All Questions
527
questions
3
votes
1
answer
33
views
What are mandatory words groups a language have to have?
I'm creating Merovian (meroo) constructed language since about 2004 and I have yet to settle down on standartisation. Merovian currently has 5 word groups and "other words".
Noun
Verb
...
- 71
6
votes
1
answer
34
views
How likely is it for conlangs to have verbs that have the same conjugation as another verb?
So I have been studying Spanish recently (mainly verb conjugations because I'm great at constructing sentences, but still am horrible when it comes to verb conjugations), and decided to teach myself ...
- 193
3
votes
3
answers
57
views
How to ensure a NATO-esque spelling alphabet works?
I thought my conlang would need a NATO-esque spelling alphabet. In my current sketch, they are words borrowed from Korean and few other languages. They are to serve as mere spelling alphabets, and not ...
- 709
3
votes
2
answers
306
views
Asian and African auxlangs like Interslavic?
What are examples of African and Asian auxlangs like Interslavic?
- 31
2
votes
1
answer
38
views
Are there languages where traditional verb features exist on nouns, or noun features on verbs, etc.?
I am looking at the sidebar on Wikipedia.
Are there languages which have "case" or "gender" or "number" or other "noun features" but instead of (or in addition ...
- 1,541
2
votes
2
answers
34
views
How is it not ambiguous that the parts don't add up to the whole when creating compound words?
This question was sparked off a recent question: Are Sanskrit words more than the sum of the parts? I am serious when I ask, because as an outsider to Sanskrit, I would think the parts would add up to ...
- 1,541
2
votes
2
answers
29
views
How to handle modifiers within modifiers in noun phrases?
I asked How does Chinese handle the -ing and -ed in common names, like "Black-bellied whistling duck"? in an attempt to learn better how analytic languages deal with complex noun phrases ...
- 1,541
4
votes
2
answers
57
views
How to create irregular pronoun paradigms
My language has several cases. I have their affixes worked out for the nouns, as well as the proto-affixes, but what I want to know is, how can I get the pronouns to have different-looking cases? I ...
- 413
4
votes
1
answer
424
views
If I want my conlang's compound words not to exceed 3-4 syllables in length, what kind of phonology should my conlang have?
I've thought about using phonemic tones and permitting lots of clusters as ways of keeping my words short, but I don't want the syllables to be so heavy that every compound becomes a tongue-twister.
...
- 318
5
votes
2
answers
38
views
Should prenasalized consonants be distinct from nasal+obstruent sequences?
I have a language with CVC syllable structure and a series of prenasalized consonants. As written, therefore, a word like /anda/ would be distinct from /aⁿda/. I can barely grasp the difference here, ...
- 413
2
votes
3
answers
84
views
Are there any general rules for creating verb conjugation for a conlang?
So I have been thinking a lot about trying to make my own conlang. I have attempted before to create one in the past, however, all of them have sadly been abandoned. Looking back at them (since I ...
- 193
5
votes
1
answer
96
views
Convergent evolution in languages
Are there any examples of languages in totally different parts of Earth having similarities in such things as grammar and words? As one example, I've noticed 'Mama' and 'Papa' seem to be common across ...
- 159
2
votes
1
answer
49
views
How to reconcile the large number of similarities between my languages' morphemes
All of the languages I've made so far are placed on the same continent of my conworld, and it's a different continent from where humans evolved, so they would have had to migrate into it. For ...
- 349
3
votes
2
answers
115
views
How much of the irregularity caused by sound change (e.g. vowel loss) will be retained in inflectional paradigms?
In creating a language family with multiple generations, I'm noticing a huge buildup of irregularity in my inflectional paradigms, mostly caused by things like vowel loss etc. How long would it take ...
- 413
3
votes
1
answer
63
views
From what could I derive a morpheme that explicitly marks a noun as being a phrase head?
I have a number of languages I want to combine into a macrofamily, and one thing they have in common is nouns that ending the the pattern *-(V)nVm, e.g. *-n-om in a PIE-esque language, -unum in an ...
- 349
3
votes
2
answers
68
views
How to prevent all of my words being eroded away to nothing
My latest project is a full language superfamily (the Thakina languages). I'm now at the fourth generation with Highlands Têyisa, and I'm noticing that most of the words are getting far, far shorter ─ ...
- 413
4
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Do I really need plural grammatical number when my conlang deals with existence and uniqueness?
I continued building my conlang, and it's time to deal with grammars of nouns. In my conlang, nouns are categorized into three: countable, measurable, and abstract. This question is about countable ...
