by Tatum Bunker
When creating an epic story encompassing a plethora of new worlds and intricate cultures, one may become interested in creating entirely new languages, to be used by the characters residing in these very fictional worlds. These languages are called Conlang. Conlang, short for ‘Constructed Languages’, is a made-up language and focuses on the making of fictional languages. This article is to list the bare bones of a language and how you can use that to your own advantage for those interested in creating their own fictional languages. While there are so many features to a language, this article covers the Phonetic inventory, grammar rules, Semantics, the writing system, cultural considerations, and resources you can use to help you with your Conlang journey. Hopefully, this will encourage you to further explore your creativity and help enhance your world-building skills!
One of the basic requirements of creating any language is Phonetics, which are the sounds and pronunciation of different words and letters. Phonemes are an element of Phonetics which differentiate specific sounds from one another. For example, when saying ‘cat’, you pronounce the ‘c’, ‘a’, and ‘t’. But if you were to switch out the ‘c’ for a ‘h’, you would read this word as ‘hat’. Phonemes are actually the smallest sounds in a language that can change the meaning and sound of a word. To better explain it, think of them like the individual colors in a box of crayons — each one is different. When mixed together, one can create lots of different and beautiful pictures, just like you mix phonemes to make words! Developing a Phonetic inventory will be very useful as well; the inventory is the organization system of your Phonemes! How your letters are shaped and how they are pronounced will be stored in the Phonetic inventory based on how you want your language to sound. Let’s look at the English Phonetic inventory, which has approximately 44 sounds! These sounds come from the 26 letters in the English alphabet. As speakers of any language know, different combinations of letters will create differently pronounced words. This is why the letter ‘c’ in the words ‘cat’ and ‘chilly’ are pronounced differently. Phonetics is a highly important layer of creating a language, as it’s the foundation of how communication flows. Developing a solid understanding of your chosen Phonemes and the Phonemes of the languages you speak can make the creation of your Conlang much simpler!
Once you’ve figured out your Phonetic Inventory, you should start on the grammar rules. Morphology is the study of forms of words, which means there’s a focus on the roots, prefixes, and suffixes (or Morphemes). A lot of words in the English language are rooted in Greek and Latin. Of course, there are so many words that have various origins that it’s impossible to narrow down an official root language. To show an example of Morphemes being used in a typical English word, let’s use the word ‘conversation’. The word comes from the Latin phrase ‘conversari’. The root words are ‘con’ meaning ‘with’ or ‘together’ and ‘versari’ meaning ‘to turn’. The suffix ‘-ation’ means ‘creation’ as well! Derivation, however, can be adding ‘un’ to ‘happy’ making the word ‘unhappy’. Happy and unhappy mean two different things, thus creating a new word. Sentence structure is also extremely important in Conlang, just as it is in any other language. In most sentences, there is a subject (S), a verb (V), and an object (O). You must decide what you want your language to follow: SVO, SOV, or VSO. English mostly uses SVO (Bird eats seeds) while languages like Spanish uses both SVO and SOV in some cases. To provide more examples, Swedish generally uses SVO, Japanese uses SOV, Taiwanese uses SVO, and Hindi is SOV. There are various other combinations of sentence structures you can use as well, but those three are the most common.
Onto semantics! Semantics is the study of meaning in a language. Different words could mean the same thing, but with slight variations. For example, a pail and a bucket are very similar. They are both durable containers that can be used in a variety of industries. However, a pail typically has a lid and is used as a shipping container whereas a bucket is hardly used with a lid. Because of the subtle differences between these two words, creating a comprehensive lexicon for your fictional language is highly important. The words that you create should have clear meanings and usage. Being unable to formulate a proper sentence could have you sounding like: ‘Today we gathered shoes when we photosynthesized at a store.’ Instead, the sentence could correctly be phrased as: ‘Today we purchased shoes when we met up at the store’.
Writing systems are also crucial. There are three main types of writing systems, which are alphabetic, logographic, and syllabic. Alphabetic systems use letters (English, French, Spanish) and can be classified into three sub-types. Each letter can either follow vowels, consonants, or consonant-vowel pairs. Logographic systems use characters that represent words (Chinese, Egyptian hieroglyphics, early Cuneiform), and syllabic systems use symbols called syllabograms to represent syllables (Japanese, Cherokee, Ancient Greek). More modern languages will use alphabetic, but if you are writing in an ancient language, you may want to try your hand at syllabic or logographic writing systems! Another big thing to focus on in your Conlang is the cultural and contextual considerations. Will the rich speak with a larger vocabulary? Will the youth speak in slang? Will those who live in the North have a different dialect than those in the East? Or maybe there’s a polite way to say hello and a rude way to say goodbye. You will be able to use derivation and inflection in order to change some words around. Keep in mind that as the years go by, languages change. You may not hear any older folk actively using modern slang nor do you hear the younger kids saying what their grandparents might have said either. What was a normal word then could be a terrible name to call someone now.
Hopefully, this overview of Conlang and the general basics of a language were helpful to your journey of language creation. If you are looking for more advice, fret not! There are various platforms where you can find materials for constructing your Conlang, and also find other Conlangusists. Reddit has various SubReddits where people creating their own languages offer tips, ask for advice and clarification, and share their ideas! Ones I have found myself reading through often are r/conlangs and r/FantasyWorldBuilding. If you are looking for a translator to use, I would highly recommend using LingoJam. Once published, people can use the translator just as one would use Google Translate. Conlang.org is also a great resource to use; it has all sorts of materials that explain the basics of Conlang, contact information of Conlanguists, and so much more! If you want a more step-by-step approach to Conlang as well, Conlang University is a project hosted by talented Conlanguists with free lessons. Hopefully, this overview of Conlang and the general basics of a language were helpful and inspiring. By understanding the basics of a language, you can develop a deeper layer of creativity for your fictional worlds. With the resources provided and the extra research you can do, you can be ready to begin your conlang journey!
Resources:
Wikibooks: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Conlang
Writing Systems: https://opentextbc.ca/psyclanguage/chapter/writing-systems/.
Follow Tatum @tatum_tot24601 and at her literary magazine @thelettershomecollection
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