Random But I'm A Linguistics Nerd From The Southern US Here: Am I The Only One That Says /ˈfʌk.ˌal/?

I was initially skeptical because, honestly, some of these are only plausible w/o the Great Vowel Shift (e.g. grope, game > grapple, gamble) but yes, it's real.

Indeed, it's a no-longer-productive grammatical process dating back to Proto Germanic, where *-ilaz was an adjective suffix.

But anyways, some of these make sense with the great vowel shift. E.g. with game ~ gamble:

/geɪm/ "game" < /gaː.mə/ < /ga.mə/

/ˈgæm.ˌbl̩/ "gamble" < /ˈgam.ˌlə/ < /ˈga.mə.lə/

Note with gamble: an epenthetic /b/ is inserted after /m/ to preserve the distinction between /m/ and /l/.

this is earthbound to me

Day 49 (100 in base 7) of rewriting my novel

Yeah ok I abandoned base-30:base-7 in favor of base 7 today because it looks better.

Today was "let's all ask Lozerief about our lore" day for all of my OCs because, by this point in everyone's storylines, it's long overdue. I think Part Four is coming together alright, and I just hope to explore some more concultures here. (Namely: Atepsi, Ytos, and Northern Odapir.)

Usual Suspects: @oldfashionedidiot and @quillswriting

If you'd like to be added/subtracted from a taglist, please DM me or see my taglists post.

Ok, so, when reconstructing natural proto-languages, those protolanguages are almost never attested. Historical Linguists are basically making educated guesses and throwing darts against a wall when making the Proto-Indo-European hypothesis, it was just that the evidence was so compelling that linguists (and, most humans) believe it. For all intents and purposes, it's a really good guess.

The issue with my conworld? Classical Zispoel and Proto-Ytosi-Itaush are still fully attested languages with exactly 2 and 1 native speakers each, all still technically living.

To make matters worse, Lozerief is kind-of a scientific genius, and Pagjom is the literal Hero of Language. Together, they could reconstruct Proto-Zispoel and see what a god-awful, horrifying shit-show it was.

The idea that my characters could derive my god-awful, good-for-nothing protolanguage is, somehow, deeply disturbing to me. I think they would realize they were in a simulation if they did that.

I had this problem too, so instead of suffering, I created a capitalistic hellscape for them to run around in and deal with that way. Early 2010s technology, so super basic phones but they have cars! And high speed rail!

writing a high fantasy sucks sometimes i wanna give my silly little guys PHONES, i wanna know what CARS they would drive

Double date at the theme park! 💞🥰🎡

Requested by @anyspirit!

I have a foolproof strategy for worldbuilding these days (as an American):

Step 1: Wait for Trump/MAGA to do something stupid and perform insane levels of Orwellian double-think to justify it.

Step 2: Write it down and change the names around.

a list of 100+ buildings to put in your fantasy town

academy

adventurer's guild

alchemist

apiary

apothecary

aquarium

armory

art gallery

bakery

bank

barber

barracks

bathhouse

blacksmith

boathouse

book store

bookbinder

botanical garden

brothel

butcher

carpenter

cartographer

casino

castle

cobbler

coffee shop

council chamber

court house

crypt for the noble family

dentist

distillery

docks

dovecot

dyer

embassy

farmer's market

fighting pit

fishmonger

fortune teller

gallows

gatehouse

general store

graveyard

greenhouses

guard post

guildhall

gymnasium

haberdashery

haunted house

hedge maze

herbalist

hospice

hospital

house for sale

inn

jail

jeweller

kindergarten

leatherworker

library

locksmith

mail courier

manor house

market

mayor's house

monastery

morgue

museum

music shop

observatory

orchard

orphanage

outhouse

paper maker

pawnshop

pet shop

potion shop

potter

printmaker

quest board

residence

restricted zone

sawmill

school

scribe

sewer entrance

sheriff's office

shrine

silversmith

spa

speakeasy

spice merchant

sports stadium

stables

street market

tailor

tannery

tavern

tax collector

tea house

temple

textile shop

theatre

thieves guild

thrift store

tinker's workshop

town crier post

town square

townhall

toy store

trinket shop

warehouse

watchtower

water mill

weaver

well

windmill

wishing well

wizard tower