Daniel M. Bensen's Blog, page 60

Hopepunk

I read an interesting post the other day, which coined the word “hopepunk.” As I understand it, it’s stories about bad people doing good things (or regular people doing the best they can with a bad situation). It’s exactly the sort of thing I enjoy in books (and music), and what I try to write into my own stories. In the interests of spreading the word about this genre, here’s a list of fiction and music that I think might be hopepunk. @ariaste (and anyone else) , please correct me where I’m wrong.

BOOKS

Terry Pratchett – Nation (you mentioned the Discworld books, but Nation encapuslates…something. Maybe that something is hopepunk?)

Greg Egan – Dichronauts (and most of his other work)

Louis McMaster Bujold – Paladin of Souls (and the rest of her work, too)

Vernor Vinge – Rainbows End 

James S.A. Corey – Babylon’s Ashes (not sure about the rest of the Expanse, but this book at least)

Kage Baker – The Bird of the River (and the rest of her work)

Daryl Gregory – Raising Stony Mayhall (and the rest of his work)

David Wong – Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits

Brian K. Vaughan – Saga 

Ted Chiang – Exhalation 

MUSIC

Vienna Teng – Level Up

Five Star Review: Dichronauts

I haven’t been this surprised and entertained by world building for a long time, and I was beginning to think I had outgrown science fiction. I hadn’t. I just didn’t know how far it could go.

The geometry of the world of Dichronauts is impossible to intuit, but Greg Egan describes it with such patience and clarity that it is also impossible to misunderstand. Flatland lies somewhere at the base of this book, but Egan far surpasses anything Abbott managed, both in playing with dimensions and the most brutal and poignant depiction of oppression I have ever seen in fiction.

This is why I love Egan’s work – he is absolutely unflinching. He never cuts corners with his world, his characters’ motivations, or the agonizing dilemmas in which they find themselves. They are people trying to do right in circumstances in which doing right is physically impossible. They get no magic wands to wave, no convenient shortcut to everyone’s best interests..

Like all of Egan’s work, Dichronauts is brilliant and sweet, heartbreaking and obscure. Having read it, I feel like I have some tools to tackle the real world as well.

The Goose’s Wing is finished!

“What man-made machine will ever achieve the complete perfection of even the goose’s wing?”

– Abbas ibn Firnas

I finished that alt-hist short story! It’s a nice, hefty 8,300 words long, and will probably end up a little longer.

In the story, Andalusian adventurer and political activist Tariq Fortun al-Muley runs afoul of terrorists as he attempts to re-enact the last thousand years of historic glider voyages.

First line: The last echoes of the call to worship fade into the heat rising off Cordoba, and against Tariq’s back the glider shivers.

Last line: He looks up. “Now where are those matches?” Tariq cannot wait to get back into the sky.

Finished in: The Saint Andrews Guest House, Jerusalem, Israel

If anybody wants to beta-read it, please tell me in the comments

The Guns of the Commonwealth

A new althist idea: compromise forestalls the Civil War and allows slavery, but non-slave statesjoin Canada.

The Chinese Roman Empire

Okay. I swear I am only going to spend half an hour on this. NOT ALL DAY. NO SIR!

So here we go.

According to this very reliable historical document, the city of Lomes (L. Loumasia) was settled by Chinese adventurers in 750 BC.

They had a hard time adapting to their new environment and conquering the natives, but with perseverance they succeeded! The Longe Dewa (L. Loumadiia Daeiquac) was born!

And here’s what you’ve been waiting for, the sound transformation chart!

r > l

zh > VsV > z

ə̌ > ia > a

j > di >dg

iə > iia > ia

èi > aei > a_e

ə > a

gu > qu > w

 

Learning Kalispel: phonotactics and sentence structure

Back again with more lessons on the Kalispel language. The workbook is getting into some simple questions and answers, so this time I can talk about what I think might be Kalispel sentence structure. I won’t know if I’m right until I go further in the workbook (or until someone corrects me, hint hint), so I’m bound to make mistakes.

Kalispel Lesson 2: Numbers and Age

Numbers in Kalispel seem to work about the same as in Japanese.

