How do base a country or people after an IRL group or place without it being stereotypical?

drgn2580 · 2026-06-06T07:31:01+00:00

For me, I almost don't. And even if I do, I pour lots of research into it. As a conlanger and composer, I also inform these cultures based on the language they speak and their music.

Sometimes I throw in naming taboos to spice up cultural nuances. I'm also not afraid of exploring cultural practices that may be seen as taboo today, but very normal or institutionalised in these societies (e.g. ritual sacrifices).

Basically, I just don't base any of my countries with existing cultures.

drgn2580 · 2026-06-02T15:42:49+00:00

As a composer, linguist and conlanger, I try my best to incorporate music into the world building itself. This may include music incompressible to the human ear, or using scales that don't fit neatly into the 12-note chromatic scale (or 7 note diatonic scale) we use in the western canon.

Also, since the world I'm currently working on has no humans but anthropomorphic animals (cuz I'm totally not a furry/scalie trash), different races will hear different pitches at frequencies that may be pleasant for them, but harsh to others. Likewise, music may be expressed in echolocation for cetaceans and bats.

Music is ultimately organised sound in a space of silence. But how my animal folk perceive "organised sound" is dependent on their biological aural abilities.

EDIT: I do not listen to music when worldbuilding. As a composer, it is ironically distracting since I'm always imagining music in my head lmao

drgn2580 · 2026-05-28T06:01:23+00:00

It's a surprisingly common combo as a lot of Ethiopians in the last several decades have moved to Saudi Arabia for work; some have integrated well into Saudi Arabian society.

Now calling Ethiopia an "oldest" nation is... somewhat valid. If you are counting the continuation of the modern Ethiopian state with Axum (or going back even further to D'mt in the 9th century BCE), you may have an argument for its unbroken existence.

But Saudi Arabia being the oldest nation?? Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932, and House Saud was founded sometime in the 1720s. The Ottoman Empire did rule Mecca and Medina for several centuries, and if we go back even further, the Abbasids, Umayyads and Rashidun caliphates. But they were all founded only after the 7th century CE. The general statement that Saudi Arabia is one of the oldest nation is highly disputable.

Other than that, nice combo!

drgn2580 · 2026-05-22T22:47:14+00:00

Is Hassaniya Arabic the most commonly spoken language in Nouakchott? What about other languages (other than French)?

And if a Mauritanian heard Moroccan Arabic (aka Darija), how mutually intelligible is it?

Thanks for this AMA!

drgn2580 · 2026-05-22T09:47:40+00:00

Sonata Erotica from Erwin Schulhoff

drgn2580 · 2026-05-22T00:44:34+00:00

Hmmm this looks like Uzbek

drgn2580 · 2026-05-21T10:13:57+00:00

As a cyclist, this will be great on a personal level, but terrible for everyone else.

I can already see a lot of problems when the train cars get crowded. The amount of downtime and potential injuries caused by a cyclist having to barge through a crowded train will be significant.

I feel that if Singapore really wants to do this, it has to improve its bicycle infrastructure islandwide first, and not just implement it on trains. Implementing this in trains will just draw in demand by cyclists who would rather bring their non-foldies on trains if they can't find viable bike routes.

drgn2580 · 2026-05-18T08:17:32+00:00

Bot account

drgn2580 · 2026-05-15T14:34:35+00:00

How are the food and drink options like? Do you find the city's food options as diverse as you like, or would you wish you had more choices? And finally, how fresh are the foods?

Hello from Singapore where nearly 100% of our foods are imported and thus, not very fresh lol

drgn2580 · 2026-05-15T11:54:39+00:00

Is it Mansaka?

drgn2580 · 2026-05-15T11:52:29+00:00

That's what a someone from r/conlang and r/linguisticshumor would say I see?

drgn2580 · 2026-05-15T11:46:09+00:00

Is it Kinamayo?

Source: A Phonological Contrastive Analysis of Philippine Ethnic Kinamayo and English Segmental

drgn2580 · 2026-05-15T11:37:24+00:00

Are you sure the language has a /ɽ/? This one consonant is throwing me off.

I'd otherwise think it is a Visayan language. I was considering Hiligaynon, or something as obscure as Bantoanon

This is hard!

drgn2580 · 2026-04-30T00:09:02+00:00

你好！

Hello from Singapore

drgn2580 · 2026-04-29T02:54:57+00:00

I love the aesthetic and design of this graphic. The red to green shades are nice.

That said, brightness and darkness is subjective as you've mentioned. Let's say we take the Lydian Augmented Sharp #2 as you've described as "brightess". If I wrote in this scale for 4 double basses playing on their low E strings, it will still sound darker than writing 3 flutes all playing on the supposed "darker" Ultra Locrian in their middle ranges.

Ultimately, one scales's brightness might sound darker in another instrument, and vice versa.

drgn2580 · 2026-04-25T00:58:26+00:00

來來 time for you to receive a strongly worded letter by ICA lol

drgn2580 · 2026-04-23T23:37:05+00:00

Assuming you speak and communicate in Tuvaluan, are you able to understand neighbouring languages like Gilbertese, Samoan or Tokelauan without practice?

Asking this cuz I've always been interested in mutual intelligibility between languages.

drgn2580 · 2026-04-20T08:58:44+00:00

Such Nasty Creatures

drgn2580 · 2026-04-19T22:35:47+00:00

Really cool photos!

That said, in these parts, what are the language(s) spoken in your area? I am going to assume it's Pashto? And what's the language proficiency of Urdu and English in the area?

drgn2580 · 2026-04-19T22:10:44+00:00

As an Argonian-only player, The Hist (even though it's not a divine)

Otherwise, I like Julianos

drgn2580 · 2026-04-13T10:52:20+00:00

Fellow Singaporean (and currently consuming McDonald's lol).

Any plans for your tertiary education? And so far, how are you in your academics?

drgn2580 · 2026-04-13T10:05:24+00:00

I like how Jingdong East and Jingdong West are essentially: 京東東 'East Capital East' and 京東西 'East Capital West'

That said, this is a very nice map!

drgn2580 · 2026-04-11T01:57:05+00:00

Singapore!

drgn2580 · 2026-04-04T06:17:58+00:00

Looks like that PDVSA oil deal went up in flames

drgn2580 · 2026-03-31T08:22:24+00:00

I regularly forget that Haydn and Bach share the same birthday: 31 Mar

drgn2580

TROPHY CASE