Conlanging for beginners

So, you want to conlang? You’re going to need grit, strength, and sheer will-power! (More or less…) there are several ways to make a fictional language, and one of the most common beginner mistakes is just writing down random words and giving them random names. Because then you’re conlang won’t feel real, it will feel bland and well, really boring… sorry to be a bummer. Below are a few tips to help you write your next blockbuster Hollywood film conlang! (Or for your book, video game, tv series, YouTube, coding, military use, or even just for fun!)

Trills!

What is a trill? A trill is a type of rolling noise we make while pronouncing certain words. Trills are often used for ‘R’. Try say ‘R’ while making a noise similar to a cat purring. At first it’s hard to pronounce but with practice it’s easy to say. And a really rare one is ‘B’, not very many languages use it. But, maybe your conlang isn’t like other languages. It’s totally up to you.

Diphthongs!

Diphthongs are pretty simple, it’s the combination of two vowels to make another sound. Example: "oo” “ia” “ea” “ua” “ii”. But there is no reason why your conlang can’t use more than 3 combinations! “Oui” “aui” “aua”, or 4 “eaea” “ouie”.

The phonetic table of sounds!

This is a list of all the sound humans can make that are a part of language. It’s useful to learn how each is pronounced. And most of the sounds can be omitted from a letter from the ‘abcs’. ‘Í’ could just be ‘I’, unless if you want to use accents.

Coding!

A useful way to make a conlang is to disguise your words (secret messages, club meetings, spouses speaking to each other, etc) you can still speak English, or to make it even harder to crack your code it could be a conlang. Per se “olleH” is very simple. It’s ‘Hello”, but since ‘hello’ is a positive saying, you can exchange it for another positive word that is similar. Like the word “Bless”, making “hello” into “sellB”. Become you are blessed to receive a welcome from some one. Or you can use numbers for interpretation

Q = 1

W = 2

E = 3

R = 4

T = 5

Y = 6

U = 7

I = 8

O = 9

P = 1.1

A = 1.2

S = 1.3

D = 1.4

F = 1.5

G = 1.6

H = 1.7

J = 1.8

K = 1.9

L = 2.1

Z = 2.2

X = 2.3

C = 2.4

V = 2.5

B = 2.6

N = 2.7

M = 2.8

! = 10

? = 20

“ = 30

, = 40

. = 50

: = 60

Crack this code.

2,1.7,9 3,2.5,3,4 8,1.3 4,3,1.2,1.4,8,2.7,1.6. 5,1.7,8,1.3 8,1.3 1.6,4,3,1.2,5,10

Your conlang doesn’t just have to be words!

Not all languages are words, some are colours, taste, touch, and even sign! Maybe you have an alien species that emit light from their eyes in a blinking manor (Renlles), others can spew an acid-like substance and the other alien tastes it… or your aliens just speak with sign! Sign is silent, for a stealthy warrior-like aliens, it looks cool if you can speak it really fast, but it’s not practical if your aliens lost a limb or something (but what of they can regenerate?) Or your language can be a mix, the Goblins in one of my worlds speak a mix of spoken language and a sign language. Because they can only produce about 5-8 sounds, so the signing can make same sounding words mean different things. The Renlles speak both spoken language and a colour based language (they can also psychically interact to each other, via their dreams). But your language can be even more weird! Maybe they speak by rattling the bones on their spine? Or by slapping their arm to make sounds? You choose!

Conclusion

Remember to do some of your own research, Google is a useful tool. And not every English rule for grammar is the same for other languages. The ‘ongoing aspect’ refers to adding the ‘ing’ to the end of words, to make “clean” into “cleaning”. Making clean an ongoing action that is currently happening. But not every language uses ‘ing’ type equivalent, so “clean” can also mean “cleaning”, depends on the sentence. You can make up your own rules to! You can make rules that don’t even exist in English. Thank you for reading, and happy conlanging!