ʔesél (two) (“esel” accent on the second syllable)

ʔupn (ten) (“upinn” with a schwi between the p and the n)

ʔupn eł ʔesél (twelve, literally “ten and two”)

ʔeslʔúpn (twenty, literally “two tens”) (“esset-tlupinn” with accent on the u)

But there is something interesting going on with the phonotactics.

čeʔłés (three)

čełlʔúpn (thirty) (“chetl-lupinn”)

mus (four)

m̓słʔupn (fourty)

Before the ʔ of ʔupn, the ʔłés of čeʔłés gets condensed into ł, and we get an epephentic l between that ł and the ʔ. In the same way, the u of mus becomes a dot over the m and the ʔ gets an ł in front of it to get m̓słʔupn (I haven’t heard this one, but I’m assuming “musstl-upinn”).

That’s nice. Those consonant clusters aren’t actually consonant clusters. It’s just that whoever invented the Kalispel spelling rules just didn’t bother with schwas and schwis. So, when the going gets tough, just insert one of those little throwaway vowels. Plus, those scary glottal stops don’t seem to do much except demand an l or a ł from the end of the previous syllable.

But enough about pronunciation! On to sentence structure.

Here’s a simplified version of what the workbook gives:

kʷ sk̓ʷnšspentč? (How old are you?)

čn ____ spentč. (I am ____ years old.)

sk̓ʷnšspentč? (How old is s/he?)

xʷa eł ____ spentč. (S/he is _____ years old)

My first thought was “why, kʷ must mean ‘what.'” How delightfully Indo-European that would be! But of course, no. kʷ is only the first word in “how old are you,” not in “how old is he/she.” So perhaps kʷ means “you” and sentences are presumed to have a third person subject unless otherwise specified (which is why there is nothing before sk̓ʷnšspentč in the second question).

So what does sk̓ʷnšspentč mean? Obviously “how old is,” since it’s the same in both questions. Perhaps one part indicates a question? spentč shows up in the answers to both questions. So perhaps spentč is a verb that means “is X years old.” That would make sk̓ʷnš into a question suffix attached to verbs.

That just leaves čn and xʷa eł, which are translated at “I” and “s/he” respectively. Okay so čn is “I” and…xʷa is s/he? Leaving eł, which we already know means “and.” Why and? Maybe whoever wrote the exercise was imagining a conversation: “A: How old are you? B: I am X years old. A: How old is s/he? B: And s/he is Y years old.” Or maybe when you talk about a third person, you should always add “and” in order to be polite?

Find out next time (maybe) on Lesson Three: Objects of Verbs!

 

This week we learned:

Kalispel Rules:

Sentences are Subject Object Verb (all the time?)

In questions The 3rd person subject is default. (maybe?)

Kalispel vocab:

čn = I (?) “chenn”

kʷ = you (?)

xʷa = s/he (?) (only in statements?)

0 = s/he (???) (only in questions?)

spentč = to be X years old (to have aged?) “spe” or “spentch-ch” (what’s the difference?)

sk̓ʷnš-= question prefix for verbs (?)

eł = and (?)

 

And once again, if you know more about Kalispel than I do, please help me learn to speak this amazing language.

 

The Goose’s Wing: Early uses of gliders

Gliders were originally used for spectacles in praise of their patrons. But there was also growing demand for gliders for purposes religious and practical (message delivery). Higher demand for silk lead to better-established trade routes with Arabia, which lead to slightly lower silk prices. When silk prices refused to fall further, Andalusians turned to alternatives such as flax (produced locally), jute (food-quality obtained from Egypt, fiber-quality from India), and hemp (from the Middle East), with efforts to improve trade and grow these plants (plus silk) locally. Trade routes to supply these fibers (as well as cypress wood) stabilized politics from Gibraltar to the Indus for a century until the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba around 1000 AD.

During this time, we get the spread of way-towers and updraft-ramps, as well as the first counterweight elevators.

From our discussion on The Alternate History Discussion Forum

Future English

I’ve been thinking a lot about the next 150 years of the English language for The Centuries Unlimited.

And then there was that “spelling pronunciation” post on tumbler that got me and some other people talking…

And before you know it I’ve spent ALL DAMN DAY documenting the changes in English from 1850 to 2150. Here it is. Please tell me if you think I should change anything.

