Making languages (no spam)

[fable]

You always wanted to create a new language, right? Of course you did. While other kids were dreaming of killing things and owning the world, you were contemplating the value of diacritics, how verbs should be inflected, and whether nouns had gender. Go on, admit it! We won't think less of you for that. After all, you're special.

Anyway, this is an excellent site to assist in the creation and development of artificial languages. It has a number of well reasoned essays that are extremely interesting, plus personal examples and a well-organized method. Go! Enjoy!

[Kipi]

Heh, already found use for that site

Good find, though!

[Loki[D.d.G]]

I'm not sure if I recall correctly, but there was a game sometime back that required the player to learn a completely new alien language. Some kind of sci-fi game I think.

[DesR85]

If I want to make up code words (for clandestine purposes), I'll probably find this useful. Otherwise, I don't see a point in using this.

[Dottie]

Believe it or not, I actually had a friend who went through a language making period in his late teens. He was quite serious, making up alphabet, a bit of phonetic history and just enough words to add a bit of flavor to our various RPG settings.

And for the record he is nowhere near as geeky as he sounds.

[fable]

When I worked on an MMOPRG, I created the dwarven language, following the addon of a new "dwarven area" module. I deliberately set out to avoid the cliches of a vaguely mid-Asiatic, Turkoman base--and ended up with something that was slightly Finnish sounding. Go figure. Nowhere near as good, in any case, as an Elvish tongue devised by another member of our GM team, who was a Professor of Linguistics nearing retirement (and still very feisty). No longer have the details of that, though I do have a poem I wrote in English detailing creation myths, and done up in imitation of the poetic Eddas.

[Dottie]

I do think it adds quite a bit to any appropriate RPG setting. Especially the fact that you can come up with names on characters "native" language, avoiding all those incredibly boring generic fantasy names that people tend to use.

Unfortunately it takes some work to get it done, so naturally I can't be bothered.

[fable]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dottie I do think it adds quite a bit to any appropriate RPG setting. Especially the fact that you can come up with names on characters "native" language, avoiding all those incredibly boring generic fantasy names that people tend to use. Unfortunately it takes some work to get it done, so naturally I can't be bothered.

Yes, it does take time. And it's probably compulsive behavior. But I'd like to think, as you do, that it adds something to the flavor of a book or a game when the creators spend the time to generate a proper language. (Or an improper one.) And if I never read a book again with names like Silverlake or CrushKrah in it, I should think I would be one step closer to dying fulfilled.

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Quote:

And if I never read a book again with names like Silverlake or CrushKrah in it, I should think I would be one step closer to dying fulfilled.

So, one of your life's goals has revealed itself.

That being said, to create a completely new language with no reference to another exisiting one whatsoever can prove too difficult for authors to even bother considering. Hence, you can expect more cliched names in the future.

[fable]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loki[D.d.G] That being said, to create a completely new language with no reference to another exisiting one whatsoever can prove too difficult for authors to even bother considering. Hence, you can expect more cliched names in the future.

Only because the writers who use these are typically the least creative ones around. But there are hundreds of living languages to consider if we're discussing the patterning of a new one. Or the new language could use a completely different cultural context; so instead of referring ad nauseum to streams, forests, colors, etc, as faux-elven does, it could use terms referring to something entirely different. There are really many ways to make a language seem original. It just requires some work to do it right.

[Loki[D.d.G]]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fable It just requires some work to do it right.

And that amount of work is not something many would be willing to put in.

Quote:

But there are hundreds of living languages to consider if we're discussing the patterning of a new one.

I suppose I was looking at it too narrowly. Maybe certain rare languages that have existed for a long time but are now all but extinct, can be used as a basis for a new one.