for The Art of Conlanging5/19/2015 c1 
8Mia Homina Telos Writ
Cool! I love conlanging. My un is actually the word for "The Writer" writer is 3-words long. It sounds cool, at least in my head it does. My fried day it sounds like Spanish even though I can't roll my Rs and the h sound comes out like an English H sound in it. Idk.
Cool articlelet.
8Mia Homina Telos WritCool! I love conlanging. My un is actually the word for "The Writer" writer is 3-words long. It sounds cool, at least in my head it does. My fried day it sounds like Spanish even though I can't roll my Rs and the h sound comes out like an English H sound in it. Idk.
Cool articlelet.
1/8/2014 c6 Lillithsgarden
Im loving this! It will prove most useful to me I think. Because I'm going to let my characters grow organicly through the language.
Im loving this! It will prove most useful to me I think. Because I'm going to let my characters grow organicly through the language.
10/21/2012 c8 Khemehekis
"Good" and "honest" are adjectives, not nouns!
"Good" and "honest" are adjectives, not nouns!
2/17/2012 c10 Talia Willow
This is actually a very helpful guide. I can't wait for the next chapter. UPDATE SOON!
This is actually a very helpful guide. I can't wait for the next chapter. UPDATE SOON!
6/19/2010 c8 Conlanger
In the pronoun section you forgot nobody, noone, none, nowhere, nobody, one, thy, thou, everyone, everywhere, everybody, everything, anyone, anywhere, anything, anybody. That, plus your list, I think covers them all :)
In the pronoun section you forgot nobody, noone, none, nowhere, nobody, one, thy, thou, everyone, everywhere, everybody, everything, anyone, anywhere, anything, anybody. That, plus your list, I think covers them all :)
7/28/2009 c9 Joey Hathaway Again
'Tis spelt "ciao," I b'lieve.
'Tis spelt "ciao," I b'lieve.
7/28/2009 c7 Joey Hathaway
There is something that you should know not just for the sake of being correct but also for the sake of learning something you wouldn't expect to be true.
I noticed how you said that a highly advanced society will probably have more complex grammar than a less civilized or "primitive" one. This, believe it or not, is NOT the case. In fact, tribal languages such as the ones spoken by indigenous Africans and Australians (to name a few) are more complex by far than some "modern" or "first world" languages, like English.
The reason for this is because the more contact a language has with other languages, the more simplified it becomes. Arab traders might ignore some rule of Greek grammar (this is just an example, and might not even be true), and over time, people will realize how much easier it is to say things that way rather than the old fashioned way.
A fine example of this simplification is English. It is descended from so many different languages: notably Latin and Germanic tongues. But it is a lot simpler than them. Look at German's nigh-baroque inflectional system! So many variations of the articles! And gender has been lost, too! We no longer distinguish between the 2nd-person singular (thou) and the 2nd-person plural (you). And it's all because of foreigners who have adapted the language to suit their own, thus (inadvertently) making it simpler.
On the other hand, languages that have seen little or no contact with other cultures (usually because their society is a tribal or "primitive" one) retain their original complexity.
I hope this hasn't been too wordy. It probably has. I just get carried away when I explain something to someone else.
Cheers! (Even though I'm not British)
—Joey Hathaway
There is something that you should know not just for the sake of being correct but also for the sake of learning something you wouldn't expect to be true.
I noticed how you said that a highly advanced society will probably have more complex grammar than a less civilized or "primitive" one. This, believe it or not, is NOT the case. In fact, tribal languages such as the ones spoken by indigenous Africans and Australians (to name a few) are more complex by far than some "modern" or "first world" languages, like English.
The reason for this is because the more contact a language has with other languages, the more simplified it becomes. Arab traders might ignore some rule of Greek grammar (this is just an example, and might not even be true), and over time, people will realize how much easier it is to say things that way rather than the old fashioned way.
A fine example of this simplification is English. It is descended from so many different languages: notably Latin and Germanic tongues. But it is a lot simpler than them. Look at German's nigh-baroque inflectional system! So many variations of the articles! And gender has been lost, too! We no longer distinguish between the 2nd-person singular (thou) and the 2nd-person plural (you). And it's all because of foreigners who have adapted the language to suit their own, thus (inadvertently) making it simpler.
