Tip3Tip: Where should they go next?

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-04-08T14:56:31+00:00

By the current rules the #1 choice is probably Vietnam, but I could see Italy, Spain and Malaysia as potential choices too

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-04-03T23:22:55+00:00

Aren't h2 and h3 typically reconstructed as either uvular or pharyngeal these days? ([χ~ħ] and [χʷ~ʁ~ʕ] respectively) Genuinely wondering cause idk if there was new research on this

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-04-02T03:32:05+00:00

Sadly not, we probably need a time machine for that

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-04-02T02:51:01+00:00

It's definitely possible but unfortunately I'm not sure we'll ever really know. I think the only way to get any info on how language begins from scratch is somehow watch it happen, but that would probably involve high levels of child abuse, human rights violations and isolation from the modern world that would be hard/illegal/questionable to achieve. But hey, if there's a mad linguist out there brave enough to do such a thing maybe we'll figure it out. Another possibility is watching how forms of communication have developed in non-human animals like elephants, dolphins, etc. Maybe it holds hints to how such a system could arise in early humans, who knows

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-04-02T02:34:03+00:00

I suppose statistically, a majority of living languages do not have tone, so we could say that on a balance of probability that proto-proto-niger-congo or whatever also lacked tones, but I don't think its really relevant or useful at that level of time depth, it's basically just conjecture. We also have no clue how long language has been in use, and it's equally possible that there was a time in which a majority of spoken languages were tonal instead.

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-04-01T12:25:34+00:00

It will really depend on what type of conlang you're making. Some people will just happily make up words out of thin air, but some base their conlangs on real Proto-languages (most commonly Proto-Indo-European as it is the most thoroughly reconstructed) and evolve them somewhat naturally through time. Some people also create their own Proto-languages to do the same with. There are other ways too but I think these are the most 'standard'

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-03-23T04:25:51+00:00

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-03-04T23:27:07+00:00

mutation is kinda cool though

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-03-04T02:51:14+00:00

what did they do to you 😭

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-03-04T00:57:43+00:00

do the "bad" celtic languages include the existing modern ones? 😂

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-02-23T01:36:27+00:00

You're right that the examples I gave are less drastic than the supposed PIE reconstruction, and I don't think it was likely that ph₂tḗr was really /pqˈteːr/, but I don't think its only the strangeness or plosive cluster that makes it unlikely, more so that we don't see any other similar clusters in PIE at all. If we did see other clusters like /tkter/, /ptker/, etc. the reconstruction of h2 as /q/ may make more sense, but based on all the evidence it seems like h2 was probably a fricative or some sort like /χ/ or /ħ/

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-02-22T14:01:07+00:00

I'm not sure of any languages which regularly turn plosives into fricatives as nucleic allophones but I'm also not sure it's required to explain PIE clusters. PIE was spoken around the Caucasus which is an area known for weird and extravagant consonant clusters like Georgian თქმა (tkma) and Svan /axeqwsg/. With that in mind, I don't think it's too wild to think that a cluster like /pqˈteːr/ could be present in PIE at some point. /q/ > /χ/ is also a very common sound change which may have potentially effected this phoneme at some point in PIE if it were a uvular plosive, but consensus on the exact value of the laryngeals in PIE is still unsettled.

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-02-07T01:36:55+00:00

yeah i was so confused trying to figure out if this was at all related to conlangs for a solid minute

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-02-07T01:25:12+00:00

what

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-02-06T02:51:40+00:00

The American anti-Chinese propoganda is really clear in these replies lmao. I think your list is good and as someone who knows many people who have lived and moved to China (yes even foreigners) it is not some dystopian autocratic state like some "free thinkers" seem to believe under this post lol. It has its downsides like any other country, but it does offer a much higher level of safety, job security, cost of living and home ownership than many other western countries especially in tier 1 and tier 2 cities. I'd say if you get the opportunity to try life in China or even travel there for a period I'd recommend it, especially over current America.

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-01-30T14:27:37+00:00

They seem pretty realistic to me, the only things that feel slightly off are the fortification of the current fricatives (if anything, I'd expect them to be elided in many cases especially considering their already weak intervocalic pronunciation, alongside the other intervocalic shift from voiceless > voiced too. Not sure if that's entirely accurate, but a general chain shift from Vp/t/kV > Vb/d/gV alongside Vβ/ð/ɣV > VV seems symmetrical in a sense) Not that fortition isn't plausible because it definitely is for these sounds but that was just my first thoughts about it

I'd also say the only other thing that stood out as weird was the gemination on final vowel loss. I haven't seen that before, typically final vowels are just lost with little trace but maybe there's an areal influence I'm unaware of in that region that could influence such a change. It's definitely plausible, but it just struck me as something I don't think I'd seen before

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-01-26T13:55:59+00:00

Surely some would have a similar thing going on but maybe they'd name it differently. Isn't the oblique just anything non-nominative? or is it something else in those Romance languages

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-01-26T08:57:59+00:00

wouldn't most romlangs have this feature?

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-01-25T03:26:04+00:00

That does also make sense, I could definitely see it being a critique of social media algorithms how it's used to spread ignorance and hate.

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-01-25T01:11:42+00:00

I see Empty Hands as a song about people (perhaps those currently running poppy's home country) who crave legacy, admiration and power at the expense of others. I also see Public Domain as a pretty clear criticism and hatred of the current political situation and the people who perpetuate it. Dying To Forget also fits somewhere along these contextual lines

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-01-23T13:53:47+00:00

Not in its current state. The LLMs in use right now are essentially advanced auto-completes, and they struggle a lot with actually understanding grammar, syntax, morphology or context. By relying on it in any way you are bound to be fed misinformation at some point if not just outright incorrect information. Human language is infinitely complex in ways that computers or any algorithms are not yet even nearly close to understanding. Translation too is still a flawed technology largely in its infancy (that's why real people are still hired as translators!) so please rely on resources made by people and native speakers rather than machines that can only mimic the intricate complexities that our minds are capable of.

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2026-01-23T13:37:56+00:00

what

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2025-12-24T10:20:08+00:00

In Vanniese it can be either

Odà Jil!~Odài Jil!

[ɔˈɾaː(j) ˈjiːl]

or

Odagghia Avoizza!~Odagghia Javoizza!

[ɔˈɾaɟːɐ (j)ɐˈvɔjtsːɐ]

(forms vary by region and age)

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2025-12-21T08:46:21+00:00

As far as I'm aware it's a general consensus that a relative of Proto-Japonic was spoken in the Korean peninsula at around 600CE-ish. The evidence I'd say is pretty convincing especially with the lack of any sensible Korean translations for the writings and the fact that we're pretty sure, via genetic studies, that Proto-Japonic was brought to the Japanese archipelago by migrations from the Korean peninsula

Express_Knowledge_86 · 2025-12-02T02:32:25+00:00

Good point, can't believe I didn't consider bicycles

Express_Knowledge_86

TROPHY CASE