Re: Some conlang questions

From: "A. Ingram" <red_grass23@...>

> how would one go about making up dialects?  i know that dialects are
> phonetic variations (?). Would one just modify the sounds a little bit, or
> is there more to a dialect than that? i think that constructing some sort
> of world and history of the world would be good for giving a backbone to a
> conlang.  it doesn't even have to be fantasy.  richard kennaway's page has
> many useful links.  what do you think about constructing worlds?

You outta check out the [conculture] list; it's a spinoff of [conlang] and
is also at Yahoo! groups.

Basically, I just alter the language in some way to reflect a cultural or
other distinction:

Qotil Tech (of southwestern Caucasus): Christian Aramaic script, the modern
language closest to Classical Tech
Ma'ou Tech (of southeastern Caucasus): an Arabic script and more "Islamic"
loans (Arabic, Persian, Turkish etc.)
Judeo-Tech: Hebrew script and a more Hebrew-like phonology
Himalayan Tech: voiceless-voiced-ejective distinction replaced by tones, to
reflect the influence of Sino-Tibetan
Serengeti Tech: the emergence of labiovelars like /kp/ /gb/ /Mm/ and even
/xf/ and /Gv/, and possibly even clicks (like Dahalo, a Cushitic language).
"Creole" Tech: not really a creole, but a huge number of English and French
loanwords do exist
And there are others still.

That's just what I do. I try and use another language's influence (in my
case, one in the real world) and see what might happen. I don't have any of
these worked out yet, by the way. These are just plans.

~Danny~

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