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Poly Lingua

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Everything posted by Poly Lingua

  1. Ummm.... Too many things, can't decide... I really like Galub Jamun which are these Indian doughnut thingies, especially served with rose syrup! Or possibly cookie cake; like you know when you're a kid and it's your birthday so you beg your parents to get you one of those big cookie cakes from the grocery store? Haven't had one in so many years... Cinnamon rolls are pretty amazing too, I remember getting sick once from eating an entire plateful of them as a kid when we went to Cici's pizza. Ooh, and brownies! One time I made this three-layer, part-brownie part-cheesecake cake and it was the most amazing dessert in the world. Yum.
  2. I'd like to be a jellyfish, possibly an immortal jellyfish... So then life would be simple, just floating through the sea, no anxiety cause I can't consciously worry about anything, just simplicity. I also think jellyfish in general are exceptionally beautiful animals.
  3. I used have an irrational fear of dogs, but now they just make me very uncomfortable. Don't expect me to pet your dog, 'kay? I also can't stand having my blood drawn or needles in general. One time when I was a kid the doctor was giving me a shot and both the nurse and my mom had to hold me down, but I freaked out and came loose and ended up getting the needle lodge in my finger cause I tried to swat it away... fun times. The doctor eventually had to pull it out with pliers because the needle was bent. Also, going to bed at night and thinking of the possibility that I might now wake up in the morning for whatever reason. That terrifies me. And I'm very very cautious of my eyes; I can't stand anything touching my eyes or anything touching anyone else's eyes. Contacts are a big NO for me, and so is eye surgery of any kind. Even the thought of it just churns my stomach.
  4. Pinkie Pie was my first favorite pony, and among the main 6 she still is! Now my favorite pony is Octavia, followed by Maud and then Pinkie Pie!
  5. Hmm... I don't think Pinkie and I would get along too well. I like her and I think she's hilarious, but she's too emotional, energetic, and extraverted. She would probably wear me out beyond belief unless there would be some major compromising and half-way understanding involved. Not to mention all the misunderstandings that would arise due my inability to express and deal with emotions well. She certainly highlights a lot of my weaknesses, though, so maybe it would work? I mean look at her and Maud! haha Speaking of Maud, perhaps I'd be better off with her, lessening the need for complex social plans and date nights, and calmly/logically resolving conflicts or misunderstandings...? Or maybe Twilight so we could share in intellectual conversations and pursuits, although, I'm not very organized. But what really determines whether or not a couple will get along? I've seen married couples, some very similar to each other and others who are complete opposites, but that really has nothing to do with whether or not they get along... I think it's more dependant on the effort put forth by each person in said marriage and how tolerant you are... So I think the character is kind of irrelevant, unless you happen to really really dislike them.
  6. "Insults are effective only where emotion is present." - Spock, "Who Mourns for Adonais?" Stardate 3468.1.

  7. You're watching an episode of MLP:FiM as it carries you along through adventure, friendship, and a world of magic, only to have your heart ripped out as the episode ends, and you look out the window and reenter the real world... "Why can't I go to Equestria?" you think, as you sit there with an empty feeling in your chest. Does anyone else feel melancholy when you finish watching an episode of MLP: FiM or something related? How do you deal with it?
  8. Well, it's certainly made my day more than once... It certainly makes me happier than usual, helping me get through depression and apathetic rough patches; it's made me smile and laugh more than most things in the world. And it helps me to escape to the innocence of childhood, a world of fantasy, especially when life is difficult and I need somewhere to go...
  9. Well, if you're simply against religion then I guess that would make you 'antireligious' (anti- meaning "against"), which could mean anything from being opposed to organized religion, as you described, or simply opposing religion in a broader sense, as in beliefs in higher power or the supernatural. Atheism, however, at least colloquially and in vogue, is often mistaken as antireligious. Someone can be atheist but not be antireligious, and I guess you could be antireligious without being atheist as well, depending on how your defining "antireligious", since most religions are based around some kind of divine power or God(s) (otherwise they become philosophy). Me personally, I'm both atheist and antireligious, however, I don't 'oppose' the idea of God, I simply find its existence very very unlikely. And as for being antireligious, I guess I oppose religion in the broader sense as it almost always conflicts with empirical thought, but I usually don't actively oppose it as I prefer to avoid conflicts on the matter. I find it's often quite ironic how atheists or areligious people can be more moral and have more empathy than religious people, yet religious people, especially the extremists, can sometimes dismiss us as "lacking morals" or being "horrible people" or whatever... Like in their mind you have to be religious in order to be a good person or something, heh. I'm a bit nihilistic when it comes to morals and I get confused a lot, I don't really believe in universal rights or wrongs, but in the end I just try to do the things that'll make the most people happy including myself, will get me in the least amount of trouble or conflict (in a given environment/context), and simply respecting people hoping they respect me in return, and if I don't agree with them on something I can hear them out, but I shouldn't expect to change them. Of course these things clash sometimes, but such is life.
