Kiffish
From Langmaker
| Conlang | Kiffish |
| Author | C.J. Cherryh, Spence Hill |
| Year Began | 1998 |
| Language Type | professional fictional language |
| Lexicon Size | N/A |
| Etymologies | No |
| Grammar | No |
| Sample Texts | No |
| Primer | No |
Kiffish is the language of the Kif of C.J. Cherryh's Chanur series. It was designed by C.J. Cherryh; Spence Hill. It has been used for a translation of the Babel Text.
Uniqueness
Popular science-fiction author C.J. Cherryh sketched out Kiffish for the "bad guys" in her "Chanur" series. With her permission, linguist Spence Hill added details to the language, based on her documentation of the anatomy and culture of the Kiff themselves. Besides being ergative, Kiffish is a synthetic language, rather than an agglutinative or order-bound language. This is the joint effort CJ Cherryh as seen in the "Chanur" series and completed by Spence Hill, a linguist.
Language sources
Primarily the created anatomy and culture of the Kiff themselves.
Design principles
A synthetic, rather than agglutnative or order bound, language with an Urgative/absolutative make up rather than nominative/accusative.
Interest of others
Those who have read the Science Fiction of CJ Cherryh.
External link
http://strengthofthehills.tripod.com/hanilanguageandculturepage/ - CJ Cherryh/Spence Hill, Spence Hill
