Órgom Silawa

Blog Retirement

2011-09-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I switched most of my activity over to my new website. Since I've installed an "updates" feature that will allow me to merge the functions of a blog with the more flexible archive format of a website, I won't be needing this outlet any more. Needless to say, it will remain up for reference purposes.

Láé gad!

Ryōkan Translation

2011-02-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

A little translation project for old time's sake.

New Website Up!

2010-08-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Using Google Sites, I have put together a new website to hold all of the relevant information about my various language projects, especially Órgom Silawa. It has all sorts of goodies, including the first ever on-line lexicon of Órgom Silawa, and a peek at my newest language Kelemad Lim. Go check it out!

(ps.: Google docs is a must.)

New Entry in the Official Grammar

2010-04-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have made a new entry in the Official Grammar of Órgom Silawa, filling a longstanding gap: reflexive pronouns. The new forms are related to the normal pronouns, and so should be easy to learn and use. The reflexive is formed by placing an s before the normal pronoun in question. They decline as usual (though the nominative is rare, it does exist.)

Here, then, is a breakdown of the forms:

[1st, 2nd, 3rd person]
sing, sang, séng [singular]
sin, san, sén [dual]
sidh, sadh, sédh [plural]

(File this under sect. 2.3.4 of the grammar)

Happy reflexing!

A.dem Falgon.a - A Bundle of Sticks

2010-03-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

The following is a longer preview of Spundaluvian. All forms have been full parsed to help you get a feel for the story. You should be able to follow along just from the grammatical commentary!

A.dem Falgon.a

(characterized by stick “a”)(bundle “a”)

dad.urog.fo.vi o.yormast anf.o ko.dano.fo.fe ne.sarg hezde.i,

(towards-summoned-he “o”-them fewer than 5 “i”)(“o”old )(person “o”)(who “o”-is near-he “o”-to it “e”) (to “e”-die)(child “i”),

na.tuyun.fo.vi.fu du.salin os.vaknezd·

(subordinate-gave-he “o”-to them “i”-it “u”)(nominalizer “u”-advice)(agent “o” parting).

uhem.fo.fe is.anast ne.ne.anankin.vi.fu u.den falgon.u,

(ordered-he “o”-it “e”)(agent “i”-server)(subordinate to “e”-in-bring-they “i”-it “u”)(characterized by stick “u”)(bundle “u”),

i dad.suyom.fo.fa a.yormast.mot hezde.a:

(&)(toward-said-he “o”-him “a”)(“a” old-superlative)(child “a”):

“da.bav.ta.fu!”

(imperative-break-you “a”-it “u”)!

zdugol.fe i zdugol.fe men vel.e zdil upov.fe.fa na.bav.fe.fu

(struggled-he “e”)(&)(struggled-he “e”)(but)(power of “e”)(not)(was able-it “e”-it “a”)(subordinate to “a”-break-it “e”-it “u”)

falgon.u hezde.e· e.nast hezde.e i zdugol.ye, urdim.re·

(bundle “u”)(child “e”). (“e” other)(child “e”)(also)(struggled-all of “e”), (succeeded-none of “e”).

“da.halesa.da.fu falgon.u,” suyom.fa pet, “i da.gagot.ya.fi

(imperative-release-you pauc. “a”-it “u”)(bundle “u”) (said-he)(father), (&)(imperative-receive-all-it “i”)

den.i·” yotot suyom.fa, “not da.bav.da.vi,” i den.i

(stick “i”). (then)(said-he), (now)(imperative-break-you pauc.- them pauc “i”), (&)(stick “i”)

o.buv.zdo.yi o.iftu· Suyom.fa pet, “kanonot.da.fe yut.e·”

(“o” coordinate-break-passive-all of “i”)(“o” easily). (said-he)(father), (understand-you pauc.-it “e”)(meaning “e”).

