To Create a Language
by Mare Kuntz
Every one of us is, of necessity, a student of language. Some people find
language such an intriguing toy that they want to build a language of their own. People
have various motivations for taking on this massive task: some want a secret code to
compose their personal writings in; some want their fictional characters to have a
fictional language to speak in; some dream of creating a lingua franca for the world to
adopt; some want to eliminate the annoying vagaries and irregularities of naturally
evolved languages; and some want to create a language in such a way that the concepts
built into it will reflect or affect the philosophy of its speakers. (Henning, “How-To
Newsletter part 1: An Introduction to the Hobby of Model Languages”, p. 1) Whatever
your motivations, this set of instructions can help you out.
The first thing to do is chose what type of language you want to make. Circle
your choices as you go along. Creating a language involves making lots and lots of
decisions, and if you don’t document these as you go along, you’re going to forget them.
I recommend keeping all the paperwork for your language in a 3-ring binder.
Naturalistic or Loglan?

A naturalistic language is naturalistic in that it has irregularities. English, for
example, has irregularly conjugated verbs (sing), irregularly pluralized nouns
(mouse), etc. Other languages have irregular gender assignments, noun
declensions, etc.

A loglan, or logical language, is perfectly regular.

Which is better? Well, would you rather your language was realistic and quirky,
or neat, tidy, and easy to remember?
A Priori or A Posteriori Lexicon? A Priori or A Posteriori Grammar?

A lexicon is the group of root words on which the vocabulary of your language is
based. The grammar is the pattern by which these root words are modified with
affixes, case endings, and tense endings, then arranged into the proper word order.

A posteriori (from after) means the language is based on one or more existing
languages. For example, the futuristic slang in Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork
Orange is based on English and Russian.

A priori (from before) means the language is completely made up. Of course, it’s
impossible to completely make up a grammatical system; the general guidelines
for what grammatical forms are possible are hardwired in every human brain.
However, you can mix-and-match grammatical elements from different languages
to get something sufficiently original to be termed a priori.

What should you choose? If you want your language to be something humans
might speak in the near future, choose an a posteriori lexicon. If you want your
language to be something that has nothing to do with present-day Earth, choose an
a priori lexicon. If you don’t find grammar interesting, or if you intend to use
your language simply as a means for encoding your writing, make your grammar
be a posteriori and just use the grammar of your native language. If you think
grammar is fun to play with, choose a priori and have fun making it up. (There
are guidelines for this below.)
Complete Language or Model Language?

A complete language is one that has more than 100,000 words of vocabulary
(English has 250,000) and a complete grammatical system, such that all the
communication that normally goes on in a society could be accomplished through
use of this language. As you may guess, making a complete language is a LOT of
work.

A model language is one in which you only work out the details necessary for
whatever you intend to write in the language.

Pick whichever suits your purposes.
Okay, now you know what you want to make. How do you make it?
The following steps are necessary to the creation of an “A Priori, Complete”
language:
(other types can skip some steps)

Choose the phonology

Choose/Design an alphabet, syllabary, ideogramy or pictogramy

Choose the syllable structure

Choose the type of accent, and assimilation rules

Create the lexicon

Create the grammar

Translate the desired text (Rosenfelder, p. 1)
Phonology:
Unless you want to create a sign or other non-verbal language, you need to have
some sounds with which your language can be spoken. The phonology of your language
is the set of sounds used to communicate your language. If you are using an a posteriori
lexicon, simply use that language’s phonology. You may want to represent spelling or
pronunciation as having drifted from their present day forms; how to do this is explained
in the section on Change Over Time.
If you are creating an a priori lexicon you need to design a phonology. In
designing the phonology of your artificial language you have several choices:

Choose phonemes that you are most familiar with.

Choose phonemes that appeal to you aesthetically.

Choose phonemes to maximize your phonemic inventory. (This requires a chart
and pronunciation tape or CD of the international phonetic alphabet. The tape/CD
is available at: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/cassette.htm .)

Choose phonemes that most people in the world already know or can learn to
pronounce easily.

Choose phonemes based on morphological, syntactic, semantic or other
requirements. (This is if you want to get complicated and have 2 or 3 versions of
some phoneme type because the language’s philosophy calls for this type of
symmetry, or have the number of phonemes of each type fit some kind of
numerology system.)

