Does anyone make up their own languages?

[marklord]

I was wondering how many writers actually make up their own fantasy or science fiction languages - conglangs I think they're sometimes called. I have done this a bit - mostly to make up place and personal names - usually creating a basic vocab and then combining words to make names of things. Sometimes these are based on other languages - or what I know of them - Welsh or Polish for instance.

The master of the art was of course Tolkien, but I wonder if any other writers have ever gone as far as him in what they created? I sometimes think that maybe Tolkien's unique approach implies that no one can ever beat him for depth of world creation.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I haven't - can't say I would need to, really - but I wonder how does this affect the reader (I've never read any Tolkien; only 4 fantasy books in my entire life) in terms of them understanding. If you've invented a language, then would you be the only one to be able to speak or read it? How does the reader access it?

pH

 

[TWErvin2]

I've created phrases and established a small vocabulary/syntax for the 'foul tongue' in my fantasy series, as well as the 'high tongue' to a far lesser extent. But, for me, creating an entire language wouldn't be worth the effort. Not for the stories I have told/written and intend to tell.

While full created fantasy languages might appeal to some segment of readers, probably not a large one--they wouldn't read a novel or series without one.

 

[Venusian Broon]

The master of the art was of course Tolkien, but I wonder if any other writers have ever gone as far as him in what they created? I sometimes think that maybe Tolkien's unique approach implies that no one can ever beat him for depth of world creation.

I don't know if Tolkien's obsession with language made him better at world creation - there are plenty of languages being invented all the time by clever people - but I think, IMO, he was driven by other impulses to create worlds. I do think he was obsessed, in a quasi-religious manner, by creation and creativity and the fact that this was somehow a direct connection to god.

Now, I'm not religious, but I do also have a reverence for the creative act, I do think it is very special.

Of course he applied his (huge) skills in language when building up his mythologies...but isn't that the same as I, say, using my knowledge of physics (or insert your own specialities and other interests) to write fiction?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I have some words of Belauduian origin in my Abendau books but not a whole language.

Then I wrote a book in Northern Irish....

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I have done it.

Never again!

 

[marklord]

I have done it.

Never again!

Sounds like a bad experience - what happened?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

It wasn't a bad experience, not really, but it was a lot more work than it was worth.

 

[Dan Jones]

I started to do it for my first novel, and got some way into it, but my brother convinced me that it wouldn't be a good idea to follow through. His reasoning was that fantasy lends itself to a certain type of reader that will want to unpick, decipher and learn the language, which could create problems later on.

I thought that was actually pretty sound reasoning, so I just left it as a few words, perhaps two or three sentences here and there, and that was it. I'll see if I can dig it up and post it

 

[Ragandar]

I'm in the process of slowly building my own languages, but as a linguist the languages themselves are a goal to me rather than a means to an end. I enjoy working with languages and making my own. It makes for a rather different situation than someone making up a language purely for the sake of their world.

Now that we're talking about languages, though, I do have a question of my own. In my world there are people that use a clicking language like the Khoisan language families. There are phonetic symbols that can represent clicks, but I don't expect the average reader to necessarily know these. How would you represent the clicks in the text? Or would you leave them out and just say it's a clicking language and let the reader do the rest in their heads?

 

[Dan Jones]

Here we go:

"Den ishandi murshen vine des mayerll, Den iessi nyecek, Vine Den ronteki murshen." [DJ1]

[DJ1]Translation = The sea brought him and his kind; the mountain kept him; and the sea takes him back.

This was used during a funereal scene for a soldier. I did this maybe two or three years ago, so I can barely remember the grammatical mechanics, although if I look at it I can just about figure it out. I did take the time to write all this down, but it's in a notebook, not on computer, and God knows where that's gone.

Like Teresa, I don't think I'll be doing it again any time soon. To even create a few small sentences, ensuring they are grammatically correct, takes a lot of effort.

How would you represent the clicks in the text? Or would you leave them out and just say it's a clicking language and let the reader do the rest in their heads?

I suppose it depends on the POV of the narrator. If the character hearing it knows the language, you wouldn't even need to bother writing out the other language; you can just write it in English. If the "hearer" does not speak the language, then you can just relate what it sounds like. If you were listening to French but couldn't speak a word of it, chances are you wouldn't be able to write down exactly what was being said, either, but you'd hear the sounds and cadences, and you could just relate that.

 

[Brian G Turner]

IMO the only reason to seriously create your own language is because you are a linguist or similarly skilled with languages, and are therefore working to the strengths of your knowledge.

The rest of us can take pride in some form of consistency with names, places, and perhaps even the odd strange word - but anything more is likely to invite a mauling from people who really do know languages, while the ordinary reader simply ignores it all.

 

[RX-79G]

I've always liked how Iain Banks created the fictional language Marain, but aside from proper names doesn't actually write any of it down. Instead, he tells us what we are missing reading the primitive English translation of Marain, or the effect Marain has on the mindset of its speakers.

I found this approach more thought provoking then a section of the page dedicated to an indecipherable strings of letters.



Plus, that's a lot of extra work!

 

[VinceK]

I think LOT is a master class in using languages. I cannot imagine the amount of work Tolkien must have put in, but every time I read it I am fully immersed in his world and its inhabitants. The clever use of language separates the different races both in the present and the past and it is that historical context that creates depth. IMO

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I learned an important early lesson from Mary Gentle. She wrote a piece ages ago about making sure characters' names sounded like they came from the same culture - the way, say, Chinese names or Vietnamese names all share certain characteristics - if the characters did share a culture. This was particularly useful for my debut Memory Seed, which had three cultures in one city.

 

[ErikB]

I do. I'm anal retentive that way.

 

[Vertigo]

I was wondering how many writers actually make up their own fantasy or science fiction languages - conglangs I think they're sometimes called. I have done this a bit - mostly to make up place and personal names - usually creating a basic vocab and then combining words to make names of things. Sometimes these are based on other languages - or what I know of them - Welsh or Polish for instance.

The master of the art was of course Tolkien, but I wonder if any other writers have ever gone as far as him in what they created? I sometimes think that maybe Tolkien's unique approach implies that no one can ever beat him for depth of world creation.

It's interesting that you specifically mention place names; I can see some value to creating a basic vocabulary of geographic features like wood, ford, bay, harbour, village, town etc. giving a degree of consistency to your naming just as happens in the real world so: Haverford, Salford, Guildford etc. instead of just having completely random names. However I don't think it would be worth going much further than that.

 

[zmunkz]

I think for most people, taking the time to conlang is a sign of worldbuilder's disease. Unless you are an established writer with epic-scale stories in mind, it seems unlikely the presence or absence of internally consistent grammar will contribute much to the storytelling or the characters (which are where stories actually live and die).

I've read a few blogs on the topic and used that to make decisions for names, but I wouldn't go beyond that.

Tolkien is a master world builder to be sure, but he spent a decade creating mythology and languages and not writing. If that is what interests you, go for it, but it is not particular conducive to becoming a writer. I suppose it depends on your goals.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I have the odd word and phrase - I tend to mangle Chinese words and they are nonsense but they represent an ancient language spoken on the Island. My MC just refers to other language. IE as they're not speaking Islander he can't understand them.

 

[marklord]

It's interesting that you specifically mention place names; I can see some value to creating a basic vocabulary of geographic features like wood, ford, bay, harbour, village, town etc. giving a degree of consistency to your naming just as happens in the real world so: Haverford, Salford, Guildford etc. instead of just having completely random names. However I don't think it would be worth going much further than that.

That's basically what I've done - just did a post on my blog with some more details with examples if you anyone wants to see that: Creating Fantasy Languages – my own attempts