Zompist.com
Encyclopedia
Zompist.com, also called The Metaverse, is a website
created by Mark Rosenfelder, a conlanger
. It features essays on comics
, politics
, language
, and science
, as well as a detailed description of Rosenfelder's conworld, Almea. The website is also the home of the Language Construction Kit, Rosenfelder's article introducing new conlangers to the hobby.
Many features of the site have been noted by the press, including its culture tests, humorous excerpts from phrase books, its collection of numbers in over 5000 languages and the "Language Construction Kit".
documents written by Rosenfelder and hosted at Zompist.com intended to be a guide for making constructed language
s. The Kit proceeds from the simplest aspects of language upward, starting with phonology
and writing
systems, moving on to word
s, going through the complexities of grammar
, and ending with an overview of register
s and dialect
s. This sensible progression, as well as the warnings against common oversights, frequent use of examples from natural language
s, and healthy dose of humor, has earned the Kit its popular and respected status among the Internet
conlanging community
. It has been translated into Portuguese
and Italian
by fans, and has come out in book form in March 2010.
Languages constructed by Mark Rosenfelder (all intended to be spoken within an imaginary world called Almea) include:
, hosted with SpinnWebe
. The Zompist Bulletin Board (often abbreviated ZBB) is an online forum created for the purpose of discussing conlangs, conworlds, and Mark Rosenfelder's own constructed world, Almea. Members of the board share and showcase their own conlangs and conworlds, as well as discuss aspects of the world's languages.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
created by Mark Rosenfelder, a conlanger
Conlanger
A conlanger is a person who invents conlangs .-Professional conlangers:Conlangers who have been hired to create languages.* Marc Okrand - Klingon, Atlantean* David J. Peterson - Dothraki language...
. It features essays on comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
, politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
, and science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, as well as a detailed description of Rosenfelder's conworld, Almea. The website is also the home of the Language Construction Kit, Rosenfelder's article introducing new conlangers to the hobby.
Many features of the site have been noted by the press, including its culture tests, humorous excerpts from phrase books, its collection of numbers in over 5000 languages and the "Language Construction Kit".
Language Construction Kit
The Language Construction Kit is a collection of HTMLHTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
documents written by Rosenfelder and hosted at Zompist.com intended to be a guide for making constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
s. The Kit proceeds from the simplest aspects of language upward, starting with phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
and writing
Writing
Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...
systems, moving on to word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s, going through the complexities of grammar
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
, and ending with an overview of register
Register (linguistics)
In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal...
s and dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s. This sensible progression, as well as the warnings against common oversights, frequent use of examples from natural language
Natural language
In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written...
s, and healthy dose of humor, has earned the Kit its popular and respected status among the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
conlanging community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
. It has been translated into Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
and Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
by fans, and has come out in book form in March 2010.
Languages constructed by Mark Rosenfelder (all intended to be spoken within an imaginary world called Almea) include:
- VerdurianVerdurian languageThe Verdurian language is a constructed language invented by Mark Rosenfelder in 1995 and hosted at his website, Zompist.com....
- Ismaîn
- Barakhinei
- Caďinor
- Cuêzi
- Axunašin
- Xurnese
- Proto-Eastern
- Kebreni
- Munkhâshi
- Wede:i
- Old Skourene
- Elkarîl
- Flaidish
- Uyseʔ
- Lé
The Zompist Bulletin Board
The website has a corresponding bulletin boardBulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
, hosted with SpinnWebe
SpinnWebe
SpinnWebe is the personal website of Greg Galcik, also known as "spinn." It gathered the most fame as the home of the Dysfunctional Family Circus, which ran in the late 1990s...
. The Zompist Bulletin Board (often abbreviated ZBB) is an online forum created for the purpose of discussing conlangs, conworlds, and Mark Rosenfelder's own constructed world, Almea. Members of the board share and showcase their own conlangs and conworlds, as well as discuss aspects of the world's languages.