a phonetic writing system which I actually use during the day to write things down which I need or want to remember but others will think it is a code and cannot read it!

    The writing system is called 21E™.


21E ™ is a phonetic code for writing secret messages in English devised by Kali Woodward who initially invented it to help his son learn to read. It uses 19 letters from the Latin alphabet plus 27 special symbols for vowels and some consonants. There are three styles of 21E™: print, script and condensed, in which vowels are written above the other symbols/consonants and can be stacked when they occur together.









     The condensed script is what I use daily to keep track of important things at work but no one else can understand it. I really like this script because everything is written out phonetically and is easy to write in. It is the first script I have actually been able to use on a regular basis.

     This is short and sweet but I hope you enjoy it and maybe you can learn it and write things down, like a journal or diary, and keep it secret!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Norwegian - easy or difficult?

Norwegian is a North Germanic language which is spoken in Norway. Jeg kan snakke litt norsk. (I can speak some Norwegian.)



Norwegian letter(s)English sound
dsilent at end of word; and in -ld, -nd, -rd
igee
egay
hsilent before consonants, such as in hv-
j, gj, hjyuh, as in yes
kj, tjsh, but softer and more palatalized (as in German)
sj, skjsh
slshl
ki, ky, kei, køysh, but softer and more palatalized (as in German)
ski, sky, skei, skøysh
gi, gy, gei, gøyyuh
g + other vowelsguh
sk + other vowelssk
-egn, -egl, -øgng is silent
ngnasalized, as in singer and not finger
æah as in cat
øay, but with lips rounded
åaw as in saw

Nouns in Norwegian (Bokmål) have two genders, masculine and neuter, which adjectives must agree with when modifying nouns. Technically there is a third gender, feminine (which Nynorsk retains), but since feminine nouns can be written as masculine nouns, I'm including feminine nouns in the masculine category. There are two indefinite articles that correspond with these genders: en for masculine nouns and et for neuter nouns. In the vocabulary lists, a noun followed by (n) means that it is a neuter noun and it takes the indefinite article et. The majority of nouns in Norwegian are masculine, so they take the indefinite article en.
The only case of nouns that is used in Norwegian is the genitive (showing possession), and it is easily formed by adding an -s to the noun. This is comparable to adding -'s in English
to show possession. However, if the noun already ends in -s, then you add nothing (unlike English where we add -' or -'s). Olavs hus = Olav's house

There are two indefinite articles (corresponding to a and an): en and et. En is used with most of the nouns (words denoting people almost always use en), but you will just have to learn which article goes with which noun. The definitearticle (the) is not a separate word like in most other languages. It is simply a form of the indefinite article attached to the end of the noun. Note that en words ending in a vowel retain that vowel and add an -n instead of adding -en. And et words ending in -e just add -t. Furthermore, the t of et as an indefinite article is pronounced; however, the t is silent in the definite article -et attached to the noun. (For feminine nouns, the indefinite article is ei and the definite article that is attached to the noun is -a. In theory, this gender does still exist in Bokmål, but in practice, it is rarely used and the feminine nouns are inflected like masculine nouns, i.e. add -en instead of -a for the definite form.)
Articles
En words (masculine)
Et words (neuter)
Indefinite
Definite
Indefinite
Definite
en fiska fishfiskenthe fishet vindua windowvinduetthe window
en bakera bakerbakerenthe bakeret barna childbarnetthe child
en hagea gardenhagenthe gardenet husa househusetthe house
Demonstrative Adjectives
masculinedenne dressenthis suitden dressenthat suit
neuterdette skjerfetthis scarfdet skjerfetthat scarf
pluraldisse skoenethese shoesde skoenethose shoes
Notice that the noun that follows a demonstrative adjective must have the definite article attached to it.
(The feminine form of demonstratives is identical to the masculine; denne and den.)
Subject & Object Pronouns
jeg I
meg me
du you (singular)
deg you
han he
ham him
hun she
henne her
den it (masc.)
den it
det it (neut.)
det it
man one
man one
vi we
oss us
dere you (plural)
dere you
de they
dem them