Choose sounds that humans can make but don’t usually use linguistically:
whistles, clicks (some languages do use these), kiss-noises, purrs, etc.
What kinds of sounds are there to choose from? And how do you write them down? The
phonetic alphabet!
Pronunciation Key:
p pill
t
till
k kill
i
beet
I bit
b bill
d
dill
g gill
e bait
 bet
m mill
n
nil
 ring
u boot
U foot
f
s
sill
h hill
o boat
 bore
v veal
z
zeal
l
 bat
θ
 chill
r reef
^
ð thy
j
j
aj bite


ʍ which
j boy
w bout
fill
thigh
shill
Jill
leaf
you
w witch
butt
a bought
sofa
 azure
The symbols not included in this key don’t exist in English. To hear examples of them
you will need to get the tape or CD from the IPA or hear them from someone who speaks
a foreign language that has that sound.
(This chart of the International Phonetic Alphabet may be freely copied on
condition that acknowledgement is made to the International Phonetic Association.)
Syllable Structure:
(skip if using an a posteriori lexicon)
Now that you have your phonemes, you need to build syllables out of them. The
syllable structure of every language on Earth is included in the formula: {C}V{V}{C}
where {} indicates zero or more of the enclosed item, C indicates a consonant, and V
indicates a vowel or semivowel. Keep in mind that by vowel or consonant we mean one
sound, not one letter – “th” for example only counts as one consonant. All existing
languages limit this structure in some way to prevent very-hard-to-pronounce syllables.
The maximum syllable allowable in any language would be CCCVVCCC (e.g. sprites).
Accent:
(skip if using an a posteriori grammar)
When you speak you emphasize some syllables and de-emphasize others; this is
an accent pattern. All human languages have some type of accent pattern because this
helps hearers perceive words accurately. There are two types of accent that I know of:
stress and tonal.

English and Latin have stress accents. In English this means that unstressed
vowels are all pronounced []. In Latin this meant that []s tended to become
other vowels. In Latin simple rules determined which syllables were accented; in
Eenglish the accent(s) are random and must be memorized for each word.

Japanese, Greek, and Mandarin have tonal accents. The number and type of tones
differs, but basically syllables are accented by being spoken with a higher or
lower pitch. There is no vowel assimilation in tonally accented languages.
Assimilation:
(skip if using an a posteriori lexicon)
Frankly, assimilation is one of the most irritating, messy aspects of language.
Assimilation can occur whenever two syllables are combined into a word. For example,
let’s take the prefix ‘in’, meaning ‘not’. Theoretically this prefix is just stuck on the front
of a word, as with ‘intolerable’. But if the word begins with certain sounds, the last
consonant changes so that the two are easier to say together: ‘impossible’, ‘irresponsible’,
‘illegitimate’. Assimilation can also happen the other way around, with the first sound of
the root word changing to agree with the last sound of the prefix. Assimilation happens
only with consonants, and can be predicted mostly by knowing whether the consonants
are voiced or unvoiced. For example, the voiced [b], [d], and [g] regularly change to or
from the voiceless [p], [t], and [k], respectively. You will need to take all of this into
account when choosing syllables to use as affixes and when creating two-syllable
compounds in your language.
Assimilation also occasionally occurs between words: for example the choice of
the article ‘a’ or ‘an’ before a noun. However, this is rare enough that it would be safe to
ignore in your language creation.
Alphabet/Syllabary/Ideogramy/Pictogramy:
English uses an alphabet – a system in which one letter represents one sound. At
least theoretically one letter represents one sound – English has problems with this
because we use a Roman alphabet which doesn’t distinguish between long and short
vowels and has no symbols for the two types of ‘th’ sounds. The phonetic alphabet, as
described above, was invented so that linguists could indicate each sound in every with
one symbol.
If you want, you can just write your language in the phonetic alphabet. If you
want to, however, you can create an alphabet, Syllabary, Ideogramy, or Pictogramy with
which to write your language.

