Conlangs

My main craft is conlangs (constructed languages). All the languages I've made are listed on the sidebar. To the right – below the sidebar – are family trees of my conlangs to show how they're related to one another.

 

What are conlangs?

They are languages created intentionally unlike naturally rising languages (e.g. English, Japanese, Navajo, etc.), be it for communication between peoples, or enrichment of a fictional world. There are many types of conlang, and reasons for creating them.

 

Types of conlang

Some are based on technical interest such as exploring specific aspects of grammar. Some are conceptual, e.g. Kay(f)bop(t), a Jokelang which contains a myriad of unnecessary features and rules that make it very impractical to use normally but hilarious to try. Some are more visually-based, where the conlang has no speech but only an orthography, e.g. Unker Non-Linear Writing System (UNLWS). Some explore the theoretical development of a single language. One might engineer a language to have machine-like syntax (e.g: Lojban) – an Engelang.

 

Artlangs are created for artistic expression: to explore imagined scenarii in history for example (Altlangs), or to perhaps enrich the experience of worldbuilding (as in High Valyrian for the TV dramatisation of Game of Thrones) to delve into the constructed culture. International Auxiliary Languages (IALs) are created for eased communication between diverse groups, such as Esperanto, Folkspraak, Sambahsa, Lidepla and many others. 


My process

Having studied primarily phonology, I view language and conlangs from a very sound-based perspective. For example, many lemmas in my conlangs are onomatopoeic rather than just randomly-chosen words that sound nice – of course the latter does comprise many non-physical ideas such as core verbs, though. I feel one of the best ways to connect with a conlang and its conculture is to immerse oneself in the language, and a fantastic way to do that is to make the language sound intuitive and aesthetically-pleasing.