by Mark Rosenfelder
The Language Construction Kit has helped a generation of conlangers to create languages, while underhandedly teaching linguistics. But what's next? Is there more to learn about languages?
Absolutely! Yonagu Books is publishing the sequel, Advanced Language Construction (a.k.a. The Language Construction Kaboodle). Three hundred pages of more: a new section on how to write a reference grammar; new topics such as logic, sign language, pidgins, and language acquisition; and a beefy section exploring morphosyntax.
Whether you're creating a conlang for the ages or just want to learn about linguistics in the LCK's fun yet accurate way, Advanced Language Construction is just what you need.
Table of Contents
Introduction — How to use the book
Writing a grammar — How to outline; some things to put in; worries about whether it's too simple, too complex, or not weird enough; how to write glosses
A taste of logic — Just enough logic for linguists; creating logical languages
Logographic writing — A detailed guide to creating logographs, plus a glimpse at ideographic writing
Pidgins and creoles — Contact languages of several types, with a short sketch of Tok Pisin
Life cycles — How languages arose; language acquisition; bilingualism; long-term cycles; language death
Studies in Morphosyntax — So. Much. Morphosyntax! Latin case; morphosyntactic alignment including ergativity; gender; aspect; valence; modality; Mandarin syntax; polysynthesis; Steven Foley's guide to the NW Caucasian verb
Sign language — The structure of sign languages, with a focus on ASL
Putting it all together — How to make a complicated linguistic landscape as on Almea— along with some things we didn't cover earlier, like slang, borrowing, and triliteral roots
Also available: the companion volume to the LCK, The Planet Construction Kit... covering everything about conworlds but languages: astronomy, geology, climate, history and culture, religion, magic, technology, war... even how to create illustrations and 3-D models to bring your creation to life.