Re: where to begin

Quoting Marty Rosenberg <vortexconcultures@...>:

> Second, I don't know where to place the language in
> it's surroundings. At what point in time do I place
> it? (McWhorter: Latin didn't just become French. It
> had to go through "Fratin".) What place, or dialect?
> What point on a potential dialect continuum? Should I
> decide this before or after I create the language?
Deciding on this is hardly necessary to start off with the basics of grammar,
phonology and vocabulary. If the lang's part of an elaborate coniverse, I
should expect it to solve itself pretty much, otherwise you can just keep it
undefined till inspiration strikes.

> And fourth (yes, fourth :-D), where should I start?
> Creating roots? Words? Sound set? Orthography?
> Grammar? Which part of the grammar? I'M SO CONFUSED!!!
> :-s *Breathes deeply*
I typically start with phonology, followed by orthography (writing everything
in IPA gets annoying quickly!) and/or morphology. A few words are coined very
early on, to help giving me a feel for the lang, but further development of
the vocabulary tends to wait till the aforementioned is basically nailed down,
as do syntax. Of course, later on anything can be revised, altho I seem to
stick more tenaciously to my designs than many people here. Not that that
stopped me from culling Tairezazh's monophthong inventory from twelve to eight
well into the project.

As others have said, that's just my way. You'll have to find out/decide yours
yourself, but hopefull hearing what works for others is some help.

                                                Andreas