Some common phrases.
God morgen
Good Morning
Hallo / God dag
Hello / Good Day
God kveld
Good Evening
God nattGood NightHa det bra
Goodbye
Hei / Ha det
Hi / Bye
Vær så snill 
Please
(Tusen) Takk
Thank you (very much)
Ingen årsak / Vær så god
Don't mention it / You're welcome
Ja / Nei
Yes / No
Herr / Fru / Frøken
Mister / Misses
Velkommen!
Welcome!
Hvordan har du det?
How are you?
Hvordan går det?
How it's going?
Bra / Dårlig
Good / Bad
Hva heter du?
What's your name?
Jeg heter...
My name is... (I am called...)
Hyggelig å treffe deg!
Pleased to meet you!
Hvor kommer du fra?
Where are you from?
Jeg er fra...
I'm from...
Unnskyld
Excuse me / Sorry
Hvor bor du?
Where do you live?
Jeg bor i...
I live in...
Jeg vil gjerne ha... / Jeg skulle gjerne hatt...
I would like...
Hvor gammel er du?
How old are you?
Jeg er ____ år (gammel).
I am ____ years (old).
Jeg vet [ikke.]
I [don't] know.
Snakker du norsk?
Do you speak Norwegian?
Jeg snakker engelsk.
I speak English.
Snakk langsomt
Speak slowly
svensk, dansk, fransk, italiensk, spansk, tysk, holländsk, rysk, japansk
Swedish, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Russian, Japanese
Hva heter ... på norsk?
How do you say ... in Norwegian?
Forstår du?
Do you understand?
Jeg forstår [ikke.]
I [don't] understand.
Vær så snill å gjenta / Vennligst gjenta
Please repeat
Hva er dette?
What is this?
Hvor er ... ?
Where is ... ?
Hvor mye koster dette?
How much does this cost?
Jeg er sulten
I'm hungry
Jeg er tørst
I'm thirsty
Jeg er trett
I'm tired
Jeg er syk
I'm sick
Jeg tror [ikke] det
I [don't] think so
Kom inn / hit
Come in / here
Ta plass
Have a seat.
Stans! / Stopp! 
Stop!
Straks!
Immediately! / Soon!
Jeg har gått meg bort
I'm lost
Hjelp!
Help!
Fare!
Danger!
Pass på!
Watch out!
Vent litt!
Wait a minute!
Hvor langt er det?
How far is it?
Det var synd.
That's too bad!
Velbekomme!
Have a good meal!
Skål!
Cheers! (toast)
Lykke til!Good luck!Jeg elsker deg.
I love you.
Jeg savner deg.
I miss you.
The one thing most people, myself included, see right away is how similar  Norwegian is to English. While Norwegian looks scary with its extra letters ø and å, they are not as difficult as one might think. Yes, it takes some listening to and practice but soon it can become as normal and regular as speaking English.

One thing I really like about Norwegian is the simple way to conjugate words, for example: 
Present tense is made by adding an -r to the verb, regardless of who's doing it. That gives us: 

ha - to have
jeg har - I have
du har - you have
han har - he has
vi har - we have
etc. 

See how easy it is? There are no endings to change depending on who I am talking to, about or for gender. This makes Norwegian one of the easiest languages to learn. So what are you waiting for? Lær norsk! (Learn Norwegian!)

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Lingua Franca Nova

    Lingua Franca Nova is somewhat similar to a previous blog post about Occidental Interlingue, both languages are simplistic and have a regular style grammar. I must admit... I do have a preference for Occidental Interlingue however, Lingua Franca Nova (LFN) has more activity on various websites including a Wiki with over 2,000 entries.