Sneak Peek of Spundaluvian

2010-02-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Spundaluvian is a new language I'm working on. As you can see, it uses a slightly modified form of the Órgom Silawa alphabet. In fact, it is related taxonomically with my other language, so you may recognize some of the roots! Below is a fully parsed example to get you accustomed.

hozdeg.so.fe nil.o fakad.e i gere.va.sa.gi herv.i

(I-'o'-mark have left it-'e'-mark) (Neal-'o'-mark) (house-'e'-mark) (and) (I go through more than five 'i'-marks) (tree-'i'-mark)

garnuv.sa.fo no.hazdid.sa.fe yormast.e forg.e

(I want it-'o'-mark) ( I 'o'-mark subordinate to see it-'e'-mark) (old 'e'-mark) (ship 'e'-mark)

nok.se.fa.fo forg holip.o ne.ko.tihul.fa

(it is from it-'o'-mark) (ship) (group-'o'-mark) (realative 'o'-mark which will come in)

Here are a few of the more interesting features:

-There are vowel markers which can be worked into just about any part of speech to coordinate it to another word in the same sentence. These are all interchangeable and reset for every sentence. For instance, if a verb specifies an "o-mark" object, whatever noun, phrase, or group in the sentence with the "o-mark" is the subject, wherever it or they may be.

-There are three numbers: singular, paucal (2-5), and plural (6+).

-Tense is indicated by a vowel shift in the verbal stem.

That's just a teaser. Enjoy!

Sappho 34 Translation

2010-01-31T10:43:00.000-08:00

Sappho's fragment 34 (Cambell) in Órgom Silawa free verse.
Loosely in English-

"The stars about the beautiful moon
hide themselves away
when she's full and shining most upon the
Earth."

/// Update!

A mysterious video has appeared on youtube! What can it mean?

Festive Holiday Post

2009-12-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hó Song Ingwa - Oh Tannenbaum / Oh Christmas Tree

Naskiĝtago de L.L. Zamenhof / L.L. Zamenhof's Birthday

2009-12-15T11:27:00.000-08:00

Ĉi matene kiam mi unue ŝaltis mian komputilon, mi rimarkis la jenan bildon ĉe la ĉefpaĝo de Google... sed povis apenaŭ kredi ĝin! / This morning when I first turned on my computer, I noticed this image on Google's front page... but could hardly believe it!
La verda flago de Esperanto! / The green flag of Esperanto!

Google elektis ĉi tiun daton por honori Esperanton ĉar hodiaŭ estas la 150a datreveno de la naskiĝtago de L.L. Zamenhof, kiu kreis la lingvon. Malgraŭ tiu fakto, vere ne gravas je kiu tago Google honoras Esperanton, la grava punkto estas ke milionoj da homoj, grandegaj amasoj, preskaŭ la tuta (komputilon uzanta) mondo vidos la verdan stelon kaj neeviteble klakos ĝin. Tuj ili lernos la bazajn punktojn pri LLZ kaj lia lingvo.

Google chose this date to honor Esperanto because today is the 150th aniversary of L.L. Zamenhof's birthday, the man who created the language. In spite of this fact, it really doesn't matter on what day Google honors Esperanto, the important point is that millions of people, huge masses, nearly the who (computer using) world will see the green star and inevitably click on it. Instantly they will then learn the basic points about LLZ and his language.

Dum monatoj mi penis informigi miajn samuniversitatanojn pri nia lingvo per malbelaj sed funkciaj afiŝoj, fiksitaj tra la kampuso. Varbi grandajn amasonj da homoj ne gravis al mi, simple informigi ilin. Mi memoras ke kiam mi unue lernis pri Esperanto, mi iom koleriĝis ke neniu antaŭe informigis min pri ĝi, kaj tial mia celo estas ke la lingvemaj homoj de UCSB evitu tiun kruelan faton. Mi sukcesis interesigi almenaŭ unu homon. Imagu kiom Google povus. Dank' al Google!

For months, I've been trying to inform my fellow college students about our language by way of ugly but functional signs posted across campus. Recruiting large numbers of people didn't matter to me, rather simply informing them. I remember that when I first learned about Esperanto, I got a little mad that no one had previously informed me about it, and so my goal is that the language minded people at UCSB avoid that cruel fate. I succeeded in interesting at least one person. Imagine how many Google could interest. Thank you Google!

