Conlangs and You

[limetom]

Thanks for all the responses so far.

I think this is a brilliant idea limetom, and it has already gotten me thinking about a few things.  It would be really neat if you and Golem teamed up on some of your thoughts - I know he does a lot of conlanguaging - and posted some sort of joint tutorial, too!  Thanks for this post, I look forward to more.

I am already starting on a tutorial.  Probably going to cross-post it on the forums and as a simple PDF (via OpenOffice).  Anyone who wants to is more than welcome to join in.

One of the things that I think would help me, anyway.  Is a list of say 50-100 most common words in a language (or RPG language).  When ever I have tried to create a language the problem I encounter is that I don't know what I should include. So any advice in this area would be greatly appreciated.

I
*you (

singular)
*we
*this
*that
*who
*what
*not
*all
*many
*one
*two
*big
*long
*small
*woman
*man (adult male)
*man (human being)
*bird
*dog
*louse
*tree
*seed
*leaf
*bark
*root (of a tree)
*skin
*meat
*blood
*bone
*fat ([noun)
*fire
*egg
*horn
*tail
*feather
*fish
*hair
*head
*ear
*eye
*fingernail
*nose
*mouth
*tooth
*tongue (organ)
*foot
*knee
*hand
*belly
*neck
*breast
*heart (organ)
*liver
*to eat
*to drink
*to bite
*to see
*to hear
*to know
*to sleep
*to die
*to kill
*to swim
*to fly
*to walk
*to come
*to lie (as in a bed)
*to sit
*to stand
*to give
*to say
*sun
*moon
*star
*water
*rain
*stone
*sand
*earth
*cloud
*smoke
*ashes
*to burn
*road
*mountain
*red
*green
*yellow
*white
*black
*night
*warm
*cold
*full
*new
*good
*round
*dry
*name[/list][/spoiler][/quote]

Here's a link to the 207-word Swadesh list as well.

Personally, my main use for a conlang is proper nouns.  I know full well that most players aren't interested in learning another language to play a game, which is why I try to keep it simple.

[limetom]

And now, even though I'm not really done with the grammar section, I'll start with the tutorial.

Purpose for the Conlang
Try writing one or two sentences stating your purpose in creating the conlang.

I am going to use this constructed language is to help flesh out my new setting; at this time, I don't need it very detailed.

Creating a Phonology
Here I'm going to make a list of consonants and vowels, and go over some other topics like syllables.

Consonants
Remember that most languages have the consonants /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, and /n/.  For a stranger sounding language, you may want to omit some.

I am going to create a conlang with 15 consonants.  This is a somewhat small number of consonants, but only a handful are more than enough.  Below is a table with the orthography I'm using.  It's labeled the same as a chart that uses IPA, which should be good for both those who know it, and to allow me to explain it for those who don't.

[th][/th][th]Alveolar[/th][th]Palatal[/th][th]Velar[/th][th]Glottal[/th][th]Plosive[/th][th]Nasal[/th][th]Fricative[/th][th]Lateral Fricative[/th][th]Approximate[/th][th]Lateral Approximate[/th]

t  d		k  g	'
n
s  z		kh  gh	h
l
r		j
hl

The names of the columns indicate the place of articulation.  This is where the tongue (and sometimes lips or teeth) touch other surfaces of the mouth to make sounds.  Alveolar refers to the alveolar ridge, a small ridge right behind your teeth.  English consonants like <n>, <t>, and <d> are alveolar consonants.  Palatal refers to the soft palate, which is at the front of the roof of the mouth.  The only English palatal consonant is <y>, though the Spanish <ñ> has entered most English-speaker's register.  Velar refers to the velum, which is at the back of the roof of the mouth.  English velar consonants include <k> and <g>.  Glottal refers to the glottis, also known as the vocal folds. English velar consonants include <h> and the glottal stop, which typically isn't written, but found in the middle of <uh oh>.  Of course, there are other places of articulation (including bilabial, labiodental, dental, postalveolar, retroflex, uvular, pharyngeal, and epiglottal), but for this tutorial, I've kept it to ones that occur in English.