    According to Lingua-Franca-Nova.net

 Lingua Franca Nova es desiniada per es un lingua vera simple, coerente, e fasil aprendeda, per comunica internasional. El ave varios cualia bon:

Lingua Franca Nova was designed to be a particularly simple, consistent, and easy to learn language for international communications. It has a number of positive qualities: 

Here is an example of the Lord's prayer in LFN: 


La Prea de nos Senior

Nos Padre, ci es en sielo:
Tu nome ta es santa.
Tu renia ta veni.
Tu vole ta es fada,
en tera como en sielo.
Dona oji nos pane dial a nos.
Pardona nos ofendes
como nos pardona los ci ofende nos.
No condui nos a tentia,
ma proteje nos de malia.
Amen. 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Sranan Tongo


Sranan Tongo is a creole language spoken by most people in Suriname. It is the mother tongue of about 100,000 people in Suriname who are descendants of slaves brought from Africa during the colonial period. It is also the lingua franca between different ethnic groups in Suriname. Today many Sranan Tongo speakers also live in the Netherlands.

Features of Sranan Tongo. Sranan is similar to Aukan and Saramaccan. As a creole language it is characterized by simple morphology and a relatively small vocabulary. There is no inflection or declension in the words. Although it is impossible to know for sure how many words there are in Sranan, they number in the several thousand, rather than hundreds of thousands for major world languages. These features make it a relatively easy language to learn.

Odi en grantangi gi luku disi e piki.  Hello and thank you very much for looking at this information.

Being a Creole, Sranan Tongo uses words like: e aux.v. indicates that the action of the verb is still in progress or that it repetitive is. Yu no e si taki mi e tnapu dya e wakti yu! Can’t you see that I’m standing here waiting for you? Although I could not find a reason for the use of "e" before the word "si", I am guessing it is like saying: "You not seeing..."

 What I like about this language is that it has a much smaller vocabulary when compared to other world languages which allows some ambiguity but also allows the speaker to simply get to the main point and say it.
Another thing I like is how words are formed or put together like the word for Dictionary - Wortubuku literally "Word-Book". The word for Language - Tongo (tongue), Leriman - Teacher; a learned person.

Didibri tesi Yesus fotenti dei langa. The devil tempted Jesus for forty days.

There is an online New Testament version of Sranan Tongo here, you can read and listen to the text.



Fa waka? - What's up? Literally: how's (your) walk ( FA-WA-KA)
Fa i go? - How are you? Literally: how's (it) going? ( FAI-GO )
e go! - it's going! (answer) ( I-GO )
Fa yu tan? - How are you? ( FA-YOU-TAN )
Ala suni bun? - (is) everything well? ( ALLA-SANNY-BOENG )
Mi lobi dati! - I love that! ( ME-LUBY-DATY )
Mi sorri! - I'm sorry! ( ME SORRY )
Omeni wan? - How much is one? (What's the price?)
Mi gwe! - I'm leaving
Mi de go na oso - I'm going home
Mi go na winkri - I'm going to the store
Su-ma na yu? - Who are you? ( SUE-MA-NA-YOU )
Pe yu e go? - Where are you going? ( PAY-YOU-AH-GO )
Pe yu e de? - Where are you? ( PAY-YOU-AH-DAY )
Omany? - How much? ( O-MANY )
Yepi! - Help ( YEPY )
Pe disi presi? - Where's this place? ( PAY DEE-SEE PRACY)
Soot bus mi mus teki? - What bus must I take? ( SOOT BUS ME MUZ TAKY )
Skowtu! - Police! ( SCOW-TWO )
Pe de skoru de? - Where's the school? ( PAY-DAY-SCEW-RUW DAY )
Pe yu de wroko? - Where do you work? ( PAY-YOU-ROCK-O-GI )
Pe mi kan fini wroko? - Where can I find work? ( PAY-ME-KAN-FINY-ROCK-O )
Kantoro - Office

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Sousic - a brief introduction

Dhi es Introduction a SousicSousic es practical literar Lugha. It es practical Lugha pro Literatur.

This is an introduction to Sousic. Sousic is a practical literary language. It is a practical language for literature.

Unlike most "conlangs" which are made to be spoken as an international second language,  Sousic is a language for readers. It is designed for optimal ease of reading.

The orthography of Sousic has the following characteristics:

  • very strict
  • naturalistic
  • no diacritics
  • Latin alphabet
  • computer friendly
  • simplified but not simplistic
  • designed for optimal ease of reading
  • heavily influenced by English but entirely regular
  • often recognizable to English and French speakers
  • several ways often exist for writing the same sound
  • all words are pronounced exactly as they are written
  • there is only one correct spelling for any given word
  • to determine the correct spelling of a word a dictionary must be used

I am excited to see when Sousic is finished and also see what kind of literature is available in this language.
Here is the original blog post. Here is the official site for Sousic for pronunciation and grammar.