The development of American English from 1850 to 2150 is characterized by phonological simplification, continuing decrease in morphology, and increase of vocabulary. Major internal influences shift from England to the Northeast to California to Black English and Spanglish to Krio. Major external influences shift from French to Spanish to Mandarin and Hindustani. Improvements literacy, radio/TV, phones, and planes tend to standardize language from 1900 to 2000 while from 2000 to 2100 descriptivism, social networks, real-time spellchecking/translation, and proxy/teleportation tend to diversify language.

Culminating in 2100, there is a trend for for people to code-switch based on whether they want to appear isolationist (Inslang) or internationalist (Outslang). There is more divergence between spoken and written form over time in Inslang, but less in Outslang (where spelling is taken as a guide to pronunciation). A rich repertoire of signed words grows out of gestural user interfaces. Real-time voice translation makes interlectual conversation so easy that some people have developed ideolects that are incomprehensible to anyone without machine aid.

Note that many alternate forms may be used by the same people at the same point in history. The changes documented below are only trends.

Therefore:

1850-1950 Chicago Upper class

She came into my life like a train wreck.

/ʃi ke:m ‘ɪntə mɑɪ lɑɪf lɑɪk a tɹe:n wɹɛk/

1950-2050 Chicago Educated class

She came into my life like a train wreck.

/ʃɪ kʰeəm n̩t maə laɪf laɪkʰ ə tʃɹɛən ɹɜk/

2050-2150 Chicago Outslang class

S’comin t my life like a train wreck.

/s kxɜəmən ʔ ma ‘lajef l̥agə tə’ɹɛənə ɹæʔ/

(“life” meaning a person’s life; biological life is /’laifə/ spelled or <life>)

(“train,” also spelled , meaning the machine: a moving group of linked things is a /tʃeẽ/ spelled , homophonous with , a time train as a machine is a “shíchē”, and as a location is a “kepaar teraine”)

Phonology

Inslang

Unvoiced word-initial stop affrication.

tV > tsV > sV

kV > kxV>xV

pV > pɸV >ɸV

Word-initial stop devoicing.

d > tV

gV > kV

bV > pV

Intervocalic stop voicing and tapping.

Vt/dV > VdV > VrV

Vk/gV > VgV > VʔV

Vp/bV > VbV > VwV

Word-final stop glottalization

Vt/d/k/h/p/b > Vʔ

Word-final sibilent metathesis

Vs/z/ʃ/ʒ+t/d/k/g/p/b > Vt/d/k/g/p/b+s/z/ʃ/ʒ

Glide-effected stop affrication

tj/w > tʃ

dj/w > dʒ

kj/w > x

gj/w > ɣ

pj/w > ɸ

bj/w > βj/w

R-effected stop affrication and R-deletion

tɹ̠ > tʃɹ̠ > tʃ

dɹ̠ > dʒɹ̠ > dʒ

kɹ̠ > kxɹ̠ > kx

gɹ̠ > gɣɹ̠ > gɣ

pɹ̠ > pɸɹ̠ > pɸ

bɹ̠ > bβɹ̠ > bβ

Voiceless-stop-effected nasal syllabication and stop deletion

t/dN>n̩

k/gN>ŋ̍

p/bN>m̩

Final R dropping

Vɹ̠>VV

Final L dropping

Vl > V(backing)

Detalization of labiodental fricatives

θ/ð > t/d

Velar nasals labiolization

Vŋ > n

Word-final Nasalization

Vn>~V

Vowels

iː ɪ > e, iN uː > ʉ ʊ > ʌ

ɛ > æ, ɪəN ə ɔː > a

æ > jæ, eəN ʌ > ɜ ɑː, ɔ > a

eɪ > e: aɪ,ae > ajeT, aD ɔe > ɔe aʊ > awʌ oʊ > ewʌ

ɪə > ejə eə > ejə

Outslang (also used for emphasis)

Intervocalic stop devoicing

VdV > VtV

VgV > VkV

VbV > VpV

Word-final stop devoicing and affrication

Vt/d >Vt > Vts

Vk/g > Vk > Vkx

Vp/b > Vp > Vpɸ

Initial and medial R-trilling

ɹ̠V/Vɹ̠V > rV/VrV

Final R dropping

Vɹ̠>V

Consonant cluster schwa-epenthesis:

stɹ̠ > sətər

Vowels

iː ɪ > I uː > u ʊ > u:

