Sally Caves

For the past year my biggest conlang endeavor has been working out the writing system for Yuktepat, and I think I’m close to the “end.” The aesthetics are settled, the infrastructure’s in place. I don’t have glyphs for all or even most of the words in Yuktepat, but the inventory of phonetic and semantic bits and pieces is large enough that it’s easy to combine them to make up new glyphs on the fly. The next order of business is working on a phonetic script to complement it. This script would be used alongside Tepatic glyphs by some of the surrounding languages of Tiptum. The individual letters are mostly derived from simplified Tepatic glyphs. In other words, they are to Tepatic glyphs what hiragana is to Chinese characters, so I’m calling them “Tiptum hiragana” until I can make a proper name. The last couple of days I’ve been “doodling” in it, like in the image above. The “words” are nonsense, I just wanted to see how the letters look connected, but so far I’m pleased with some of the possibilities.

Day 13 #inktober2015#kalonjiart#geneva#carouge#igersgeneva#switzerland

Lyonel Feininger (American/German, 1871-1956), Study, on the Cliffs (early attempt at cubist form), 1912. Oil on canvas, 45.5 x 60.3 cm.

When your stupid wizard parents force you to make the bed. (vine by Kevin Parry)

As for me, I’m still reading it. Whether I’ll write a review once I’m done depends entirely on whether anyone here is interested in my opinion :P. So, interested?

wandering rabbit

Also, this particular manuscript has an error: for the last instance of kô “present tense particle” (third-to-last line) the scribe actually wrote pol “become” instead, although both glyphs do have the same radical.

faded agenda 3

‘Ozkavarkúi’ by Kaduatán One of my very good friends John Quijada is a genius on multiple levels. He created the Ithkuil language (for which he was profiled in The New Yorker), and he also happens to be a brilliant progressive rock composer. Of late he’s begun combining his two passions, and is in the middle of putting together a new album of original music with Ithkuil lyrics. This is the first song off the album, featuring MIDI instrumentation arranged by John and me on lead vocals. If you think influences from Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, etc., you’re hearing right. I’m a big fan of John’s music, and was proud he gave me the reigns to record the main vocal line. It’s a prog song, so strap in for 15 minutes, but I hope you enjoy it. The complexity of John’s compositions has always blown me away. Also, the video features artwork by John’s twin brother Paul. It’s a 70s prog rock smörgåsbord. ~:D