'''Gough Whitlam''' [Gof Whitlam] wos Australian Premier Minister khilaal 1972-1975.

   Gough Whitlam was the Australian prime minister from 1972 to 1975.

Since there is so much more information available on the website, I will not reiterate everything here, rather I want to direct you to the blog and website where you can learn more about this fascinating language!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Python

What is Python? It is a computer programming language. While programming languages are strictly for computers (and programmers) and used for actual communication between people but it is nonetheless very interesting to see how a computer language works.  


Python is a very simple language and is perfect for beginners yet powerful enough that gaming companies like: Activision Blizzard, Firaxis Games use Python for their games. 

So what does Python look like? 

1| name = input(" Please tell me your name: ")
2|print("Hello", name)


So what does all this mean? Line 1 is asking for you to type your name that is the "input". After you type your name and press enter the computer will display the following: "Hello (your name)". Now this is a very simple example and as you can see, anyone could write some simple code and start programming. 

Here is another example of a simple game: 

from pygame import * # Use Pygame's functionality!

ballpic = image.load('ball.png')

done = False

ballx = 0 # Ball position variables
bally = 0
ballxmove = 1
ballymove = 1

init()            # Start Pygame
screen = display.set_mode((640, 480)) # Give us a nice window
display.set_caption('Ball game') # And set its title

while done == False:
    screen.fill(0)    # Fill the screen with black (colour 0)
    screen.blit(ballpic, (ballx, bally))    # Draw ball
    display.update()

    time.delay(1)        # Slow it down!

    ballx = ballx + ballxmove    # Update ball position
    bally = bally + ballymove

    if ballx > 600:       # Ball reached screen edges?
        ballxmove = -1
    if ballx < 0:
        ballxmove = 1
    if bally > 440:
        ballymove = -1
    if bally < 0:
        ballymove = 1

    for e in event.get():    # Check for ESC pressed
        if e.type == KEYUP:
            if e.key == K_ESCAPE:
                done = True


Here is a (long) short game which can be programmed to play on your computer.
The Dodger game has the player control a small man (which we call the player's character) who must dodge a whole bunch of baddies that fall from the top of the screen. The longer the player can keep dodging the baddies, the higher the score they will get.


