WTPh and Typoguistics

Today I just have to share this:


Also, I think I am going to make a blog about typography and linguistics, because I could go on and on about that. I think I will call it "typoguistics".

Exams

Exams are going pretty well. Only one left: Semantics and pragmatics. I don't think the subject is as hard as I think it is, but it is about meaning, and how meaning works, and therefore sometimes things don't quite make sense, because it's quite meta. If that makes sense...

If you're looking for a font that is blocky and monospaced with odd stress, I made Hi-lo. Caps are high, mins* are low. It can be used to make a subtle emphasis on some words. Maybe even to mimic the melody of a spoken sentence.

And have you seen the script I made for 'Mhmmz? It is pan-asiatically inspired.

*my slang for "minuscules"

University

Now I've started studying linguistics at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) - or in Danish: Københavns Univertitet (KU). Well, "now" meaning "in September of last year". It's on the campus on Amager (KUA - Københavns Universitet Amager), very close to the metro station called Islands Brygge. So that's where I go every day by train and metro... well, almost. We only have classes four days a week, and they're about two hours each, so there's a lot of studying on one's own.

Luckily, I absolutely love the subject! Not to mention all the nice classmates I have recieved as well. Yeah, life's pretty good to me these days! The second semester is about to end now, so I'm about to have some exams, namely: one in phonetics and phonology and one in semantics and pragmatics. Both are written.

Oh, and then there's Japanese. I'm having two exams in that: written and oral, respectively. I'm not so sure how that'll go, since I sort of skipped a month of classes, because I was doing a musical. And when I came back it was the last class before the exams. Well, at least I don't need the grades for that, so I'll just wait and see.

Just now, I have engaged myself in the HUM-revy (Short for humanistic revue), which - as the name suggests - is a revue performed by the students from the humanities. We are only just taking the first baby-steps in writing the first few songs, and coming up with an overall theme.

Now I need some sleep. And maybe that's for the best, as I think I should be making shorter more frequent posts, instead of blocks of text once a year. That would be more reader-friendly.

But don't count on it.

Been a while...

So yeah, it's been a while. Not that anyone are reading this, but maybe some day someone will.

The obligatory status update: At the moment I am engaged in a competition at FontStruct. My entry is here. The picture to the right is an example of it (and happy easter by the way).

Education-wise I reapplied for linguistics at University of Copenhagen. I recieved a letter today that they have recieved my application, so I am now destined to start studying linguistics in September this year - Hey, September may be when I write my next entry, seeing as it's been five months since the last one.

I still have that job at Tiger, which I am very fond of. And they seem to be fond of me; I have the responsibility for the DVD-section and my own set of keys to the store. And I am pretty much secured work there for the rest of my life. Great!

I have also bought some DVDs and CDs that I really like. In DVDs most notably "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World", which is an awesome movie. Go watch it if you haven't already. "The Linguists", a documentary about some field linguists who try to document some of the thousands of dying languages around the world. Makes my inner linguist cry a little. I also bought a DVD and two CDs from The Beards, if you remember them from an earlier post. They are really cool: their lyrics are all about beards and the advantage of having them. But they are great musicians as well. I saw them live once in Adelaide, where they warmed up for Tripod.

Remember the video-clip I promised you of my language. Well, don't expect it to ever be uploaded. Actually don't expect me to ever keep my promises. In fact I'll promise you right now to never promise you anything ever again.

I recently created an account over at DeviantArt, which is where I'll be uploading all my creative stuff from now on.

So I'll leave you with this bonus fun-fact: Giraffes were called 'camelopards' by the Romans, since they looked like camels with a leopards pattern. If you ask me that's a much cooler name. source: wikipedia

I'm out! I should probably find some way to attract readers to this blog...

'Conlang: the Movie'

Hey, here I am again. Now I haven't posted as much as I might have wanted to, and I just read my last post, and it is completely out-dated. So here's an update:

Well, linguistics is still linguistics, and that was a pretty good explanation I gave you last time. Nothing wrong there.

Something new is that I didn't start at the university this September. I got what is called a 'stand-by' spot (some may call it 'wait list'). Well, apparently around 200 had applied for Linguistics and they only needed 26 students and 3 on 'stand-by', so I was pretty glad to have the 'stand-by'. And although not enough people declined for me to get a spot this year, I am secured a spot next year :D

So what do I do now? Well, I still have that Japanese-class two nights a week. That is going very well, and my classmates are all very nice and very much party people.

