<!>Let's talk about register. (2014-06-11 01:27:50)
Let's talk about register.
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Forums / Department of Creativity / Let's talk about register. / <!>Let's talk about register. (2014-06-11 01:27:50)

? Rhetorica Your Writing System Sucks
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, Kelatetía, Dis
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Oksirapho has a painfully Byzantine register system that I am still vaguely drafting. So far I'm pretty firm on the idea of a large number of alternative verbs (in addition to a ton of honourifics) and possibly adverbs. The usage of these would vary depending on the speaker and audience, with probably four or five different registers total, albeit overlapping irregularly and rarely having verbs that supplete unique alternatives for all of the registers.

Lilitika was self-consciously designed to avoid register and honourifics as much as possible (for, honestly, fairly communist reasons) but it gradually adopted a formal/ceremonial register anyway, which consists of speaking in an archaic dialect, Íomanazinení. This is the dialect I've been (until recently) using in the premodern con-chat thread; it has a very conservative word order and very bulky inflections, but few (if any) irregularities, making it easier to pick up than the later everyday dialects. In addition, during the brief Venrafivía slang period, it was fashionable to use the old Zeyetaní dialect for polite speech, a local argolect (ship dialect) for casual speech, and Íomanazinení for ceremonial purposes. The differences between them are chiefly a matter of inflection, although argolects could be more experimental with word order. After Sarasí was standardized, both the Venrafivíai and Zeyetaní rapidly evaporated.