  10. Should I sleep? Probably. Will I sleep? ....maybe? :/

  11. Social anxiety, existential anxiety, "what-am-I-supposed-to-be-doing" anxiety, "who-am-I" anxiety, "why-can't-I-sleep" anxiety, decision-making anxiety, anxiety from overthinking, perfectionist anxiety... just anxiety. What would life be without anxiety?
  12. Hello Eloquence, Thank you! I'm trying to remove the last line as advised, however, it says "You cannot edit this character". Will I have to wait for the second approval in order to edit it out?
  13. Hmm... One time I ate a handful of wasabi peas thinking it was some kind of candy.... it wasn't. I've lost count how many times I get out the door only to turn around realizing I've forgotten my wallet. Taking a nap, waking up in the afternoon, and thinking it's morning so you get ready for school... then realizing it's the weekend and it's like 5PM. Washing my hair like 3 times in the shower because I forgot I've already washed it once. Buying something, then later going to the store and buying the same thing again because I forgot I already bought it. Not sure if this counts, but I often forget people's names and it can turn into some really awkward situations. Also, I can often forget what day it is... oops. And I often forget what I've said to whom, so I'll either assume they know what I'm talking about (when they don't) or I'll tell them something I've already told them (thinking that I haven't). There's probably a lot more, just can't recall them at the moment, hahaha...
  14. What are some words/phrases in vogue that you love or hate? For me... Love: - "hella"; I don't know, just has an adorable kind of feel to it, and it helps rid of redundancy with the words "very" and "really". - "facepalm"; because I do that quite a lot. - "ship"; because shipping your favorite characters can be quite fun and fulfilling. Hate: - "literally"; specifically when people say it but they're talking metaphorically... How could you have "literally exploded" if you're standing here in front of me telling me this and you're in one piece? - "YOLO"; just... stop. No. Besides, do you mean "YOLO" as in be careful and don't kill yourself? Or do you mean "YOLO" as in live life to its fullest and do reckless, possibly stupid, activities? Sorry, I fail to understand. - "faze"... but you mean "phase", right, as in a noun? Plus it's a bit uncreative and vague; instead of saying "it's just a phase" can you be more specific please?
  15. I've got asperger's; when I was younger I used to come off as a real contemptible person in terms of empathy and reading people's physical cues/emotions and understanding humor... I still am a bit today but I've think I've gotten a bit better at it. At least I can occasionally more or less 'play the game' with people at first and act social/normal, getting a bit better at empathy too, but after a while it inevitably wears off and I just resort back to my aspy ways; lots of times I don't even 'play the game', or I'll just be silent around people and avoid conversation with them all together. It's a bit ironic that I watch and thoroughly enjoy MLP: FiM (keywords: friendship is magic), yet I struggle at making friends, even more so ones that are long lasting or intimate... But you know, due to my AS, I think I've been able to learn and understand other languages with more ease than I would otherwise.