Kóg Silawa: pt. 3

2009-12-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Látinghal, rog ang! “Stop, you demon you, stop!” The cry rang out in the sudden silence of the chill night. The wind had died completely. Húla never hesitated: even in his state, he knew that the cry wasn't aimed at him. As he ran through the fields surrounding the village, he could see torches and Wombáts rushing to and fro. What finally broke into his panicked mind was the realization that they were clustered around a shop... his shop! He hurried to the door, terrified that something should have befallen his livelihood. He was met at the door by his apprentice Twóva. Húla, wó! É thímbanwo! “Húla, oh, it's horrible! You won't believe it!” “What is it Twóva, tell me, is someone hurt?” “Oh, it's even worse! A giant Túpló got in somehow! Oh, Húla, it ate all the Spundlemuffin dough!” The good baker sank to his knees, his face whiter than his apprentice's flour stained hands. “Don't worry though, snúltel Phluphún was locking up his back door across the alley just as it made a break for it, and beaned it with a kettle! It won't get far!” To the Twóva's sruprise, this news didn't seem to cheer the baker any, but rather inspired a strangely suspicious look on his face. Without saying a word, he dashed away into the night.

Húla hurried through the dark streets of the town, and doubted that he could take much more of this dashing about in the wee hours of the morning, not at his age at least. When he was a young Wombát, he had always been game for a late-night jaunt, but these days.... His reverie was broken when he realized that he had reached his destination: the fort on the hill above town. There seemed to be some commotion here, too. Húla saw the Wombát that he recognized to be the company surgeon, who was latching up his medical chest. “Doctor, what happened here?” “Well, it's the oddest thing, now that you ask. The watchman found young Phólatip passed out at he bottom of the perimeter ditch, stark naked! And on a night like this! Young ones these days, sometimes I just don't know.... He also seemed to have picked up a solid knock to the head along the way, so I put him to bed with a hot water bottle. He'll be better by morning.”

“So from then on, I knew that Phólatip was a weretúpló. I was terrified to be alone with him, to the point that I never could bring myself to set foot in my own shop on Thursdays... I had to have Twóva see to all the business then. I held my peace for years out of fright. But I'm telling you now since Phólatip has been transfered back up to Híz, and since this is some mighty fine medh! Cheers, Mr. Bund!”

-met-

That concludes tonight's terrifying tale! Try to get some sleep... but lock up the muffin mix!

Also, stay tuned for future KÓGESH SILAWA.

Kóg Silawa: pt. 2

2009-12-07T15:03:00.001-08:00

Wó! Ingar líz lábles! Lákhrest! “Agh! Don't hurt me! Help!” The frighted Wombát cried, huddling in cold mud of the path, clutching at creepers. Hearing his voice, the shadowy form stopped short, it's sword arm still outstretched. It seemed to hesitate, as if unsure. Líz é Húla lé? “That's not Húla, is it?” The form asked, clearly very surprised. “Yes! It's me! Don't hurt me! Who are you?” He asked. “Húla, it's me, Phólatip. I buy bread from you every Thursday afternoon.” The baker climbed carefully to his feet, wiping his hands together on account of the mud. “Phólatip, really? Is that you? What on earth are you doing out here? More to the point, why did you try to kill me?” The other Wombát looked sheepish. “Oh, nothing. I thought... well...” “What?” “Nothing! Let's you and me head into town while we can.” Húla was getting cold standing still, and so was not one to argue.

