So, Agma Schwa's 4th CCC is upon us! Submissions are due in mid-October, and the themes this year are "Non-human phonology" and "Future evolution of pre-existing languages." What do y'all think of the circus, both past ones and present? Any favorite entries? Have you ever made or considered making an entry? I wanna know!
(ji'a I'm currently working on an entry that can best be summed up as "Speaking Exact Sign Language," one that involves vowel formants, weird Toaq-style grammatical tones, mappings with consonants and handshapes, and so much more! I'll probably also use this thread for periodic updates on my language and process.)
This year's translation text, from a meme about an ouroboros, is incredibly fitting for my entry, and I figured it could be fun to explore that somewhat!
Easy incorporation of signspatial notions:
Certain elements lend themselves well to being abstracted into space, such as "the wheel of endless ruin and rebirth" being rendered as WHEEL, [BIRTH DESTROY cycle around]++. The signs wrap through space to show locative agreement and make a rather poetic structure.
Other examples include, "a whisper swallowed by its echo," rendered as WHISPER out, reflected, x1-SWALLOW-x2.
Body located verbs:
The text is structured around the ouroboros eating its tail, including many verb phrases centered on the body. This allows for a type of agreement in sign languages where the verb is signed on the body part it pertains to. Think of HURT in ASL, or SHAVE in Kata Kolok. Some phrases from the text include "it gnaws its bones", "it drinks its own marrow", and "curled in my heart."
Role shift:
While the English is all from the perspective of an observer, I thought it would be fun to impersonate the snake for some parts of it, especially since it feels the more sign-language-y thing to do. Role shift can also be used for comparisons, which show up a couple times in the text.
Looking forward to more of a deep dive into this translation!
Working on some scripting for the presentation! Gonna be weaving (ha!) a sign typology lecture into the silly cursed shenanigans, and hopefully the final product will be legible! I'm probably gonna ask some clong friends who don't do SLs to review it once it's done. Ideally I'll finish the script this week, spend next week shooting, and then the 2 weeks after that editing.
Last day to submit! I know a couple of y'all have made submissions y'all should post them here too!
I have a few favorites so far, like Mikulang, Medjedic, and Mhoi.tzwlaa-d (and maybe something else that starts with 'm'?? ) Excited to see what else gets uploaded in the last few hours we have.
y'all should post them here too!
) Excited to see what else gets uploaded in the last few hours we have.