#language making

[kalcium-yippee]

Hey, not my usual content, BUT. As a linguistics test, I'm making a constructed language based around the internet meme alien. Whenever people meme aliens, they often say things like "zorp, gnarp, glorp, yon" etc, so I was wondering, when you, yes YOU, think you alien words, what comes to mind? Preferably stick to things similar to what the internet has already deemed as 'alien talk'.

I'm trying to get a good sample size to base the sounds and words on

[redd956]

Worldbuilding questions to get the creative juices flowing 13

Happy Halloween!!!

Theme: Languages

Languages are actually incredibly complicated and I suggest studying the different types of languages, how they form, etc. Verbal language isn’t the only type, and that alone can greatly deviate from the norm such as languages using clicking or hums. Still here are some worldbuilding questions to get the creative juices flowing

How commonly spoken is the language? Is the only major language being spoken in that area? How do other nearby languages affect it?

How does the species/creature speak the language? Are other species/creatures able to replicate the ability to speak it? (An alien with different vocal cords to a human may not be able to make human noises, harpys chirping in songbird, a form of sign-language belonging to a species w/different hands than humans)

What is the average amount of languages someone in that society knows? How does this contrast with other places?

How is language taught/learnt? Is the language easy for foreigners to learn? Does the language have easy rules or rules that make sense? (likely no)

How is the language viewed? Does the language comes with any stereotypes or connotations? What does the accent sound like?

Are there any dialects? Can these dialects understand each other? (Isolation, difference in cultures, and many other things contribute to dialects forming.) 

(Dialects can be as simple as accent changes; Americans, New Yorkers, Texans, Californians all sound different. Or the dialects can be so heavy or different that they cannot understand each other, like the many variations of Arabic all throughout Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia.)

Does the language come in many different forms? (Written, vocal, visual, etc.)

How did the language form? Does the language have any cousins? (German & English are kinda like cousins in the linguistics world)

Is the language dying off? Yes, why and how? How is this affecting the society?

 (Native American languages all cross the Americas are dying off, this will likely vanquish great portions of their stories and history due to oral traditions)

Is the language being pressed onto others? Yes, why and how? How is this affecting the society?

(For awhile now Ukrainian's have been forced both subtly and not subtly to speak Russian instead of Ukrainian. This is another way to strip Ukrainians of self national identity)

Is the languages shrinking or growing? How is it most being passed on?

Languages are very complex

[tsumiki-miniwa]

Oh God can you imagine inventing a language

Like we literally use languages to figure out what to name our fictional characters but language makers (at least the first ones) couldn't they had to INVENT that shit

[thelastblueheart]

I got into cryptography for fun and I decided it would be cool to make my own cipher. What I didn’t realize my little gremlin brain would latch onto that and instead of making a cipher I started making an entire written language. It has 27 characters, mostly based off of the English alphabet and it can’t be spoken, it’s just for writing. One of my walls is now covered in sticky notes and index cards with writing rules and the different symbols for individual characters and then symbols for specific words so you don’t have to write out all the symbols for that word. Why am I like this???

[sitelenjelo]

Every conlang guide online: remember that creating a script is always the last step in creating you language! Here is a smart way to go about the steps effectively.

Me, scribbling out random characters while my language only has two words and zero grammar:

[aeniith]

Conlanging...I need *you*!

I’m checking the holes in my lexicon (vocab) for the Ori language. I’ve been using semantic domains to fill it out lately, but i thought it might be fun to get suggestions/checks from others. So, give me a word/concept/whatever and I’ll give you the equivalent(s) in Ori, and if I don’t have it, I’ll designate a term. I’ve also been putting in sort of inside jokes and basing words around people’s names, etc., so that might also happen. 

Examples of words in Ori (chosen at random)

nyillum /nʲil:um/ ‘seed’

ummu /um:u/ ‘be located; lie; sit; stay; stop; remain’

elumpyonta /elum’pʲonta/ ‘seventy’

abari /a’bari/ ‘blessing’

cel /kel/ ‘false, fake’ 

~

Thanks for your help!

Mintaka

[gideon-gambit]

My written language. Ucrosian.