Languages?

[Joel P.]

In the tradition of Tolkien and a few other fantasy writers, I've been working on a set of languages for my world (High Elven, Modern Elvish, and Dwarvish).

I recently finished the writing system for Elven/Elvish, which is a true writing system and not just a substitution cipher, and I have a vocabulary of about 260 words and phrases in Elvish. The first 150 or so words were just made up gibberish which sounded good (or borrowed from Latin - and yes, I have a logical justification for that); but now I have be constantly on the lookout for words that may already partially exist, or old words I need to fix to be current, or new words I can make by combining a others.

e.g. 'Kisgolant', which signifies 'dragon', is a combination of the sound 'K' plus the prefix 'is-' (ees) meaning great, the word 'Gos' meaning 'to fly', and the word 'Lant' meaning reptile or scaled being.

Is anyone else doing language development as part of their worldbuilding? If so, how are you going about it?

[Resha Caner]

Dec 17, 2012 12:37:32 GMT -5 Joel P. said:

Is anyone else doing language development as part of their worldbuilding? If so, how are you going about it?

My approach was much the same as yours. I started off by just making up words that sounded cool, but then realized those words were all over the map. Some sounded Greek, some Turkish, some Gaelic. So, I set out to make some rules that would enforce some coherence.

I have a main type of being in my world. That's where I spent most of my time - creating rules of grammar, punctuation, etc. I even created a style of poetry, idioms, profanities, etc. For the rest of the types of beings, my trick is to associate them with specific Earth cultures. I have a contintental European group, a Gaelic group, an African group, and a Pacific Islander group. I try not to make them literal copies of those cultures, but that is the archetype in my head when I write about one of them.

With all that said, my #1 rule for creating languages is: less is more. Every critique group I've ever been in responds with, "Huh? What is that word?" So, I try hard to only use language to convey mood, and I make sure the meaning of the foreign words can be determined from the context. The rest of it is just back story.

[rjj7]

When I start writing my epic, I will give a great deal of thought to language (mostly just for names). Until then, I'm content to just borrow names from other cultures and leave language out of things.

I wish you well. Good job on not just going for a substitution cipher. That's just cutting corners to give a deceptive facade of depth, and we should be striving for excellence.

[Joel P.]

Resha: I get the 'less is more' rule, and I think I use it. It's just that Elvish is so prevalent in my world, I need to have a big vocabulary so I can cover whatever words I need to. Plus, I like writing songs and poetry in it.

Randy: Thanks! I agree. I took an entry-level linguistics class, which provided me with the background I needed to create a good writing system, as well as develop consistent rules for word structure and sounds.

[Bethany J.]

I have a fairly comprehensive language, Kraesinish, for my WIP.

I mostly invent words as I go - if I need a word or phrase, I make it up then and then add it to my growing dictionary. I have about 550 words so far. When I need a new word I just sort of "taste test" it, thinking over what sounds come to mind when I think of the thing I need to name, or what rolls easiest off my tongue.

I have an alphabet as well, which is phonetic, with far more letters than English. They have 4 different letters which in English would all be A! "Ch", "th", and "sh" all have their own symbols as well. Their alphabet is divided into segments depending on what part of the mouth the sound is made in (back of throat, at the teeth, on the lips, etc.), and the sounds made in the same part of the mouth (like T, D, J, SH and CH) have similar letters.

I don't pretend to be a linguist like Tolkien, or even know much about languages in general. I just like language as a thing, and I enjoy creating grammar systems and alphabets and such. I did study a bit of Welsh in school, though! I couldn't do Sindarin for a foreign language, so I figured Welsh was the next-best thing.

I am really bad with the "less is more"...I enjoy my language too much to use it minimally! I've translated Scripture texts into it and such. That's a lot of fun.

[Bethany J.]

P.S. I love "kisgolant". What a nice word! And fitting of dragons, too.

[yoda47]

I'd like to, but I don't know enough about languages to do a good job.

[This Baron of Mora]

Well...
After I read a certain book (one of the top three most influential books on my life) I became inspired to find the real and true language of the Malaman (a place not a people) with more than just made up words, not to demean others (as it is a lot of work and I will never blame you) I personally find that I must do it right or not at all. However I knew very little about linguistics and even know only know so much here's what I used:

-The Language Construction Kit (used by real "conlangers" as they are called) and yes it is free online you can buy the book. www.zompist.com/kit.html

-How to Create a Language, also free though more ad ridden: www.angelfire.com/scifi2/nyh/how__all.html

-Some others, just search for various things either online or in print

Less make it a lot easier, but still quite hard.

[Joel P.]

Bethany: I did the same thing with my alphabet, only I used the IPA chart (www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/consonants.html)- so all the sounds which are in the same column have the same 'base' character, with additions based on row. Now if I can just memorize the characters I'll be able to read it fluently...

Aaron: I knew nothing about language development when I first started; but like I said, that entry-level linguistics class made all the difference. If there's a community college near you, I'd recommend seeing if they have linguistics classes available.

Baron: How do you mean, "more than just made up words"? All languages are constructed of "made up words." Are you speaking of an essential thought pattern or philosophy which drove the invention and tone of the language?

[This Baron of Mora]

I meant more that a language is sounds made into words, thus starting with words is problematic as even with a grammatical structure to hold it together it lacks the true base that gives it unity.

[Bethany J.]

Interesting observation, BaronofMora! I do tend to use the same sounds for similar words, but not always consistently...

[Bainespal]

I think an awareness of language, and its relationship to culture and the interchange between cultures, is essential to good worldbuilding. Even if you have one common language that all your main cultures use, you should show different accents/dialects, and should still hint that there were different languages spoken at other times, I think.

Although I don't think it is necessary for every work, I heartily applaud everyone attempting to build their own languages for their own worlds!

[Bethany J.]

With my story's world I decided that there was only one language to begin with, and there never have been any more - they never had a tower of Babel incident. Maybe Earth is unique that way!

The northern people in the world, who are sort of a separate country in their north pole, have their own dialect, but it's as slight as the difference between British and American English. It's more of an accent than a dialect, really.

[Kessie]

I always really liked Diana Wynne Jones's creative way of getting around other languages--The Twelve Related Worlds were so called because they all spoke the same language. Only Chrestomanci knew there were others, because he'd hang out in them when he was a kid.

I don't like other languages in other books, myself, because nothing annoys me more than a lapse in understanding. So all my characters speak American English, and tend to visit worlds where most people at least know English.

[fluke]

I don't like other languages in other books, myself, because nothing annoys me more than a lapse in understanding. So all my characters speak American English, and tend to visit worlds where most people at least know English.

I agree. If my characters speak another language, it is specifically to draw attention to their otherness.