Jessie Peterson
LightNews LightNews
banner
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Jessie Peterson
@quothalinguist.bsky.social
350 followers 110 following 110 posts
Conlanger, co-host of LangTime Studio, and co-creator of languages appearing in Shadow and Bone, Dune, Elemental, and more
Posts Replies Media Videos
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Àsèvúfawepésáhe. "Mix the dry ingredients together."

For #Lexember 5, I created two new words in my #conlang Nómàk'óla: "sáhe" meaning "to mix" and "èvúfawe", which can be used to refer to dry ingredients in baking.

www.quothalinguist.com/2025/12/05/l...
A nisse mixing together a pile of dry ingredients on a small table.
December 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Konàháíttapippelèkòkánelipéþólsìŋóču'o. "And sprinkle allspice and cinnamon over the flour."

This is my entry for #Lexember 4 in my Nómàk'óla language, a #conlang for nisse speakers.

www.quothalinguist.com/2025/12/04/l...
December 4, 2025 at 6:50 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
My Nómàk'óla sentence for #Lexember 3 is "Àhópžèllíssuuppéþólsìŋóču'o" ("Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over the flour."). You can read more about the sentence and the words I created today for its translation at www.quothalinguist.com/2025/12/03/l....

#conlang
A nisse sprinkling a teaspoon of sugar over a pile of flour on a small table with a sugar jar nearby.
December 3, 2025 at 7:13 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
My #Lexember entry for today: "Àséssetikèŋóčuppépóttiipàúho," which translates to "Pour two cups of flour onto a surface." I describe it in more detail on my website: www.quothalinguist.com/2025/12/02/l....

#conlang
A nisse pouring a large cup of flour onto a table top, with a bag of flour sitting nearby. Pieces of the image are labeled with vocabulary.
December 2, 2025 at 8:41 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
For #Lexember, I am writing out a recipe, one step at a time in Nómàk’óla, my #conlang for nisse.

“Àfóvànáþimpéfófike.”

The words I created today are “fóó” (“block, brick”), “náþime” (“butter”), and “fófike” (“to freeze.”
A drawing of a gnome putting a stick of butter into the freezer.
December 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
I received copies of my book, How to Create a Language, and couldn’t be happier! Thank you to the team at Cambridge University Press who made this dream a reality, and thank you to all my beautiful supporters! Especially thank you to @dedalvs.bsky.social for always encouraging me! #conlang
A photo of me holding a copy of my textbook. The title is How to Create a Language: The Conlang Guide.
October 7, 2025 at 1:15 AM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Here @dedalvs.bsky.social looks less sickly… Here’s to hoping the scarf heals him. ❤️
January 6, 2025 at 4:57 AM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
The final Vuochanad word for this year’s #Lexember is “liva” (“games”), from *liba. It has been a lot of fun to work on Vuochanad this month, and I look forward to expanding that work in the future.

“Mivu’e sadhi emwa’aña tèliva.” (“The friends play games together.”)

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 31, 2024 at 9:24 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
The Vuochanad word for #Lexember 30 is “emwa” (“friends”), from *ɛmwa “siblings.” In the sentence “Mivu’e sadhi emwa’aña tèliva” (“The friends play games together”), it occurs with a suffix marking a definite reading of the noun—the apostrophe indicates vowel hiatus.

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 30, 2024 at 8:36 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
The Vuochanad word for #Lexember 29 is “sadhi” (“together”), from the preposition phrase *sa-todzi meaning “like one.” The sentence “Mivu’e sadhi emwa’aña tèliva” means “The friends play games together.”

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 29, 2024 at 7:26 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “mivum” (“to play”), featured in the sentence “Mivu’e sadhi emwa’aña tèliva” (“The friends play games together”). I’m still working out the romanization, but for now I’m using apostrophes to represent vowel hiatus.

#conlang
December 28, 2024 at 7:03 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “viov” (“dogs”). In the sentence “Miegen budani tèyovi” (“The child hugged these dogs”), it looks different: In intervocalic environments, [v] is deleted and [i] becomes [j]: tèviov > tèiov > tèyov. The “-i” suffix indicates a proximal demonstrative.

