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rules:language

Rules: Language

Why is this necessary? Mostly because I’m a fucking idiot and my internal grammar and spelling is fucked up. I have only myself to blame for this of course…
So I guess I’ll write this article for two reasons. The first is to actually teach myself these things (or at least come up with my own “proprietary” language hahaha). and the second is to make consistent rules to have the articles have some kind of consistency.
One idea I have (which is probably what I’ll go for) is to use Simple_English_Wikipedia‘s simple English rules and then modify them. If I do go for this idea (which I probably will), I’ll try to keep it understandable for both native and non-native speakers. Hilariously, I may end up speaking better English if I go for it. I’ve changed my mind. The word lists I’ll probably use (with modifications of course) but I’ll end up rewriting my grammar rules myself (I’ll probably use what I know of Czech, English and Matoran grammar1) to do this). I find the Simple English, shockingly, too simple for this wiki.
It should be noted that I’m not a linguist, I don’t even consider myself a hobbyist. Since the language on this wiki will likely be a constructed language and I’m not a linguist, it probably won’t be that good. So a lot of stuff will likely be poorly explained and vague, I can’t really say much else about that.


I glanced at this article for the first time in a while… and it’s a mess. Jeez, I gotta do a lot of cleaning don’t I?
I was just gonna add a thing here saying I would start using Japanese honorifics in the writing here. This stems from Saten-san and Komoe-sensei… it just feels weird without the honorifics. I’ll be applying this to the rest of the characters as I go on. For now this is good enough.

English-7

Since this is slowly going to approach conlang territory, I’ll call this new English variant “English-7”2). I realise this article is a mess, but it’s more like a “playground” for now. Once I actually have “English-7” in a usable state; I’ll rewrite the article3). Since “English-7” is a mess; I struggle to rewrite the RetroShare article even with the rules I currently have.

Some problems with the conlang

The grammar that isn’t defined by me (or poorly defined by me) is still mostly taken from English (making E-7 dependant on English). Another issue is the lack of syntax, which is mostly taken from English.
Holes in the grammar will be filled eventually and the syntax will be filled in with word lists.

Grammar

Yeah, I’ll write these a bit later.
For now here are some general pointers.
Hold on, I’ll get a grammar guide.

Sentences

Sentences always begin with a capital letter and end with a (.),(!) or (?).
Like, what the fuck should I say here.

Commas

Commas (,) join two sentences together that vaguely share information4). It can also be used to separate unimportant information from a sentence. Finally, it can be used to add “breaks” to a longer sentence5).

Examples

  • Two sentences
    • I have no fucking clue, maybe I should come up with one later.
  • Unimportant
    • I have no fucking clue, although my niece says otherwise, I really have no clue at all.
      • Important to note that without the “although my niece says otherwise” you’d still need a comma between the two sentences because they are two separate sentences.6)

Semi-Colons

These (;;;) fucking things.
Official grammar guides claim they join two sentences together that normally wouldn’t meld. I honestly can’t figure out how it would be different from the comma thing though.
It’s fucking weird and I can’t figure out how to use it properly.
Might have figured it out?
Semi-colons are used to join two sentences together where one is dependant on the other in some way, but it isn’t easy to use commas to do so in a satisfactory way. Separating them into two separate sentences will lead to a(n admittedly minor) loss of information.

Examples

  • I’m gonna fucking die; I won’t be joining you for lunch. - Rewritten with commas it would be “I’m gonna fucking die, so I won’t be joining you for lunch.”
  • “I’m gonna die; won’t be joining you.”
  • “You install it; create an account; generate a certificate”
    • In this example, “create an account” and “generate a certificate” are dependant on the subject from “You install it” (You is the subject) so a semi-colon is used to join them together.
    • Using commas would be awkward (as these sentences are dependant on the first) and splitting them up would require stating the subject in all of them.
      • “You install it. You create an account. You generate a certificate.”