The two trudged on in silence, but the Baker (a good deal sobered by his run-in on the path) could not help but notice that his companion was getting increasingly nervous and seemed somehow ill at ease. Phólatip, who was a soldier stationed at the small hill fort above Smórg, was not in uniform, but was girded with his sword belt and sword, the handle of which he would fumble with intermittently. As they continued along the path towards the town, the situation worsened until Húla could tell that Phólatip could barely stand for the nervous tremors that were wracking his frame. Just as the concerned baker was about to ask the soldier what was bothering him, Phólatip halted sharply in his tracks and began to flail wildly. To Húla's infinite astonishment, the other Wombát then ripped of his cloak and trousers despite the cutting wind, and flung his sword belt aside. Húla stood stunned, frozen with shock, as he watched his friend give him one last panicked look over his shoulder then tear off into the dark pines above the trail to the east.

Húla bent to examine his companion's abandoned possessions with ideas of picking up his cloak and then trying to find the poor Wombát, who was obviously in the grips of some brain fever or other, but when he touched the material, he leaped back as if bitten by a snake. A look of pure terror crossed his poor face as he staggered forward. He broke into as fast a run as his stubby limbs would allow. As he thudded down the hill towards the few dim lights left burning in the sleepy village, all that an observer could have understood of his terror stricken babble was the word óló... “Stone!”

Kóg Silawa: A Tale of Silawa

2009-12-06T20:14:00.000-08:00

I'm introducing a new series, in the form of occasional posts, which will narrate a story sprinkled with Órgom Silawa words and phrases, and be accompanied by (perfunctory) illustrations. So, without further ado, here is installment 1.

KÓG SILAWA - A TALE OF SILAWA

É inanemd búrzmór kwe méd... It was a dark night and a wet one for Húla the Wombát to be drunk out on the moors north of Smórg, but he didn't have a choice, not really. He had to be at his ovens early in the morning, every morning, if he wanted to earn a steady living. Húla was a baker, and he looked like a baker. He was large about the middle, which showed that he was probably a good baker because he enjoyed his work, but he was also deceptively strong from heaving the sacks of flour which he turned into bread, muffins and buns for the people of the hamlet of Smórg, which is south west of Tilinggást, across the moors. It's a snug sort of place, nestled in the foothills at the edge of the Southern Woods, but the moors open away to the north and northwest, and so the autumn winds that come sweeping in from that direction are felt keenly. When the wind is up, folks tend to stay by their fire. It was just such an autumn night that Húla was trying to find his way back home across the moors.

It had been a pretty good party though, he had to admit. It had been held at, (let's face it, he thought as he stumbled along in the dark, it's still being held,) at the large estate of one of his best customers, the wealthy and prosperous farmer called Bund. Every year farmer Bund hosted a blowout round about the time of Spundlmass to honor the broaching of his casks of new medh. This was not an event to be missed, since, as everybody in Smórg and its surroundings knew, mead of the Bund mark was the finest on the moors. Nor was it an event often well remembered, for much the same reasons. All pleasures aside, though, Húla knew he had to start the Spundlemuffins early the next morning to meet the holiday demand, which was why he had left the party at about midnight, just as it was getting good.

Húla reflected on this as he trudged along the ill defined path that skirted the base of the foothills. At intervals, paths broke off to the left up into the forested glens in the hills where villagers gathered firewood or hunted, and a few hardy charcoal burners and the like dwelt permanently. Better them than me, thought Húla, as he passed one, peering off into the gloom. The stars were bright between the scudding clouds, but there was just a sliver of a moon, so the gloom was as thick as potato soup. The wind howled across the moor, keening eerily over the ridges studded with ancient standing stones, some stilled scored on their leeward sides with forgotten symbols. Because of the wind, Húla only heard the unmistakable sounds of hurried footsteps clattering down the path from the glen until they were almost upon him, and it was far too late to react.

More out of surprise than fear (he was drunk, after all), he flung himself to the ground. And suddenly, out of the gloom thundered a huge form, brandishing a sword in front of it!