Creating an alphabet is simple – write down the phonetic symbols for all of the
phonemes your language will use, then make up a symbol for each one.
Remember, simple is better – no English letters of the alphabet take more than 4
strokes to write (E) and most take less than that. People are lazy, efficiency is
good, and you’ll have less fun playing with your language if you keep getting a
hand cramp from writing the letters. Do you want a print alphabet, a cursive
alphabet, a brush-painted alphabet, or a stylus-made alphabet? For a print
alphabet make each letter out of straight lines. For a cursive alphabet make each
letter start with a tail at a standard point around the letter area. (The standard
point depends on whether your language is written left-to-right, up-to-down, or
whatever.) Now draw the letter without letting your pen tip leave the paper, and
end with a tail that goes to the standard point where the next letter will begin.
(I intend an illustration for this)
For a brush-painted or stylus-made alphabet, keep in mind that the lines will vary
in thickness and what the tips of the lines look like depending on how the brush or
stylus is shaped.

A syllabary is a system in which a letter or other written symbol represents not
one phoneme but a whole syllable. These are best for languages that only allow
simple syllables or have only a few phonemes – if we created one for English it
would have to have something like 8,000,000,000 symbols. The calculation used
here is [(21 consonants * 20 consonants * 19 consonants)2 * [(12 vowels * 11
vowels) + 12 vowels] – illegal consonant combinations. Modified syllabaries are
more efficient: for example, you could have one symbol for each possible
consonant cluster and one letter for each vowel. To write English in such a
system would require something less than 7,990 symbols. Mandarin, which
allows fewer phonemes and syllables, can be written with only 3,000 such
symbols.

An ideogramy is a set of abstract pictures that represent sounds, syllables, or
whole words, e.g. Cuneiform, Mandarin.

A pictogramy is a set of more-or-less meaningful pictures that represent sounds,
syllables, or whole words, e.g. Egyptian. Another example is Linear B:
(I need to re-draw this so I’m not violating copyrights, but I ran out of time.)
Lexicon:
Words are created in several distinct ways:

Arbitrary Coinage
“hobbit”, “Jabberwocky”
This is the simplest way of creating a word, and the one you will be using most if
you are creating an a priori lexicon. Simply take the phonemes you have chosen,
use them to generate syllables that are legal to the syllable pattern you have
chosen, and then assign a meaning to each resultant syllable. A shareware
program is available from www.langmaker.com to generate acceptable syllables
and track the pieces of lexicon the linguistic craftsperson creates. This program
also comes with a file of dictionary entries of 3,000 core terms to help you create
your lexicon.

Onomatapoeia
“coo”, “chirp”
In assigning meaning to your syllables, let onomatopoeia be you guide when
possible. This is a principle of naming things according to the sounds associated
with them. Terms having to do with water might have ‘sh’s in them, a cat might
be called a ‘raow’, etc.

Affixes
“inside”, “absof-inglutely”, “sillyness”
An affix is literally “something stuck onto” a root word. There are four possible
types of affixes: prefixes, which occur at the beginning of a word, infixes, which
occur at the end of a word, suffixes, which occur at the end of a word, and
circumfixes, which occur in two pieces bracketing a word. I’m sure you know
many examples of prefixes and suffixes. Infixes, while common in many
languages, only appear in English with swear-words, as in the example. English
has no circumfixes, but if we did, it would look something like *nesweetss for
sweetness. Languages which use a lot of affixes are called agglutinating
languages. The created language Klingon, for example, can have as many as nine
suffixes stacked at the end of a word. It is possible to create a language that has
no affixes, or uses particles, like Mandarin. (Particles are separate words that
have the meaning of affixes.) Prepositions are good things to make affixes; a
complete list of the prepositions occurring in English is included in an appendix at
the end of this text.

Prepared Phrases
“punctuated equilibrium”
This is where several words have been overloaded (made more specific and
complex, or more sweeping and general) with a new meaning when they appear in
a specific combination. For example, in Nancy Kress’ Brainrose the phrase
“purple martins flying”, while meaningless in reality, is given all sorts of
catastrophic overtones by the characters in the book. The phrase ‘punctuated
equilibrium’ literary means a balance which is periodically disturbed, but the
phrase has a much more complicated meaning in terms of evolutionary theory.