ɛ > e ə ɔː > a

æ > a ʌ > ə ɑ > a

eɪ > eji aɪ >aji ɔɪ > oji aʊ > awu oʊ >o

(ɪə) > ijə (eə)

Grammar

In general, outslang is more conservative, but sometimes introduces novelty through calques (usually from Spanish, occasionally from Mandarin and Hindi)

Third person pronoun fusion. He/him, she/her, they/them > They > Ey/em > S’, r’

Expansion of progressive aspect. Verbs become progressive by default: “He’s always doing this” rather than “He always does this.” Approaching the 2150s, this includes stative be: “He’s always being a jerk” rather than “He is a jerk.”

Progressive copula reanalysis as subject marker: “I’m walking” > “‘M walking”, “You’re getting arrested” > “‘R getting arrested,” “He’s being a jerk” > “S’ being a jerk” (subject marker is dropped when it is clear from context, e.g. “Vivek angry. Being a jerk.”

Copula drop: “‘S angry” rather than “He is angry” (implying an unintentional condition, contrasting with “‘S being angry,” which implies some intent on the actor’s part)

Subjunctive to conditional shift: “If I were to…, it would….” > “If I did…, it would…” > “If I would…, it would… > If d’…d’… (inslang), In case I’d (outslang)

Replacement of -ing genrunds with -tion nouns: “I love planning” > “I love plannification” (outslang)

“Get” Passives: “I am pleased.” > “I pleased” to indicate a state. “I get pleased” > “I getting pleased” to indicate a change in state.

Person vrs. Non-person possessive constructions: The actions of the person, the actions of the economy> The person’s actions, The actions of the economy (outslang), The economy actions (inslang)

Inanimate possessive constructions vrs Adjunct noun chains: The house of the dog (outslang) vrs. the dog house (inslang)

Relative clauses: The person who did, The rock which did> The person/rock that did> The person did

Emphatic vrs. Normal definite articles: teh, the

Analytical comparatives and superlatives: bigger, biggest > more big, most big (outslang)

Topic-introducing preposition: As far as X is concerned > As far as X > Fars X

Future forms: shall V, will V > will V, be going to V > Be gonna V > a-V (inslang), go V (outslang)

Prepositional verbs: the park around which I walk > the park I walk around

Transitive particle: I listen to music, I look at the person, I eat the sandwich > I listen’t music, I look’t the person, I eat’t the sandwich

Uncommon irregular verb regularization: (inslang)

Wed > wedded, wrought > wreaked, knelt > kneeled,

Past participle/past tense fusion: run/ran/run > run/ran/ran, come/came/come > come/came/came (outslang)

Common irregular verb reanalysis: (inslang)

-ite/-it/-it: light/lit/lit, bite/bit/bit, fight/fit/fit, glide/glid/glid

-t/-t/-t: put/put/put, fit/fit/fit, grit/grit/grit

-in/-un/-un: win/won/won, ring/rung/rung, sing/sung/sung, swim/swum/swum, bring/brung/brung, limn/lumn/lumn

-eeze, ise/-oze/-ozen: freeze/froze/frozen, squeeze/squoze/squozen, rise/rose/rosen

-ive/-ove/-ove: drive/drove/drove, dive/dove/dove, strive/strove/strove, thrive/throve/throve

–eek/-uck/-uck: sneak/snuck/snuck, peek/puck/puck

–ay/-aid/-aid: pay/paid/paid, lay/laid/laid

Transitive/intransitive pair collapse: lie/lay > lay, sit/set > set, rise/raise > rise

Must V (for necessities) > Have to V > Got to V > Gotta V, Need to V > Ga-V (inslang), needa V (inslang), Have it to V (outslang)

May V>might V (inslang), maybe V (outslang)

Ought to V > Should V

Might V > Should V

Would V > Used to V > Usta V > Sta-V

Would like to V > want to V > wanna V > wan-V

Be to V > Be supposed to V > sposeda V

Vocabulary (meaning shifts)

Okay: “all correct” (sp. OK)>”enough”>”mediocre”>”not enough”>”bad”

People: “counted plural of person”>”plural of person”, “an ethnic group or nation”>”the oppressed classes”>”pejorative for inferiors”(inslang)

Alternative: “a choice”>”the lesser of two evils”>”a negative consequence”(inslang)