- 709
2
votes
1
answer
59
views
Should I analyze these consonants as codas or onset clusters?
In my conlang, the proto-language had a CVR (R standing for a resonant) syllable structure and no voiced obstruents. Later, unstressed vowels were lost between voiceless obstruents (i.e. all ...
- 413
3
votes
1
answer
37
views
Are mora and syllable weight the same thing?
I'm researching syllable structures to learn better ways to construct words. I've come across mora and weight, and upon first glance they seem to describe the same thing in different words.
Mora is ...
- 449
4
votes
2
answers
75
views
What is a plausible lexical source for the remote past?
I've always had a huge focus on utter realism, so I require lexical sources for all of my morphology. In my most recent project, the Thakina ['tʰa.ki.na] family. The proto-language has four tenses: ...
- 413
3
votes
0
answers
23
views
What's the best repository of spoken language samples with romanization included that I can use for inspiration?
I'll often scout the ILoveLanguages! channel on YouTube for inspiration for what aesthetic to use, because its videos typically display a relatively long sample with both spoken audio and a romanized ...
- 349
3
votes
2
answers
74
views
Is there a general strategy to build vocabulary for chemical elements?
I continued building vocabulary for my conlang, and now I'm trying to name chemical elements.
Here's the concept: The major speakers of this conlang are angels, and some of them have lived for a long ...
- 709
4
votes
4
answers
147
views
How to romanize velarization, palatalization, and labialization?
I started a conlang inspired by Marshallese and Navajo, and have taken several labialized, palatalized, and velarized consonants from them. However, I am unsure how to romanize these consonants.
- 41
6
votes
2
answers
78
views
Is placing the preposition before the verb natural?
Disclamer: I have a very limited knowledge about linguistics, so the things I'm talking might be completely nonsense.
In German we can form new verbs by attaching prepositions (?) to it:
schlagen → ...
- 163
1
vote
2
answers
91
views
Do we have any conlangs which are "primitive" languages?
We have minimal languages with few words, like Toki Pona, and I have made a rough language with about 4000 words which covers most of what you would need to say as base concepts (4000 base concepts), ...
- 1,541
5
votes
1
answer
289
views
Is it natural that different quantities with the same physical dimension are distinguished by adverbs?
My conlang is very literal to human perception, and I continued building vocabularies for physical quantities.
Though in a previous question, I brought an exotic trick to describe length (namely, give ...
- 709
5
votes
2
answers
290
views
Is it natural that "future possibility" is a separate tense?
I had some thought on how tenses work in my conlang. Eventually, I built a model and defined the tenses accordingly. But before showing that model, let be introduce the most basic tense in my conlang:
...
- 709
4
votes
1
answer
61
views
Is it plausible to set onsets and codas to be entirely different consonants?
Though I thought I confirmed the consonants of my conlang (ѲКМНПҀСТФЦЧШ), eventually, I found that I'm in disfavor of the syllable composition of CVC if the "C"s were meant to be arbitrary ...
- 709
1
vote
1
answer
63
views
How do atomic languages handle breaking down and sequencing complex English noun-phrases?
Along the lines of How do languages which have adjectives after the noun work with complex phrases? (my last question), I am wondering now more about compound English words and how to break these ...
- 1,541
1
vote
1
answer
50
views
How do languages which have adjectives after the noun work with complex phrases?
Say I have a phrase like these:
The seat of the great rock of the north. = The north('s) great rock's seat - 北方(的)巨石的基座/底盤.
The man of the forest of the east. = The east('s) forest's man - 東方(的)叢林的男人....
- 1,541
2
votes
0
answers
23
views
Theoretical way to limit terms in a conlang while also allowing for distinguishing similar concepts/things?
I am working on a conlang (took a little break). I would like to limit the number of "terms" (single words, either 1 or 2 syllables) to less than or equal to 10,000. Given the word-formation ...
- 1,541
6
votes
3
answers
126
views
What features should I include in a presentation of a heavily inflected conlang that copies the format of 19th century grammars?
I'm toying with an idea for my next project:
Remember those old-fashioned grammars of heavily infected languages with reams of paradigms for declensions, conjugations, and agreement rules--not to ...
- 318
6
votes
2
answers
94
views
When basing a conlang on an existing language, how can I keep the essence of that language while making it unrecognisable?
I wanted the names in my fantasy world to sound like they came from a coherent language, so I found a language that on paper (via Google translate) looks how I want my language to sound. When I wanted ...
