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Re: tips for new conlangers

From:Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...>
Date:Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 23:34
On Fri, 29 Jun 2001, Robert Hailman wrote:

> "[Adam K. Shuck]" wrote: > > Hey - this is Adam. I'm not a new conlanger, but I was wondering if > > anyone > > had any tips to help me start up a new language. I have some good > > ideas, but > > I can't seem to begin the outline of the language. Thanks. > > Well, it's all up to you, but... > > Have you checked out Mark Rosenfelder's Language Construction Kit? I > don't have the exact link handy, but you can get to it from > www.zompist.com. That's a good place to start.
I second that recommendation. And the outline below is a pretty good approximation to how I work it. :-) I tend to start with phonology because I want to be able to work with *sounds* before I can do anything else. My mind just doesn't handle abstracted patterns very well. A book I've found very helpful in terms of offering questions for contemplating/filling in is Thomas Payne's _Describing Morphosyntax_, which was recommended at various points by various other members on the list. It's worth at least looking at if you can track down a copy.
> Generally, what I do is answer the most basic questions about the > language: Is it agglutinating, isolating, or inflecting? What's the word > order? What case system, if any, does it use? What's the phonology like? > The orthography? And so on, and so on... Once all that's in place, I go > into more depth into those areas, and fill in the gaps as they become > apparent.
[snip] YHL

Replies

Robert Hailman <robert@...>
The Gray Wizard <dbell@...>
Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>I'm here again
Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>New Brithenig words, part Deux.