Zompist.com is a
website
A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
created by Mark Rosenfelder a.k.a. Zompist, a
conlanger. It features essays on
comics
a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...
,
politics
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
,
language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
, and
science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
, as well as a detailed description of Rosenfelder's
constructed world,
Almea. The website is also the home of ''The Language Construction Kit'', Rosenfelder's article introducing new conlangers to the hobby.
Many features of the site have been noted by the press, including its culture tests, humorous excerpts from phrase books, its collection of numbers in over 5000 languages, and ''The Language Construction Kit''.
The Language Construction Kit
''The Language Construction Kit'' was originally a collection of
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...
documents written by Rosenfelder and hosted at Zompist.com intended to be a guide for making
constructed language
A constructed language (shortened to conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed natural language, naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devise ...
s. The LCK proceeds from the simplest aspects of language upward, starting with
phonology
Phonology (formerly also phonemics or phonematics: "phonemics ''n.'' 'obsolescent''1. Any procedure for identifying the phonemes of a language from a corpus of data. 2. (formerly also phonematics) A former synonym for phonology, often pre ...
and
writing system
A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...
s, moving on to
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...
s, going through the complexities of
grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...
, and ending with an overview of
register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), ...
s and
dialect
A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
s. This sensible progression, as well as the warnings against common oversights, frequent use of examples from
natural language
A natural language or ordinary language is a language that occurs naturally in a human community by a process of use, repetition, and change. It can take different forms, typically either a spoken language or a sign language. Natural languages ...
s, and healthy dose of
humor
Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...
, has earned the LCK its popular and respected status among the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
conlanging
community
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...
. It has been translated into
Spanish,
Portuguese,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
, and
German by fans, and came out in book form in March 2010. Rosenfelder has published several follow-up works: ''Advanced Language Construction'' and ''The Conlanger's Lexipedia'', which get into more detail on certain aspects of conlanging, and ''The Planet Construction Kit'', which is geared towards creating whole fantasy worlds. In 2015, Rosenfelder published the ''China Construction Kit.''
The Zompist Bulletin Board
The website has a corresponding
bulletin board
A bulletin board (pinboard, pin board, noticeboard, or notice board in British English) is a surface intended for the posting of public messages, for example, to advertise items wanted or for sale, announce events, or provide information. ...
, formerly hosted with
SpinnWebe but now with its own domain at www.verduria.org. The Zompist Bulletin Board (often abbreviated ''ZBB'') is an online forum created for the purpose of discussing
conlang
A constructed language (shortened to conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed natural language, naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devise ...
s,
conworlds, and Mark Rosenfelder's own constructed world, ''Almea''. Members of the board share and showcase their own conlangs and conworlds, as well as discuss aspects of the world's languages.
Almea
''Almea'' is a fictional world constructed by Mark Rosenfelder, which Zompist.com is mainly dedicated to. It is populated by several races, known as the ''Thinking Kinds''. The Thinking kinds include the humans, the ''ktuvoks'' (swamp mammals with reptile characteristics considered demons by most Almean humans), the ''iliî'' (singular form ''iliu'', ancient wise aquatic race, playing a role similar to elves in Tolkien's mythos), the ''flaids'' (said to be 'friendly but insane'), the ''elcari'' (hard-working mountain dwellers comparable to Tolkien's dwarves), and the ''icëlani'' (more primitive relatives of humans). Almea's main continent, Ereláe, has several nations, including Verduria, which is the most detailed and closest Almean counterpart to real-life countries, Dhekhnam, which is a ktuvok empire (meaning that humans function as slaves to the ''ktuvoks'' there), Xurno, a nation ruled by artists, and Skouras, a detailed maritime nation.
Ereláe also has a detailed historical atlas, which was inspired by the New Penguin Historical Atlases. In addition to the various atlases and languages, there is also a wiki called the Almeopedia, which works as an encyclopedic reference. The part of the website devoted to Almea, Virtual Verduria, also includes a range of stories and guides to various subjects, including drawing and maps.
Languages of Almea described on the website include:
*
Verdurian
*Ismaîn
*Barakhinei
*Caďinor
*Sarroc
*Cuêzi
*Axunašin
*Xurnese
*Proto-Eastern
*Kebreni
*Munkhâshi
*Wede:i
*Old Skourene
*Elkarîl
*Flaidish
*Uyseʔ
*Lé
*Dhekhnami
*Obenzayet
*Bhöɣetan
*Šɯk
Most words in those languages have etymologies, being derived from proto-languages (like Proto-Eastern above) by means of sound changes, and are given historical backgrounds, resulting in the presence of loan-words.
See also
*
Langmaker
References
External links
*
Zompist Bulletin Board
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zompist.Com
Constructed languages resources
Internet forums
Linguistics websites
Linguistics databases
Numerals