Merry Christmas!

I just want to say Merry Christmas - in Emnonian: Mundeja ejut bebat Xristot muma se. Literally, this means may your celebration of Jesus' birth be happy. I have yet to go C.S. Lewis and incorporate Jesus into Gultz, so for now there isn't a common word for Christmas. Meanwhile, here's a link to my translation of the Christmas story.

Though it's been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you!

Decline of Definiteness

Why haven't you seen any Matlang posts? Blame the fact that Ιἐσούς Χρίστος' birthday is a bigger and busier holiday than His death/resurrection (which is probably more important).

Three days ago, the conlanging blog posted stuff about Google Ngram Viewer. Looking at it, I noticed that it showed the scale of percentage. I wondered what would be the most, and searched for the and a. No surprise that instead of being in the 0.000000s like constructed language, the and a were in the 1s.

I noticed a strict statistic. the has been steadily declining since 1850 (from 6% to currently 4.5%), while a has maintained 1.5%. Why is this?

The answer: I'm not a scholar, so I have no idea. Anyone who knows this can comment, and they will receive $0 plus a free review of any constructed language/world if they give me a link.

By the way, I originally decided to call this post the decline of definiteness, but to fit the mood changed it. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Efharistó!

Matlang, Day 6

I just realized I've posted every other day. I actually wrote this earlier, I just set it to post later.

At the bottom is an .sc file of the sound changes. It's for Mark Rosenfelder's Sound Change Applier, I should write a review of it one of these days :).

Anyways, this a declension of ferō to bear:

   Matlang      Latin        Greek
ferō   feromes ferō ferimus ferō   feromen
fereri ferete  fers fertis  fereis ferete
fereti feront  fert ferunt  ferei  ferousi

This is assuming Matlang is descended from PIE. But it isn't; it's descended from Pre-Matlang. Which means we can supply changes to Pre-Matlang:

  Pre-Matlang       Matlang
*ferō   *feromes   ferō  feromes
*fereis *feretis → ferīs feretis
*fereit *ferount   ferīt ferount


But wait. Wasn't the entire point of Pre-Matlang to have agglunative endings which wear away into inflections in Matlang? And wasn't this whole project supposed to be based off of Material Logic? This means we can scrap the verbs and start over...with nouns. Until next time...

--

C=mnpbftdþkgxqGQsrlywRL
V=eaoiuëäöêâôîû
S=tdþ
K=kgx
W=qGQ
H=fþx
P=ptk
D=bdg
Y=kgxqGQy
F=ie
B=uo
Ä=ëäö
N=pbkgs
*Labiovelars
W/S/_F
W/S/u_
W/S/_u
q/k/B_
q/k/_B
G/1/n_
Q/1/n_
G/w/_
Q/w/_
n1/nG/_
*Aspirates
H/D/V_V
þ/b/u_
þ/b/r_
þ/b/_r
þ/b/_l
*s
s/r/V_V
s/1/_P
s/h/#_
1/s/_P
*Liquids
y//V_V
*Beschwaed vowels
Ä//_#
Ä/a/_
*Beiotaed vowels
ei/ê/_Y
ei/î/_
ôi/ê/_
âi/ê/_
*Syllabics
R/ra/N_
L/la/N_
R/ra/#_
L/la/#_
R/or/_
L/ol/_
*spelling
f/ph/_
þ/th/_
x/ch/_
q/1u/_V
q/que/_
1/q/_u
g/1u/_V
g/gue/_
1/g/_u

Matlang, Day 5

Sorry if the last post was weird; blame Blogger. Now that we have a full inventory, it's time to work on sound changes.

Though we will keep the basic inventory the same, we will use some sound changes which we will apply to endings. All are based off of changes from PIE to Latin or Greek:

1. Morphing of Labiovelars:
1. kw, gw, kwh → t, d, th / _(i,e)
2. kw, gw, kwh → k, g, gh / (u)_(u)
3. kw → k / (o,u)_(o,u)
4. gw, gwh → w / [-n]_
2. Morphing of Aspirates:
1. ph, th, kh → b, d, g / V_V
2. th → b / (u,r)_(r,l)
3. gwh → gw / _
3. Morphing of s
1. s → r / V_V
2. s → h / #_[-plosive -voice]
4. Morphing of Liquids:
1. y → 0 / V_V
5. Morphing of -ə:
1. Və → 0 / _#
2. Və → a / _
6. Morphing of -i:
1. ei → ē / _([+dorsal -w])
2. ei → ī / _
3. ōi, āi → ē / _
7. Morphing of Syllabic Liquids
1. ṟ, ḻ → ra, la / (p,b,k,g,s,#)_
2. ṟ, ḻ → or, ol / _

Matlang, Day 3

In our continuing saga of creating languages, I am going to work on syllabic consonants and suprasegmentals.

Pre-Matlang: Syllabic Consonants
Gr La PM
a  em *em
mā mā *mā
am em *am
a  en *en
nā nā *nā
an en *an
la ol *ḻ
lā lā *lā
al el *al 
ra or *ṟ
rā rā *rā
ar el *ar


So in Pre-Matlang, the only syllabic consonants are *ḻ and *ṟ.

Matlang, Day 2

Today, I'll be doing those lovely airflows modified by your tongue's location. That's right, vowels!