Whatever the fuck these (-) are

In words

When used in a word (take-away) they are used to combine two separate words to express a different concept7).

Examples:
  • look up VS look-up. “look up” tells someone to look at something up. “look-up” tells someone to look it up (Online or in a dictionary as examples).
    • Another one I came up with was “cat fucking” VS “cat-fucking”. Although, I can’t figure out how “cat-fucking” is different from “cat fucking”.
      • A possible example: “What is the cat fucking?” VS “What sort of cat-fucking is this?”
        • This is honestly the stupidest thing I’ve ever thought of, I can’t think of anything dumber than this.

In Sentences

I still have no idea how to use them properly in a sentence. Possibly used to provide something similar to a semi-colon.
Used after explaining something to name it out specifically. Different from a semi-colon as a semi-colon specifically joins two sentences whereas this is used to name an object/subject.

Examples:
  • “What is made up of the army, navy and air force? - The military.”
  • “It’s the biggest, maddest, meanest gang - Diamond gang.”

's vs s

By now it should be obvious I’m in the deep end.
“‘s” is used to express ownership (this is the case even if it isn’t a person or whatever the actual rules are). Like “cat’s box”. “s” is used for other cases.
What about “is” shortenings? I don’t really know, these rules should be changed in some way to make it clear which is which. Under the current rules, “cat’s box” can be either “cats box” or “cat is box”. It could be a contextual clue? You don’t exactly say “cat is box”, but, if you do say “cat is dead” people will know.
For now, it’s dependant on context unfortunately.

Modifiers

Modifiers are placed before nouns. They should be limited to a maximum of three.

Examples

  • Good
    • “My wife” - “My pretty wife” - My nice and pretty wife“ - “My nice, smart and pretty wife”
  • Bad
    • “My nice, smart, kind and pretty wife”

SVO

The subject should come first and the object last. The verb comes before the object. If it is unclear in a sentence, it must be rewritten.
One sentence can only contain one subject, multiple verbs and objects can follow after the first object. Once a second subject is introduced, it becomes another sentence and should either be split off or a comma should be added.

Examples

  • Good
    • “John went home” - S: John, V: went, O: home
    • “John went home and slept” - S: John, V: went, O: home, 2nd V: slept
      • Alt: “John went home to sleep”
    • “John went home to sleep in bed” - Same as above - 2nd V: sleep, 2nd O: bed
    • Multiple Subjects
      • “John went home, where he met Jane” - S: John, V: went, O: home, 2nd S: he, 2nd V: met, 2nd O: Jane
  • Bad
    • “John home went”
    • “Went John home”
    • “Home went John”
      • “Home went John” is technically correct. Although, the home is going to John.
    • “Went home John”
      • This one is also technically correct. Although, you’d be telling John that someone went home. (Not exactly, this sentence would require a comma for that).

"Higher context"

This is mostly a test to see if it’s possible to exclude the subject from sentences.
For this, I regard them as “dependant sentences”. These sentences are dependant on a separate sentence (one that came before) for the subject. Basically, dependant sentences can only include a Verb and an Object. If a Subject is introduced, it immediately becomes the subject for all future dependant sentences. If you wish to return to the original subject, you have to reintroduce it.
Whether “this and it” and so on can be considered the same as the primary subject or separate is something to debate later on.

Example

  • “John went home. Fell asleep on the couch. Dreamt of Stars. Woke up and went to the kitchen. Opened the fridge and took out a beer. Drank the beer. Mary heard him downstairs. Asked how he was. John said he was well. Mary smiled. Went back upstairs. Took a shower.”
    • This will probably feel alien to English speakers. Too strange to be used on this wiki.
    • It might just be me, but it reminds me of extremely “up-its-own-ass” poetry. Actually, it kinda reminds me of how I used to speak.
      • That isn’t to say I ever actually had long monologues that sounded like this. But every now and then I probably did speak like this.

Commas could be used to make it less awkward. Although, it might interfere with the previously established rules.

