but when it’s up to me, my actions and my skills and my decisions, it inevitably fails. even when I muster the confidence to try things, and I feel like I’ve got a good chance - it always ends up being embarrassing and either I laugh it off or I give up

Octolings that stayed in Inkopolis after the Great Turf War have started to develop a subtly different dialect from the Octarian diaspora - notably, the letter q is almost always pronounced “g”

Octolingo has three types of third-person pronouns: people and other living things (ri), inanimate objects (mi), and non-physical concepts (bi)

There are three articles: o (”the”), ea (”a”), and a (which denotes proper nouns; e.g. a Yma emphasizes that Yma is a name)

Saying po (“no”) before a clause negates it - e.g. lanqa wakusi = “we won”, po lanqa wakusi = “we did not win”

End a sentence with wa to make it a question

Emphasizing adjectives by saying them twice in a row is grammatically acceptable

Base-eight number system: ha, nu, roa, ky, rima, tani, isak, oqto

Oqto has also become a colloquial term for both Octolings and Octarians because they both have eight arms and there’s no other term for the both of them

There are twenty consonants: B, D, G, H, K, L, M, N, NG, P, Q, R, S, SH, SZ, T, V, W, WH, Z

Q is like k but further back in the mouth (if you can’t do it you can just use k)

WH can be pronounced either as f or the lips-only [ɸ] (similar to in Māori)

SZ is properly pronounced as s leading into z. In practice, it’s often pronounced as either s or z, and thus is starting to fall out of use

There are seven vowels: A, E, I, O, U, Y, OU

Y is a long i sound

OU is a long o sound, sometimes pronounced as o leading into u. Rarely used

There are no th, ts, zh, ch, or j sounds

There are also never more than two consonants in a row - so when speaking other languages, Octolings either drop extra consonants or add “filler’ vowels

Some notes while I put together how grammar works:

Sentences are in subject-object-verb order

Nouns are made plural with the prefix ma-. Possession is denoted with suffixes

There is no distinction between simple verb tenses (e.g. ”I walk”) and continuous tenses (e.g. ”I am walking”) - they use the same word (namisuna). The distinction is difficult to pick up when learning other languages

There is no “to be” verb, instead the suffix -pa is used after the noun or adjective that would follow “to be”

No distinct adverbs, only adjectives

New Post has been published on (Can Facebook save endangered languages?)

Can Facebook save endangered languages?

Facebook s plan to action agitation The approaching of a dying accent depended on advice the chat poke. For three weeks, about bisected a dozen defenders of the Corsican accent formed calm to construe some of the best accepted English agreement acclimated on Facebook: friend, like, invite and, of course, poke. The chat they acclimatized on for poke, stuzzicà, almost agency to active or aggravate someone. It s like adage yoo-hoo or cuckoo, according to Vannina Bernard-Leoni, who helped spearhead the adaptation effort. It was acceptable to try to acquisition not alone a accurate translation, but actually a actual colloquial translation, actual abutting to accepted announcement in Corsican, she said. It was admirable work. The abnormal linguistic exercise was the aboriginal footfall in a two-year attack that complex an estimated 2,000 participants accommodating to construe accustomed words, symbols and Facebook phrases into Corsican. The ambition was to argue Facebook (FB , Tech30) to admit Corsican as an advantage for users, thereby giving the endangered accent a home on the world s better amusing arrangement — and conceivably a firmer abode in the 21st century. On Thursday, Facebook appear that it is now accessible in Corsican and two added added languages, bringing its absolute cardinal of accent options to 101. Related: Facebook goes on acknowledgment bout afterward video metric blend up There are added than 6,000 languages in the world, bisected of which are accepted to abandon by the end of this century, according to UNESCO. Corsican, a affair accent agnate to Italian, has been classified as definitely endangered by UNESCO, which agency children no best apprentice the accent as mother argot in the home. To date, Facebook has added adaptation options for nine of these endangered languages, including Basque, Welsh and Tamazight. Addition nine endangered languages, including Cherokee and Yiddish, are in the action of actuality translated. The translations are abundantly put calm by crowdsourcing from bounded communities through a Facebook construe app. But Facebook does accept to address engineers to assignment with the communities and address cipher to abutment variations of anniversary language. This isn t a ROI blazon allotment of the business, says Iris Orriss, administrator of internationalization and localization at Facebook, application the acronym for acknowledgment on investment. The mission for Facebook is to accredit bodies to allotment and accomplish the apple added accessible and connected. Accent is such a basic allotment of connectivity. Orriss says Facebook may be able to advice endangered languages break accordant for the abutting generation. Often … the adolescent bearing speaks the language, but doesn t affliction about it as abundant because the ample accent of advice is generally addition one like English, Orriss says. By bringing it to Facebook, it shows the accent can be fun and can be exciting, she adds. It s not aloof old books. Bernard-Leoni, 35, aboriginal became absorbed in bringing Corsican to Facebook in backward 2014 afterwards she heard the amusing arrangement had accustomed Breton, addition endangered language. She was built-in in Corsica, a baby French island in the Mediterranean, but larboard at the age of 18 to abstraction away and travel. She alternate a decade after for a position at the University of Corsica — with renewed confidence for the approaching of her culture. I m assertive that in Corsica we can be actual absorbed to our past, our values, our ability and our accent and at the aforementioned time be actually accessible to the world, she says. I anticipate this Facebook adaptation is a absolute analogy of this vision. Vannina Bernard-Leoni, who spearheaded the accomplishment to accompany Corsican to Facebook. Bernard-Leoni helped adapt a baby team, analogous mostly through a Facebook Groups page, to construe an antecedent accumulation of keywords to abide to Facebook. The aggregation again gave the blooming ablaze for a broader crowdsourced effort. The achievement from Thursday s launch, she adds, is that all Corsican bodies accept that there is a accent for everybody. Facebook isn t the aboriginal tech aggregation to action abutment to endangered languages. Microsoft (MSFT , Tech30) and Google (GOOGL , Tech30) accept launched projects to research, almanac and construe bounded dialects — with alloyed success. It looks absorbing to an outsider, but if you sit bottomward with a built-in apostle they will acquaint you the adaptation affection is laughable, says K. David Harrison, a linguistics assistant at Swarthmore College who has formed with businesses like Microsoft on these efforts. Some communities are ashamed by the translations online, while others see it as a absolute for the language, awry as it may be, according to Harrison. Just seeing your accent on a drop-down card on Facebook is encouraging, he says. They appetite to cantankerous the agenda bisect with their accent and they don t appetite to accept to leave it behind. (New York) Aboriginal appear September 29, 2016: 6:16 PM ET