Pre-Matlang Vowels
These are the basic sound correspondences:

Gr La PM
e  e  *e
a  a  *a
o  o  *o
e     *eə
a  a  *aə
o     *oə
ē  ē  *ē
ā  ā  *ā
ō  ō  *ō
i  i  *i
ī  ī  *ī
ī  īa *ei
ū  oe *oi
ai ae *ai
āi ī  *āi
āi ō  *ōi
u  u  *u
ū  ū  *ū
eu ū  *eu
ou ū  *ou
au au *au

So this is our system:
Monophthongs: /a e i o u a: e: i: o: u:/
-i Diphthongs: /ei ai oi a:i o:i/
-u Diphthongs: /eu ou au/
-ə Diphthongs: /eə aə oə/

Matlang, Day 1

Today, I'm announcing the start of an engelang project I'm going to call Matlang until I come up with a native name. Its goal is to create a language with a phonology and lexicon of PIE, Latin, and Greek; and a morphosyntax based on the principles of traditional Material Logic. Since I envision Matlang being inflectional, I will create first Pre-Matlang (based off PIE) with agglutination and a PIEish phonology. I will refrain from lexicon, because that takes too long.

Okay, here we go...

Today I'll do
Pre-Matlang Consonants
Nasals: /m n/
Plosives: /p b pʰ t d tʰ k g kʰ kʷ gʷ kʷʰ/

Oral continuants: /s r l j w/


Differences in PIE and Pre-Matlang:

• I've gotten rid of the palatovelars, because both Latin and Greek merge them with velars.
• I devoiced the aspirated plosives, as they both became unvoiced in Latin and Greek.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you, God, for a great country where freedom is secured by the greatest military in the world.
Thank you, God, for the Tower of Babel so the concept of "language" can be explored.
Thank you, God, for the US Census, so we can know who our ancestors were.
Thank you, God, for Bill Gates, so we can use these coll devices called computers - heard of 'em?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm Back!

Just to say, I'm back. I've been back for a month, actually.

I've been working on a sister-language to English. Click here to view. It's unfinished, and rough around the edges. Feel free to comment!

Travelling

I'm traveling to Chicago early tommorow morning. After a week with the folks, I'm going to - wait for it - Italy and Greece!

It's actually only Rome and Athens, but still, I'm psyched.

I'll try to remember to write about what happened when I get back - but know there won't be any posts for a month.

Arividerci, Γειά σας, and Goodbye!

PerlEdit

I just started with programing, and I am using PerlEdit to write Perl scripts with ease. It colors different aspects (e.g. comments green, commands blue, strings purple), and has a nifty little triangle button that allows you to do the program automatically.

It's still on trial, but I looked and it only mentioned the "Debug feature" as going away when the trial is done, and I've yet to use it.

Download it here, and look at this sample script which I gave up on:

#!usr/local/bin/perl
# Copyright (C) 2010
srand();
# ---CHOOSING PLACES OF ARTICULATION---
# VARIABLES FOR PLACES
@placs = ('labial','alveolar','velar');
@nplacs = ('retroflex','palatal','uvular','glottal');
# SELECTING THE PLACES
$max = int(rand(3));                  # times looped is an integer between 0-3
for ($i = 0; $i <= $max; $i++) {      # starts the loop
$ntodelete = int(rand(7-@placs));     # the number in nplacs that will be moved to placs
$placs[@placs] = $nplacs[$ntodelete]; # added to @placs
delete $nplacs[$ntodelete];           # deleted from @nplacs
};
# ALVEOLAR > DENTAL SOMETIMES
$dent = int(rand(2)); # whether yes or no
if ($dent == 1) {     # if yes
$placs[1] = 'dental'  # switch to dental
};
# ---CHOOSING VOICING---
$blos = int(rand(2));          # whether to have blosives
if ($blos == 1) {              # if so
$dinplos[@dinplos] = 'voicing' # add voicing
}
# ---CHOOSING ASPIRATION---
$phlos = int(rand(2));            # whether to have phlosives
if ($phlos == 1) {                # if so
$dinplos[@dinplos] = 'aspiration' # add aspiration
};
# ---UNVOICED ASPIRATION---
if ($dinplos[1] == 'aspiration') {          # if bhlosives are possible,
$nobhlos = int (rand(2));                   # decide yes or no
if ($nobhlos == 1) {                        # if no,
$dinplos[1] = 'aspiration_in_the_voiceless' # say so
};
};
# ---SAY NONE FOR PLOSIVES---
if (@dinplos == 0) { # if no distinctions in plosives,
$dinplos[0] = 'none' # say so
};
# ---FRICATIVES---
# ONLY S?
if ($placs[1] == 'alveolar') { # if there is /t/,
$sonly = int(rand(2));         # decide if only /s/,
}                              # to be stated later
# ---ADD POSTALVEOLAR ONLY IF $sonly isn't 1
if ($sonly != 1) {              # if there isn't only /s/
$pamove = int(rand(2));         # decide if possibly postalveolar
if ($pamove == 1) {             # if so,
$placs[@placs] = $postalveolar; # say so
};
};
# ---VOICING IN FRICATIVES---
$vricative = int(rand(2)); # decide if voicing, to be set later
# RHOTICS
@rposs = ('trill','tap','approximant','retroflex approximant','uvular trill');
$rhotic = @rposs[int(rand(4))];
# LATERALS
@lposs = ('approximant', 'fricative', 'approxiant and fricative');
$latrl = @rposs[int(rand(2))];
# To be done:
# get the order for places of articulation right
# fix unvoiced aspiration
# ---PRINTING---
print "----PHONOLOGY----\n----Consonants---\nPlaces of Articulation:@placs\n"; # show places
print "Distinctions in Plosives:@dinplos\n";                                   # show distinctions in plosives
if ($sonly == 1) {                                                             # if only s,
print "Fricatives are only in the alveolar.\n"                                 # say so
};
if ($vricative == 1) {                                                         # if voiced fricatives
print "Distinctions in Fricatives:voicing\n"                                   # say so
};
print "Rhotic:$rhotic\nLateral:$latrl\n";                                      # show rhotic/lateral

VoteEasy

Most voters will act on who they think "looks trustworthy" or "sounds okay," not actually on their views. For example, there are practically twice as many people who identify themselves as conservative then as liberal, though the obviously not conservative Barack Obama won the election.