Listing things

Items in a list need to be separated by a comma (,). The final item always has an “and” instead of a comma. A comma should be placed before the “and” only when it is a list related to people/modifiers of people.

Examples

  • Basic List
    • “Life and death”
    • “Life, death and rebirth”
    • “John, James, and Hannah”
    • “My wife, sister, and best friend”
      • If you want to say your wife is also your sister and also your best friend you’d exclude the final comma.
        • This rule seems unnecessary and might be scrapped.

Negation

To make something negative, add “not”, “did not”, “has not” and variants.

Examples

  • “John went home” - “John did not go home”
  • “Has John gone home?” - “John has not gone home”

Questions

Questions are marked with “Who, what, when, where, why, how” at the start and a question mark at the end. Technically, any sentence can be turned into a question, but this is vague.

Examples

  • “Who is your wife?”
  • “What is your wife doing?”
  • “When is your wife coming home?”
  • “Where is your wife?”
  • “Why is your wife not here?”
  • “How is your wife?”

Three periods

Three periods(…) should be used in special circumstances8). It is mostly a stylistic choice.

A and An

“An” should only be used if the next word’s first letter is pronounced as a vowel, if ignored, the “A” blends with the next vowel. “A” is used if it’s a consonant.

So, but, because, and, for, nor, yet

Wikipedia calls these (excluding because) “coordinating conjucations”. I should really study grammar and linguistics then holy fuck. Two, threeFourty videos on YouTube should be sufficient!

Spelling and Words

Jeeh, Aill rait theez eh bit laytr.
Refer to the list on the Simple English Wikipedia every now and then. Combined with that are a few “specialty” words from the “Jargon?” section.
Spelling is generally of the British variant. In other cases just use a fucking spellchecker. (Should I create my own spelling rules - NO do NOT)
Contractions are acceptable, but you should create an article for them anyway. (Should I create an article with a list of words? - You already had that idea - the glossary.)

Lists

These are suggestions for word lists that I’ll create myself (to add onto the list on Simple English Wikipedia).

  • Swear word list - probably necessary for something.
  • Osu jargon/slang - the compendium of personal ignorance has a list of rhythm game terms but doesn’t mention those related to osu!.
  • "Tropisms" - terms associated with AllTheTropes and TVTropes.
  • Chanverse - anything that comes from the Chanverse (especially anything outside of 4chan) is a mystery to most.
  • General Internet - stuff that’s unique to the internet.
  • Bionicle - anything relevant to one of the greatest multimedia franchises.
  • My list - stuff that’s unique to me or just doesn’t fit anywhere else.

List of words on this article that aren't in the list

  • is
  • I’m - no contractions
  • fuck
  • idiot
  • my
  • internal
  • grammar
  • spelling
  • course
  • so
  • I’ll - no contractions
  • write - writer and writing are though
  • article
  • teach - teaching and teacher are
  • these
  • at
  • proprietary
  • consistent

At this point I gave up, a list of my own is probably needed.

Jargon?

Absolute, watashi’ll psat a 1 timeahead.
This will establish what rules to use in relation to terminology that is uncommon outside of the circles I hang around in.
Generally, you want to avoid using anything too complicated and “alien”. If you do use something strange, you should link to it in the glossary where there will be a good explanation of it.

Test Article


1) ^ a I’m still waiting for the next edition outofgloom
2) ^ a No, it is not a reference to the fact it’s the seventh English-based conlang.
3) ^ a Like at this moment I think I finally realised how to use semi-colons(;) properly
4) ^ a This is poorly explained, rewrite it
5) ^ a Consider removing this part, separate a large sentence into a bunch of smaller ones instead
6) ^ a Then reexplain and come up with better examples
7) ^ a This is also poorly explained and should be rewritten
8) ^ a What circumstances?
rules/language.txt · Last modified: 2021-09-09 17:54:03 by ninjasr

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