This is an exercise for all Tolkien wanna-be’s. Ok…that’s too much as a long shot, like trying to reach Tolkien’s level. He was such a genius in his creation. Too hard to accomplish it. Who could compare anything to what he did?
There’s a book that I bought this week called “The Language Construction Kit” and it might help a little bit if you wanna put your creative juices flowing. Interesting reading with lots and lots of tips about the basics of how to BUILD a language. The verb “to build” is commonly associated with bricks, mortar, wood, houses, buildings….not with a language! But that’s the trick in this book! Build your own language with some “architectural” tips and with some effort you’ll be able to get a decent result and who knows…writing your own mythological book creating a whole universe from scratch.
Create plausible and realistic languages for RPGs, fantasy and science fiction, movies or video games, or international communication… or just learn about how languages work from an unusual, light-hearted perspective. The Language Construction Kit on zompist.com has helped a generation of conlangers to understand and create languages. It’s expanded here with coverage of semantics and pragmatics, language families, writing systems, and sample wordlists, as well as an annotated sample grammar. Revised edition.
A few steps taken from the book:
- Decide on the sounds of the language
- Create the lexicon
- Create the grammar
- Design an alphabet
- Decide how the alphabet is modified for cursive handwriting
- Translate the desired text
But this is just the surface! If you love languages, why don’t you try this kind of challenge? Maybe a vacation project this summer or the like. This is just a tip and encouragement I’d like to share with all of you. Good stuff should always be spread!