  16. Struggling to focus on writing this essay...... help. XP

  17. Atheism comes from the Ancient Greek word atheos meaning "godless" (literally, a- "without" and theos "god/deity"). Hence, it's simply a lack of a belief in the existence of some kind of deity. Personally, I classify myself as an atheist, although, I'm more of an agnostic-atheist. I mean, from what I can observe, from my current knowledge and understanding of the universe, I find the existence of a God to be very unlikely and unfavorable for how the world work. There could be a God, it's not entirely impossible and I can't prove or disprove it, but it's just as likely that there's a bunch of invisible, neon-pink elephants floating around in the sky. You can't see them, you can't prove they're there, the best you can do is "have faith" in that they exist. However, if I had to place my money on whether or not they existed (both a God and the elephants), I would most certainly say they don't (even though I don't know and can't know for 100% sure, I'm only 99.9% sure). Technically, you could be atheist and believe in some religion that lacks deities all together, but then that would make it more of a philosophy than a religion. I personally can't stand religion, ESPECIALLY the really dogmatic and evangelical ones (such as many forms of Christianity and Islam)... Nothing, in my opinion, should be completely dogmatic; dogmatism just freaking goes against how my brain operates, and even more so it goes against science. Unlike dogmatic practices, science is very dynamic and ever changing. We will never truly understand the universe in all its entirety, and what we know (scientifically/empirically) changes practically every second of every day, because... well, that's how science works; we build off of what we've already observed and 'know' about things, then we form hypotheses and test them, forever, without end, expanding and changing our understandings. Religion and dogmatic practices on the other hand claim access to profound knowledge without any proof what-so-ever, and declares them as undeniably true without concrete evidence. Another thing I'd like to point out, is how religious texts such as the bible can be so vague and farfetched that you can literally use it to argue anything you want; pulling out random lines and interpreting them to how the individual likes. This ironically leads to different interpretations and arguments/feuds within the same religion (despite it being dogmatic), or even abuse of the text for personal gain. Oh, religion... I've noticed that more emotional people tend to be more religious, as religion often plays on one's emotions. And I also think humans in general have a fundamental longing for religion or some kind of belief, since most cultures have developed some form of religion or something similar. So I guess it most likely served some sort of evolutionary advantage, possibly helping with altruism, prolonging life/happiness, and creating unity among groups since humans are social animals. I, however, and I assume other people, lack this ability to so readily believe and accept religion, yet I still need to fill up that 'missing hole' with something, usually filling it with stories, imagination, fantasy oriented things, etc. My parents aren't religious, my dad and I sharing the same view on the matter, however, my grandparents are pretty much the epitome of religious... We usually have to lie to make them happy and avoid any unwanted drama/chaos, which ironically we hate lying to them and feel bad about it. I want to be honest with them, to be able to calmly and comfortably discuss my view of the world with them, but I can't. From their point of view, if I don't believe in God then I'm going to hell, and the last thing they want is their grandchild to go to hell; it would probably scare the hell out of them (pun intended), break their heart, destroy the family, and cause all kinds of emotional drama. I guess I'd rather them be content believing that I believe, than them to know the truth, just as I'd rather them be content believing their stupid religious beliefs, than to take that away from them and make their lives miserable. Ignorance is bliss I guess; sometimes I wish I could actually believe in a God and afterlife so maybe the world could seem a little brighter and more magical, but I literally can't. You guys should watch this video; it's pretty awesome if you haven't seen it already:
  18. Poly Lingua

    Poly Lingua

    https://buffy.mlpforums.com/bfd91740864f363b94f4c1019d08635f.jpg
  19. Poly Lingua
  20. Pinkie and Maud are both amazing sisters and, in my opinion, the two funniest ponies; they generally make me smile the most. Pinkie is the joke. Maud is the anti-joke. hahaha And then of course Octavia 'cause she plays cello, I love her design, and she's just amazing!
  21. My biggest ship would probably be Big Mac x Marble Pie because they're the most adorable in my opinion. <3 MarbleMac Other than that would be Vinyl x Octavia or Lyra x BonBon.
