Re: Question about starting

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From: "Bookworm Alpha" <bwormalpha@...>
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 9:37 PM
To: <CONLANG@...>
Subject: Question about starting

> I initially attempted to start building a language based on the first
> term I worked up (which was "oüdenlänter", which, when translated,
> means several things including "outlander", "stranger" and "alien" in
> the language I'm working on.
>
> I am not 100% certain this is the proper list for me to use as yet,
> and I will leave the list if that is the wish of the other
> participants and/or the moderator if I have come to the wrong place.
> Please forgive if I make some sort of newbie-type mistake, as I am
> still struggling to learn how to construct languages.
>
> Some folks who saw that initial word accused me of using Norwegian as
> my language's base, but that is not the case at all. In fact, the
> concept is that the language is a so-called "superlanguage" that
> encompasses concepts from nearly all the major Terran language groups.
> This language is being devised for a series of fiction novels I'm in
> the process of writing. Approximately sixteen words are relatively
> firm, but (strangely) the form of pluralization is not certain. (one
> word, Eldaren, is both plural and singular, but it seems to be an
> exception rather than the rule.)
>
> Note that in no case above am I trying to show pronunciation. Not
> quite solid on the CXS as yet.
>
> Anyone who can assist in building this language's rules, words,
> grammar and syntax /will/ be acknowledged in the books as contributors
> (by first initial, last name), unless that is not their wish.

Hi and welcome!

I'm sure there are some people here who will be able to give you a few
pointers.  It's probably fair to say there's a wide range of linguistic
interests and abilities in the group.

I guess my first suggestion would be to consider what you want to achieve
with your language.  If you're looking for a few words/sentences here and
there as some kind of scenic backdrop, then you can pretty much make it up
as you go along and not worry too much about internal consistency - after
all, who will ever know?

On the other hand, if you actually want some kind of working language that
you can develop, then you really need to approach it from a lingusitic angle
rather than a lexical one. You need to work out what sounds your language
has, what kind of language features and take it from there.  Making up words
and then trying to reverse-engineer a language from them will get very
difficult if you have a lot of words to try and 'fit in'.

If you want some details on languages and langauge families across the world
to avoid falling into the trap of making some kind of euroclone, take a look
at: B Comrie (ed.), 'The World's Major Languages', Oxford University Press,
New York & Oxford, 1990.  (ISBN 978-0-19-506511-4). Plenty in there to fire
your imagination!


Pete.