Other than that I have got a job that I do about 20h a week and earn DKK 110 an hour (I think that is approximately GB£12 or US$20). It's in a store called 'Tiger' where I am a cashier and such. The name of the store means excactly what you think it means (if you're thinking "tiger", that is), but it is also a pun on the danish word "10'er" which is the 10kr.-coin (that's what most things cost in there). The former is pronounced [tiːɐ] and the latter [tiːˀɐ] (this is IPA which may not be supported by all browsers).

Now the nasal conlang I am still working on - not that I have gotten a lot further. It has moved to the new CBB-forum here. And the video I sort of promised you taken with my HTC Legend is very likely going to be an explanation and example of that nasal language.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I recently donated $30 to this project. It is the 'Conlang' movie: a hillarious movie about conlanging and language geekyness. Watch the sample movie in the link, that will explain enough. My point is that for $20-$25 (depending on were you live) you can acquire your own copy of the DVD, but they need $2800 in total by November 30 in order to get the DVDs out. So go ahead and buy it, I want my copy ;)

Language and linguistics

Hey, I'm back. Now completely done with the gymnasium. So from now until the fifth of july I'm going to party down constantly, so now is my last chance to write something (again in the middle of the night, but hey, I don't have to get up in the morning anymore!). As a gratuation gift I got an HTC Legend (!) and all the stuff I need for the Roskilde-festival: tent, foldable chairs, cooling bag. So that's great.

Okay, we're talking language and linguistics today. My latest and greatest passion at the moment. I'm even going to University next year (hopefully) to major in linguistics.

So, what is linguistics anyway? Well it's the science of language. From the tiniest sounds that we speak to the complex grammar and sentence structures they make. All the way from physics and aerodynamics in pronounciation to the neuro science of language learning to the art of writing and the sociological influences of dialects. Just my thing.

I guess (again) that my childhood in Japan is to blame for this interest in linguistics. Being bilingual at such an early age can have stimulated the language part of my brain.

Now, conlanging is probably the ultimately geeky part of linguistics. Creating your own language either by mixing or changing existing languages or making them from scratch. I am into the latter, although I have yet to construct a usable language. I have a lot of small projects going, that I can actually focus on now, since I am done with school. Great!

Go read about my first (and maybe a bit ambitious) conlang: A nasal conlang

I won't be back from partying until the fifth, as I mentioned. But I'll be sure to update you with a bit more explanation (maybe a video taken with my new Legend). See ya.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. I've been thinking - for some time now - about creating a blog, and here it is.

So, where might you know me from? Well, you probably don't, but I'm an active user of fontstruct, over there I'm known as CMunk.

Other than that I can't think of anything, but if you see the name CMunk, chances are It's probably me, since I use that username everywhere, but I can't asure you that there aren't anyone else using the same name.

What can you expect from this blog? I'm a great deal into language and I am (hopefully) going to university starting this summer to study linguistics, so that will be a main topic of this page. I will also study Japanese on the side. I'm into conlanging, which is basically constructing your own language. You might know some famous conlangs like Esperanto, Volapük, Klingon or Na'vi. In my own attempts to create languages I have thought up a few setups, but haven't gotten much further than the phonology (what sounds the language has and how they are combined) yet.

I also like music and I play the piano and sing myself. I'm thinking of writing my own songs, but I can't promise that I will, but if I do they will be posted here also.

I read a few blogs as well that I might link to. Those could be haha.nu, a blog about interesting things (to me) from all over the internet; savagechickens.com, a cartoon drawn on sticky notes about chickens and their dayly philosophical questions.

And of course many of my fontstructions from now on will be posted here. And as a typographer I like to play around with letters and might make an ambigram once in a while.

You may be able to tell already that English is not my native language. I am from Denmark, but lived five years in Japan from when I was one year old to when I was six. I spoke fluent (kindergarten-level) Japanese, but don't speak a word of Japanese at the moment (hence the japanese course). Apart from Danish and English I speak and write German and a bit of Esperanto.

So that's pretty much it. I will go into further details about each of the topics in the next posts. I hope you will enjoy it once I get started.