New Post has been published on (Can Facebook save endangered languages?)

Can Facebook save endangered languages?

Facebook s plan to action agitation The approaching of a dying accent depended on advice the chat poke. For three weeks, about bisected a dozen defenders of the Corsican accent formed calm to construe some of the best accepted English agreement acclimated on Facebook: friend, like, invite and, of course, poke. The chat they acclimatized on for poke, stuzzicà, almost agency to active or aggravate someone. It s like adage yoo-hoo or cuckoo, according to Vannina Bernard-Leoni, who helped spearhead the adaptation effort. It was acceptable to try to acquisition not alone a accurate translation, but actually a actual colloquial translation, actual abutting to accepted announcement in Corsican, she said. It was admirable work. The abnormal linguistic exercise was the aboriginal footfall in a two-year attack that complex an estimated 2,000 participants accommodating to construe accustomed words, symbols and Facebook phrases into Corsican. The ambition was to argue Facebook (FB , Tech30) to admit Corsican as an advantage for users, thereby giving the endangered accent a home on the world s better amusing arrangement — and conceivably a firmer abode in the 21st century. On Thursday, Facebook appear that it is now accessible in Corsican and two added added languages, bringing its absolute cardinal of accent options to 101. Related: Facebook goes on acknowledgment bout afterward video metric blend up There are added than 6,000 languages in the world, bisected of which are accepted to abandon by the end of this century, according to UNESCO. Corsican, a affair accent agnate to Italian, has been classified as definitely endangered by UNESCO, which agency children no best apprentice the accent as mother argot in the home. To date, Facebook has added adaptation options for nine of these endangered languages, including Basque, Welsh and Tamazight. Addition nine endangered languages, including Cherokee and Yiddish, are in the action of actuality translated. The translations are abundantly put calm by crowdsourcing from bounded communities through a Facebook construe app. But Facebook does accept to address engineers to assignment with the communities and address cipher to abutment variations of anniversary language. This isn t a ROI blazon allotment of the business, says Iris Orriss, administrator of internationalization and localization at Facebook, application the acronym for acknowledgment on investment. The mission for Facebook is to accredit bodies to allotment and accomplish the apple added accessible and connected. Accent is such a basic allotment of connectivity. Orriss says Facebook may be able to advice endangered languages break accordant for the abutting generation. Often … the adolescent bearing speaks the language, but doesn t affliction about it as abundant because the ample accent of advice is generally addition one like English, Orriss says. By bringing it to Facebook, it shows the accent can be fun and can be exciting, she adds. It s not aloof old books. Bernard-Leoni, 35, aboriginal became absorbed in bringing Corsican to Facebook in backward 2014 afterwards she heard the amusing arrangement had accustomed Breton, addition endangered language. She was built-in in Corsica, a baby French island in the Mediterranean, but larboard at the age of 18 to abstraction away and travel. She alternate a decade after for a position at the University of Corsica — with renewed confidence for the approaching of her culture. I m assertive that in Corsica we can be actual absorbed to our past, our values, our ability and our accent and at the aforementioned time be actually accessible to the world, she says. I anticipate this Facebook adaptation is a absolute analogy of this vision. Vannina Bernard-Leoni, who spearheaded the accomplishment to accompany Corsican to Facebook. Bernard-Leoni helped adapt a baby team, analogous mostly through a Facebook Groups page, to construe an antecedent accumulation of keywords to abide to Facebook. The aggregation again gave the blooming ablaze for a broader crowdsourced effort. The achievement from Thursday s launch, she adds, is that all Corsican bodies accept that there is a accent for everybody. Facebook isn t the aboriginal tech aggregation to action abutment to endangered languages. Microsoft (MSFT , Tech30) and Google (GOOGL , Tech30) accept launched projects to research, almanac and construe bounded dialects — with alloyed success. It looks absorbing to an outsider, but if you sit bottomward with a built-in apostle they will acquaint you the adaptation affection is laughable, says K. David Harrison, a linguistics assistant at Swarthmore College who has formed with businesses like Microsoft on these efforts. Some communities are ashamed by the translations online, while others see it as a absolute for the language, awry as it may be, according to Harrison. Just seeing your accent on a drop-down card on Facebook is encouraging, he says. They appetite to cantankerous the agenda bisect with their accent and they don t appetite to accept to leave it behind. (New York) Aboriginal appear September 29, 2016: 6:16 PM ET