Con Lang: Difference between revisions

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'''Con Lang''' (or just "conlang") is short for "constructed language", e.g. a language the writer, their friend, or some other associate has made up for the purpose of using in a book or show.

No, they did not just ''[[Show Don't Tell|say]]'' that the [[The Greys|Alien]]/[[Our Elves Are Better|Elf]]/BeePeople speak a different language, they [[Doing It for The Art|actually made up]] an exact vocabulary and grammar, one that can be translated into English (or equivalent). This is where [[Translator Microbes]] are abandoned and a dictionary given to the reader. [[As Long As It Sounds Foreign|Gibberish]] does not count as a language, regardless of whether or not the other characters say they can understand it, and using a mere handful of [[Speaking Simlish|alien words]], even if you give them a translation, does not count either.

No, they did not just ''[[Show, Don't Tell|say]]'' that the [[The Greys|Alien]]/[[Our Elves Are Better|Elf]]/BeePeople speak a different language, they [[Doing It for The Art|actually made up]] an exact vocabulary and grammar, one that can be translated into English (or equivalent). This is where [[Translator Microbes]] are abandoned and a dictionary given to the reader. [[As Long As It Sounds Foreign|Gibberish]] does not count as a language, regardless of whether or not the other characters say they can understand it, and using a mere handful of [[Speaking Simlish|alien words]], even if you give them a translation, does not count either.

In [[Real Life]], an auxiliary language or "auxlang" is a conlang intended for use by real-world groups. [[Esperanto the Universal Language|Esperanto]] is the best known.

In [[Real Life]], an auxiliary language or "auxlang" is a conlang intended for use by real-world groups. [[Esperanto, the Universal Language|Esperanto]] is the best known.

Since virtually any fictional language could theoretically be part of a larger language, this trope only applies to those fictional works that actually give us enough to say some things of our own.

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* '''Foreign conversion.''' The language is closely based on a language foreign to the audience, but [[Indo European Alien Language|only differing slightly]] (in either words or structure) from its derivative. May include special letters and phonemes that are not found in the native language, and require a special pronunciation guide to be spoken properly. Not the same as [[As Long As It Sounds Foreign|foreign-sounding]] gibberish.

* '''Complete original.''' Very rare; words, grammar, and pronunciation are made up entirely by the author. More likely to include a unique alphabet and special pronunciations. May be loosely based on a foreign language, sometimes a dead language, but even then a hard translation.

* '''Newspeak.''' A language derived from our own with limited change in the actual words, usually as an advanced form of [[Future Slang]]. Overlaps with [[Strange Syntax Speaker]]. For the ''[[Nineteen Eighty Four]]'' version, see [[Newspeak]].

* '''Newspeak.''' A language derived from our own with limited change in the actual words, usually as an advanced form of [[Future Slang]]. Overlaps with [[Strange Syntax Speaker]]. For the ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' version, see [[Newspeak]].

[[Cypher Language|Cypher Languages]] are a subtrope of this, and many forms of [[Black Speech]] fall here as well. Contrast with [[Wingdinglish|WingDinglish]] where a supposedly alien or original language is just regular English in a strange [[Useful Notes/Fonts|font]].

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Our own conlang can be found [[TV Tropes Con Lang|here.]]

== Anime & Manga ==

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== Comics ==

* ''[[Tintin]]'' has [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syldavian Syldavian] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordurian Bordurian]; a conlang enthusiast [http://zompist.com/syldavian.html attempted to analyse Syldavian into something coherent], although it turns out it's basically the Brussels dialect of Dutch/Flemish with extra letters spewed all over it.

* ''[[Tintin (Comic Book)]]'' has [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syldavian Syldavian] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bordurian Bordurian]; a conlang enthusiast [http://zompist.com/syldavian.html attempted to analyse Syldavian into something coherent], although it turns out it's basically the Brussels dialect of Dutch/Flemish with extra letters spewed all over it.

** There was also the earlier Arumbayan language, also based on the Brussels dialect in the original French version, but altered to phonetically-spelt Cockney (though it's heavily disguised so as not to be obvious) in the English version.

* ''[[Elf Quest]]'' has Elvish. There's a small official dictionary in one of the encylopedias, but for the first twenty-or-so years of the series, the only way to know what the words meant was to deconstruct some of the characters' names. (Ex. "Leetah" - "healing light", "Tyleet" - "healer's gift": so "leet" apparently means "heal-".)

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** See also the main page in [[Qu/Home Page|Quenya]]

** If you're wondering, Quenya was heavily influenced from Finnish, and Sindarin was based off of Welsh.

* ''[[Nineteen Eighty Four|1984]]'' does this with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak Newspeak], which is not a new language but a [[Newspeak|degrading hypersymplification of English]]. Bonus points because an exact guide for the simplification is given.

* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'' does this with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak Newspeak], which is not a new language but a [[Newspeak|degrading hypersymplification of English]]. Bonus points because an exact guide for the simplification is given.

* ''[[Watership Down]]'' gave us the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapine_language Lapine language]; a language for the ''rabbits''.

* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' gives us the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tongue Old Tongue].

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* ''[[Phantasy Star Online 2]]'' will continue the post-millennial tradition of Foreign Conversion conlangs, featuring a new distinct alphabet for Star Fleet Oracle.

* [[The Sims]]'s ''[[Speaking Simlish|simlish]]'', of all things, has aspects of this. Some of it is gibberish, and it's [[Genius Bonus|really hard to catch]], but if you listen hard enough there are actually a good few constant words.

* The demon language of Ozkavosh created by Valve for the remake of [[Defense of the Ancients]] is almost entirely symbolic, full of synonyms and essentially requires context to be understood. It also does not conjugate, and due to the demons' [[~~Its~~ All About Me|nature]], the word for "self" (Ozh) [[Language Equals Thought|is both capitalized and emphasized in speech, or in case of another object of emphasis, emphasized more]].

* The demon language of Ozkavosh created by Valve for the remake of [[Defense of the Ancients]] is almost entirely symbolic, full of synonyms and essentially requires context to be understood. It also does not conjugate, and due to the demons' [[It's All About Me|nature]], the word for "self" (Ozh) [[Language Equals Thought|is both capitalized and emphasized in speech, or in case of another object of emphasis, emphasized more]].

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* The first known artificial language was ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volap

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Unwin_(comedian) Stanley Unwin] built a career out of his invented language "Unwinese" also known as "Basic Engly Twentyfido". Deep Joy !

* [[Esperanto the Universal Language]] counts so much so.

* [[Esperanto, the Universal Language]] counts so much so.

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loglan Loglan] was developed in the 1950s to test the [[Language Equals Thought|Sapir-Whorf hypothesis]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojban Lojban: A realization of loglan] (short for ''logji bangu'' or "logic language") is a derivation intended to be used as an actual language.

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[[Category:Language Tropes]]

[[Category:Con Lang]]

[[Category:Trope]]

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