So that people know who they are voting for, they should go to http://votesmart.org/voteeasy/.

Just take a simple test on your political views, and it will match you to the candidates who agree with you most. It's wonderful if you have no idea who to vote for.

Translating the Bible requests

If anyone would like me to translate any portion of the New Testament, I'm available. Using e-mail or the wiki, just send the verses and the mood you want (literal, poetic, modern), though don't go beyond one chapter.

Commentaries are also available.

Translating the Bible

"...we are all consecrated priests..."

– Martin Luther

In my opinion,

"...we are all consecrated translators..."

– Me

A few days ago, my friend visited and showed me a notebook in which he had translated the Tao Te Cheng, the Taoist bible. I decided to do that with the Christian bible. Though it would have been best to start with Genesis, I'm doing Luke because I have a book with the original New Testament with translations of each Greek word.

Here's the first five verses:

Many have tried to relate to us, on hand, about the practices fully carried in us,according to what is giving to us by the original viewers that have become the Word's subservients. I, having followed all up until now exactly, have taken things down by others to write for you, O Theóphilos, lover of God, so that you can know exactly and not doubt the words you have been instructed on.

The Stratēgós of Athēnai

Want it? E-mail me, it's done.

Making Flowers

Want to make flowers in a graphing calculator? If you have polar functions, you can.

It's this formula I made up:
r=a*cos(bθ)+c
In all cases, if you put a negative number, it does the same thing as the positive value.

a is the mean distance from the flower's tip to root.
b is the number of petals if odd, twice that number if even. (So if you want 4 petals, do b=2. Sorry, no 2-petaled flowers). If you do fractions it will be distorted, and if you do 0 it will make a circle with a radius of a+c.
c is the most complex, as it involves morphing, and does different stuff to different values of b:

If b is even, it will make horizontal petals have a+c length and vertical petals have a-c length.
If b is odd, it will make two petals, one on top of the other, where just one petal would have been if c=0. One petal would have a+c length and one would have a-c length.

So there you have it. Next time we will feature what happens when you replace cos with sin, and more interesting stuff like that.

I haven't forgotten about the Stratēgós

Don't worry. It just so happens that on Friday and Saturday I went to a class on the constitution, so I didn't have time to finish.

By the way, know this: the Supreme Court is NOT the supreme arbiter of the constitution; it is NOT their duty to interpret it. Nowhere does the constitution mention whoever will be it's interpreter. However, the constitution DOES say:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Thus, it is the states and the people, not the Supreme Court, who decide what the constitution means.

The Stratēgós of Athēnai

I haven't posted since 22, so for some first-day-of-September spirit I'm going to get you all to look forward To the Stratēgós of Athēnai, which will come out Friday barring a death in the family or my forgetfulness.

Here's a sneak peak:

My name is

Aren't you excited? You can pre-order the 0$ edition by waiting for me to post the link.

Hu-hu-hu, that's all folks!

Doo doo doo doo doo.

A True Overview of My Genealogy.

A "True" Overview?

My last post on genealogy, labeled an Overview of My Genealogy, simply went the farthest back I have traced, through one line. First I'll start with a lovely pie chart of my ethnicity:

Yes, some who know me as having very pale skin will be surprised that I'm a quarter Mexican, but it's true, the extended family has a Mexican dinner every day-after-Christmas.

You can tell the four quarters are my four grandparents; the right side is my father, the left side is my mother. In a clockwise direction, it's PP (father of father), MP (mother of father), PM (father of mother), MM (mother of mother). I'll give the first letters of their names; S, J, I, and W.

Part 1: Scandinavian Side
S.'s father is named Sigfrid Hampus Svenson, and he went by his middle name. He was born to a Sven and Johanna in Malmö, Sweden, and his father died when he was still young. His mother was of course dragged down by having to raise six kids (Hampus was the eldest son). So Hampus eventually went to work in the cigar factory as a teenager.

By his late teens (16&17), he got into drinking, and more then once almost drowned, being too drunk to dogie-paddle. He was part of a gang of boys, and they always made mischief. Once a Salvation Army parade marched by, and the boys decided to take the flag away from the carrier. It was Hampus that attepmted it, but as he tried the flag-carrier said "You'll never take the flag away from me."

That seemed to change Hampus. He stopped drinking, stopped hanging out with the other ruffians. He started to wonder what that flag-carrier had that he didn't; facing up to a guy like him. Signs at the Salvation Army said things like "Come and be Saved," perhaps that was it. At the nearest church, they didn't even let him in (on account of a poor reputation for mischief), so he had to go to a further out church. That year he became a Christian, and immigrated to America (I have a ship's manifest showing him, of course. He also changed his last name).

It is because of that flag-bearer that our family is Christian.

