Brodacci 101: Why Sound Rules Beat Meaning (#conlang)

The tongue of blood, of savages and slaves, of those who cast magic aside.

LUMICRON CAPTURE | HOUSE ETI
MON KYYR GR’BAKTH HAS BEEN CALLED.
Translation: A Settling of Debts.

Sometimes, books come with their own built-in languages, a way to world build. So, let’s dive in and talk about it in the Dark Legacy Series. The hard part’s just getting started. We’re past the point of mercy. Let’s see the blood of it.

Conlang. What is it, and what does it mean? It means constructed language—like Dothraki in Game of Thrones, or my own, Brodacci.

Myshku, the common tongue in Ralloc, is also considered the trade language among all species and cultures.

But what about other languages around Ermaeyth? They’re more than costumes, and they shape culture.

Enter Brodacci. Pronounced Bro-dah-chi.

I’m not a linguist, so crafting a language had to be simplified on my end. In Brodacci, sound dictates the meaning, not the other way around. A prime rule had to be established and followed like religion.

Prime Rule: One-to-one sound mapping takes priority over meaning.

Sub-prime Rule: Simplicity must be adhered to, as did the rules of the English language.

With these two rules in mind, I didn’t want to make sounds for every letter and vowel, or make sure they matched up when I translated a word. Instead, I used chunk-based sounds.

Example: Justice, practice, notice. These words are completely different, but they all have the same suffix: -tice. In Brodacci, -tice = sera. So, sound consistency came first.

Now, imagine this for the entire English language. Breaking down long words into phonetic chunks, assigning sounds to each, and mapping them in an Excel spreadsheet. That’s how I created the Brodacci language. And if there were more modern words like automobile, I didn’t bother to translate those, because it doesn’t have any bearing on my medieval world.

Taking the Marine Corps initialization K.I.S.S. to heart, I “Keep It Simple, Stupid!”

Canon words and definitions:
Asa—little or first
Legin—flower
Asalegin—little flower (can be layered with double meaning: prized/claimed).
Ketprae—gift or offering
Asa ketprae—first gift (something part of a cultural rite).

Well, this is just the skeleton peeking out of the dirt. There’s a whole body buried underneath. I explore suffix logic, phonetic mapping, full translation and workflow, but those are for the Members and Founders. Subscribe if you want the language to come to life. You might even learn a few choice curse words for your efforts.

Well, the gods have spoken, and it’s not up to us to interpret, but to understand. That’s all I got for this round—short, sharp, and sweet. I shall return…