I have ideas for the types of languages I want. (basically just ONE language, but with hundreds of little offbranch dialects)

The problem is that I'm completely overwhelmed with what to think about FIRST. What is essential to starting a language?

Mindy,

Languages are hard to make to completion (although my lexicon manager will make that very different when I finish it), but you rarely need a 'complete' language. What I am going to do is give a short list of some things that make your language get off to a good start, and how to implement them. Please ask questions and start more threads about each piece as you do them!

First, you need to figure out what your language sounds like. So you need to first pick the sounds that will be in it. Believe it or not, there are a lot of sounds that you can put into a language, and you only need to do a few of them. Greek does not have a /j/ sound! So make a list. Some research will really help you do this part well. I might post a list of sounds in another thread.

Then figure out how those sounds are allowed to be organized in your language. Base it on syllables, not words. What consonant clusters are allowed ('/t/s/' might be, but '/d/r/' might not), and where ('/t/s/' might be permitted only at the start of syllables, and '/s/t/' only at the ends)? What vowels are allowed where, and in what combinations? Some languages are mainly diphonic, meaning that they mainly do words in a cvcvcv order (ka-ta-ka-na). Others, like English, allow a wide variety of syllable structures.

Then figure out where your grammar is going to be structured. Is it going to be primarily in suffixes and prefixes (like Latin), with practically no reliance on sentence structure, or is it going to be primarily sentence structure, or a mixture? This is the hardest part for me, and can be skipped somewhat if you are not aiming at a complete language. Mainly you just need to figure out what kinds of things you need to prefixes and suffixes for.

Then you can, if you haven't already, make your writing system. This is the funnest part, and I tend to actually start with this. You can do it in a huge variety of ways, and you can really have a lot of fun with it.

Now you really have all you need to use the language. If you need a word or a name in it, all you need to do is create a word that matches the structure of your language. That is it! Now, if you want to continue making it into a full fledged language (so that you can write poetry in it, for example), you have only just begun. You need to finish developing your grammar, and then you need to build your vocabulary. This last is the hardest part, and I have never actually finished a full vocabulary. Again, my lexicon manager will make it much easier (I hope), and we will all soon be able to make our own full fledged languages!

I hope that answers your first question. Unfortunately, I am sure that I have made more questions than ever. And maybe I have even made some people mad at me because they have a different way of doing it. That is fine, I would be glad to hear of other ways! I like mine, but that is because it is the only one I know about.

With joy and peace in Christ,
Jay Lauser aka Sir Emeth Mimetes

I've started a language too but it's as simple as I could make it The first thing I did was come up with an alphabet. Like Jay suggests, I figured out which sounds I wanted. The next part, coming up with symbols, was really fun. Then I came up with a few grammar rules from my experience in Greek and French. Now I need to work on a lexicon (or dictionary). Anyway, that's how I started...

I think the hardest part is melding the language with your culture and with other languages in your story. English is a hodge-podge, and your languages should be too, to a degree. That is really hard to emulate.

I think my biggest problem with languages is the fact that for me they are so time intensive to create. And as someone who has to have amazing grades to be able to go to college, it's very difficult to find time between studying, and co-ops, and schoolwork.

Understandable. Well, I hope that my program will be able to make it easier to make languages.

It has. I know how to do it in an orderly fashion now.

I meant my Lexicon Manager. But I am glad my system helps you.

By the way, when will that be ready? Just being curious...I have no present use for it.

Umm... maybe in a month or so. I have a lot on my coding platter.

A resource that I find invaluable when it comes to languages is The Language Construction Kit.

It's very useful and references other useful materials.

Wow, I knew creating a language was hard, but not that hard.

What's a lexicon manager?

I have been using the Language Creation Kit some when creating Derrâ, but mainly my brother and I sat down and came up with an alphabet that could be written in mostly Latin characters (Makes it WAY easier to type, but, a little more boring. ). Then we decided what Uzbek grammar rules wouldn't work in Derrâ. It's hard because a) I'm still learning Uzbek, and b) Uzbek is primarily a prefix-suffix language like Latin (albeit with a sentence order) therefore it's radically different for me from Portuguese and English, which have 'normal' sentence structure.

I'd say for me the hardest part is grafting in words from other languages when you haven't created the other languages yet, and also hard is defining all the grammar rules, since really, when you think about it, a language has a massive amount of grammar rules. In Uzbek, there's over a thousand (I think) word endings you can add to change the meaning. And I'm supposed to be learning this stuff, but instead I cheat and make my own language

eruheran

Um...Jay, I think it's been more than a month just teasing.