Kryptonese

[debussy]

For anyone interested, I have started a little pet project on fleshing out Kryptonese based on the characters in the transliteration guide (as opposed to the the language done by Al Turniansky). So far I have the alphabet done with proper pronunciation. I'll be getting the grammatical rules up there as I get it done... I already have some great ideas that just need implimenting. :wink:

You can check out my progress at:
http://inventurous.net/kryptonese/

I welcome any input...

[valdemar]

It looks great, all I can say is I hope you keep up the good work.

The characters in the Transliteration guide have been used in comics for a while now.  But whenever you de-code them, the original text is written in English.  In one issue of Loeb's Superman, they spelled out "KAL-EL'S ROCKET" on the side of Kal-El's rocket.

This used to bother me a bit, I thought there should be a real Kryptonian language like we saw in use back in the 1970s.  But then I realized that since Superman started out as an American Icon, it kind of made sense for Kryptonian to be represented as a re-coded version of American English.

But I still think the idea of a Kryptonian language is pretty neat.  And I'd certainly rather know Kryptonian  than Klingon.  At least, I'd rather know a Kryptonian based on the pre-Byrne Krypton, ie, the same Kryptonian that Superman knows.

[debussy]

Thanks for the support... I think that actual Kryptonian words / vocabulary would be the dead-last thing to happen (I don't even know if I would be capable - I'm sure there are linguists out there that would have more fun with that  :wink: ) Right now I'm still just using English to develop the writing rules and grammar.

I have also taken a look at the numbers in the official font and think that they stink. I would like to completely redo those... does anyone have an opinion on that?

[valdemar]

I have also taken a look at the numbers in the official font and think that they stink. I would like to completely redo those... does anyone have an opinion on that?

I really don't know where those numbers came from.  I know that the Transliteration Guide is "official" (ie, it was published by the folks at DC Comics) but I don't think that the font is official.  It may just be fan created.  One of the creators of the font is Steve Younis, the webmaster of http://www.supermanhomepage.com/ and although the font is not labelled as official (I don't know about the Mac, but the credits for the PC version read, "Created by Omega Design: Michael Lee and Steven Younis 9-12-00"), he is in communication with the people at DC.  So you may want to ask him what's official in the font and what isn't.

[debussy]

Well - I've already redone the numbers, and am currently working on the feasibility of doing math with a 1-10 character system (as opposed to our 0-9 system). It's been fun and annoying at the same time :wink:

[debussy]

Alright - added numbers to the site, and made a couple of other changes.

http://inventurous.net/kryptonese/[/url]

[Buc-El]

debussy, will you be creating a font as well? If you know how, or know someone who could make one with your alphabet, that would be greatly appreciated by many.

[Lomd]

What about Interlac?  I have seen references to it here and there
in pre-Crisis comics (most recently on the Gil Kane annual featuring
Brainiac and a whole planet of followers), but I never learned any
backstory on the language; all I know is that many different alien
species talk it.  Anyone got more info?

Thanks,
                Luis Dantas.