2nd Edition of the Chrestomathy: Mk II

2009-11-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

As you may recall, I have been having some trouble getting the latest edition of the chrestomathy out. After trying both Lulu and Cafepress (both of which had served me well in the past) to no avail and many printing errors, I have resorted to good old Kinkos. The end product is a little different than previous incarnations, being less pocket sized and more... let's see, how to spin it? more desk sized, but it still holds true to my original blurb:

Created on a whim by Neal Wiley in 2007, the Órgom Silawa language has been evolving ever since. This volume chronicles that process since its inception and the first halting paragraphs composed in it, to the latest and most sophisticated original poetry. In addition to an updated grammatical outline and introductory course, this new edition features an enlarged glossary of over 1600 entries: enough information for you to read any existing text and compose your own on nearly any topic. Enjoy the birth of a language and its culture!

Now enjoy some pictures!

Accidental Órgom Silawa

2009-11-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

After the fashion of Accidental Esperanto.

"Á"

Rare Picture of Órgom Silawa Ruins

2009-11-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

The text on the lintel reads "oslán rún," meaning "east gate."

Chrestomathy- bad news

2009-08-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

A bit of bad news about the publication of the new Chrestomathy: Lulu has let me down. The proof copies arrived a few days ago, and I noticed to my chagrin that the Órgom Silawa text (the most important part) had been replaced with gibberish. I have contacted Lulu about this but have not yet received a reply. The e-book download should still work fine, and I've disabled the book option until this is worked out to prevent any wayward soul from loosing $9 on it.

Wordart: Kháshe

2009-08-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Kháshe-Fire, acrylic on canvas

More to come.

2nd Edition of the Chrestomathy

2009-08-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

The second, improved, corrected and expanded edition of the Órgom Silawa Chrestomathy has been released for general consumption! Here is the back cover blurb:

Created on a whim by Neal Wiley in 2007, the Órgom Silawa language has been evolving ever since. This volume chronicles that process since its inception and the first halting paragraphs composed in it, to the latest and most sophisticated original poetry. In addition to an updated grammatical outline and introductory course, this new edition features an enlarged glossary of over 1600 entries: enough information for you to read any existing text and compose your own on nearly any topic. Enjoy the birth of a language and its culture!

It is available for sale here, either as a totally free download or for 9$ as a nicely printed, 142 page paperback book.

Órgom Silawa Fable

2009-08-05T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here is an excerpt from a text which I'm preparing for the second edition of the Chrestomathy. It relates the tale of how the river Ajharhat got its name.
Also, look out for some refinements to the font, especially new forms of three letters: h, m, and z.

Enjoy!

[click for embiggenment]

Translations of Omar Khayyam

2009-07-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some translations of Omar Khayyam done from the Esperanto translations of Waringhien. His translations are also attached.

Jen kelkaj tradukaĵoj de Omar Kajjam kiujn mi verkis de la Esperantaj tradukaĵoj de Waringhien. Liaj tradnukaĵoj sekvos ilin.

Sopiro al hurioj en mia kor' jam estu!
En mia man' jarlonge la vitlikvor' jam estu!
Ili kriaĉas: “Donu Alah' al vi pentemon!”
Nek donis Li, nek volas mi ĝin: ĝi for jam estu!

Ĉu lasi zorgojn rabi el nia ĝojtrezoro
ŝtonon de l' tristo trivi la tempon de l' plezuro?
La estontecon konas neniu, eĉ Cezaro.
Vino, amat', ripozo: jen la tuto deziro.

Órgom Silawa 101: A Brief Introduction

2009-05-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

Medh read aloud

2009-03-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

This is a poem which I wrote some time ago. It is presented with the text in this short video

New Órgomphald Logo: Now in Circular!

2009-03-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Snapshot From the New Chrestomathy

2009-02-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Intralinear Translation of Iliad A 1-7

2009-02-12T16:27:00.000-08:00

This is the first complete sentence in all of Western literature, and some of the most famous first lines in history. Not to mention some high caliber poetry (the Greek at least). The first seven lines of the Iliad in Órgom Silawa. (NB: Superscripted letters indicate elision. Also, you will need to click on it to see the whole thing, since it's too big to display here.)