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 27, 2024 at 6:44 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “bu” (“children”). In the sentence “Miegen budani tèyovi” (“The child hugged these dogs”), it occurs with the class-IV definite singulative suffix “-dani.” Vuochanad has four noun classes; nominal affixes marking definiteness reflect the noun’s class.

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 26, 2024 at 8:10 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today's #Lexember Vuochanad word is “miem” (“to hug”), from *nwem “to hold.” In Vuochanad, an alveolar consonant followed by [w] becomes bilabial, and then the [w] is deleted, and a stressed [e] becomes the diphthong [ie].

“Miegen budani tèyovi.” (“The child hugged these dogs.")

#conlang
December 26, 2024 at 4:32 AM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “ñemi” (“brightness”), which completes the sentence “Ye alèle yehañ alègiha tèñemi” (“The nighttime stars shiny brightly in the sky”). A more literal translation of the sentence is “The stars at night have brightness in the sky.”

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 24, 2024 at 8:31 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “kiha” (“nights”). In the sentence “Ye alèle yehañ alègiha tèñemi” (“The nighttime stars shiny brightly in the sky”), “alègiha” is the locative form (“in/during nights”) and is used to modify the head noun “yehañ” (“stars”).

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 23, 2024 at 7:30 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “yehañ” (“stars”), from Wóxtjanato *éxaɲe. While [ɲ] is not an allowable coda in Wóxtjanato, it is permissible in Vuochanad—a result of unstressed mid-vowel deletion.

“Ye alèle yehañ alègiha tèñemi.” (“The nighttime stars shiny brightly in the sky.”)

#conlan
December 22, 2024 at 11:10 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “le” (“sky”). It’s interesting how sound changes affect forms differently; this word was heavily affected by sound changes, going from *xlɛ́ve (“heavens”) to “le.”

“Ye alèle yehañ alègiha tèñemi” means “The nighttime stars shine brightly in the sky.”

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 21, 2024 at 7:26 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
The Vuochanad word for #Lexember 20 is “yem” (“to have, as in to possess a quality or state of mind”). This little verb is used for many descriptive constructions, where English might use a copular or stative verb.

1/2

#conlang
December 20, 2024 at 7:16 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “jezu” (“branches”). Its form looks different in “Kidèn redhiezu ket” (“A raven is hopping onto branches”) due the prefix and ordering of sound changes:

*dézu > *diezu > [dʒezu]
*redézu > *reðezu > [reðiezu] (where [ð] blocks palatalization)

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 19, 2024 at 6:50 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “wilèm” (“to love, to care for”), a word used to indicate a love felt for a family member or friend. “Dwilzhi” means “I love you.”

The verb form is based on the name of someone I love very much, whose birthday is today.

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 18, 2024 at 6:34 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember word is “kidèm” (“to leap, to hop”). The final “-m” marks an infinitive form of this verb. In the sentence “Kidèn redhiezu ket” (“A raven is hopping onto branches”), the final “-n” indicates third-person singular present tense.

#conlang
A decorative image providing the same information in the text of the post.
December 17, 2024 at 6:46 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
Today’s Vuochanad #Lexember entry is for my very own magical raven, Kay! The word “ke” (“ravens”) comes from the Wóxtjanato *kɛ́je, and it can also be used to refer to intelligent people who have a knack for finding treasures. “Kidèn redhiezu ket” means “A raven is hopping onto branches.”

#conlang
A decorative image displaying the information provided in the text of this post.
December 16, 2024 at 6:53 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
The Vuochanad word for #Lexember 15th is “udh” (“turtles”), the final word in the sentence “Slioftudhen alofñam udhèt” (“A turtle crawled on the sand”). The proto-form *udo reduced to “udh,” with a reappearing schwa when a consonant suffix occurs, like the singulative “-t.”

#conlang
December 15, 2024 at 7:39 PM
quothalinguist.bsky.social
The Vuochanad #Lexember word of the day is “ofni” (“sand”), which also means “beach.” When singular, it can refer to a grain or clump of sand. In “Slioftudhen alofñam udhèt” (“A turtle crawled on the sand”), the final “i” is reduced before “-am," resulting in “ofñam.”

#conlang
December 14, 2024 at 6:58 PM