Anyhow, he later missioned in India with his Norwegian-American wife, Cora, whose parentage I have yet to figure out. My grandfather was born there, and I still have some Indian hats of his up on a shelf in my room.

Of his father, Sven Svenson, I have yet to figure out a genealogy. Of his mother Johanna, however, I have found her parents to be Jonas Kastell and Albertina Ekelund, the former being a soldier living 1800-1880. I have yet to trace back further.

Part 2: Scottish Side
The parents of my grandmother, J, are Frank Brown and Jeanie Stewart. Both were born in Scotland and came to the USA.

Frank Brown was born in either 1885 or 1895; I have yet to figure out which. The former is the date I have always been told, though a 1930 USA census record as well as a 1901 Scotland census record seems to support the latter. Whatever the date, he fought in World War 1 as part of the British army before immigrating to Chicago in the 20s. I have yet to figure out if he married Jeanie in America or Scotland, but it was before 1925, when this picture was taken:

His parents are William Armour Brown and Margaret McNeill. I have yet to find Margaret's parents, though I am sure she has a brother John. There are three children of William's age living in the town of his birth in 1861, so I have yet to figure his parentage out (interestingly, one possibility is that his father was Irish. That'd be lovely). Here is a picture of William and Margaret, with Frank only five years old:

As for my grandmother's mother's side, her parents were Andrew Stewart and Jeanie McGilvary. Unlike the Browns, who had only one kid (I think), the Stewart side had a lot:

I have yet to figure out their parentages, though I know that Jeanie's mother's maiden name was "Bailey."

Here's two more photos of Frank and Jeanie, the former being him in the war:

Part 3: Mexican Side
My maternal grandfather, I, was conceived in Mexico and born in Chicago, the youngest son of Otilio Velazquez and Ramona Santillian. His father left him very young for Hollywood, for he was a screenwriter by profession (I only learned this recently from a second cousin once removed visiting). He must have specialized in Mexican romance, for there is a rejection letter owned by the said S.C.O.R. that says that at the time there was no market for such a genre.

There is a lovely miniature of the Tribune Tower that was made by Otilio, before he left. I'm too lazy to inquire, but I think he was arrested for doing some measurements.

As for his genealogy, we have names that go back to his grandparents, but the names are it besides a story that his father Andres Artiaga was a Mexican-American war general.

It is the same for his wife, Ramona – we go back to her grandparents, and her father was named Jesus!

Part 4: Welsh Side
My grandmother W is the one that went back to before the American Revolution – the fact that she isn't a daughter of immigrants like the other three helps, as America is the easiest place for genealogy. Thank you census!

Her parents are Jesse Mills and Chloe Davis. The Mills genealogy goes back three generations:

Elijah = Jane or Elizabeth, haven't figured out which
       |
       Jasper = Nancy Barrett, don't know her parentage
              |
              Jesse = Chloe Davis
                    | 
                    W

Not much; the fact that people other than the head were only recorded in the census from 1850 on doesn't help.

In fact, the pie chart at the beggining is incorect. The Mills side isn't Welsh; I have no idea what they are. The Welsh side is that of Chloe's father, the German of her mother.

Here's a nice family tree to sum it up:

Davis family


Unknown                   Rev. Malachi Jones = Mary
)--------------------------.                 |
Thomas Davis               Llewellyn Davis = Bridget
|                           "the Sawyer"   |
Llewellyn "the Hammerer"                   |
|                                          |
Magdalene Davis             =              Llewellyn
                            |
        Elizabeth Kennedy = Isaac Davis I
                          |
          Eliza Ritchey = Isaac Davis II
                        |
  Harriet Hockensmith = Isaac Davis III
                      |
                      Chloe Davis
                            
That's basically what we know about the Davis family. Reverand Malachi Jones was born circa 1651 in Wales, died 1729. In his lifetime he founded the Abington Presbyterian Church, built a graveyard, and was buried in it (well the last one was hopefully after he died).

Yes, Llewellyn and Magdalene Davis were first cousins once removed and they married, but hey, I'm not mutated! As for their son Isaac Davis I, he was six years old when George Washington's men camped at Valley Forge, the camp being less than a mile from the village of the same name where Isaac lived.

Part 5: German Side
Let's do another family tree:

Hans Hackenshmidt
|
Ulrich Georg Hackenshmidt = Ursula
,-------------------------'
Georg Nicomed Hackenshmidt
|
Johann Georg Hackensmidt
|
Konrad Hackenshmidt       Georg Shmidt
|       ,-----------------(
Jacob = Elizabeth Smith   John Smith
      |                   |
      Peter Hockersmith = Christina Smith
                        |
 Elizabeth Eppley   =   John Hockensmith
                    |
Isaac Davis III  =  Harriet Hockensmith
                 |
                 Chloe Davis

Now, Konrad Hackensmidt immigrated from Germany to America starting in Rotterdam, Holland and ending up in Frederick's County, Maryland. There is a bunch of stuff about him you can find, like this timeline and the text of his will.

His son Jacob, and Jacob's brother-in-law Sgt. John Smith, were both members of William Blair's Game Cock company.

Jacob's son Peter and John's daughter Christina married; they were 1st cousins.

The winter of 1899/1900 was one of the worst for the Davises. Both Isaac Davis III and three of him and Harriet's children died then. This knocked Harriet poor, having to resort to doing laundry for pay. There is a family legend that a relative came by and offered to raise my great-grandma Chloe and make it easier for Harriet. The answer was no, of course.

