iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 1h

If Mimi was real I would have smacked her a couple times 😂

🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

In the latter instance (female shitting on male) would it really start a fight or would the male usually just have to accept the humiliation? 🥲 I get the feeling people wouldn't be too sympathetic to a male who fights a female even if she was the one who started shit.

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

deeply as they feel they're able to. So if you want to dig deep into the linguistics stuff, the resources are there, but you can also make it more vibey too. But the goal is for you to get to the end of the month with a lot of solid material to work & a good understanding of the building blocks.

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

Yes yes yes! Definitely progress! Literally I still tinker with my conlang all the time and I built it like, 3 years ago lol. It's just about digging in and playing around till you form it into something you like! Also there's no need to FULLY answer every question, I want people to engage only as

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

I am rambling a lot about this as if I'm some expert who's sold tons of books but I'm just another small potato 😅 And marketing is antithetical to my whole being, so it is a struggle, but that's why I focus more on just like... doing whatever I want and being chill with people, lol

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

But at the same time like, be genuine. Be a real person. People know when all you care about is marketing your stuff and they don't like that. But if you have cool stuff, can convey that in a memorable way, & also are just a chill person that shows interest in them too, that'll get you farther!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

and that way I have people who are happy to help give me a boost. I think maybe the most important thing when trying to get your stuff noticed is to make it simple & memorable. People have lots of stuff bombarding them all the time, so what makes yours unique & how can you convey that quickly?

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

my ugh, actual job that pays my rent 😭 For marketing techniques... Tbh I don't know? 😅 I just try to yap or post art of my blorbos but in a way that's appealing for people not familiar with my stuff, and I also try to make friends & show interest in others (without burning myself out),

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

I don't think I'm particularly experienced here 😅 But I'd say - if you're going to self publish, everything will probably take longer than you expect. Proofreading, formatting, making the cover, getting the proof copy, etc all took FOREVER, especially because I still needed to pay attention to

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

Aww thanks for the tag Jim! ❤️ Unfortunately my only answer is "obsessively worldbuild in order to procrastinate from writing the damn story" 😅 But I went down a lot of lovely research rabbit holes & drew tons of inspiration from real world places as well as fictional ones!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

But building out the worldbuilding helps too because then I can pull from specific details to make it feel alive, like oh there's a statue of such & such god here, or oh there's a cool magic tech gadget on the wall. It helps it not feel like just a void the characters are saying their lines in.

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

put myself in that place: not just what does it look like, but what does it feel like to be there? Y'know? Like the difference between looking at a picture of a beach and actually being on the beach. I want to try to catch a bit of that tactile experience. I don't think I always succeed tbh.

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 2h

Thanks for the tag Charlie! I guess I am kinda cursed because I have trouble writing scenes unless I CAN picture the setting really well, which means I end up doing a lot of planning & worldbuilding outside of writing the story 😅 But when I'm actually describing things, I just try my best to really

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 3h

Everyone who's playing #Conlangity with me this month, please note this important point! It won't be perfect on the first try (or 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc). You gotta keep playing with things & adjusting. And you can always return later to questions you weren't sure how to answer at first! ☺️❤️

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 3h

This is a great answer Charlie, and I love how you said you don't always agree with the characters' actions. I think it's easy to assume with MCs especially that the author endorses everything they do, but I love MCs who do things that have me shaking my head as I write 😂

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 3h

He says it while standing right in front of them 😂

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 6h

I think Tyler could get into building models. Like little model trains & buildings and such. Maybe 3D printing!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 15h

that they're asking a question, like we do in English, because they have a verb suffix that signifies questions. So changing tone is instead used to convey emphasis, emotions or formality.

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 15h

But there are tons of exceptions to these rules because of Na'aqal's roots as a language, which we'll get into tomorrow ☺️ For the most part though, all these rules apply to base words & aren't affected by modifiers, with a few exceptions. Na'aqal speakers also don't change tone to indicate

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 15h

Examples: Kitaal = kee-TAHL, Minacaal = mee-na-QAHL 5. For words that are 4 or more syllables or that end with an "s" where some accents would make it silent, stress goes on the 2nd to last syllable. Examples: Atalantis = ah-tah-LAHN-tee(s), Nemaansoet = nay-mahn-SO-et)

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 15h

is stressed unless it would violate rule #1. Examples: Aiamin = AH-ya-meen, Kiiqotl = KEE-qotɬ 3. If a word ends in a vowel, stress goes on the 2nd syllable. Examples: Mireia = mee-RAY-ah, Icozoue = ee-KOH-zo-way 4. If a word ends on an "l" or "r" approximant, stress goes on the last syllable.