Snú: How to Make It

2009-02-09T19:50:00.000-08:00

Analysis of a Classic Text

2009-02-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

After having posted the previous post, I came to think about the first item in it: my first ever computerized text. I composed it to send as a sample to the creator of Tapissary, who had expressed interest in my work. The words it's composed of are some of the oldest in the language, some of which have fallen out of use and some are still common to this day. It is a simple story drawn from a very limited range of vocabulary, but worthwhile as an appetizer to the language!

What follows is the transcribed text, with translation and commentary.
Órgom silawa:

Idh báú híwa inanemdwa ad thakhadar ingwa da kerbé.
Tonight we went to my house [literally] "at the tree."
I'm not too sure what I meant by the last bit, but maybe it was something like "in the forest."

Da híé thakhadé, idh wudheú kwe shelmú láptongar níbar.
At this house, we washed and ate hot bread.

Vót, ing báú rús thakhadwa suarsh óshúhezwid.
Then, I went out of the house to watch the stars.
Here we see the infinitive to express purpose (óshúhezwid). This should be considered an archaism, and not acceptable in standard speech. The modern form would use the subordinating conjunction tál. Also, hezwid is a variant spelling of the more common hazwid.

Édh éphí shánzatsh gér kerbésh.
They were beautiful through the trees.
The modern form of shánzatsh would be shánzatesh.

-Níalé 2007
That's me! Note the instrumental of agent and the lack of a number system.

The original text is to be found right below this.

Digest of Samples

2009-02-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

Just for the sake of having some further examples present on this site, I will upload some samples of various stages of Órgom Silawa, along with some descriptions.

1. The oldest stage:
This is the first Órgom Silawa font, and therefore the first digital example of the language. It was hand drawn (obviously) and a bit irregular. The text pictured is brief story that I composed from the first 30 or so words of my vocabulary.

2. Second stage:
This font, also hand drawn, was bolder, easier to read, and had serifs. My rationale behind changing the appearance of writing so drastically was to reflect the natural progression that a writing system would take in the real world. This stage represents the transition between simply scratching letters into something like wood or bone and carving them more carefully. The text here is a sample sentence which I read aloud, a recording of which was to be found at my old website.

3. Development of the cursive script.
This was developed in an effort to make the handwritten forms both quicker to execute and more artistic. Also, since cursive forms are common to natural alphabets, it seemed important that Órgom Silawa also have one. The text here is a poem about brewing wine and mead.

4. Third font stage:
This is the first of the computer created fonts. This particular one was only used very briefly due to being hideously ugly, and so this text, the snú recipe, is one of the few examples that exist.

5. The most recent stage:
This is newest incarnation of the Órgom Silawa alphabet. The text is the logo of the Órgomphald Silawa, my name for the regulating body of the language
.

Video Collage

2009-02-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

A video collage tracing the evolution of written Órgom Silawa from its earliest form to the newest font.

'Kwe' ligature

2009-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

Just a brief note to announce that I've finally come up with a satisfactory ligature for the for the conjunction kwe (and), somewhat analogous to the &. It is a compound of the first two letters of the word, as you can see from the attached image, where you can see the full form of the word and the ligature form below it.

New, Streamlined Font

2008-10-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I've again modified the Órgom Silawa typeface. I hope that this will be last time it is necessary, since I believe I've finally determined why I was always a bit unhappy with all the previous incarnations. Specifically, I realized that in all modern western typefaces, the bodies of all the letters are more or less the same size, and if they have risers or descenders, they are in the form of thin stems or tails. I have changed the Órgom Silawa typeface to reflect this. Complex consonants take either a stem or tail to bear their trademark slash, and as usual, r has a built in down-comer. In this (hopefully famililar) example, you can see all this at work.

New Font, New Direction

2008-08-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

As you can see, there been a big change in the Órgom Silawa typeface. Using the free tool at fontsruct.com (highly recommended) I created a completely regular and smooth font in about two hours. I will still use my old serif font for some things, but this will be the new standard. Here is an example: the famous snoo recipe!

Potential Swapover

2008-03-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

I set this up as a place holder for when I get around to relocating my Órgom Silawa content from its current home to here. This may be very soon, or never. In the meantime, here is a funny picture with a cat in it.