How to create a language

Heavy Work in Progress

The Idea of this article is to provide helpful tips that will make your constructed language or "conlang" appear more realistic, have greater internal consistency, and have a superior aesthetic appearance as to provide an all-around better language to use when world building. So that it doesn't seem like you are pulling names out of your ass because they sound outer-spacy and let's be honest we've all done that a thousand times.

This page article does not have to be used to construct a fully functional language and is more purposed towards allowing you to name numerous places and objects that all feel like they are derived from a language

## Step 1: Phonetics

When constructing a language it is vital to know which **Phonemes**, a fancy word for sounds, will be used and more importantly which will not: Phonemes are the most elementary parts of speech within a given language.

Below is a list of phonemes I believe is at least familiar to most English speakers. Two qualities distinguish distinct phonemes within a language from **Allophones**. First a Phoneme proper is the smallest variant that can take place between a pair of words for instance; Pan & Ban the difference in sound between **P** and **B** making these two sounds as distinct Phonemes in English as the difference can be used to distinguish words also... Bat and Bet the difference between the **A** and the **O** marking different words mark these two sounds as distinct phonemes in English. However if I rolled my **R** in "Prop", It would not create a new word and their is no word in English where if I tap or Roll my **R** it would distinguish between words as such these variants of R are Allophones within English.

The other quality of Phonemes and Allophones is that they can be substituted and still be recognizable. So If I used the Velar Nasal **ŋ** in place of the Glottal Fricative **H** in the word Help, no one would no what Ñelp meant however if I replaced the **H** with a **ʔ** people might still recognize help but **ʔ** and **H** are still distinct phonemes as the distinguish Mmhmm from Mm-mm and Uhuh from U-uh.

I suppose I should make a third condition that a syllable must be confined to an individual section of a syllable or you could make stress an additional phoneme in English as it is used to distinguish the words *Insight* from **Incite**. And Prèsent from Presènt however you could argue further that the **e** in the second word is really pronounced as the central vowel "**ə**"

###### Stops (Plosives)

The first category on this chart from top to bottom are called **Plosives**, which is a fancy word for hard consonants or **Stops**, you know: **P, T, K, B, D & G-**. The first thing you should notice is that their are two categories **Voiced** and **Unvoiced**. **Voicing** is the only thing that separates S (unvoiced) from Z (voiced), P (unvoiced) from B (voiced). These consonants are straight forward and I would recommend choosing all of them as they are very common unless of course you alien physiology would prevent one such as having no lips which would prevent P and B altogether.

English also has an infrequent seventh Plosive called the "Glottal Stop" it is the "**-**" in "Uh-Oh". Also the **T** in the British pronunciation of "Butter" think "Bu'er". Interesting note the glottalization of words makes your voice sound like a chicken. **Q** also represents an additional unvoiced fricative pronounced using the dorsal of your tongue and the Uvular.

###### Affricates & Fricatives

The second category on this chart is **Affricates** but we are going to discuss **Fricatives** first as it is crucial to understand fricatives to know Affricates. Now a fricative is our soft vowels, sounds that can easily be added and subtracted to consonant clusters in common English they are **F, Th, S, Sh, V, Th & Z**. Note despite the fact that the dental fricatives **Th** (as in Thin) & **Th** (as in The) are common in English they are much rarer worldwide and do not appear in most languages however **F, S, V,** and **Z** (or variants of them) are almost universal.

Once again English has an additional Fricative formed in the Glottis but this one is much more common it is simply **H**. We also have a ninth voiced "Sh" sound but it only comes up rarely such as the S in "A**s**ia" and "Fi**ss**ion"

Now that Fricatives are out of the way Affricates are simple, they are a cross between a hard **Plosive** and a soft **Fricative.** Such as T and S pronounced together in **Ts**unami or Ca**ts**. The common affricates in English are **Ch & J**. Where as the Ch phoneme is the most common way to represent the Unvoiced Postalveolar Affricate T as in **T**rain, T as in Fu**t**ure are also cleverly disguised affricates.

The first three groups we have gone through Plosives (Stops), Affricates, and Fricatives are collectively called **Obstruents**

###### Nasals

As the very name suggests **Nasals** are consonants made with your nose, Common English has three **M, N & N**. However the third N is an accident and is simply an accented way of pronouncing Ns that come before **K**s & **G**s notice the tip of your tongue is not used for the N in Ta**n**k this is a distinct Nasal sound from the common form of the letter N. All three of these are common to most languages even though the third one is not supposed to be in English

###### Approximates & Liquids

The remaining categories of **Rhotics** & **Laterals**, collectively called **Liquids** or **Approximates**, as well as **Semi-Vowels**, also called **Glides**, are sometimes referred to together as **Sonorants** (Nasals are usually included in the Sonorant category as well). Sonorants (including nasals) can on occasion take the place of a vowel as the nucleus of a syllable, such as in the word "Bottle" pronounced Baut-L, with no vowel in the second syllable. English has five Approximates **R, L, L, W & Y**. These are common in most languages, although R and sometimes L frequently have **Allophones**, which is a fancy word for variant.

### Consonant Selection

So now that you know some of the basics I guess it's time to jump into Consonant Selection... One things to note for beginners and also two tips

1. If you select a voiced Plosive, Affricate, or Fricative, Such as "D" or "Z" or "J" (dge) it is very rare to have one without it's voiceless counterpart. So if I have "D" I should also have "T", If "Z" also "S" or If I have "J" I should have "Ch" (tsh)... and so on. Unless you specifically have a ban on voiced or unvoiced Consonants or the consonant is more difficult to pronounce than it is not implausible to just have the unvoiced phoneme without it's voiced counterpart (English examples are Q with no GW type sound or Ch as in Loch without a gargling type sound).
2. Less is more, always try to cut consonants over adding them, restrict your language in at least one area... Check out Toki Pona for a masterpiece in simplicity
3. Try to stick with sounds that you are comfortable with and that you have a reasonable expectation your reader can understand. For normal projects I'd try to have no more than two exotic Phonemes. Not every language needs a trilled-"R", Dental fricatives, clicks, and the lateral fricative that gives Sid the Sloth his unique "S's

Assuming your Alien species has lips, a tongue, and a harder and softer palate, a voice-box, and a nose, it should be able to make any sound a human can. But see how much fun a language becomes when you take one of these away. Imagine no Hard palate or teeth forcing a species to only P, B, F, V, K, G, -L, -R, -Rr (trilled), Y, W, & H. Or if it is like my Alkerre species with no voicing, forcing it to abandon B, D, G, V, Z, and J. Try it and have fun, just remember to be consistent.

### Vowels

The List below includes most English monothongs (Specifically the ones I could easily distinguish)
 Closed
 Mid-Closed
 Mid-Open

## Syllables

A syllable is made of two distinct sections the **Onset** and the **Rhyme** (Also spelled Rime), The Rhyme is further broken down into two different parts the **Nucleus** and the **Coda**. The Nucleus is the loudest part of any syllable by default or in technical terms the Nucleus is the most **Sonorant**. Now all phonemes have Sonority as all phonemes make noise and so naturally some are louder than others, the phonemes with the least sonority are the Obstruents