  22. I did so much conlanging today I forgot to eat... again. #intplife :P

  23. That is true about the language and culture evolving much slower in the ponies’ world. Perhaps not only is this due to Celestia’s rule and possible immortality, but also ponies in general could have longer lifespans than humans? What if their world is much smaller than the human world (as seen in Equestria Girls, where Equestria is basically the size of a single city or high school), and as a result the cultural changes are less extreme? Not to mention they have magic which could play a role in the interconnectivity of their world, helping to maintain the culture and language long before major technological innovations. And the fact that their language has changed little over the centuries makes it much easier on my part to construct naturalistic languages for their world. ### Anyways, I’ve started to develop the Equestrian languages a bit, although not much. I’ll hopefully have much more once I get more in depth and have a better idea of the lexicon and morphology. So far I’ve mainly been focusing on the phonology and noun inflections/classification. Beneath is the phonology for the Proto-Equestrian languages/dialects (which is easily changeable depending on further developments I make in the modern languages). These languages/dialects and their respective phonologies, grammar, etc. will go on to shape the many dialects of the Modern Equestrian Language. (After I get more into the Modern Languages and finalize these proto-languages, I’ll go more in depth with their phonologies and how they affect the modern dialects.) Proto-Equestrian Unicornish: Proto-Equestrian Pegasian: Proto-Equestrian Terrequian: ### With the formation of Equestria, the unification of the three tribes, the sisters coming into power, and the development of a writing system, a standard Equestrian language begins to develop to be used in official documents, literature, and for communication throughout the kingdom. This language establishes the foundation, spelling, and grammar for the eventual Modern Equestrian language. Here’s the standard Early Modern phonology: */b/, /d/, and /g/ are only in between vowels or found after the nasal consonants /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ respectively as allophones of /p/, /t/, and /k/. And here’s the standard Modern phonology: */b/, /d/, and /g/ are only found in between vowels, at the beginning of words (where a vowel was historically dropped), or after the nasal consonants /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/ respectivley as allophones of /p/, /t/, and /k/. */z/, /ʃ/, and /ʒ/ are all allophones of /s/; /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are preceded by /ɪ/ or /i/, and /z/ and /ʒ/ occure between vowels (/z/ sometimes can occur at the end of a word due to a historically dropped/silent vowel). */ɹ/ and /ɾ/ are allophones; /ɹ/ appears in consonant clusters or at the beginning and end of words, and /ɾ/ appears in between vowels. I then divided the Modern Equestrian language into the following dialectal categories (excluding the standard variant) with phonological changes/variances (later on there will be lexical differences too): Northern Dialects (Canterlot/Aristocracy, Crystal Kingdom) -loss of /s/ allophones -/ɚ/ is removed from speech -/ɹ/ is replaced by /ɾ/ -/ʍ/ is present Southern Dialects (Apple Loosa, Rock Farm, rural ponies) -retroflexive consonants are present (lower register) -/t/ gets lenited to /ɾ/ when between vowels -/ɚ/ is removed from speech (higher register) -archaic inflection/sentence structure (higher register) Eastern Dialects (Manehattan, Baltimare, city ponies) -/ɚ/ is removed from speech -/t/ gets lenited to /ɾ/ when between vowels -slight vowel shift -lack of dental fricative consonants Cloudsdale Dialect -fricatives /f/, /θ/, and /x/ are replaced by asperated stops -/ʍ/ is present ### Now I like to think that the invention of writing came with the foundation of Equestria. So in early writing the spelling would’ve been less standardized till later on in history. Eventually the Modern language would take hold, however, standardized spellings reflecting the pronunciation of the Early Modern language would remain in place. The following are the noun cases and their classification with both the Early Modern and the Modern pronunciations. Terrequine Class (-∅): thelos (“earth pony”; thel ‘earth, ground’ + nos ‘pony’) Pegasian Class (-i): permosi (“pegasus”; permi ‘storm’ + nos ‘pony’) Monocerous Class (-a): immolosa (“unicorn”; in ‘one, single’ + mola ‘horn’ + nos ‘pony’) The following are the personal pronouns in their nominative forms: Early Modern (Archaic): Standard Modern: 1st Person Personal Pronoun Modern Inflections: Possible Example Phrase: Phurada Celestiane “Dear Princess Celestia” -Early Modern Pronunciation: /ɸuɾaða.kɛlɛstianɛ/ -Modern Standard Pronunciation: /fʊɾaðə.kəlɛstian/ -Modern Southern Dialect (lower register) (i.e. Applejack): /fɚɹaðə.kəlɛʃt͡ʃən/ Note: The ablative case is also used for inalienable possession, while the genitive is used for alienable possession; this inalienable possession usually applies to friends and family. Example: wheda mana /wɛðə.manə/ “the (unicorn) sister of mine”, phulett mina /fʊlɛxt.mɪnə/ “my hooves” vs. mi dompela /mɪː.ðɔ̃bɛlə/ “my journal” ### Next I plan to start working with verbs and other parts of speech, a writing system (which I will probably base off of this picture from the series), and more vocabulary so I can start forming entire sentences. I apologize if I take a while to update this; this takes a lot of thought, I usually work in random spurts of motivation, I’m an extreme perfectionist (to the point where I have to tell myself “it’s good enough so far” and post it), and I also have things to do for classes and other projects I’m currently working on. Also, if I eventually make actual lessons for others to learn this language, I will put all the linguistics jargon in actual English so everyone can easily understand! XDDDDD If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to post them and I will reply when I can!