Here's a picture of Harriet and her family:

Here's some pictures of Chloe (the first at a shoe factory):

So there you have it – my genealogy. So why don't you research your own genealogy? Here's a suggestion: ask your parents for information (or grandparents if still alive). With as much information you can get, google search the names or go to http://www.familysearch.org/ for free stuff, and if you're willing to pay defiantly go to http://www.ancestry.com/.

Now of course, if you really are willing to pay go to the place where your ancestor lived.

Hu-hu-hu-hu that's all folks!

How to Speak Emnonian, Part 2

One of the many things I do is make languages. Here's the first part of a tutorial for you.

For a technical overview of Emnonian, check this out. This is for people who don't know about linguistics.

Chapter 2: Conversational Emnonian
English has a standard "hello" and "goodbye." In Emnon, people are very practical and go strait to business. So, often even when you do know someone's name, it is custom to say SIGNA IA KANSIN (Signa ja kansin?) – literally what is your name. If you feel uncomfortable, say SLVÐI (sludhi; salutations) for "hello" and SLVÐINO (sludhino; no salutations) for "goodbye".

When asked your name, you can say SIGNA AIAT ____ $ (signa ajat ___ si)

IVS NOGERNVSIN (jus nogernu sin), IAN NOGERNANASIN (jan nogernana sin), IA NOGERNA SIN (ja nogerna sin) and II NOGERNISIN (ji nogerni sin), are "how are you" spoken to a male, female, unknown or plural.

AIVS NOGERNVS $, AIAN NOGERNAN $, AIA NOGERNA $, and AII NOGERNI $ is "I'm fine," spoken by (not to) a male, female, unknown or plural, though to just say NOGERNA is okay in informal settings. ED EI(VS, AN, A, I) (ed ejus, an, a, i) is "and you?"

Emnonians never say "it's nice to meet you," usually because they don't know whether it's nice yet, nor "where are you from" because Emnonian names reflect that.

Sample Conversation:
SIGNA IA KANSIN
Signa ja kansin?

SIGNA AIAT PESKILVS P BIS $ E IA NOGERNVSIN

Signa ajat Peskilus P. Bis si. Ja nogernu sin?

NOGERNA ED EIVS

Nogerna. Ed ejus?

NOGERNA

Nogerna.

Exercises

1. Translate the above conversation
2. Change the above translation so that the first character is two people, and the second charachter is a female Peskilan P. Bis.

Answers to previous post:

1. lufus, chantis, wêl
2. SKVLADA, HθVS, YVUA

CONLANG mailing list

I just joined the CONLANG e-mail list; I recommend you use digest mode.

It has a bunch of people discussing conlangs.

The Matrilineal House of Lara

If you scroll down to my post on lines of succession, you will find the definition of enatic to be thus:

Enatic primogeniture is just the opposite of agnatic primogeniture; it only allows females, and bans males.

Just read the definition of agnatic primogeniture and switch genders. I'll elaborate only in saying that the throne passes to the daughter, if none a sister, if none an aunt, if none an aunt's daughter, if none a great-aunt, and so on. Not even a son's daughter would be eligible.

The Matrilineal House of Lara is group of people who are matrilineal descendants (children of daughters of daughters of daughters) of Juana Núñez de Lara, or in English Joan Noonyez of Lara. Practically every European royal is descended from her, and a bunch of II monarchs: Maximillian II and Ferdinand II of Austria, Henry II of France, Catherine II of Russia, and a few boring Is and IVs in Victoria of Britain and Phillip IV of Spain, are descended from her in the female line.

The female line starts with a Spanish noble woman Juana herself, 1286–1351, who was a member of the Paternal House of Lara. It died out with the death of her brother 1315, leaving the family's wealth to Juana's son with the exact same name but for "Juan" instead of "Juana".

But who cares about her son? After all, the matriline traces through the three daughters she had besides. They were,

• Blanca (1311–1347), who died before Juana did,
• Maria (1315–1379), whose only daughter became a nun,
• Marguerite (1319–1373), who became a nun herself.

Okay. A dynasty sprung from these three daughters? It doesn't look like a matriline comes from any of them, unless nuns have children.

As it turns out, Blanca had two children before she died. The younger was a daughter, named Juana Manuel, who lived 1339–1381.

Through those three generations, the MHL (that's what I'm going to call the matrilineal house of Lara) rose through the ranks. I'll show you how through this family tree:

Berengaria                      Castilian Monarch

)-------.                       Member of MHL

Urraca  Ferdinand III

|       )-----------.

Diego   Alfonso X   |

|       )---------  |  ------------.

Teresa  Ferdinand   |              Sancho IV

|       |           |              |

Juana = Ferdinand   Manuel         Ferdinand IV

      |             |              |

      Blanche   =   John Manuel    Alfonso XI

                |                  |

                Juana Manuel   =   Henry II

Juana was born a great-great non-male-line granddaughter of a queen - something you would expect from any old noble. But when she married a male-line grandson of a king, it made her daughter part of the ruling dynasty (albeit in a distant branch). The situation wasn't worsened when Blanche also married a king's male-line grandson, putting her daughter into a junior branch of the dynasty. The MHL was at it's peak when Juana married a member of the senior branch of a dynasty: in fact, the king's eldest son. Technically Henry wasn't part of the dynasty at all, as he was illegitimate, but that didn't stop him from usurping the throne and becoming Henry II of Castile.

(By the way, back then Spain wasn't one country; Castile and Aragon united to form Spain through the marriage of Isabella and Ferdinand, the investors in Columbus' expedition. Both were descended from Juana Núñez.)

