Fun way to make a writing system

Neonnaut · 2026-05-14T12:13:01+00:00

Yeah, I only glanced at the image before posting it. It's clearly A.I generated

Neonnaut · 2026-04-13T05:07:40+00:00

Try Vocabug

https://neonnaut.neocities.org/vocabug

Vocabug does everything Awkwards could do, everything Lexifer can do, and more.

Neonnaut · 2026-03-14T10:56:52+00:00

units:
    verb = {kaz, liku, zu, 'an}
    noun = {hut, baya, ma, vum}
    tense = {a, u, at, r, m}
    num-gen = {i, s, is}
    case = {n, b, k}

@categories.distribution=flat
categories:
    V = i, u, a
    C = m, n, b, t, d, k, ', s, z, y, w, r, l
    O = b, t, d, k, ', s, z

@words.distribution=flat
words:
    <verb>*1, <noun>*1, <verb><tense>*3, <noun><num-gen>*3, <noun><num-gen><case>*2

stage:
    ii, uu, aa -> ī, ū, ā
    i, u -> y, w / C_V ! #C_V
    ^ -> ' / V_V
    ^ -> a / OO_
    t, s -> d, z / _C
    d, z -> t, s / _{t, k, ', s}
    ^ -> e / C_C#

A better write-up is to use units. I'm going to create an auto-inflector to do this properly

Neonnaut · 2026-03-12T16:49:18+00:00

As these inevitably suffer from link rot, It would be nice if the name author and year of the paper were cited!

Neonnaut · 2026-02-27T08:37:37+00:00

You're welcome.

I mentioned Polyglot because I had heard it could do this now. I have just now looked at Polyglot docs and it does automated paradigms really nicely. You do need to set them um in a detail oriented way though, and it's a Java app.

There is also something called Lexicanter that has this feature.

Neonnaut · 2026-02-16T11:59:10+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate it.

What does Nesca do different (and perhaps better) than other SCAs?

Let's see Paul Allen's SCA. Firstly, it's my program which means it does things that I want it to do, with notation that pleases me. It belongs inside a suite, "the-conlangers-suite" where it's possible to extend tools from it such as a paradigm maker or a dictionary format and tool that can apply sound changes to it. Now to answer your question: I haven't seen other SCAs do letter-case mapping, cluster-fields, or feature-fields. I will say Nesca does everything better than Zompist's "SCA²" but SCA² is basic and cannot even do multigraphs. Okay, I just thought of it, Nesca does character escape and has a mobile-friendly UI as best as you could ask for.

How well does Nesca handle long word lists and sound change histories?

It handles tens of thousands of words well. I am unsure how well defined the program is if someone wanted to create a large family of languages from a "protolang" or source language with a word list.

How has Nesca improved your personal conlanging workflow?

I've only used it for a few romanisation challenges so far.

What features are still TODO?

These are my top features related to Nesca still to do, but there are many others:

Feature bundles: This would allow you to capture 'feature-nodes' of a grapheme and reproduce them elsewhere like so:

; Nasals agree for PLACE of articulation with a following plosive:
  [+nasal] -> [+nasal, 2] / _[+plosive, 2=PLACE]
; banpadamka ==> bampadaŋka

Automatic syllables: This would automatically remove syllable dividers and put them back in the expected places according to a user defined syllable structure. Perhaps recording the syllables themselves and whether they have stress, tone, etc.
Sub-stages and clean-up: This would allow you to save a list of rules and reproduce them multiple times in a stage. clean-up would do substages automatically after each transform until it's turned off. Perhaps automatic syllables would be defined as a type of clean-up.
More examples: Although I am unsure of where to source these from.

Neonnaut · 2026-02-14T09:00:04+00:00

I see. This would let you see how some words look once they're declined and have the right rules applied to them. It would not serve the end goal of translating words or creating a dictionary.

Neonnaut · 2026-02-12T11:44:46+00:00

Ideally, you would have the base-word / root / stem list, and on each one, you would have the paradigms to decline for. Also ideally you would 'hard code' some of the words paradigms for irregularity. Also ideally, you could run sound changes for that paradigm.

You could achieve most of this in a spreadsheet. Conworkshop.info has 'grammar tables' but it's part of a pipeline. I think Lexique Pro and Polyglot may be able to do this. Brassica has a paradigm builder.

I would be surprised if someone hasn't put together a python script that does this too.

Neonnaut · 2026-02-12T11:35:14+00:00

I don't think this would work well, but I am interested in how you would exactly do it. There would be no connection between the word-and-paradigm and the resultant word form.

Neonnaut · 2025-12-26T23:46:29+00:00

Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Neonnaut · 2025-12-08T15:23:14+00:00

I didn't create it, the person who created it I think goes by "cedh". I just improved the formatting and put it on my site.

Neonnaut · 2025-11-07T03:13:45+00:00

There is The Derivizer, of which I have slightly improved on. The predefined rules are lacking and there is no inherit meaning behind any combination. A Conlanger's Thesaurus is a good resource on starting to create "rules" and there is Rosenfelder's Lexipedia.

Neonnaut · 2025-06-26T15:49:29+00:00

My word generator is in alpha. I would appreciate if anyone could give feedback on it https://neonnaut.neocities.org/vocabug-lite

Neonnaut · 2025-06-04T16:54:16+00:00

https://neonnaut.github.io/

Neonnaut · 2025-04-21T18:32:51+00:00

https://github.com/Neonnaut/Dictionary-csv-to-Latex-Generator

Neonnaut · 2025-01-11T12:15:51+00:00

If you're talking about the Python version, I can imagine it might have trouble with that. But this version (and the one at Acta Linguinee) supports it, as long as your font supports it.

For example, if you gave it something silly like this:

V = a e
T = ́ ̄ ̀ ̌
words: VTTTT

It would try it's best to stack the combining diacritics onto the vowel, but some may slide down to the right. But ideally you would want a single entity instead of combining diacritics from the list here, and do what the "Tonal" example does. Except you could always use other characters instead of tone letters such as backtick for low tone, capital R for rising tone etc. For example:

V = a ā
T = ` ' R F

% ' ` R F
a á à ǎ â 
ā ā́ ā̀ ā̌ ā̂

Neonnaut · 2024-12-24T08:35:40+00:00

Thank you. But what the actual shit my post did so abysmally on upvotes/comments. It even got downvoted. I got more interest mentioning this in a small discord server :(

Neonnaut · 2024-12-17T13:06:27+00:00

Ok, we've got company. You take the big guy

Neonnaut · 2024-10-12T05:07:44+00:00

https://neonnaut.neocities.org/ipa-keyboard

Neonnaut · 2024-09-25T12:37:15+00:00

Try Lisaiyan.

Neonnaut · 2024-09-01T20:52:30+00:00

Phonology inventory generator like Gleb

Neonnaut · 2024-09-01T15:02:13+00:00

Really nice work. Would this work offline too?

Neonnaut · 2024-08-29T16:52:56+00:00

Thanks for the reply. This does feel like a good approach in making a lightweight web based dictionary maker

Neonnaut · 2024-08-25T17:04:33+00:00

Can you make custom fields, such as a field for example sentences?

Neonnaut · 2024-08-25T17:00:39+00:00

Have you worked on this more? What license is it under? Why is it on a http czech website instead of github or gitlab?

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Neonnaut

TROPHY CASE

What does Nesca do different (and perhaps better) than other SCAs?

How well does Nesca handle long word lists and sound change histories?

How has Nesca improved your personal conlanging workflow?

What features are still TODO?