  24. I think it would be cool if Luna had a student of her own. Maybe the student could be specially trained for entering the dreams of other ponies as Luna does? You could possibly have a mini-plot where said student abuses the power of entering/influencing dreams? Maybe she becomes obsessed with the idea of ponies living in their own dream world where they can do anything they want, and she tries to put all of Equestria to sleep? To which Luna steps in and has to stop her own student... It could present the famous thought experiment of Robert Nozick's "Experience Machine"; would you prefer to live in a fake (dream) world of bliss without pain, or would you rather live in reality? Then Luna would explain how our dreams could never compare to the real world and the friendships we make, the experiences we share, and how our hardships are also a part of us and makes us who we our. And that living in such a false world would leave us feeling numb, meaningless, etc. We need hardships and real personal connections to make us feel alive and fulfilled. (I mean, there is no universally correct answer here; it's really quite subjective too. I'm just giving an example of how the show might go about it.) Lol, Nightmare Moon would be like Darth Vader while the student would be like Kylo Ren. XDDD
  25. I was thinking about creating a realistic portrayal of how language(s) would develop in Equestria. Of course you would have different language families, most likely divided by the different sentient species in their world; the equine languages, the griffin languages, the draconic languages, etc. Each would have their own unique history, dialects, grammar, phonetics, and more importantly lexicon, which would be highly influenced by their culture and way of life. Now let’s focus on the Ponies’ languages, or possibly a common Equestrian language that would have developed with the unification of the tribes. I was thinking they could develop an interesting noun classification system based on three groups; Earth/Terrequine, Sky/Pegasian, and Magic/Monocerous. This classification would not only apply to the types of ponies themselves, but reflect in how they view the world. Their names could take on the appropriate endings depending on if they were an earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn, and all nouns would get classified into one of those three groups; the ‘earth’ group for more earth-oriented things, the ‘sky’ group for sky-oriented things, and the ‘magic’ group for more abstract concepts. This could even apply to a single noun, where changing that noun’s ending or classification would change its meaning. Let’s make a word in example; perhaps la phona could mean “the tree” in earth form, then le phone could mean “the cloud” in sky form, and li phoni could mean “the pony (sentient individual; conscience)” in the magic form. (This is just for example; if I really make this language, there will be much more thought put into making it natural and have historical context with phonetic changes, irregularities, historic spelling rules, etc.) Now historically, among the three tribes, each one would’ve had their own distinct dialect of a “proto-equestrian” language, which would eventually shape the accents, dialects and colloquialisms of their modern counterparts. The unicorns’ language would’ve probably been more archaic and formed the basis for the standardisation of modern equestrian grammar; hence, people from Canterlot and aristocratic unicorns/ponies tend to speak very clearly with a distinct accent and word choice that could possibly sound ‘posh’ and ‘ritzy’ to other ponies. You could even have a similar thing to English where, after the invasion of Normandy, we took words from French, which took on a more pretentious and sophisticated feel as they were used by the aristocracy, yet we also retained the same words from Anglo-Saxon which have a lower register as they were used by the commoners or working class. So words from historic Unicorn language would sound more formal and sophisticated, while perhaps words originating from Earth Ponies would sound more simple. The earth ponies would also develop many accents and dialects of this modern Equestrian language based on their historic language(s), which could be perceived by other ponies to be very ‘country’ or ‘rustic’ (i.e. Applejack and the Apple family). Of course in modern Equestrian times these colloquialisms won’t always hold true solely based on a pony’s type; for example, Octavia is an Earth Pony who speaks kind of poshly or ‘properly’. You could also have unique accents arising in the city, for example Babs’ accent. Princess Luna, then, would speak a very archaic, unicornish form of the Equestrian language, possibly an Early Modern Equestrian language based in Canterlot (comparable to Early Modern English). If I continue through with this idea of documenting/creating a theoretical linguistic background for Equestria and constructing actual languages, I’ll probably post my progress here. Maybe one day we can have actual language courses and an entire community speaking an Equestrian language? That would be amazing. I’ll try to develop this more when I can, and hopefully I’ll have an actual speakable language underway soon. I will, however, probably have to start with an experimental Equestrian language first, before I start something serious, to kind of get an idea of how it would turn out and to get a basis for the whole thing. So what are your thoughts on all of this? Any extra ideas or Equestrian history you'd like to point out that may contribute to this?
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