i just got a copy of 'the art of language invention' and i'm loving it so far!
I'm delighted to hear that! While you're here, though, let me also recommend my wife Jessie's new book How to Create a Language: The Conlang Guide. It's longer, more detailed, and penguin-flippin' incredible. She was also able to design the cover herself. She comes from rural (and I mean rural) Missouri where a common nighttime occurrence for her was seeing fireflies in the forest. She used a photo of fireflies in the forest and then added glyphs from our various orthographies (hand-drawn by her!) to look like those fireflies:
It's so very her. :) (And it's in our LangTime colors: green and yellow!)
Anyway, glad you're enjoying AoLI! It was written with love—and with two snuggly cats curled up next to me.
@typotripprr asked about this, but it would be way too long to comment (lol).
Some Basic Notes
I think the first thing you should ask yourself is this : will it be for a fictional world or for the modern day?
This is important because if it's used for a nation/group in a fictional setting, you need to think about what sounds speakers can make (pitch for rodent-inspired characters, clicks for aliens, etc.). And if you are solely using this language for specific scenes, then you really only need to create words for those moments. You’d need words specific for that world, probably without a direct translation for extra realism.
If you're using this for the modern world and everyday use, then you'll need to add words we use day-to-day in the present (car, computer, soda, etc.). However, you can make combo words to make something new or the same words with multiple meanings.
You can also take inspiration from a lot of languages, but don't clutter them. My first conlang, Sukoig Nohaas (lit. Star Sound/Language) has been described as sounding like Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Polish, and quite a few others, but I actually didn't take inspiration from any of them. But it is a language that can be used IRL.
The Letters & Sounds
This is something you should start with, as it's the foundation of your words.
You can start with these kinds of charts :
But personally, they're too complex and complicated for me, so I stick with basic, "a = ah, e = eh, i = ee, etc." which works fine.
Think about the sounds letters make. In English, "c" can be "k" or "s", but in Indonesian, "c" is "ch", and in Chinese, "c" is a mix of "s" and "z" (but that depends on dialect). You can choose to have certain letters with the same sound, but how the word is spelt changes which one is used. Or you can remove one entirely. In Gaelic, there is no "k", and they always use "c" for that sound.
If you can't decide what letters you want, you can do a couple things. If you have Scrabble, grab a random bunch of pieces and use those letters or find random letter generators/assign numbers to letters and use a random number generator. You can also choose words/names and take those letters. My second conlang, Kikke Molmi (lit. Name Language), only uses the letters in my full name : a, e, i, o, u, j, k, l, m, r, s.
Also, we have letters that make different sounds when put together. In Gaelic, "bh" makes a "v" sound. In Sukoig Nohaas, "sg" makes "sh", "vg" makes "th", and "gh" makes "ch".
But if you're making your own alphabet or using a non-Latin real script, you can have separate letters for the sounds. In Japanese, "し" is "shi" and "ち" is "chi".
While it doesn’t have special letters, this is Kikke Molmi’s script (based on things I like) :
Letter Order
This can be important or it can’t matter at all. Having a specific formula for letter order helps the language stay congruent, but your language doesn't need to be.
For making new words with a specific order, there is a website called Awkwords that a lot of people use. Using Kikke Molmi as an example, it looks like this :
(Note : V = Vowel, C = Consonant, N = Nasal, but you can add/remove.)
And by doing this, you can choose words in that order or random.
Some people just make up random orders. Using Sukoig Nohaas as an example :
Stet angha nen biirn'mius nen. Gholu stet haram sgapa ferharma nen yaun opur sgri (lyrics from a cover I made of a song called Still (Piano Ver.) by Rua feat. K. It's 1:15-1:25).
Grammar, Pt. 1
Okay, this part's a bit tricky.
You'll see examples using "S", "O", and "V", which means "Subject", "Object", "Verb". They'll be in the form of SVO, SOV, OVS, etc.
Examples :
English, SVO : The woman plays the piano.
Japanese, SOV : 私は猫が好きです。(lit. I cat like. Means, "I like cats".)
Ancient Middle Egyptian, VSO (some are supposed to stack) : 𓇋𓅱𓅠𓅓𓈖𓀀𓋴𓏭𓏞𓀀 (lit. Found the scribe her. Means, "The scribe found her".)
Sukoig Nohaas uses OVS and Kikke Molmi uses VOS.
Additionally, if you're using a new alphabet, which way do you write it? Latin sentences are left-to-right, up-to-down, but Chinese sentences are (traditionally) up-to-down, right-to-left. Sukoig Nohaas is written in Latin order, but Kikke Molmi is written left-to-right, down, right-to-left, down, and so on. This was inspired by Atlantean from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (my favorite Disney movie).
(This is the sentence shown in Grammar Pt. 2.)
Grammar, Pt. 2
Next, you need to think about when things like time/tense, adjectives, prepositions, and amounts. Using Kikke Molmi as an example, the full order is :
Liklu osura rasja orki aska askok ku (lit. Lunchtime eat dead dog happy cat. Means, “During lunchtime, the happy cat eats the dead dog”).
