[otakon]

Hello all.

I am a newbie to this forum and in the process of becoming an amateur writer, so I could use some help. In this case, vocabulary and linguistics. I have a fictitious race that are inhuman with a decidedly inhuman throat, jaw, chest, tongue, dental and pallet structure (really total biology but we are dealing with word related aspects right now). They also think very differently so I was wondering if any of you nice folks would help me out. I can and will list periodic bits to what I have generated so far, because I do no want to flood you all with information.

Welp here we go with the first bit:

This is a list of general terms, be they environmental or social.

Th'Iem [teh-aye-em] Leaf, Moss, Illness, the Green color range, The Summer Solstice

Selgri: [Sail-gree] Mountain, Stone, Rock, Night, Rot, Endurance, the Purple/Black color range

G'Rluih: [Geihr-luih-hi] Water, Sea, River, Pond, Ocean, Fog/s, the Blue color range

Gi'eri: [Gee-ray-ee] refers to any water in motion

Boera: Flame, Fire, Burn, Scorch, Ash, The Autumn Equinox, Aggressive personalities, the Red/Orange color range

[B]Zezi'an: [ Zee-sigh-an] Wind, Mist/s, Motion, Activity, Puss, Timid personalities, The Spring Equinox, the Yellow color range

hDr'tose: [Durh-tahs] Branch, Log, Plank, Wood, Wood Grain, Flexible Thinking, A concept of athletic beauty

is'Nig'teh: [Ish-Nygh- titj] Cave, Shelter, enclosed spaces in general

cH'ur'C'ceh: [Ch-urhh-tek] Mud wallow, bath, comfert, relaxation, a relaxing place in general

Ipa: [Ee-pah] Knife, Tool, Blade, Weapon, Jewelry, Honor, Respect, Craft, Work

Ora: [Oh-rra (r's are rolled)] golden/blond/light shimmering highlights in the fur.

V'grrm'in: [Vei-Grihm-eein] The Void, a lack of color, Colorblindness, Hunger

Fryd'huj: [Frey-hd-hudge] Sweets, Juice, spices, the scent of a female, sewing [act/ equipment].

'zilaen: [sil-eye-in] This is a modifier used only in reference to the personality of the individual. Ex. Zezi'an'zilaen: Air Childe, Childe of Air

'ne'irt'ul: [ney-ear-tull] Modifies the word Boera, redefining it to refer to body heat

'Ba'irt'ul: Modifies Selgri, redefining it as magma, G'Rluih becomes steam, Zezi'an becomes a hot blast of wind

[B]D'gri'laih: [Duh-gree-Lay-uh] Death, Decay, the Winter Solstice [not the celebration, but the calendar date], Also a Ritual of Death that is taken when the participant feels they have taught all they can and cannot teach anymore. A celebrated Suicide ritual, one considered to be a natural death.

yir'tirm: [Yer-tay-er-im] A denunciation for 'the act' or 'to act'. Ex: Boera yir'tirm: To burn, to start a fire. Khanei Boera yri'tirm : He burned [blank], That Male burned [blank].

[B]Aeil'm: [Aye-ill-em] Emotional states. The problem with this word, is that it means every emotion. In order to truly translate it, one must take note of the position of the tail, the neck skutes and posture. Tone of voice as well as volume and pitch. The higher the pitch, the more likely the distress of some sort, the lower the more likely the enjoyment and pleasure. This word requires observation of the whole, to translate.

*****: [Differs between individuals] Fear. Unlike the fear defined in human dictionaries, this is very specific, very singular. This is nothing less than the fear that will stop a persons heart. Nothing less than the fear that kills. It is the rattle/gurgle/croak/shriek of absolute torment just before death comes to release the dying. This is the only fear Aeil'm does not, can not define.

Gruum'n: [Grue-mey-an] This roughly translates into 'Foolish One', age is applied based on who is referring too. Ex. An old man would be called 'Foolish Elder', While a teenager would be 'Foolish Whelp'.

If I could get critiques, opinions and even new ideas for the language it would be a big help.

[Sarunus]

Well, you've established some vocabulary, but the real meat of a language, in my opinion, is the grammar. For example, English and German have something like 70% lexical similarity, but the languages are mutually unintelligible due to differences in pronunciation and the grammar of each language. What is the grammar like? I'll just throw a bunch of questions at you. You don't have to answer, but it might help you figure out the sort of things you'll need to figure out to make a working language.

What are the persons of the language? First, second, third? Other?

How are plurals done? Is there a dual? Some other random numbers?

What is the word order?

What are the cases? Or, perhaps to avoid putting you in a box, how does one tell the difference between the subject and object of a sentence?

How are things counted? Does each number have a unique word as in Sanskrit or do they follow rigid systems like you might find in Japanese.

Are there inflections based on gender?

Is there room for idioms in the language? Or is there strict adherence to the grammar? (note: idioms make a language come alive)

On a phonetic note, you mention that the biology is completely different. Does that mean that they make completely different sounds? Are the Latin letters you're using approximations or are they close to the actual sounds being made? Are there extra sounds? It makes sense that there would be. How will you denote these? Sometimes, Arabic sounds are transliterated using other non-letter glyphs, like numbers.

Do they have a alphabet?

Also, making full languages is very daunting, so unless you plan on spending countless hours on this, you might consider making enough of the language to fit into your book, without getting into every dirty detail. Just make sure the language is grammatically consistent. Some of the more well-trained linguists out there can tell when someone has been sloppy.

Good luck!

[otakon]

Whoo, my head spins now. Still you have given me much to consider, and I still need more vocabulary before I feel I can create a grammar you know? Still I could use help on all of it. @.@

[Sarunus]

Whoo, my head spins now. Still you have given me much to consider, and I still need more vocabulary before I feel I can create a grammar you know? Still I could use help on all of it. @.@

Some people might find it easier to build a vocabulary first. I personally prefer to start with the grammar and let that guide my vocabulary. The reason I prefer it this way is because sometimes the rules are set for words of various endings or beginnings. For example, noun declensions tend to be based on word endings in Indo European languages, and verb conjugations tend to be based on verb endings.

So, if you have your grammar rules already set up, you know what words will fit into what category. It makes it a lot easier to absorb new words later on. For example, if your alien race encounters humans, maybe they don't have a word for "snowboard". It might become a loanword and they'll incorporate it according to their grammar system, perhaps rendering it "r'snoborda" or whatever.

As far as the help thing goes, I think you could probably just use my last post as a guide on what you need to do and go wild on wikipedia, examining grammar rules in general, and perhaps the grammar rules in other, more exotic languages (like Khoso perhaps?). Then you can make up your grammar rules and your vocab, or the other way around.

It takes work, but it's pretty rewarding. If you get stuck, feel free to reply back here. Again, good luck! You're going to learn more about linguistics than you ever thought you would, but you'll be surprised how much it will help you acquire new languages in the real world.