Juana Manuel and Henry II had a son and daughter, Juan (John) and Leanor (Eleanor). John went on to become King of Castile. As usual for princesses, Eleanor (1363–1415) went on to marry some foreign guy; in this case, Charles III of Navarre (which was a little country stuck between modern Spain and France).

Eleanor and Charles had eight children, six of whom were daughters. Only four of their children survived to marriage, and only three ever had children. Those three were daughters. They were:

• Blanche (1387–1441), who married John II of Aragon (the other part of Spain)
• Beatrix (1392–1415), who married James II, Count of La Marche
• Isabella (1395–1435), who married John IV of Armagnac

From each of them sprung the Aragon, La Marche, and Armagnac branches of the MHL. I'll tell you their histories in 2-3-1 order.

The La Marche branch didn't last long. Beatrix and James had three daughters, and only one of them ever married. She, Eleanor, married in fact the brother of Isabella's husband, and among three children only one was a daughter. That daughter, Bonne, never married and didn't outlive her mother, who died 1464 along with the La Marche branch. Indeed, no person is alive today who can trace descent to Beatrix.

The Armagnac branch didn't have the same fate, as Henry IV of France descends from Isabella and John, and he has several descendants today. Isabella also had three daughters, but this time each of them had children. The eldest, Marie, had one daughter through her husband John II of Alençon, who married but had no children. The second, Eleanor, had one daughter as well, whose only daughter had no children, bringing the Armagnac branch to end in 1537. The third, Isabelle, produced three children, of whom only one was a daughter who grew up only to have a son. That son's only known descendants are those of Emmanuel of Crussol, 11th duke of Uzès.

Both the branches of La Marche and Armagnac have been dead for centuries. The Aragon branch, however, still exists today.

Blanche, the Aragon branch (also called main line) founder, became Queen of Navarre upon her father's death. (Cognatic primogeniture was used, she was the eldest daughter, and her brothers all died young. See my post on order of succession). She and John II of Aragon had three non-infant-dying children. They were:

• Charles (1421–1461)
• Blanche (1424–1464)
• Eleanor (1426–1479)

Upon Blanche Sr.'s death, Charles was made king, while his father John reigned de facto. Upon Charles' childless death, his sister Blanche Jr. got the title while John continued to exercise the power. Upon Blanche Jr.'s childless death, John became de jure king, and upon his death Eleanor became queen for only two weeks before her death.

Before she died, she had ten children through her husband Gaston IV, Count of Foix, those daughters who had children of their own listed here:

• Mary (1452–1467), married William VIII of Montferrat
• Margaret (1453–1486), married Francis II of Brittany
• Joan (1454–1476), married her mother's cousin John V of Armagnac
• Catherine (1455–1494), married her second cousin Gaston II of Foix-Candale

From them descend the Montferrat, Brittany, and Foix-Candale branches (Joan and John's only child died in infancy).

Giovanna of Montferrat
and a sister

Any member of the Montferrat branch hasn't been mentioned since 1522, so we can assume it's dead. It was formed by the marriage of Mary and William, which produced several daughters. Only one of them is known to have married, this being Giovanna to Ludovico II of Saluzzo. He and Giovanna had two daughters themselves, only one of them living past two: Margherita, who married twice but through neither husband had children. Her will is dated 1522, and with her death the main line of the MHL died out.

The Brittany branch didn't do so bad. Brittany was a powerful duchy, so Margaret and Francis' only daughter to marry, Anne (1477–1514), was Charles VIII of France's best choice for a bride. The two had no children, so the throne passed to Charles' father's second cousin, Louis XII, who also married Anne. The couple had two infancy-surviving children, Claude and Renée, both girls.

Claude (1499–1524) also married a king of France, Francis I, so we shall call her branch the Franco-Brittany branch. Claude and Francis had three children to survive until marriage: Henry, Madeleine, and Margaret. Madeleine never had children, and Margaret's only child was a son. Her death in 1574 made the Franco-Brittany branch extinct, though through her son we have the female-preference primogeniture heirs.

Anna was the ancestor
of the dukes of Savoy

The younger daughter of Anne of Brittany, Renée (1510–1575), did not marry a king like her mother and sister. Instead, she married the Duke of Ferrera, Ercole II, and had three daughters by him. Only one, Anna, ever married, and her two daughters died young, knocking the Este-Brittany branch and the Brittany branch as a whole extinct in 1607.

The Montferrat Branch, extinct 1522. The Brittany Branch, extinct 1607. When is the Foix-Candale branch extinct, 1692? As it turns out, members of it still live today, so I'm going to save all that new exciting stuff for the next post. While you wait, you can always look it this lovely little outline of what's been covered so far:

• The Trunk: Juana Núñez → Blanche de la Cerda → Juana Manuel → Eleanore of Castile
• Aragon Branch: Blanche I of Navarre → Eleanor of Navarre
• Montferrat Branch: Mary of Navarre → Giovanna of Montferrat → Margherita of Saluzzo, extinct after1522
• Brittany Branch: Margaret of Navarre → Anne of Brittany
• Franco-Brittany Branch: Claude of France → Margaret of France, extinct 1574
• Este-Brittany Branch: Renée of France → Anna of Este, extinct 1607
• Foix Candale Branch: I can't tell you yet!
• La Marche Branch: Beatrix → Eleanore → Bonne, extinct 1464
• Armagnac Branch: Isabella → Eleanor → Joan → Francoise, extinct 1537

How to Speak Emnonian, Part 1

One of the many things I do is make languages. Here's the first part of a tutorial for you.

