Donald Boozer

Librarian & Conlanger

Conlanging:

Conlanging is the creation of languages for use in fiction, role-playing games, or as a linguistic hobby. My interest with imaginary languages started in grade school after discovering Dr. Seuss's On Beyond Zebra. My entry into the art of language creation was sparked in high school after reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Yes, I'm one of those who memorized the Elvish writing system, wrote notes in runes, and memorized "A Elbereth Gilthoniel, silivren penna miriel..." Below are various conlanging projects of mine:

Personal Conlang Projects

Elasin - a fictional language of Kryslan

Umod - the language of the Tylnor of Kryslan

Drytok - the language of the Drushek of Kryslan (see below)

NOTE: Some information in the above web pages is superceded by information now available in the primers below. The primers will become the "authoritative" source of information on these languages.

I have begun to create primers to Umod and Drytok using Thomas Payne's Describing Morphosyntax as a guide. I am not a linguist, nor do I pretend to be one..so if you happen to notice some inaccuracies in my linguistical knowledge, mea culpa. PDF files of the primers so far are available below. They are works-in-progress, so they will be updated as I add substantially to them. Enjoy:
An Introduction to Umod: The Language of the Tylnor
An Introduction to tr'.z*w/Drytok: The Language of the Drushek

Conlang Presentations

I have given presentations on conlangs on three separate occasions now.
First, at the Annual Conference of the Ohio Library Council (OLC) in Oct 2005, to educate librarians serving young adults about conlanging (it's history, popularity, the stars of the conlanging world (i.e. Tolkien & Okrand), etc.). The session was one hour long and was sponsored by the Reference & Information Services Division of OLC.
The second and third were at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County in May 2006, one to staff and the other to teens. The presentation materials (PowerPoint, outline, handouts, and exercises) are given below:
PowerPoint:
Conlang PowerPoint Presentation
In PDF format:
Intro to Conlanging Exercises: Elf, Gnome, Dragon, Barbarian
In MS Word format:
Intro to Conlanging Exercises: Elf, Gnome, Dragon, Barbarian (revised by Nathan Richardson). Nathan Richardson was kind enough to share his revisions of my handouts with me. He has done a nice job of expanding the linguistic information on each.

Conlang Exhibit

I also had the distinct honor of being able to create a major exhibit on conlanging at the Cleveland Public Library in 2008. I had the pleasure of contacting conlangers from around the world who graciously provided photos and bios. Sai Emrys loaned me two conlang flags, one of which proudly hung in the lobby of the 2nd floor of the Main Library for the length of the exhibit. It was one of the high points of my library career! Photos from the exhibit are available here on Flickr. The article written in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on the exhibit and me is available at blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2008/06/don_boozer.html

Japanese & Manga/Anime:

This link is to a PowerPoint presentation I have done on learning Japanese through manga and anime. It was presented to a group of forty young adults as a library program in April 2004 at Barberton (OH) Public Library. A slightly revised presentation was presented as part of a Cosplay/Anime event at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (OH) in May 2006.

Learning Japanese Through Manga & Anime

Links for learning Japanese through manga and anime
Questions, or comments? E-mail donaldboozer (at) Yahoo (dot) com.
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