But are you going to form these things? Maybe you don't need adjectives or tenses or pronouns. Kikke Molmi has no tense (as you may have noticed) nor pronouns, as it uses names only and a term for the "unknown person" if the name is unknown. So no I/you/us/he/she/they/it.
As opposed to Sukoig Nohaas, which depends on root words and affixes.
For example, the root word "zusiefaur" means "romantic love", so "le'zusiefaur" is "lover" (le' is a person), "me'zusiefaur" is "to love" (me' is a verb marker, and then uses a suffix for tense) and ner’zusiefaur means “romantically lovable” (ner’ is an adjective marker). So these two languages are very different when it comes to that.
Also, Kikke Molmi’s number system are in the form of +1, +2, +3, but use symbols with 1 stroke for +1, 2 strokes for +2, etc., which can be confusing
Creating a Lexicon
When creating your lexicon, think about *what* it's for. In fantasy/sci-fi languages, focus on specific scenes and terminology. As for everyday use, I personally make words as I need them or find a list of words and fill them all out. You should definitely keep them on an online document or notebook and if you want to use it IRL, it's a good idea to make flashcards/quizzes to memorize.
Slang is a good thing to add. English uses “fruity” in reference to being gay, while Spanish uses, “Tener pluma.”
An example of Sukoig Nohaas slang is, “ner’nemmia ner’nuun fomaasg,” which means, “a dusty old book.” This is slang for someone who is outdated and shuns modern technology-- basically a boomer.
Actually Writing Things
You can easily look up "conlang exercises" and poems, but if you want a *real* challenge, translate a book.
As I showed before, you can also make song covers. Keeping the same amount of syllables is hard, though, so I separate each syllable, count them, and find my own words that match and share the meaning. It's tricky, though, and you'll need a decent amount of words to do so. Sometimes you need to make new words to fit it.
It's tough at the beginning, but it definitely gets easier the more you practice.
Prompts
Here are some prompts to get you started :
Pick 3 random vowels and 8 random consonants.
Choose 5 random or your favorite Pokémon and use those letters.
Start every syllable with a vowel and end it with 2 consonants (same or different).
Take real words and invert/scramble for a new word.
Use the first 2 letters of 6 people you know.
Only use the letters of your full name. (Credit : @/conlangprompts)
Find three random items and use those letters for a word.
And prompts for scripts :
Use your favorite things as letters.
Make every letter have a swirl.
Only use boxes and circles.
Draw shapes with your eyes closed and use those as letters.
Helpful Sources for Info, Prompts & Help
(YouTube) Biblaridion
(YouTube) Artifexian (Inspired Sukoig Nohaas)
(Tumblr) conlangprompts (Inspired Kikke Molmi)
(Site) Awkwords
(Site) Ogden's Basic English
(Site) Arth(aey)
r/conlangs
Conclusion
Making a conlang seems daunting and intimidating at first, but it's super fun! I came up with Kikke Molmi in less than 10 minutes. Creating a language for a fictional world can be a lot harder because you need to obey certain rules, but Awkwords really helps with that! Don't stress and work at your own pace. Let your creativity flow, even if you don't see yourself as creative.
I hope this helps. And remember, don't stress and have fun!
Jessie’s book arrived today; time to go insane again! 👩🏫
Which book are you talking about? Is it How to Create a Language: The Conlang Guide from the University of Cambridge Press—on sale now in both inexpensive paperback and ridiculously expensive hardback, both of which would make great holiday gifts?
Kopikon II is about three months away, so I'm presenting each speaker in the order they’ll be presenting on October 10th at the University of Edinburgh. This year our headliner is none other than Jessie Peterson.
Jessie's been conlanging her whole life, and now makes a living as a professional conlanger. Working with me she's created languages for Freeform's Motherland: Fort Salem, Peacock's Vampire Academy, Pixar's Elemental, Legendary's Dune, and, premiering today, the Kryptonian language Suh Ankripton in Warner Bros.' Suerpman!
Additionally, Jessie has always been invested in putting together resources for conlangers. She created the Conlang Year project, to help conlangers build a language by doing a small piece of work each day; the massive Conlang-Venture .pdf, which is a choose-your-own-adventure that guides you through naturalistic conlanging; and the conlang GramBank spreadsheet, to help conlangers share their work more effectively. This year, though, she's come out with her biggest and best resource to date.
Coming out this October, Cambridge University is publishing Jessie's brand new conlang textbook How to Create a Language: The Conlang Guide:
If you ever wanted to read a book that went into more depth than The Art of Language Invention and with greater clarity, this is that book. Weighing in at nearly 500 pages, you can pre-order the book now, or wait until Kopikon when we'll have copies on hand for sale!
Jessie will be closing things up at Kopikon II at 4:10 p.m. at the University of Edinburgh (George Square), October 10th, 2025. To register, go here. The full schedule is listed below:
1:00 p.m. Opening remarks by David & Jessie
1:10 p.m. Keras Saryan
1:50 p.m. Jake Penny
2:30 p.m. Biblaridion
3:10 p.m. Intermission (20 minutes)
3:30 p.m. David Peterson
4:10 p.m. Jessie Peterson
4:50 p.m. Closing remarks by David & Jessie
We hope to see you at Kopikon II! It will be a day to remember. <3