The names of the rows indicate the manner of articulation.  This is the way in which the tongue (and sometimes lips) touch other surfaces of the mouth to make sounds.  Plosive refers to a complete obstruction of the airstream, followed by a release.  English consonants such as <p>, <t>, and <k> are plosives.  Nasal refers to a complete obstruction of the airstream, with the velum lowered, followed by a release.  English has only two (native) nasals <n> and <m>, however, the Spanish <ñ> has been borrowed by many speakers.  Both plosives and nasals are stops, indicating that the airstream stops.  Fricative refers to a narrowing of the airstream, enough to cause turbulent airflow.  English has a few fricatives, including <s>, <z>, <sh>, and <h>.  Lateral fricative refers to a fricative where the airstream is blocked centrally and escapes out the sides.  English has only one lateral fricative <l>.  Approximate refers to a narrowing of the airstream, but not enough to cause turbulent airflow.  English approximates include <r> and <y>.  Finally lateral approximate refers to an approximate where the airstream is blocked centrally and escapes out the sides.  There are other manners of articulation (trills and taps/flaps), but again, I didn't use them for simplicity's sake (though English contains the latter.

When two sounds appear next to one another, the one on the left is voiceless, and the one on the right is voiced.  Voiceless consonants are made without the vocal folds vibrating.   English voiceless consonants include <p>, <t>, <k>, and <s>.  Voiced consonants are made with the focal folds vibrating.  English voiced consonants include <b>, <d>, <g>, and <z>.  Where only one sound is listed, it is safe to assume they are voiced (with <h> and the glottal stop being notable exceptions).

(Remember to check out this site to hear what these sounds sound like.)

Vowels
Remember that vowels come in two common systems: the 5-vowel system (/i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, and /u/) or the 3-vowel system (/i/, /u/, and /a/).

I am going to create a conlang with 6 vowels, based off of the 5-vowel system.  It's very similar to the vowel systems found in Iroquoian languages such as Mohawk, Cherokee, and others.  I will also introduce the concepts of secondary articulation and allophones here.

[th][/th][th]Front[/th][th]Center[/th][th]Back[/th][th]Open[/th][th]Mid[/th][th]Close[/th]

i		u
e	c	o
	a

Both vowel backness (columns) and vowel height (rows) are fluid categories; there is no clear distinction between the subdivisions of each.  Front vowels are closer to the lips, while back vowels are closer to the vocal folds; these are, of course, the two ends of the (articulatory portion of the) vocal tract.  High vowels are made with the lower jaw fairly closed, and the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth, while low vowels are made with the lower jaw fairly open, and the tongue further away from the roof of the mouth.  Additional subdivisions of both vowel backness and vowel height do exist, but with only 6 vowels, there is no need to be that specific.

The English has all of these vowels, though with only 5 vowel letters and 18 vowel sounds, it will take a little explaining to get you making these sounds correctly.  <i> corresponds to the second vowel sound in <happy>.  <e> corresponds to the vowel sound in <face>.  <u> corresponds to the vowel sound in <goat> (note that this may not be the case if you're from Australia, New Zealand or England, in which case it may be closer to the vowel sound in <force>).  <a> corresponds to the vowel sound in <palm>.

Finally, <c>.  <C> partially corresponds to the second vowel sound in <comma>.  However, that sound is what is called an allophone.  English speakers recognize a number of individual sounds under the letter <a>, this central mid vowel (in IPA /É/) is one of them.  Additionally, <c> has a secondary articulation; it is nasalized.  This means that, similar to nasal stops, the velum is lowered while you produce this sound, so air escapes out of the nose.  This property is also an allophone of English (and many other languages); whenever a vowel precedes a nasal consonant, it becomes nasalized.  I am using <c> under a special rule in my conlang: it is the only vowel that can follow an <n>.

