I won't pretend that Constructed Languages aren't a lot of work. To
really get into it, to do every element of it, you have to love it. And
if you have a world full of different cultures, different languages....
that's it's own project completely, and not one you're likely to want
to engage in if you actually want to, you know, write stories.
Especially if you're not going really need full languages in your stories. You probably won't.
What
you will need, though, is a certain degree of linguistic
verisimilitude, so that names of places, people and culturally unique
terms will seem like they come from the same language base.
Easiest
way to do that is to construct a phonology. A phonology describes what
sounds can be used in the language, and how syllables are constructed.
With that information, you know what words can exist in the language, and to a degree, that's all you need to know.
So,
how to you make a phonology, especially if you really don't know
anything about linguistics? Fortunately, the internet has some tools
you can use to make it easier. Right here
is a webpage that randomly generates a phonology: phonemic inventory,
syllable structure, allophony (the rules for breaking the rules,
essentially) and sample words.
Now, the catch with this is, it's all done in IPA: the International Phonetic Alphabet.
You'll probably want, for the sake of your writing, to figure out a way
to latinize the words, so your readers can wrap their heads around it.
Mind you, this will have nothing to do with how the language is
written, whether it's alphabetical or syllabic or pictographic. It's
simply figuring out how to write the words in simple text.
I
recommend taking the sounds of your phonology and coming up with a
consistent way to express each sound with a latin letter. It does not have to be a one-for-one. For example, your phonology might contain both a nasal alveolar (n) and a laminal nasal alveolar (n̻)--
the difference between the two are subtle, and you might choose, for
the sake of writing words out, to describe both with just an "n". Of
course, you could load up your latin approximation with diacritics (for
example: å,ä,á,â and à could all represent different sounds), but if you
do that, you should first understand what those diacritics mean and how
they are traditionally used.* However, if you are going to use
diacritics, I recommend you use them surgically and sparingly. Same
with apostrophes. Fantasy authors love throwing those in, but you
should only do it if it means something-- for example a glottal stop or
another sound that isn't easily latinized.
So,
with a phonology and a defined latinization of that phonology, you've
got the tools to make words and names in another language that feel like
they come from the same language, without having to overwhelm yourself
with making up an entire language from scratch.
--
*-
You might decide that å,ä,á,â and à represent various open-mouthed vowel
sounds, but if the sound you match it to doesn't correspond to how it's
typically used, you'll just created confusion. For example "Ä", the
A-with-umlaut, is used in in Finnish and Swedish as a "near-open front
unrounded vowel", or "æ" in the IPA, so if you use "ä" for, say, an open back rounded vowel ("ɒ"
in the IPA), your readers in the know will just think you don't know
what you're doing. Or, more likely, throwing in diacritics because you
look neat and foreign.
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