For a technical overview of Emnonian, check this out. This is for people who don't know about linguistics.

Chapter 1: Pronunciation
This chart shows how to pronounce the letters, using two systems: Emnonian and Jos-Emnonian. Emnonian was actually used by the Emnonians (duh), all-caps. Jos-Emnonian is a much easier lower-case version. We shall use both in further lessons.

Emnonian  Jos-Emnonian  Pronounciation
A         a             a in father
Æ         â             a in cat
B         b             b in boy
C         c             sh in shout
CH        ch            z in azure
D         d             d in dog
Đ         dh            th in the
E         e             ay in hay. In English, slowly it's pronounced hay-ee. Not in Emnonian.
θ         ê             e in pet
F         f             f in fat
G         g             g in goat
H         h             h in hat
I         i             e in me
          j             y in yacht
K         k             k in kid
L         l             l in love. Not l in cool
M         m             m in movie
N         n             n in none
O         o             o in go. In English, slowly it's pronounced go-uu. Not in Emnonian.
P         p             p in pig
R         r             er in her.
S         s             s in sit
T         t             t in tin
Ŧ         th            th in thin
U         û             u in pun or oo in book
V*        u             oo in maroon
          v             v in very
VU        w             w in wonder
X         x             ch in loch or Bach
Y         y             i in in :)
Z         z             z in maze
*How tell apart u and v? Usually, it's v unless it's between two consonants. Exceptions can be found by looking at Jos-Emnonian equivalents.


Stress is on the second-to-last syllable, unless there is no consonant between it and the last.

Here's a secret: this is the hardest part. Looking at further stuff, you'd have to spend half the time on just how to pronounce this, and once you get it down you'd be already half way done.

Exercises

1. What are the Jos-Emnonian equivalents of LVFVS, CHANTIS, and VUθL?
2. What are the Emnonian equivalents of skulada, hêus, and ywa?

Answers on next post.

An Overview of my Genealogy

I've been interested in genealogy ever since my grandmother told me about it. She, from whom I obviously inherit the interest, did a lot of research that eventually traced her back to the 1700s. I just got an www.ancestry.com account, and using it made contact with Ed Hockersmith, who himself had made contact with Günter W. Hackenschmidt, a German guy who had gone from my grandmother's ancestors back to 1590, all the way to:

Hans Hackenshimdt, father of:
|
Ulrich Georg Hackensmidt, 1590-?, father of:
|
Georg Nicomed Hackenshmidt, 1658-1702, father of:
|
Johann Georg Hackensmidt, 1683-?, father of:
|
Konrad Hackensmidt, 1718-1795, came to America, farthest back my grandmother went, father of:
|
Jacob Hockersmith, 1746-1818, father of:
|
Peter Hockersmith, ?-1834, father of:
|
John Hockensmith, 1805-1892, father of:
|
Harriet Hockensmith, 1854-1937, mother of:
|
Chloe Mills, 1892-1977, mother of:
|
My Grandmother, mother of:
|
My Mother, mother of:
|
Me. Duh!

My Wiki

I haven't posted a thing since April.

So here's a post.

My wiki has been around since September 2009, so I aught to share it now that it has more-than-enough pages.

It's made with Wikkii, which you can read all about in a lower post, and I will only summarize in saying that it uses MediaWiki, the same software used with Wikipedia.

When you first go to the address below, it will say you must log in to view pages. Well, click on the link, create an account (don't worry, it's free), and then you will be able to do it. I just do this so that only human beings can see it, and I can delete accounts if they are evil.

When you first come to the main page, you will find a Welcome banner and something like Worlds nil nil nil nil. Under that you will see Today's Featured Article. Skip that and you will see the Hello paragraph. Read it, and you will know all you need to know.

So get out there, click on this link, read all that cool stuff I invented, and correct my spelling!

Order of Succession

"His oldest son."


That's usually the answer when I ask people "when there were kings, if a king died, who would succeed him?"


As it turns out, "his oldest son" isn't as simple as that. There are several different systems, each with it's ups and downs. Primogeniture is fair to the senior grandson but unfair to the junior son; while seniority is fair and unfair vice versa.


Primogeniture

Primogeniture, a system used in all current European monarchies, favors the eldest son over the younger son. This might be expected, but there's a catch; even if the eldest son is dead, he is still favored. But since he is dead, of course, it means it has to go to his eldest son. Let's form an example.


Let's say King John has two children: Richard and William. Both of them have children. Then, John and Richard are both killed in battle. This does not mean that William is king, rather, Richard's eldest son. This is a graphical representation, the numbers being line of succession:

John

.-----------^-----------.

1. Richard               3. William

|                           |

2. son                 4. son

Note that if the family tree looks strange, it is probably because you are not using Times New Roman. This applies to all family trees.

This might be unfair to William, but if law said the eldest living son, this situation might arise:

Doldus had two sons: Drus and Hugard. Drus had a son Dinus. Dinus had always expected when his grandpa died his father would be king, and when his father died he would be king. But when Drus died before Doldus, Dinus was no longer likely to ever be king; the throne would pass to his uncle Hugard and his children.

Thus, primogeniture favors the grandson. But what about granddaughter? Does gender have anything to do with this?

There are different types of primogeniture: agnatic, cognatic, absolute, enatic, and uterine. 