On the other hand, languages that have seen little or no contact with other cultures (usually because their society is a tribal or "primitive" one) retain their original complexity.
I hope this hasn't been too wordy. It probably has. I just get carried away when I explain something to someone else.
Cheers! (Even though I'm not British)
—Joey Hathaway
7/3/2009 c10 Brenda Agaro
I love this. Very much. Thank you. It's really helpful since I'm currently inventing a language for a fantasy setting I've just created.
I love this. Very much. Thank you. It's really helpful since I'm currently inventing a language for a fantasy setting I've just created.
5/30/2009 c1 4Tristan Alkai
Thank you for the advice. I definitely plan to make frequent reference to this in the future. I knew I would be inventing several languages for my own fantasy series and world (at least four, and quite possibly more than a dozen), and this advice certainly helps-especially the consonant-vowel consistency advice, to help it feel like a coherent thing.
4Tristan AlkaiThank you for the advice. I definitely plan to make frequent reference to this in the future. I knew I would be inventing several languages for my own fantasy series and world (at least four, and quite possibly more than a dozen), and this advice certainly helps-especially the consonant-vowel consistency advice, to help it feel like a coherent thing.
5/3/2009 c10 8infernal n1ght stepper
very informative, witty, and enjoyable! I used to love making conlangs, and I even half-finished making one a couple years back, but then I didn't really know what to do except make up words, so this is very helpful for me! thank you!
8infernal n1ght steppervery informative, witty, and enjoyable! I used to love making conlangs, and I even half-finished making one a couple years back, but then I didn't really know what to do except make up words, so this is very helpful for me! thank you!
3/17/2008 c9 8Written
this is an amazing guide! I added it to my C2, which is a collection of writing tips. I don't think I'll be constructing languages any time soon, but this was certainly an interesting read. one of my friends is in linguistics, so I get to hear about this kind of thing all the time, though this is the first time I've seen all this info in a useful, organized guide.
keep up the great work!
8Writtenthis is an amazing guide! I added it to my C2, which is a collection of writing tips. I don't think I'll be constructing languages any time soon, but this was certainly an interesting read. one of my friends is in linguistics, so I get to hear about this kind of thing all the time, though this is the first time I've seen all this info in a useful, organized guide.
keep up the great work!
6/24/2006 c9 thescottishdragon
HA HA! You're back! Huzzah! I like this section...especially because I never really understood what transitive vs. intransitive verbs were to begin with, but now I do! Hee hee. Thanks! Super! And I hope you post more soon!
HA HA! You're back! Huzzah! I like this section...especially because I never really understood what transitive vs. intransitive verbs were to begin with, but now I do! Hee hee. Thanks! Super! And I hope you post more soon!
10/23/2005 c8 thescottishdragon
Yeah! Update! Great new chapter! He he! I love trying to use proper nouns in scrabble, then of course my brother yells at me that that doesn't count. And the title of this chapter is very funny. *grin* Puns are great! I wish they had explained grammar like this to me back when I was in 3rd grade. He he. I actually began to understand this much later. But I love this essay. You should write a book. Maybe the next generation of kids can learn grammar right!
Yeah! Update! Great new chapter! He he! I love trying to use proper nouns in scrabble, then of course my brother yells at me that that doesn't count. And the title of this chapter is very funny. *grin* Puns are great! I wish they had explained grammar like this to me back when I was in 3rd grade. He he. I actually began to understand this much later. But I love this essay. You should write a book. Maybe the next generation of kids can learn grammar right!
9/17/2005 c7 words music and love stay true
Well, I won't do any grammar correcting, it's not my strong suit! *g* Never heard the word adverbial, seems reasonable enough to me though. I'll be waiting for more!
Well, I won't do any grammar correcting, it's not my strong suit! *g* Never heard the word adverbial, seems reasonable enough to me though. I'll be waiting for more!
9/9/2005 c6 words music and love stay true
yeahness! A new update! I like this a bunch! Thanks for the essay! I can't wait for more! Maybe I will acutally have a structured idea of how to make a language next time thnx. I love the references to Tolkien!
yeahness! A new update! I like this a bunch! Thanks for the essay! I can't wait for more! Maybe I will acutally have a structured idea of how to make a language next time thnx. I love the references to Tolkien!