Re: Conlanging with constraints

--- MorphemeAddict@WMCONNECT.COM wrote:

> In a message dated 2/16/2008 23:54:49 PM Central
> Standard Time,
> ollock@GMAIL.COM writes:
>
>
> > But (at least) one freedom I wouldn't have with a
> human languages: Kesatans
> > can change the color of their skin at will (which
> could be used to
> > compensate for the lack of hand-shape
> distinctions).
>
> Changing skin color as a language medium is explored
> in "The color of
> distance" by Amy Thomson, and also in its sequel
> "Through alien eyes".  The aliens
> communicate by creating graphic images (essentially
> writing) by changing the
> color of their skin.
>
> stevo   </HTML>
>
 I have that book on my shelves, but hadn't bothered
to read it.  Your comments just raised it to the top
of my TBR list.

I worked on an alien-lang years ago called B-G-2-3
which was "spoken" by aliens who resembled large
fleshy chunks of olivine when silent, but thier
language involved colors and patterns displayed on
their skin.  I got the idea, of course, from
chameleons, but refined my ideas as I learned about
the much more tallented octopuses, squid and
cuttlefish.  To write the language I used letters to
represent the colors and numbers to represent the
paterns.  B-G-2-3 means blue on top, green on the
bottom.  I had character names like Gold-Spark
Silver-Shimmer and Blue-Wave Red-Wash or Magenta-Flash
Tangerine-Stripe.  I wrote part of a folktale about
searching for treasure in the language.  I should
still have that somewhere.

Adam

Ed ñavisud in junu suñu pera nun regrediri ad ul Erodu, regrediruns ad il
sustrus provinchi peu'l via aurra.

Machu 2:12