Agnatic primogeniture only allows the male line; this dosen't only ban females, but their sons too. If we assumed John in the early example had a daughter, neither she nor her son would have a claim. Only people for whom the progenitor (usually first member of a new dynasty) was father's father's father's father, not father's mother's father's father, had a claim to the throne.

Cognatic primogeniture does allow females and their heirs, but only if their brothers and their heirs are died out. For example, if John had a daughter Mary, she would only be queen if her brothers and their descendants were died out. This would be unlikely, but if Mary had no brothers in the first place, she would be heir to the throne. This system is used in the United Kingdom; HM The Queen Elizabeth II only became the queen because she had no brothers; if she'd had, she would just be princess and her brother would be king.

Absolute or Equal primogeniture dosen't care a thing about gender; the eldest child, not son, is the heir.

Note that often countries using agnatic primogeniture change to cognatic primogeniture, and then to absolute primogeniture.

Enatic primogeniture is just the opposite of agnatic primogeniture; it only allows females, and bans males.

Uterine primogeniture is probably the most intresting type of primogeniture. It only allows males the rule, but through the female line. If this were a list of members:


Mary, the progeniture, had:

1. Samuel, who had:
1. Samuel
2. Isabel
2. Joseph, who had:
1. Joseph
2. Anna
3. Anna, who had:
1. Mary II
2. Marius
3. John
4. Peter, who had:
1. Stephen
2. Petrus

The throne would go from Samuel, to Joseph, to Marius, to John, to Peter


One of the problems is that Mary II might have a son during Marius' reign. That would make the son more senior by primogeniture then Marius. Thus, as soon as the son was born, he would depose Marius as a baby. I've come up with a law to avoid this:


The Archeiress is Mary. In the absence of a king, the archeiress' brother becomes the new king. In the event the archeiress has no brother, the archeiress' son becomes the new king. In the event that the archeiress has no alive brother or son, the next senior female descendant of the Archeiress by enatic primogeniture's brother becomes the new king. In the event that next senior heiress has no brother, the next senior heiress' son becomes the new king. This goes on and on.


Thus, the throne would go from Samuel, to Joseph, to Peter, to Marius, to John, to Mary II's son.


Seniority
The principle of seniority favors the brother and cousin over the son, and only goes to the son when all of the early generation is dead.

In other words, the throne in the early example would go from John, to Richard, to William, to Richard's sons, to William's sons, and so on.

There are other variants besides gender. Sometimes one can only inherit the throne if their father was king; if this was true, and William died before Richard, William's descendants would be excluded. Often, a king would have several sons, the eldest succeeding him. But about half of them would die before their brother, so the successor would be a younger son. This would lead to a variant of Ultimogeniture, which is just like primogeniture but favors the younger instead of oldest son.

Another variant is where it depends on the oldest man of the generation, not the oldest son of the oldest son of the oldest son of the progenitor.

Yet another variant is where only the main line can produce kings. This family tree shows the kings:

John I
)------------.-----------.
John II        Peter I       Richard I
)------------.-----------.
John III       Peter II     Richard II
)-----------.-------------.
John IV     Peter III       Richard III

The sons of the Peters and Richards wouldn't have claim to the throne unless the descendants of all the Johns died out.

Just like primogeniture, there are variants based on gender; there is agnatic, cognatic, absolute, enatic, and uterine seniority.

Proximity of Blood
While this system favors the son over the brother like primogeniture, it favors the brother over the grandson or nephew like seniority. What matters is not descent from a progenitor, but relation to the previous monarch. This is the standard order:

1. Son (or daughter)
2. Brother (or sister)
3. Grandson (or granddaughter)
4. Nephew (or niece)
5. 1st Cousin
6. 2nd Cousin
7. So on...

If the throne was absolute or cognatic, it could easily pass from John to Peter to William in such a way that John didn't share an ancestor with William. This family tree shows how:

      .-------------------.            .---------------.

Richard                 Samuel = Mary               Marius

    |                                     |                              |

  John                              Peter                    William

A simple amendment to the succession law like only those descended from the progenitor are eligible for the succession could easily fix this.

Like those mentioned before, there are variants on gender.

Other Systems

These are some other systems:

Ultimogeniture is just like primogeniture, but it favors the younger over the older.

Elective monarchy is when the king is voted for; sometimes it could be anyone and it has nothing to do with family, or it could be a vote between all descendants of the progenitor. This could be all agnatic, absolute, enatic, or uterine descendants.

Partition splits the kingdom between all the sons, or children, or daughters. It is probably the most fair of all systems, but when used in a kingdom it can turn an empire into a set of city-states. It's happened before.

--

So there you have it. All sorts of different systems; primogeniture, seniority, proximity, and the little uncommon stuff. In our modern world of democracy, the elective presidency or prime ministry is most common among government, while partition is commonly written on wills.

If you were a monarch, what would you choose?

If you like your senior grandchild, use primogeniture.

If you like your sibling, use seniority.

If you like your children equally but don't want to split the kingdom, use proximity of blood.

If you like your junior grandchild, use ultimogeniture.

If you feel democratic, use elective monarchy.

If you like your children equally and don't care if the kingdom is torn apart by war after you die, use partition.

Think about it.

No Longer Just Software!

That's right. This blog is no longer just going to give out reviews of software. It will have posts on basically anything the author is interested in; this often includes useless-slash-interesting information on subjects like genealogy, languages, and other subjects time to time.

We're keeping the address, but we're the title and layout.

The changes will appear whenever the author gets around to it.