Created Language

Check out conlangs, there's a whole bunch of us out there who conlang for fun and have a better list of resources. (I had a bookmark file but it's on a dead computer)

Good to know, thanks!

The practice is actually called "Conlang" And one google search will find you a BAZILLION articles on it, and a whole conference! :3

You might want to take the Ivar Aasen route, who helped design NyNorsk, one of the only successful partially synthetic languages in existance.

That would explain why my googling gave me a lot a Tolkien, if I wasn't searching with the right term. Hmm, obviously I'm not linguistically nerdy enough yet. Have to work on that. Thanks for the quick reply. :)

I do advise looking up Mr. Aasen's methodology, however. Depending on the amount of time you're willing to devote and whether you want to individually construct your own syntax, his approach (substitution, minor alterations, vocabulary (re)construction and dialect combination) might help you create a much more functional language than the usual results of Conlang.

(Which is a language, that though is entirely 100% functional, entirely impossible to teach to a first generation speaker due to overcomplication, oversimplification, or the inability for flexible vocabulary and grammatical standards.)

It really depends on what kind of conlang you're interested in creating. Aasen was interested in creating a koiné, which is based on a compromise between various closely-related existing varieties. Many designers of IALs (international auxiliary languages) have been interested in creating something similar, but with a wider base for more general communication.

But there's a priori as well as a posteriori conlanging. Klingon, for instance, was created ex nihilo, although a few vocabulary items which had already appeared in canonical works were grandfathered in. A priori conlangs require a completely different methodology than simply choosing between existing variants.

I had a class project to create a conlang in the ninth grade. It was lots of fun. Obviously it wasn't a super-complete language since we did it in about three weeks and we were fifteen years old, but it was incredibly jolly to get together and build that kind of system from scratch. Have fun!

http://www.geocities.com/crown_of_erynnor/grendelmlang.htm

Years ago, when I was 19 or so, I had a stab at outlining a language for an eeevil invading race of giants in a fantasy setting. Looking back on it, I think I sort of based its grammatical structure on (what very little I knew of) arabic or maybe hebrew.

I even recorded a soundbite! But they appear to have cut away most of it! O_O

Has anyone ever taken a turn at creating a language?

I have, yes. Several, in fact. :) About three or four of my languages have a complete enough grammar that I think I could say anything I wanted in them, given a large enough lexicon. However, I always stumble when it comes to generating the lexicon - it's just too damn long and time-consuming.

Essentially, to design your own language, it takes a decent knowledge of basic linguistics. Any introductory linguistics textbook should be able to help with this. Another thing is to be familiar with what kinds of features can be found in natural languages, which can give you ideas. You don't have to know the languages, but if you can get your hands on The Compendium of the World's Languages or some such, which contains hundreds of language sketches, then flick through that. Recently I've been working on a language that has completely free word order (even words from subordinate and main clauses can mix together); in order to make this possible, I had to create a noun system that mixes features of Basque, Iwaidja and Avar. Another big criterion is a wide imagination! Any feature you want to include can be included.

I highly recommend, also, Mark Rosenfelder's Language Construction Kit, which will give you pretty much all of the most basic features you need to think about. The details, of course, are up to you. If you're interested to see some examples of conlangs, I can post some example sentences from a few of mine. Or look at some of Tolkien's Sindarin texts; Sindarin is perhaps one of the best thought out and most highly developed conlangs in existence (even though not much of the lexicon is known).

I think my main area of interest with this bit of fun is going to be creating the grammar. I love looking at different grammars to how different languages are structured. It's exciting. Seeing how different words are formed is pretty fun too, sometimes. Sometimes it's boring.

I'll go hunt down that book at my uni's library. The Kit is a great resource, thanks for posting that.

I think my main area of interest with this bit of fun is going to be creating the grammar. I love looking at different grammars to how different languages are structured.

So true. :) It's amazing to see exactly what possibilities there are in language. Also, it's quite fun to stretch boundaries, and add in variations of features. Go wild!

The Kit is a great resource, thanks for posting that.

It was my best introduction to creating languages. I hope it can help you too.

Language Creation References

Describing Morphosyntax by Thomas Payne is often referred to as the Conlanger's Bible.

These websites also have some good information:
The Language Construction Kit
a list of various conlanging links
Foreign language word generator
Essays on Language Design
Dave's Language Creation Notebook

Good luck, hope this helps.

Re: Language Creation References

Morphosytax holds a special, if yet undefined, place in my heart. There used to be a morphosyntax class at my university, but the professor who taught it left. Thanks for the reference!

Conlanging

I second the Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder. It has a lot of interesting info.

Also, an online friend used this program which made words based on the phonology and syllabic structures of the language you want. I tihnk it could even take sound changes thus creating accents and dialects. Though I don't remember what the program was. IIRC, it was used by many conlangers

Re: Conlanging

That sounds like an interesting program, and takes out part of the problem of creating a language. I'll be sure to look around for it. Even if you can't remember what it was called, knowing that's out is there is helpful, thanks. :)