- 163
6
votes
3
answers
122
views
What are the most common sound changes in natlangs?
What sound changes are most common in natural languages, and in what order do they usually occur? Are there any factors to take into account when modelling sound changes for a conlang that is supposed ...
- 91
4
votes
1
answer
83
views
What phonotactical constraints are commonly used by conlangers?
I'm continuing development of Der Spracherfinder (to help you fellow conlangers), and I want to know which phonotactical constraints are most common and helpful to conlangers. For example: forbid ...
- 449
5
votes
3
answers
56
views
Should I include a glossary with english translations in my fantasy novel?
I am writing a fantasy novel and I have created a few languages for it, these being Twergit (pronounced /'twer-git/ - I don't know IPA so I'm using Merriam-Webster pronunciation symbols, a guide can ...
- 51
5
votes
1
answer
105
views
Is there a language whose every sentence is a command?
I am building a conlang that is heavily based on the Haskell programming language, and I was thinking about how sentences work. Let me call this conlang Jeksa for the moment.
Jeksa models every ...
- 709
5
votes
4
answers
148
views
Are there best practices for creating a lexicon or dictionary spreadsheet?
Mine has evolved over years and I'm sure I can still learn more about how to organize it. This might be an even more helpful question for folks starting out.
- 1,065
1
vote
1
answer
70
views
What steps in the conlang process am I missing?
My currently known process for conlanging is 1) set goals, 2) define phonology, 3) Romanize, 4) phonotactics, 5) define word order, 6) define morphosyntactic alignment, 7) define morphology type, 8) ...
- 449
2
votes
1
answer
79
views
Treat the gerund and/or infinitive as a case
Basic questions:
Do we know of any property of a gerund or infinitive which prevents it being treated totally like a type of noun?
Do we know any language which expresses gerunds or infinitives as a ...
- 1,065
2
votes
2
answers
57
views
Do you make a word then give it meaning, or do you think of a meaning and assign a word to it?
I wonder which is more effective, creating a list of conwords then giving definitions or, creating a list of definitions then assigning conwords?
- 449
6
votes
3
answers
377
views
Roadmap for effective construction of a novel language
I have trivially dabbled in Esperanto, Klingon, and a few other languages. Now I want to build one, and not a distorted copy of an existing one. I want to make a non-junk constructed language.
Is ...
- 163
6
votes
5
answers
124
views
Denoting arbitrary ligatures when transcribing my script to Latin
I'm working on a written language where ligatures are important. Pretty much any letter could be joined to any other, and doing so could change the meaning of the word.
Too facilitate writing about ...
- 614
4
votes
2
answers
75
views
I need help with understanding perfect, perfective, perterite, and pluperfect
After reading the definitions of perfect past, perfective past, preterite past, and pluperfect past, I am confused as to what their distinctions are. They all are past tense forms indicating a ...
- 449
6
votes
5
answers
122
views
How should I define the lexicographic order for my conlang?
Though I've had a tough time choosing the phonology and the orthography of my conlang, I think I've finally confirmed it: 12 consonants, 10 vowels, Cyrillic script.
The consonants are:
Пп for [p]
Тт ...
- 709
5
votes
2
answers
87
views
Could [j] and [ʎ] coexist in the same language as distinct phonemes?
As the title asks, could [j] and [ʎ] coexist in the same language as distinct phonemes? I imagine one would merge with the other or some other mechanism forms to make each more distinct. If the ...
- 449
5
votes
2
answers
108
views
How can I make complex relative clauses?
I can make simple relative clauses that share arguments just fine, but I struggle with certain clauses.
Take the following English sentences:
Someone killed* a person*
I hated the killing*.
You saw a ...
- 51
3
votes
1
answer
82
views
What words would naturally evolve tri-consonantal roots?
I determined to create a conlang with tri-consonantal roots (I call them tri-cons for short). My question then arose, "what words would naturally have a tri-con?" Verbs and the nouns derived ...
- 449
7
votes
1
answer
99
views
How large must my consonant inventory be in order for nonconcatenative morphology to work?
In my quest to create a language for some fictional characters of mine, I came across nonconcatenative morphology like triconsonantal roots. If I wanted to employ this in my conlang, how many ...
- 449
5
votes
2
answers
124
views
What is an example of a constructed language focusing on beauty and conceptual purity?
By conceptual purity, I mean it tries to avoid arbitrariness, and seeks the most default or neutral way to achieve an aim.
For example, some languages are written right to left, others left to right. ...
peters