Con Lang: Difference between revisions

Line 7:

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.

The more dedicated Fandoms will often design ~~languages -- or~~ at least large vocabulary ~~lists -- of~~ otherwise unorganized languages (See [[Fictionary]].)

The more dedicated Fandoms will often design languages—or at least large vocabulary lists—of otherwise unorganized languages (See [[Fictionary]].)

There are four types of conlang:

* '''Argot or Direct Translation.''' The author just [[Re Lex|substituted words from their native language]], and to translate it back you just substitute them word-for-word back (even if this would produce a [[Blind Idiot Translation]] in any real language). Realistically, this may be a [[Cypher Language|secret language]] used solely to exclude others from the conversation. Results in [[Conveniently Precise Translation~~|Conveniently Precise Translations~~]].

* '''Argot or Direct Translation.''' The author just [[Re Lex|substituted words from their native language]], and to translate it back you just substitute them word-for-word back (even if this would produce a [[Blind Idiot Translation]] in any real language). Realistically, this may be a [[Cypher Language|secret language]] used solely to exclude others from the conversation. Results in [[Conveniently Precise Translation]]s.

* '''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.

Line 65:

* The ''[[Earthsea Trilogy]]'' has Hardic, which we see a little of.

** And Kargish, Osskili and [[Language of Magic|Old Speech]], in which wizards cast spells.

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] (''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', etc.): The guy was a language professor at ~~Oxford -- he~~ [[Shown Their Work|knew his stuff]]. He created a world full system of languages, language families and dialects ([[wikipedia:Languages of Middle-earth#List of languages|just read through them.]]), with an internal history, along with several scripts and modes in which they could be written. Although most of them are not actually fully detailed languages, several are more detailed, and at least the Elven languages Quenya and Sindarin are complete enough to be learned and spoken. Indeed, the (Elvish) languages came first, and the setting in which they could be spoken came after. The attempts by fan scholars and creators of adaptations to extrapolate from and expand the existing material are usually referred to as ''Neo-(insert language name)''.

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] (''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', etc.): The guy was a language professor at Oxford—he [[Shown Their Work|knew his stuff]]. He created a world full system of languages, language families and dialects ([[wikipedia:Languages of Middle-earth#List of languages|just read through them.]]), with an internal history, along with several scripts and modes in which they could be written. Although most of them are not actually fully detailed languages, several are more detailed, and at least the Elven languages Quenya and Sindarin are complete enough to be learned and spoken. Indeed, the (Elvish) languages came first, and the setting in which they could be spoken came after. The attempts by fan scholars and creators of adaptations to extrapolate from and expand the existing material are usually referred to as ''Neo-(insert language name)''.

** 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.

Line 81:

** Some readers see the Ancient Language as an elaborate cypher for English (the Argot/Direct Translation category above). But another reader remembers the structure being different, and it definitely has rules of grammar, as a grammatical error {{spoiler|by Eragon about a word meaning "shielded"}} becomes a plot point. These rules may at first appear conveniently similar to English, given that the past tense and the passive participle have the same form, but this similarity is common among Germanic languages.

* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Stranger in A Strange Land]]'' has Martian, which is presented as an essential tool to unlock spiritual potential in humans. The characters spend most of the novel learning the language and, eventually, writing a full dictionary. Interestingly enough, it works almost ''exactly'' the same as Orwell's Newspeak (abolishing the need for synonyms), but would lead to a utopian society, instead of a dystopian one.

* [[Suzette Haden Elgin]]'s ''Native Tongue'' series (''Native Tongue'', ''Judas Rose'', and ''Earthsong'') featured a "women's language", Láadan. Elgin is a linguist, and the language was an attempt to test the Sapir-Whorf ~~hypothesis -- she~~ actually made up the language, and there are [http://internet.cybermesa.com/~amberwind/ online lessons].

* [[Suzette Haden Elgin]]'s ''Native Tongue'' series (''Native Tongue'', ''Judas Rose'', and ''Earthsong'') featured a "women's language", Láadan. Elgin is a linguist, and the language was an attempt to test the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis—she actually made up the language, and there are [http://internet.cybermesa.com/~amberwind/ online lessons].

