In my story there are three important cultures, each remarkable different from the others. I've only begun to scratch the surface of what these cultures are like, but portraying their depth will add greatly to the story.

Each one speaks a different language, and I'm wondering if any fantasy/sci-fi world builders here might have some experience with creating alien languages. I think the language of a culture is a great place to start building, because it can tell you a lot about the culture, but the problem is, I'm not a linguist, so I'm not sure where to begin. I know all that I'll need is to make up rule's for proper naming of people, places and things, but that can give an alien society a lot of flavor, and that's what iI'm going for here.

So does anyone have any advice about what are good ground rules to follow on creating languages? I need a coherent pattern with each culture, so don't tell me to "just make it up." When I'm finished, I want a contrast as great as between say, English and Chinese.

Also, remember that cultural differences are usually more expressed by idiom and interrelation of word meanings (or 'native etymology), like the way that subcultural units in the United States and other places adopt dialects in which words are diverted from their established meanings, or phonetically transformed into dialect, for the purpose of establishing group identity. Levels of formality or the lack thereof, as well as different means of achieving formal usage (verbose or concise, word modification or gammatical convention, referential or constant value, etc.) are an important way of making each language 'feel' different when translated into English (which you will almost invariably do).

Remember, it's pointless to invent different languages if they all sound the same when translated directly into English. And don't try to throw more 'alien' terms at the reader than can fit into a half page glossary (and don't make the glossary necessary to the reader). The important thing is to make it so that the different cultural expressions still seem different when translated into English.

And here's where you, an English speaker, totally luck out. Since there is single cultural tradition with a monopoly on modern English, you can easily find dozens of radically different English speaking cultures around you. In fact, you can observe the way that a person from another culture speaks English because there are people that have learned to speak English from almost every culture on Earth.

Anyway, keep that in mind when you're working on coming up with your languages, since you won't really use them that much in your writing. When you've got that down, learn more about romance languages in general by studying Latin, and getting a feel for how that produces commonality (and distinction) in that family of languages, and then try studying Chinese, just a little, to get a look at a very different approach to language.

If you want to get more in depth, you can try studying some Korean and Japanese, since they show up some interesting differences in structural usage from Chinese despite having so many words taken from Chinese roots. But it's really not necessary. Once you have the different root structures of Latin and Chinese to compare, you can study grammatical and formalistic usage issues just by looking at various English speaking cultures.
 

Stuff like that will make your story richer than any string of made-up language ever will.

For printed words in a foreign language, don't forget that you can use clicks & snorts for maximal differentiation too. Nothing sets a printed word apart as foreign like embedded punctuation marks. N!sze says "I'm different" more than any too-long string of consonants or vowels. Ba'al is better that Baal.

And for that 3rd language, maybe one with a truncated list of consonants might work. Try looking at Hawaiian. The name of my favorite fish in Hawaiian in Humuhumunukunukuapuaa, or "Fish that grunts like a pig and lives in..." Anyway, you can do a lot by substituting our standard 26 letters into, say, 13.

German is also a fun one to work with because they make new words by stringing together smaller words referring to part of the concept (much like Hawaiian turns a whole sentence into the name for a single fish). Anyway, hope that helps.

How about a language composed entirely of ASDF JKL;? I had a keyboard that only did that row of keys. Also had two calculators in a row on which the "6" key failed.

Good luck. I like the Sean Connery impersonation a lot. As long as it isn't the Sean Connery from The Avengers movie.

"Now is the Winter of YOUR discontent!"

Arrrgh.

 

My first addition to the list of recommendations is that you read Steven Pinker's THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT for an overview of how the mind creates languages and the basic choices of syntax and structure available to us humans.

My second addition is that you pick your metaphors carefully, so that you have different ones for each culture (this applies even if you aren't making up languages for the cultures).

If you have one culture use a militaristic metaphor in its expressions, have another one use a commercial (sales) metaphor, and another use a scientific metaphor or a sports metaphor. There are many other possibilities to choose from as well.

These will give you a better taste of the culture than a bunch of syllables and punctuation marks, no matter how much sense those things may make to you and the native speakers. (You don't have to worry about coming up with a Roman alphabet representation for the languages either--just say how the language sounds to non-native hearers--growls and clicks and whistles, or sing-song and humming, or whatever.)
 

Anyways,

Just a

Thought
 

One thing to be wary of is the 'Russian Name' syndrome - the first time I attempted to read "War and Peace" I got to the end of the first chapter and all I knew was that there were lots of people I had filed as 'Russian Name'. Character names must be differentiated from each other.

It's better, perhaps, to build your culture through etiquette and architecture.
"Rohan walked beneath the tapered spire of the central plaza, his footsteps echoing on the cold stone floor. He kept his eyes carefully fixed at a point two yards in front of his feet. Now would not be a good time to cause offense."
cf.
"Rohan weaved his way through the garish tented booths that littered the bustling central plaza. The air was full of noise; Stall tenders calling out prices in an appealing chant, customers haggling, tourists gaping. As he passed a fish stall he was jostled by a lady striving to get a closer look at some of the wares and had to struggle to keep his footing."
Both those excerpts deal with someone walking across a plaza - but the cultures that the plaza exist in are quite different.
In short, I guess what I am saying is that there are better ways to build a culture than trying tricks with language - ways that aren't going to cause you to lose your style or, worse, take on an affected one.

Strange (often) = Unreadable.

Telepathy and sign language can work well, as you can use speech-but-not-speech without sacrificing language.

"Good Morning" he said as she walked into the kitchen.
*Good morning* she signed back with a slight grin on her face. From the impish tilt to her hands, he guessed she was recalling the events of the night, which had been both long and rewarding.

Don't know if this ramble is any use to you

Regards

Robert

[This message has been edited by WileyKat (edited September 11, 2000).]