“feminazis”
Combination/Portmanteau/Blend
Very standard way to make all sorts of new words. Just stick two root words
together, joining them with a vowel if necessary.

Part of Speech Migration
“to eyeball something”
This is done in English every day. Making your language do this consistently can
say interesting things about how your culture looks at the world.

Namesakes/Eponymity
“Halley’s Comet”, “Linux”
Nothing spells narcissism like naming something after oneself.

Abbreviation
“fax” from “facsimilie”
Usually only useful when writing about the future of a real culture. These can be
used as futuristic street slang or technical jargon, less often as a political term

Metaphor/Metonymy Synecdoche
“crown” stands for “king”
All languages do this. Basically a root ends up being used in not-quite correct
ways because it was once used metaphorically, and this metaphor became
permanent.
Grammar:
(skip if using an a posteriori grammar)
Now you need some grammar. I can’t teach you everything about grammar in
this text – it would take a whole book to do so. You absolutely need to know what the 8
parts of speech are and how they are used: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, conjunction,
article, interjection, preposition. You absolutely need to know the ways in which a
verb/noun can be conjugated/declined/inflected: person, number, gender, case, tense,
voice, mood. You absolutely need to know how to cut sentences into clauses, and how
word order can contain meaning or not, depending on how a language uses it.
If you don’t know that stuff you have 2 choices: use English grammar or go read a
book. Here are some useful books and two somewhat useful webpages:

Fromkin, Victoria, and Robert Rodman An Introduction to Language

Comrie, Bernard The World's Major Languages

Lyovin, Anatole An Introduction to the Languages of the World

Chomsky, Noam Transformational Generative Grammar

Rosenfelder, Mark “The Language Construction Kit.”
http://www.zompist.com/kit.html

Henning, Jeffrey “Invent Your Own Language.” http://www.langmaker.com/
While reading, you can record your impressions with this checklist:
How are nouns formed, what properties about them need to be indicated, and how
will these properties be indicated?

Gender:

Number:

Case:

Declensions by thematic vowel or otherwise:

Affixing:
Do you want any inflectives? (An inflective is an affix that has syntactic
rather than lexical meaning – for example ‘Jane’s’, ‘I call/ he calls’.)

Does your language use articles?

Pronouns?
How are verbs formed, what properties about them need to be indicated, and how
will these properties be indicated?

Do verbs and nouns have separate, unified, or regularly related roots?

Gender:

Person:

Number:

Tense:

Voice:

Mood:
Adjectives:
Adverbs:
Conjunctions:
Prepositions:
Word order:
If you’re creating a naturalistic language you also need to decide what’s going to be
an exception to the rules, and how this is going to be an exception:
Miscellaneous:
Handy List of All English Prepositions By Meaning
Toward
Away from
Through
Around
Before, in front of, prior to, previous
After, behind, past
At, around, about
Near
Far
Along
Across
Aslant
Astride, astraddle, athwart, aboard
Beside, along side
Afoul of, tangled with
Up
Down
North
South
Over, above
Under, below
On
Off of
In, into
Out of, from, forth
Opposite, facing
Where, there, when, then
Between
Among, amid, amidst
Meanwhile, while, during
As long as, for a duration
Yet, already
Starting at, from
Ending at, to
Until
Since
Throughout
Together
Apart
For the purpose of benefiting (I did it for Sam.)
Transfer of posession, for, to
About, with regard to, concerning, over, considering, re, apropos of
Regardless, irrespective
According to
For, pro
Against, anti
Except, other than, aside from
In the role of, with the authority of, as
In the manner or style of, as, like, ala
On the other hand, however
At a rate of, apiece, per
Because of, by
If
Also, besides, in addition to, together with, over and above
Agency, by (It was done by Sam.)
In preference to, rather than
This is more or less X than that
Similar to, like
Different from, unlike
Possessing, with, having
Not posessing, without, sans, sine
Made of
Because of, owing to, due to, caused by, resulting from
In as much as it is, qua
Instead of, replacing
By means of, via, with
If then
Within X range of Y, Y give or take X
Handy list of Conjunctions
And, not only but also
And not
But, But not, yet, and yet, but still, whereas
Or, either or
Or but not both
So that, so then, therefore
Neither nor