* Ricardo Pinto's ''[[The Stone Dance of the Chameleon]]'' has Quya. The opening poem is written out in both Quya and English. There is also a system of glyphs to write Quya in and the name every chapter is written out in both English and Quya glyphs. Sometimes attention is drawn in the story to a peculiarity of the ~~language -- which~~ completely passes the readers by. [http://www.ricardopinto.com/work/stone_dance/topics/song_to_the_earth/index.php Hear the author speak it here.]

* Ricardo Pinto's ''[[The Stone Dance of the Chameleon]]'' has Quya. The opening poem is written out in both Quya and English. There is also a system of glyphs to write Quya in and the name every chapter is written out in both English and Quya glyphs. Sometimes attention is drawn in the story to a peculiarity of the language—which completely passes the readers by. [http://www.ricardopinto.com/work/stone_dance/topics/song_to_the_earth/index.php Hear the author speak it here.]

* ''[[Anathem]]'' has [http://monastic.org/orth Orth].

* In the ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series, there is Karsite and the Kaled'a'in language family (ancient Kaled'a'in, Shin'a'in, and Tayledras). The last three are notable because the second two are dialects of the first which evolved into new languages, and there's a mild language-family resemblance (tale'edras and tayledras, she'chorne and shay'a'chern, etc.)

* The ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' series has lines of Gnommish and Centaurian running along the bottom of each page (omitted in some U.S. editions.) Rather than being graphemes of a full-on [[Con Lang]] they constitute a [[Cypher Language]] offering an [[Easter Egg]] to those who decode them. There are a few spoken Grommish words such as "d'arvit", which is [[Pardon My Klingon|an emphatic swear word]].

* The ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' series has lines of Gnommish and Centaurian running along the bottom of each page (omitted in some U.S. editions.) Rather than being graphemes of a full-on Con Lang they constitute a [[Cypher Language]] offering an [[Easter Egg]] to those who decode them. There are a few spoken Grommish words such as "d'arvit", which is [[Pardon My Klingon|an emphatic swear word]].

* The ''[[Wind on Fire]]'' books contain plates with Old Manth writing; again, this is just a [[Cypher Language]] with some unusual features (a single character for ''th'', no double letters...)

* In Barry B. Longyear's ''Enemy Mine'', two main characters learning the other's language is a major theme - so the readers learn some Dracon along with the protagonist. The language is also used in a couple other stories set in the same universe.

* C.J. Cherryh:

** The ''[[Foreigner (novel)|Foreigner]]'' novels introduce the reader to a good amount of Ragi[http://strengthofthehills.tripod.com/hanilanguageandculturepage/id13.html/Ragi\] (an alien language; one of many spoken by the atevi species). Not surprising, as the protagonist is an interpreter by profession.

** The ''[[Foreigner (novel)|Foreigner]]'' novels introduce the reader to a good amount of Ragi [http://strengthofthehills.tripod.com/hanilanguageandculturepage/id13.html/Ragi\] (an alien language; one of many spoken by the atevi species). Not surprising, as the protagonist is an interpreter by profession.

** The ''[[Alliance Union]]'' universe has the hani, kif, mahen, and stsho languages.

* Diane Duane created partial languages for the Vulcans and the "Rihannsu" (Romulans) in her ''[[Star Trek]]'' novels, most of the words of which are given only approximate translations.

** In-story, the Rihannsu language was originally a direct translation conlang. When the first Rihannsu left Vulcan, they invented a new ~~language -- with~~ very different phonemes, but near-identical grammar, to make it easier to ~~learn -- and~~ started using it immediately, all in an effort to distance themselves from the planet they were leaving.

** In-story, the Rihannsu language was originally a direct translation conlang. When the first Rihannsu left Vulcan, they invented a new language—with very different phonemes, but near-identical grammar, to make it easier to learn—and started using it immediately, all in an effort to distance themselves from the planet they were leaving.

