ConLang

[samd6]

Many conlangs get their name from a meaningful phrase in that language.

Esperanto- "One who hopes" Esperanto was developed to facilitate communication between people. The original and eventual goal of esperanto is that everyone would learn esperanto as a second language, and thus promote unity and peace- something to hope for

Ithkuil-"Hypothetical representation of a language" Ithkuil was developed as an exercise to see how much meaning could be packed into the smallest amount of space. It was not intended to be widespread, and definitely not intended as a first language, hence "hypothetical".

Lojban-"Logic-language"

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

But understanding how sounds work helps too. I don't really like advice that says "Oh, just pick some letters and slap them together." Short vowels and hard consonants create a completely different impression than long vowels and soft consonants. Someone pointed this out to me with "naked" and "nude." They mean the same thing, but they're used in totally different contexts: "OMG! He was totally NAKED!" That's horrifying and terrible, and it's hard and sharp. "I only paint nudes." That sounds so sophisticated and elegant, but they both mean the same thing. Or consider the kapow of "Atomic rockets" when compared to the more lethargic and grand "Spaceship."

The two, in practice, have different meanings. Nude refers almost exclusively to unclothed bodies, and is a late (16th C.) borrowing from latin and french.

Naked, the older term, can mean bare, unclothed, empty, or in the case of perception mechanisms, unaided.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=naked
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nude

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

The two, in practice, have different meanings. Nude refers almost exclusively to unclothed bodies, and is a late (16th C.) borrowing from latin and french.

Naked, the older term, can mean bare, unclothed, empty, or in the case of perception mechanisms, unaided.
...

One can feel naked while fully clothed. But feeling nude when clothed doesn't make much sense, unless talking about very sheer fabrics.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

..

We already have that. I talk a lot to my programmer friends (and doing some work in the field too, but I'm just a beginner). Even when not discussing work, their vocabulary is different; when talking about work, the percent of words unknown (or with different meanings) to the mainstream speakers is huge (perhaps up to 50% depending on what is being discussed).

Of course, but vocabulary is only the most basic component of a full language. Pets can learn some words. Only Kanzi the bonobo has learned full English, in my opinion, that I know of.... (hedge opinion, hedge opinion) ;)

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Of course, but vocabulary is only the most basic component of a full language. Pets can learn some words. Only Kanzi the bonobo has learned full English, in my opinion, that I know of.... (hedge opinion, hedge opinion) ;)

There certainly are languages that share most of the syntax and the like, but differ in vocabulary. The three East Slavic languages differ by vocabulary to an easily-noticeable extent, but are much more similar in other aspects.

[shawnhcorey]

Well, I haven't created a conlang (yet) but I wanted some names for a typical fantasy to add a different flavour. I found the Online Etymology Dictionary to be a great help. Since elves and dwarves are from German roots, I wanted words that sounded like they may be German in origin.

So elves became Alva; dwarves Stenfulk (stone folk) and Gundard (war hard); gnomes Orphafulk (slave folk), of which there are 3 families: Gardafulk (garden gnomes), Veltafulk (field gnomes), and Holtafulk (wood gnomes); orcs are Ferusgunwer (wild war male); and humans Feruswer (wild male).

The king of the elves is given the title Albwerun (elf male first) Patarik (father king) and the queen Meukkilde (gentle daughter) Gwenvyrikke (white lady queen). (But the humans call them Oberon and Guinevere.)

Oh, and the name of the campaign is Alva Sorgia, the Elven Land of Sorrow.

[Anders]

If you want to get even deeper, you can download a Indo-european Grammar here, and the book includes a lexicon as well.

[shawnhcorey]

Well, if you want an exsisting conlang, you could try the Anglish Moot.

[Anders]

And here's an index of proto-germanic words. I discovered that the next step up is a with 7 000, but acquiring that involved money.

[Rasputin]

As someone who dabbles in conlangs, a few points.

* They really do come out better if you start with a proto-tongue. This way, you apply the sound changes, making more out-there roots less odd in the ending tongue.
* You only need a few of roots to start, since you're likely only making names. Here is a handy article giving the rules and the needed roots.
* You can work from one of the proto-tongues the others have given. A trick for a fantasy world is to switch proto-tongues for each race. A hint for Indo-European: English speakers know little about the Baltic and Indic tongues, as well as Albanian and Armenian, though those two tongues don't come out too generic. English speakers will get a certain feeling from tongues that come from Latin or German since we have cultural biases with those tongues.