Syllables
Syllables are how sounds combine to make up morphemes.

Syllables run from simple to complex.  They are made up of three parts: an onset, a nucleus, and a coda.  Nuclei form the base of a syllable, and are typically vowels, though some languages allow certain consonants to form the nucleus of a syllable. Onsets precede a syllable's nucleus, and are fairly standard in most languages.  Codae follow a syllable's nucleus, but aren't universal in languages.  For example, <cat> contains an onset <c->, a nucleus <-a->, and a coda <-t>.  <at>, on the other hand, only contains a nucleus <a-> and a coda <-t>.

For my conlang, I am going to keep it simple.  Here are the rules for syllables:

Nuclei are always vowels.
*Codae are limited to sonorant consonants (<r>, <y>, <hl>, and <n>).
*Onsets are made up of, at most, two consonants.

Some example words might be: <a> (V), <sa> (CV), <ahl> (VC), <sahl> (CVC), sha (CCV), <shahl> (CCVC).  Remember that, aside from in the digraphs <kh>, <gh>, and <hl>, <h> should always be pronounced as it is; don't let false friends like <sh-> and <th-> confuse you.  Also, I've decided to use <'> to disambiguate where an <h> is part of a dirgraph or not (e.g. <h'hla> and <kh'he>.  When it does so, it isn't a glottal stop, but simply a spelling contrivance.


And here's the (nicer looking) PDF version of the tutorial thusfar:
File: Conlang Tutorial - Phonology.pdf

[Kirksmithicus]

Thanks for the list guys, that'll be a great help.  Second, does the forum have some way to turn threads like this into articles that can be posted permanently? (this noob is still figuring the site out)

[SDragon]

My personal Rule #1 for conlangs:

a language, sufficiently foreign, is indistiguishable from gibberish. First case in point:

...I can read and pronounce this:



Excuse the poor penmanship ...

Second case in point: rednecks trying to imitate Asian languages (which they seem to lump together under the heading "Chinese"). Seriously, listening to these guys, you'd think Chinese was nothing more then a dozen or so single syllable words that all start with the CH sound.


I bring this point up because, while I don't see any way this could be disproved, it seems to have been disputed in the Tavern.

[Polycarp]

My personal Rule #1 for conlangs:

means[/i].

Second case in point: rednecks trying to imitate Asian languages (which they seem to lump together under the heading "Chinese"). Seriously, listening to these guys, you'd think Chinese was nothing more then a dozen or so single syllable words that all start with the CH sound.

Wow, have you actually run into this?  Now I'm interested in what the context of this discussion is.  I don't usually associate "rednecks" with conlangs.

[SDragon]

My personal Rule #1 for conlangs:

means[/i].

I wouldn't say it's a non-issue. In fact, I think it's a liberating thought for the beginning conlanger;  it means they can afford to be sloppy the first time or two. If their first conlang comes out sounding like gibberish, it still can be, to some degree, usable.

Second case in point: rednecks trying to imitate Asian languages (which they seem to lump together under the heading "Chinese"). Seriously, listening to these guys, you'd think Chinese was nothing more then a dozen or so single syllable words that all start with the CH sound.

In the type of towns I've lived in most of my life, you do grow accustomed to rednecks. Yes, I have run into this. That particular example is more about languages in general (unless Chinese is a conlang?), but it's applicable to conlangs.

[Polycarp]

Ah.  I was more narrowly construing your comments with regards to conlangs.  As for the redneck/Chinese thing, it seems pretty typical for non-speakers to caricature a language by a few distinctive features they perceive to be key to the language, like ch-sounds for Chinese (or "aboot" for Canadian English!).  Depending on the context that can be embarrassingly racist or quite harmlessly funny (I'm guessing the experiences you're talking about are more the former than the latter).