Cool: “not warm”>”calm”>”good”>”fashionable”>”ridiculous”

Queer: strange > homosexual > not heterosexual > interesting > good (inslang)

Deal: an agreement > a successful negotiation > a trick (inslang)

Global: spherical > international > impoverishing (inslang)

According to: in someone’s words > following the rules > in cooperation with (outslang)

Adequate: enough > appropriate > fitting (outslang)

Intensive: intense > personal

Come: arrive > orgasm > be happy

Vocabulary (usage shifts)

People > persons

Basis > base

Children > kids > youth (inslang)

Place > space

Consistent > coherent (outslang)

Inform > debrief (outslang)

Establish > define (outslang)

Various > different

Encourage > incentivize, incite (outslang)

Have (possess) > dispose of (outslang)

Provide for > envisage (outslang)

Make sure to > ensure that (outslang)

Hopefully > eventually (outslang)

Ensure > guarantee

If > in case (outslang)

In the event of > in case of (outslang)

Arrangements > modalities (outslang)

Amend > modify (outslang)

Reduce > modulate (outslang)

Appoint > nominate (outslang)

Specify > precise (outslang)

Select > retain (outslang)

Come > arrive

Thanks animate-mush, official-data, tropylium, and Nikolay Kilyachkov

See also David Peterson’s and Justin B. Rye’s much better future Englishes!

 

Japanese Phrasal Verbs?

I was going to write this week about Kalispel numbers, but yesterday I learned something interesting in Japanese class.

I already knew the verb hikkosu (引っ越す*; to move house), but yesterday I learned the verb ikineku (生きねく; to survive something**) and my teacher broke the words down in a way I hadn’t seen before.

Hikkosu is a compound of the verb hiku (引く; to pull) and the verb kosu (越す), which my teacher had a hard time translating. She finally got the meaning across to me by giving me the transitive form of kosu: koeru (越える; to exceed).

Ondo ga 30do wo koeru (温度が３０度を越える; The temperature went over 30 degrees).

Yama wo koeru (山を越える; I climb over the mountain).

So what the intransitive kosu must mean is not a verb in English at all, but a preposition. Kosu just means OVER.

Therefore hikkosu (to move house) is a lot like an English phrasal verb (AKA prepositional verb). It might be translated literally as “pull over.” And you can see how you might express the difficulties of changing residences as “pulling (all your crap) over (all the stupid space between you and your new house).”

Then we got to ikinuku (生き抜く; to survive something). It’s a compound of ikiru (生きる; to live) and nuku (抜く), the intransitive form of nukeru (抜ける), a word my teacher explained with the sentence “toneru wo nukeru” (トンネルを抜ける;I pass through a tunnel). So see what’s happening here? Ikineku means “to live THROUGH something!”

I might think I was just seeing patterns where none exist, except that hikkosu and ikineku don’t work like other Japanese compound verbs. Verbs like tsuretekuru (連れて来る; to bring someone somewhere, literally to attach-and-come) and itterasshai (行ってらっしゃい; to be welcome, literally to go-and-honorably-come) connect to each other by different rules, as do any other compound verb phrases that you might make up off the cuff.

Yondenomu (読んで飲む; I read-and-drink). Tottetobu (取って飛ぶ; I take-out-and-fly). Erandeoyogu (選んで泳ぐ; I choose-and-swim). I have no idea what those phrases might actually mean. They’re just ways that verbs can be combined.

But it’s ikineku (to live through something) not ikiteneku (to live-and-pass-through). It’s hikkosu (to move house or “pull over”) not hiitekosu (to pull-and-surpass). I just thought of another one. It’s hakidasu (吐き出す; to “spew out” i.e. to vomit) not haitedasu (to spew-flow).***

I need to find more of these “prepositional verbs,” verbs which modify the meaning of other verbs the same way prepositions do in English phrasal verbs. Is this real? Am I real? Any suggestions?

 

*yes, roumaji first and then kanji and kana in parentheses. Most of my readers can’t read Japanese.

**you may prefer a different translation. Depending on context, ikineku might be translated as “to survive something,” “to live through something,” or just “to live.” Here and elsewhere I give one translation, but there are usually many others just as good.

***That is, they aren’t te-form+verb, they’re verb-stem+verb.

 

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