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 15h

There are a lot of exceptions to this first rule tho - for example, if there's a glottal stop following an "l" the stress goes before the stop instead of after. Examples: Calu'u = ka-LOO'-ooh, Ilu'ue = ee-LOO'-oo-way 2. If a 2-3 syllable word ends on a stop, nasal or fricative, the first syllable

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 15h

#Conlangity 4 Gonna go ahead and do mine now in case anyone isn't sure where to start with theirs! Na'aqal is a stressed language, not a tonal language. Some rules: 1. A syllable immediately following a glottal stop usually gets stressed. Examples: Na'aqal = na'-AH-qal, Xu'ue = zhu'-OO-way 🧵

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 16h

This is different from non-tonal languages, where stress & pitch can change the form of a word (e.g. PROGress/proGRESS) or indicate things like emphasis/questioning, but don't drastically change the definition. If your language is a non-verbal language, how are stress & tone conveyed?

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 16h

FULL DISCLOSURE: I know very little about tonal languages and am even worse at trying to speak them (just ask my Vietnamese bestie from high school 😅) But in case you're unfamiliar, in a tonal language, giving a word a rising/falling/other tone changes its entire definition: buff.ly/7cKYDpa

buff.ly

Tone (linguistics) - Wikipedia

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 16h

#Conlangity Day 4 This is our last day dealing with the sound of your language! So let's talk about pronunciation. Which syllables get stressed & when? Does it change the meaning? Is your language a tonal language? Do letters ever change based on other sounds near them or their place in a word?

Daily prompt for the #Conlangity worldbuilding game:

DAY 4
[SOUNDS] Lay down some general rules of pronunciation. Think about things like:
- Emphasis: where is the stress usually placed in words?
- Changing sounds: do any letters change depending on context?
- Tone: does the tone change the meaning?
- Exceptions: are there times the rules break?

Light yellow text printed in two columns over an orange background showing a faint photo of a large open dictionary. Hosted by @professoremily.bsky.social.

Additional card with “HELPFUL TIPS,” light yellow text over the same background as the main prompt.

STRESS
The stress of a word can change its meaning - for instance, in English some words put stress on the 1st syllable when it's a noun, and on the 2nd syllable when it's a verb.
"Our schedules conFLICT" = verb
"He has a CONflict" = noun
"We need to proGRESS" = verb
"We've made PROGress" = noun
-------------
TONE
In many languages, such as Vietnamese, Chinese, Yoruba and Navajo, the TONE changes the entire dictionary definition of a word. Consider making your conlang a tonal language!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 17h

😂🤣 Mimi! Aww Kena's is cute, I could see him doing that!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 18h

Aw thank you! ❤️ And both of those hobbies would suit them very well!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 18h

Yoga would be good for Mireia 😂 Tbh I think Kena would prefer yoga over sports lmao

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 18h

"aggressive and successful cat fancier" made me laugh 😂 Also I bet Kena could get pretty good at glassblowing!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 22h

😂🤣 Extremely accurate for both of them, and also you're the second person to suggest rap battles for Mireia lmao

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 23h

Ahh this is so weirdly specific and definitely does fit them, I love it! 😄

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 23h

Thank u they are my weird babies ❤️

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 23h

I'm gonna say.......... Mixology 😎🍸

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 23h

Ooh that's so unique, I love it!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 23h

I bet Wren could learn to play the guitar. Might be relaxing!

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

They would LOVE Mario Kart and possibly murder each other over it 🤣

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Dau would get into Dance Dance Revolution 😂

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Honestly I think they'd both love both of those activities! Someone else suggested surfing too and I was like, well Kena would like it as long as he doesn't die 😂

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

😂 I didn't even think about the Asian thing lol

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Ah one more thing, there's an exception to the "usually put a vowel before an approximant" rule when it comes to the "w" sound, because that actually does come after consonants pretty regularly (e.g. Tualatan - "twa-la-tan")

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🫜Prof Emily🫜 @professoremily.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

OH ALMOST FORGOT! Vowels - there are no frontal "a" ("apple") or "I" ("witch") sounds. So "Atlantis" like English speakers say it is totally wrong 😂 It's Ah-tah-lán-tees (light s) And names like Aiamin & Amaasit are pronounced Ah-ya-meen & Ah-mah-seet.

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