Re: phonology, grammar and lexicon

English consonants with the Latin vowels - that seems somehow both
weird and boring at the same time, which I would have thought an
oxymoronic combination of impressions.  Nicely done! ;-)

I kid, of course.  But as an aesthetic choice, I do prefer my conlangs
to sound unlike English.  One of my main complaints with WoW is that
the "Elvish" etc. speakers sound like they're reciting English
nonsense words rather than speaking an actual language.

As to the original question: usually grammar first, with some
back-and-forth between morphology and phonology, which I finish next.
Lexicon last, using a random word generator that follows the phonolgy
for roots and optionally includes morphology (e.g. I ask for a noun
and get a nominal form).



On 10/2/08, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
> I've done grammar first and I've done lexicon first, but mostly I do both at
> the same time, like I did with Tazhu
> <http://fiziwig.com/tazhu/korpu001.html> by translating one sentence at a
> time from McGuffy's reader, inventing both the lexicon and grammar as I
> needed it for the next sentence. I used the same approach with Soaloa:
> <http://fiziwig.com/soaloa/soaloa.html>
>
> I've also done a detailed grammar using only English words plus some
> invented particles, and then, as a completely separate second step, created
> the lexicon: <http://fiziwig.com/soaloa/twostep.txt> and another one:
> <http://fiziwig.com/soaloa/mut01.html>
>
> I don't create phonologies because that's one area of linguistics I am not
> at all interested in. I always use pretty much the same simple phonology:
> The vowels from "Mogadishu day" (o,a,i,u,e) and the usual English consonants
> pronounced in the usual English way. My conlangs tend to be designed so as
> to be very tolerant of various accents and variations in pronunciation. (I
> try to always avoid two words that differ only in the vowels used, like
> "rain/ran" or "pin/pen". (I sometimes use words with TWO or more changed
> vowels, like "pola/pilu", for example.) The key is, the words should be
> mutually understandable whether the speaker is from Boston, Bombay, Berlin,
> or Belfast. (Bahst'n, Boombai, Bayrleen, Bilfahst, Boestun, Bahmbay, Barlun,
> Baylfist, ...)
>
> --gary
>
> --- On Thu, 10/2/08, Jack Hall <jha0808@...> wrote:
>
>> From: Jack Hall <jha0808@...>
>> Subject: phonology, grammar and lexicon
>> To: CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu
>> Date: Thursday, October 2, 2008, 11:45 AM
>> Hi! I've created many conlangs, but one thing seems
>> unclear, does it play any
>> role in wich order you create the phonology, grammar and
>> lexicon? And if it
>> does, i know that first i will create the phonology but if
>> it play any role, in
>> wich order should i do the grammar and the lexicon? Regards
>
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Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>