Is it stereotypical to create your own language, or at least some semblance of a language, for your fantasy novel? If so, what do you see a lot fictional language-wise that you think is cliched and you'd like to see less of?
Constructing a language (conlang) is an awesome thing to do. You can read all about it in my conlang tag on the tags page.
Fictional languages in full (i.e. the author creates enough of the language to construct more than simple sentences) aren’t all that common. Many writers create a few words or just use phrases for spells, but here are some things to avoid/consider changing:
It’s extremely common to base fictional languages and spells on Latin (and sometimes Greek). It’s also common for these languages to be universal if set in our world. I understand using Latin as a base for spells/a fictional language when the story is based on/heavily influenced by Christianity/Catholicism since Latin is “the language of the church”, but why is it everywhere else?
I don’t see this in traditionally published fiction (probably because the editor will catch it), but I’ve seen it elsewhere. Creating a fictional language is not as simple as typing out random words. Languages have consistency. They have a certain sound to them. If you translate “har dagarth jor” as “I gave you” and “mow wowli yityit” as “give it to me”, there’s no consistency in sound or vocabulary. Don’t make it up as you go along.
Of course you can start by typing random letters and creating words from that, but everything needs editing and revision.
When creating a fictional language, make it easy to pronounce or at least not super difficult. Sometimes fictional words/phrases become large parts of fandoms or a defining feature of the story, so make sure your readers won’t get stuck staring at your fictional word for a full minute trying to pronounce it:
Ckqaeioul yywyrn uooed - Bad! None of the words look like they belong to the same language and they’re mostly unpronounceable at first glance. Anyway, here is how they’re pronounced: ckqaeioul = kuhk-kay-yol, yywyrn = ee-wern, uooed = woo-ed.
C’mul mo waan - Better! The first word has an apostrophe in it, but it’s not something that will make your readers stop in complete confusion.
Excessive Diacritics + Other Punctuation
Those who don’t really know much about language or conlang tend to add a lot of accents and other markings on letters and lots of apostrophes in words without knowing what they’re doing. These markings affect pronunciation and their use varies by language.
Apostrophes affect pronunciation and meaning too. If you’re going to use them, know how to use them. Don’t just stick in a whole bunch without consideration. The same goes for other forms of punctuation that are used in language.
Know what you’re working with.
Basically A Real Language
If you base it off a real language…don’t just take the language and change a few letters or the word order.
Replacement Languages/Relexes
There’s so much you can do with language! Yet everyone tends to make it a cipher for whatever language they’re writing in.
The ways in which your characters express themselves in your fictional language can say a lot about their culture. Of course to include this into your story you’d have to find a way to translate it somewhere other than a glossary, but it’s doable.
Don’t just write out “I walk to the store” and come up with a fictional word for each of those words. Some languages don’t have a way to say “the”. Many languages have one word for “I walk” rather than two. Word order can change. Instead of saying “I like apples” your language might say “these apples are pleasing me”.
Fictional Words When Real Words Will Do
If you have objects, feelings, phenomenon, places, etc. that we don’t have words for, you can create a fictional word for it. If we do have words for these things (like foxes or trees), don’t create a fictional word for it.
This is unnecessary and it creates confusion.
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