--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@Y...> wrote:

> Your other challenge, should you wish to accept it, is > to design your own 30-minute conlang.

I once had the following idea for an instalang: Do letter (or phoneme) replacements in the natlang of your choice, in such a way that the phonology remains pronounceable. For example, simply rotate the three main consonant trees by one position (dental->velar->labial->dental), switch l and r, use s for sh and ch, and ch for s (likewise with voiced sibilants), mirror the vowels across the vertical plain. The lone h phoneme could be replaced by a glottal stop, written q.

One could either reduce English to a simpler vowel system (dZAme:kA-style), write that phonetically with |a e i o u|, and transform it; or one could simply apply the rules to the written vowel letters and pronounce the result phonetically. Obviously, it's going to be very easy to see through... but for low-security applications such as primary school, why not? ;-)

In order to avoid easily recognized words such as |gho| for "the", use no articles, leave away the plural -s whenever non-critical (or maybe pluralize by adding a copy of the last vowel of the word)... and switch word order to OVS for good measure. And sequence of modal/aux verb phrase invert might we as well.

Rupo ghuch reep yeirg lochirk. UNQE, uk nuchkapo peirg engo thel nelo cholueich appontk ak pengranum. ;-P



-- Christian Thalmann