Words to include in a constructed language?

[fayanora]

Over ten years ago, I started to create the Trai'Pahg'Nan'Nog language, a trade language for my Traipah culture that is supposed to be a conlang even in that universe. But I've encountered problems with it. The rules of the language are basically a mix of English and Spanish rules (mostly English), and I started coming up with words in some really

Comments

[kengr]

Check out Basic English for a starter list of words. It's English boiled down to an 800 word vocabulary, with *no* irregularities.

Also, keep in mind that trade languages (usually start out as pidgins or creoles) have (at least for the first few generations) an incredibly limited vocabulary and what grammar they have is *way* simplified compared with the parent tongues.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Basic_English

You might also check out Esperanto (I have a teach yourself Esperanto book and an Esperanto dictionary you can borrow) and Interlingua. Loglan (old name, I don't recall the newer name is another conlang to check out.

[christinathena]

Also, keep in mind that trade languages (usually start out as pidgins or creoles) have (at least for the first few generations) an incredibly limited vocabulary and what grammar they have is *way* simplified compared with the parent tongues.

Not always, it depends on how it originated. While that's certainly true of languages like Lingua Franca, it's not true of languages like English and Swahili that serve as trade langauges. Neither were simplified in the process of becoming trade languages. So, it depends on whether it originated by one language being adopted by others, or by multilingual communities interacting and developing a new language.

Loglan is an interesting one, but I wouldn't suggest it for Fay's purposes. It would be horrible as a trade language, but as a language for scientists and philosophers, it's certainly quite useful.

[fayanora]

On Traipah, TPNN has been around for a while. Not sure how long; not a full 10K years. But at least a few thousand years.

[christinathena]

A few thousand years would certainly be enough to re-evolve quite a lot of complexity, even if it had started out as a creole!

[christinathena]

Personally, I develop my conlangs organically. I don't set out with a specific purpose and create grammar rules and vocabulary that's set in stone. I create tentative rules to start with and a small tentative vocabulary, and let it evolve over time, changing things around, and developing vocabulary as I need it. I personally find that easier than trying to create a bunch of words from the start.

[fayanora]

That's how TPNN ended up such a mess.

[christinathena]

Ah, well. Personally I found that when I tried starting off with a list of words I ended up losing interest, and creating a lot of similar-sounding words. Creating a bit at a time allows for more variety (you'll be in different moods at different times, and that'll show up in different types of sound), and, if you're willing to go through already-established words and edit them, can create unexpected patterns, giving it a nice naturalistic feel. Of course, it also makes for more work because sometimes you end up having to overhaul your existing vocabulary ...