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Lord Kaitan de Storms

Entry posted by Lord Kaitan de Storms

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So in preparation for NaNoWriMo I'm working on a conlang.

 

What is a conlang, you ask?

 

A conlang is an articficially constructed language, often created either for intercutural communication (like Esperanto) or for works of fiction (like Tolkien's Elvish languages or Klingon).

 

I am currently working on a language designed to be the language of the human kingdom which is the primary focus of the first part of my story. The language is set up to resemble a generic Indo-European language.

 

What's that mean?

 

Well, the Indo-European language family is the most widespread and widely spoken language family in the world. Its members include English, Spanish, Russian, Greek, Persian, and Hindi. These languages are generally characterized by have a complex, isolating grammar system (that means nouns decline and verbs conjugate by adding prefixes or suffixes); English is an exception here; most of its endings have been whittled away through time. The language I am creating is not an exception. IE languages are also characterized by having a fairly high number of stop (short, hard sounds like "P", "D", "G", "K", etc.) compared to a low number of fricatives (long, hissy sounds like "S", "TH", "V", etc.). Again, English (and in this case its close relatives, like German and Norwegian), is an exception here. And again, my language is not.

 

Vocabulary-wise I've drawn heavily from English, however, but also from Latin and German; once again, it's supposed to be a generic Indo-European language for a generic Indo-European society.

 

So, does anybody else here conlang or enjoy linguistics?

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Veeci

In the past I've attempted to create fictional languages, it's very enjoyable, but I find it difficult to finish anything on such large a scale. I probably should try and throw something together for when Infinite Line starts up though...

 

I'm sure there are guides out there on the web, but in your opinion what is the first thing you should try to get down when starting a new language from scratch?

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Lord Kaitan de Storms

There is, in fact, a language construction kit, which can be easily found via a link on the conlang page of wikipedia. It is a huge help.

 

The absolute first thing to get down for your language is who will be speaking it. What are they? What is their culture? What real-world cultures inspired them, if any?

 

After that, you need a complete list of the language's sounds. You really can't start working on the grammar and certainly not the words until you know what sounds are used in the language.

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