Diachronic conlanging

  • [[ Neogrammarian hypothesis ]]: Sound change is regular
  • Because sound change is regular and applies to all languages, we expect a realistic looking conlang to show evidence of sound change.

  • Therefore, one way to make a realistic-looking conlang is first to make an earlier form of the language, and then apply some changes.

  • If you’re interested in making a rich language for world-building, I highly recommend the historical approach
    • Examine how some present-day languages have evolved from ancient languages.
    • How have their sounds changed? How have their words’ meanings changed? How has their grammar changed?
  • You can take inspiration from history to make your languages feel like a part of history too.
  • Another good book for embedding cultural and historical details into conlangs is Mark Rosenfelder’s The Conlangers Lexipedia.

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