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General: Conlangs

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      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2009 edited
     

    Not specifically for the bashing of Paolini’s “Dwarvish” and “Ancient” languages.

    Does anyone here construct languages, either for fun or as part of your worldbuilding? What methods do you use when starting a new language? I generally start with a list of pronouns and general things like tenses (mood, voice, complete/incomplete), person (I, you, them, us), ownership, pluralisation, and other bits that should be included as a matter of cultural importance for the people I’m designing the language for.

    Share some examples!

    This is a stanza from a poem I’m working on which is basically a (dramatised) history of my people’s culture and development:

    hanagihu-ut
    lingtet-ef.
    doluhu-uk
    selef kriri
    delulogi.

    His warriors
    were countless.
    Their movement
    made the jungle
    tremble.

    And this is from a story I’ve already finished, which is a dramatised retelling of the foundation of another of my cultures:

    Hukurumerudhayunhawolkema hasunenajeke.
    Lochanwatujewidolunajeke saseshto.
    Necunarisekutokerihawol fereshtake.

    Hukuru struck the brown-skinned northerner.
    Lochan screamed loudly.
    The place of white-skinned trees was silent.

    ... So, anyone else here conlang?

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      CommentAuthorCorsair
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2009 edited
     
    Your language is horrifying. Also, no, not anymore. I'm not a linguist, I have no particular interest in linguistics. Trying to create languages is just asking for trouble.
  3.  

    I wouldn’t say it’s horrifying, but really, no reader is going to want to see this. It’s the same problem as the languages in Inheritance. It may be nice, but no one is going to care unless you create a real, functional language like Quenya. Fictional languages are something the vast majority of writers should stay away from.

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      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2009
     

    I’ve done a bit of stuff with that. Unfortunately, when I started I was 11 and had just finished LotR for the first time, so you can imagine how my world-building went, not to mention the languages!

    However, I’ve never completely abandoned the idea. The language has undergone several hundred changes since then, and ever since I abandoned my original ideas, it hasn’t been nearly as terrible. Every once in a while I’ll play around with it. I’ve found that trying to create my own language has had some interesting side effects- trying to work out verb tenses (WHICH IS NOT FUN EVEN IN A REAL LANGUAGE) has made me much more aware of how root words and conjugation fit together, and made Spanish class a bit easier. I also have discovered I really, really love learning all the knotty bits of language, all the names of all the different kinds of words and tenses… language is fascinating once you get into it. And I understand why foreigners have a hard time learning English… we have so many exceptions to rules, and weird pronunciations, and… it’s insane compared to, say, Spanish!

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      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2009 edited
     

    @ Corsair & Devin: I never said anything about including this in my stories! In fact, I specifically plan not to. All this is for my own enjoyment, and is properly (as it should be) separate from my writing. I don’t call a rabbit a smeerp, and I don’t have my characters talking in blocks of invented language.

    @ swenson: yeah, that’s one of the reasons I started (even if my results are apparently horrifying), it’s just so fascinating trying to figure out all the different elements of language, syntax, spelling and pronunciation conventions, affixes, tense, aspect, and all that. I’m currently ace-ing my linguistics class because of it.

  6.  

    I once tried to make a language with the grammar of German and the melodic quality of French.

    All my characters speak English now.

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeAug 2nd 2009
     

    I once tried to make a language with the grammar of German and the melodic quality of French.

    All my characters speak English now.

    XDDD Smartalienqt, that’s the best joke I’ve ever heard.

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      CommentAuthorVirgil
    • CommentTimeAug 2nd 2009 edited
     

    When creating languages, unless you know several of them (EDIT: fluently), it just turns into replacing the words with gibberish and reordering them. The grammatical structure remains the same, because no unpaid person will come up with a truly unique language. Most people also come up with languages separate to the race or species that speaks them, only making the most minor connections, not taking into account how culture and society shapes a language and how its spoken and perceived by its people.

  9.  

    XDDD Smartalienqt, that’s the best joke I’ve ever heard.

    If only it wasn’t true…

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