import pygame, random, sys
from pygame.locals import *
WINDOWWIDTH = 600
WINDOWHEIGHT = 600
TEXTCOLOR = (255, 255, 255)
BACKGROUNDCOLOR = (0, 0, 0)
FPS = 40
BADDIEMINSIZE = 10
BADDIEMAXSIZE = 40
BADDIEMINSPEED = 1
BADDIEMAXSPEED = 8
ADDNEWBADDIERATE = 6
PLAYERMOVERATE = 5
def terminate():
    pygame.quit()
    sys.exit()
def waitForPlayerToPressKey():
    while True:
        for event in pygame.event.get():
            if event.type == QUIT:
                terminate()
            if event.type == KEYDOWN:
                if event.key == K_ESCAPE: # pressing escape quits
                    terminate()
                return
def playerHasHitBaddie(playerRect, baddies):
    for b in baddies:
        if playerRect.colliderect(b['rect']):
            return True
    return False
def drawText(text, font, surface, x, y):
    textobj = font.render(text, 1, TEXTCOLOR)
    textrect = textobj.get_rect()
    textrect.topleft = (x, y)
    surface.blit(textobj, textrect)
# set up pygame, the window, and the mouse cursor
pygame.init()
mainClock = pygame.time.Clock()
windowSurface = pygame.display.set_mode((WINDOWWIDTH, WINDOWHEIGHT))
pygame.display.set_caption('Dodger')
pygame.mouse.set_visible(False)
# set up fonts
font = pygame.font.SysFont(None, 48)
# set up sounds
gameOverSound = pygame.mixer.Sound('gameover.wav')
pygame.mixer.music.load('background.mid')
# set up images
playerImage = pygame.image.load('player.png')
playerRect = playerImage.get_rect()
baddieImage = pygame.image.load('baddie.png')
# show the "Start" screen
drawText('Dodger', font, windowSurface, (WINDOWWIDTH / 3), (WINDOWHEIGHT / 3))
drawText('Press a key to start.', font, windowSurface, (WINDOWWIDTH / 3) - 30, (WINDOWHEIGHT / 3) + 50)
pygame.display.update()
waitForPlayerToPressKey()
topScore = 0
while True:
    # set up the start of the game
    baddies = []
    score = 0
    playerRect.topleft = (WINDOWWIDTH / 2, WINDOWHEIGHT - 50)
    moveLeft = moveRight = moveUp = moveDown = False
    reverseCheat = slowCheat = False
    baddieAddCounter = 0
    pygame.mixer.music.play(-1, 0.0)
    while True: # the game loop runs while the game part is playing
        score += 1 # increase score
        for event in pygame.event.get():
            if event.type == QUIT:
                terminate()
            if event.type == KEYDOWN:
                if event.key == ord('z'):
                    reverseCheat = True
                if event.key == ord('x'):
                    slowCheat = True
                if event.key == K_LEFT or event.key == ord('a'):
                    moveRight = False
                    moveLeft = True
                if event.key == K_RIGHT or event.key == ord('d'):
                    moveLeft = False
                    moveRight = True
                if event.key == K_UP or event.key == ord('w'):
                    moveDown = False
                    moveUp = True
                if event.key == K_DOWN or event.key == ord('s'):
                    moveUp = False
                    moveDown = True
            if event.type == KEYUP:
                if event.key == ord('z'):
                    reverseCheat = False
                    score = 0
                if event.key == ord('x'):
                    slowCheat = False
                    score = 0
                if event.key == K_ESCAPE:
                        terminate()
                if event.key == K_LEFT or event.key == ord('a'):
                    moveLeft = False
                if event.key == K_RIGHT or event.key == ord('d'):
                    moveRight = False
                if event.key == K_UP or event.key == ord('w'):
                    moveUp = False
                if event.key == K_DOWN or event.key == ord('s'):
                    moveDown = False
            if event.type == MOUSEMOTION:
                # If the mouse moves, move the player where the cursor is.
                playerRect.move_ip(event.pos[0] - playerRect.centerx, event.pos[1] - playerRect.centery)
        # Add new baddies at the top of the screen, if needed.
        if not reverseCheat and not slowCheat:
            baddieAddCounter += 1
        if baddieAddCounter == ADDNEWBADDIERATE:
            baddieAddCounter = 0
            baddieSize = random.randint(BADDIEMINSIZE, BADDIEMAXSIZE)
            newBaddie = {'rect': pygame.Rect(random.randint(0, WINDOWWIDTH-baddieSize), 0 - baddieSize, baddieSize, baddieSize),
                        'speed': random.randint(BADDIEMINSPEED, BADDIEMAXSPEED),
                        'surface':pygame.transform.scale(baddieImage, (baddieSize, baddieSize)),
                        }
            baddies.append(newBaddie)
        # Move the player around.
        if moveLeft and playerRect.left > 0:
            playerRect.move_ip(-1 * PLAYERMOVERATE, 0)
        if moveRight and playerRect.right < WINDOWWIDTH:
            playerRect.move_ip(PLAYERMOVERATE, 0)
        if moveUp and playerRect.top > 0:
            playerRect.move_ip(0, -1 * PLAYERMOVERATE)
        if moveDown and playerRect.bottom < WINDOWHEIGHT:
            playerRect.move_ip(0, PLAYERMOVERATE)
        # Move the mouse cursor to match the player.
        pygame.mouse.set_pos(playerRect.centerx, playerRect.centery)
        # Move the baddies down.
        for b in baddies:
            if not reverseCheat and not slowCheat:
                b['rect'].move_ip(0, b['speed'])
            elif reverseCheat:
                b['rect'].move_ip(0, -5)
            elif slowCheat:
                b['rect'].move_ip(0, 1)
         # Delete baddies that have fallen past the bottom.
        for b in baddies[:]:
            if b['rect'].top > WINDOWHEIGHT:
                baddies.remove(b)
        # Draw the game world on the window.
        windowSurface.fill(BACKGROUNDCOLOR)
        # Draw the score and top score.
        drawText('Score: %s' % (score), font, windowSurface, 10, 0)
        drawText('Top Score: %s' % (topScore), font, windowSurface, 10, 40)
        # Draw the player's rectangle
        windowSurface.blit(playerImage, playerRect)
        # Draw each baddie
        for b in baddies:
            windowSurface.blit(b['surface'], b['rect'])
        pygame.display.update()
        # Check if any of the baddies have hit the player.
        if playerHasHitBaddie(playerRect, baddies):
            if score > topScore:
                topScore = score # set new top score
            break
        mainClock.tick(FPS)
    # Stop the game and show the "Game Over" screen.
    pygame.mixer.music.stop()
    gameOverSound.play()
    drawText('GAME OVER', font, windowSurface, (WINDOWWIDTH / 3), (WINDOWHEIGHT / 3))
    drawText('Press a key to play again.', font, windowSurface, (WINDOWWIDTH / 3) - 80, (WINDOWHEIGHT / 3) + 50)
    pygame.display.update()
    waitForPlayerToPressKey()
    gameOverSound.stop()
_________________________________________________________



While all the code above may seem overwhelming at first, remember there is much to learn before you start coding like this. Programming can be fun and rewarding, so go ahead and give it a try! 


Saturday, December 22, 2012

Sasxsek


Salam,
This interesting language created by Dana Nutter is simple in design and has its own naturalistic sound to it. Dana thought of everything for this language including: Numbers, dates, time, colors and more. Sasxsek has an SVO word order.


Sasxsek is an artificial (or constructed) language designed to be used as an auxiliary
language which is simple to learn but powerful enough to cover the full range of human
expression.


 Alphabet
Sasxsek writing is based on the Roman alphabet, however there is no distinction between
upper or lower case.  Text can be written in either all lower case, or all upper case (for
headlines, titles, etc.), but not to be mixed within words and phrases. Generally, headings
and titles should be in upper case while the text of a document is in lower case. There are 6
vowels and 18 consonants for a total of 24 letters.  The letters W and Y are not used.


Particles
o = Vocative particle.
ai = Exclamatory particle (!).
e = Subject particle.
a = Object particle


Grammatical and derivational suffixes
-a passive. (ies = eat; iesa = be eaten)
-e performer (fab = build; fabe = builder)
-o manifestation   (vid = see; vido = sighting)
-i qualifier (boni = good; well)
-ai female (bovai = cow)
-au male (bovau = bull)




Inflection
Neither nouns nor pronouns inflect for case, number or gender and therefore have only one
form each.   Articles do not exist, neither definite (the) nor indefinite (a, an, some).
 
kitab = book; a book; the book; books; some books; the books.



Case
Noun functions (case) are indicated by word order and the use of prepositions.  
mo don kitab fu lo.
I (subject) give book (object) to he (indirect object).
I gave him a book. / I gave a book to him.
 
mo don kitab fu so mu kitabuk.
I (subject) give book (object) to this (indirect object) from libarary.
I gave him a book from the library.  

The above information is just a tiny amount of the 46 page document which explains grammar in much greater detail. Also check out the 114 page dictionary he has available. Dana also has several other conlangs on his site but most are under construction and being updated at the time of this writing.

Although there are many International Auxiliary Languages (IAL's) such as Esperanto, Interlingue, Folkspraak, Slovianto and others, Sasxsek has some great potential, I think, because  of its mixture of being an a-priori and a-posteriori (in my opinion) because it uses some vocabulary which is "international" and understood immediately and also creates its own vocabulary. Another feature I like is the fact that countries and languages are pronounced according to the local language, for example:
 iqglis = Englishhaniu = Chinese, misr = Egypt. 

At first glance the language looks difficult but once you really look at it and study it, even a little, I believe you will enjoy it as much as I do!

Hedon! (Enjoy!)