* [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]: The Nautilus crew uses a language that [[The Professor]] Aronnax cannot recognize, but Verne didn’t bother himself making any word of it except ''"Nautron respoc lorni virch."'' that Aronnax thinks must mean: ''"There's nothing in sight."''. Aronnax describes it like this:

{{quote|'' "… a language I didn't recognize. It was a sonorous, harmonious, flexible dialect whose vowels seemed to undergo a highly varied accentuation".''}}

** Given that the Nautilus crew is a [[NGO Superpower]], it makes sense this language is a [[Con Lang]] '''Completely Original''', designed to substitute all the other “continental” languages that were original to each of the crew countries that the crew has abandoned. Aronnax observes that just moments before his death, one of the crew forgets to use that [[Con Lang]] and ask for help in French. A hungry Ned Land also theorizes:

** Given that the Nautilus crew is a [[NGO Superpower]], it makes sense this language is a Con Lang '''Completely Original''', designed to substitute all the other “continental” languages that were original to each of the crew countries that the crew has abandoned. Aronnax observes that just moments before his death, one of the crew forgets to use that Con Lang and ask for help in French. A hungry Ned Land also theorizes:

{{quote|''"Don't you see, these people have a language all to themselves, a ~~[[Con Lang|~~language they've invented just to cause despair in decent people who ask for a little dinner!]] Why, in every country on earth, when you open your mouth, snap your jaws, smack your lips and teeth, isn't that the world's most understandable message? From Quebec to the Tuamotu Islands, from Paris to the Antipodes, doesn't it mean: I'm hungry, give me a bite to eat!"'' }}

{{quote|''"Don't you see, these people have a language all to themselves, a language they've invented just to cause despair in decent people who ask for a little dinner! Why, in every country on earth, when you open your mouth, snap your jaws, smack your lips and teeth, isn't that the world's most understandable message? From Quebec to the Tuamotu Islands, from Paris to the Antipodes, doesn't it mean: I'm hungry, give me a bite to eat!"'' }}

* ''[[The Railway Series]]'' and its companion books give us Sudric, the native language of the Island of Sodor.

* [[Modelland]] has Labrian and Colorian. One seems to be made entirely of vowels and the other is made up of "pops, slurps, and hisses."

Line 109:

== Music ==

* The French progressive rock band Magma invented a language called "Kobaiian" for their albums in order to get around the language barrier.

* On [[Enya]]'s album ''Amarantine'', about a quarter of the songs are in the [[Con Lang]] "Loxian", said to be from a distant planet.

* On [[Enya]]'s album ''Amarantine'', about a quarter of the songs are in the Con Lang "Loxian", said to be from a distant planet.

* In 2005, one of the entries in the Swedish version of the [[Eurovision Song Contest]] was [[wikipedia:Cameron Cartio|Cameron Cartio]]'s ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o9A7z8U9r0 Roma]''. [[Word of God]] is he came up with the language himself.

* [[Kajiura Yuki]]'s Kajiurago. Nobody besides her knows the meaning of the language. It can be heard in the ''[[Madlax]]'' theme ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuCCfA8yfug Nowhere]'' and the ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' song ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQXD_wfuroc Credens Justitiam (Mami's Theme)]''.

Line 120:

* ''[[Werewolf: The Forsaken]]'' uses many examples of the First Tongue, the language of the [[Spirit World]]. The creators have pretty much said it's generated by going back as far back into Proto-Indo-European language tree as possible and making a few detours on the way.

* [[Traveller]] has enough languages and sublanguages to cover thousands of worlds. To handle this a system is provided for random generation of words as well as sample words and details about linguistic style from various culture. However "Ganglic"(evolved English) is the common speech of trade and travel.

* Wizards of the Coast hired a linguist <ref>[[Word of God]]:http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3008221 (Brady_Dommermuth)</ref> to make the phyrexian (or New Phyrexian if the current phyrexians don't speak the same language as the old ones) language. Phyrexia is a faction of [[Magic: The Gathering]]. Some things we do know about the language are, the written form is vertical (top to bottom) and going by these videos, left to right (as thats the order words appear [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ixdHQj3O4] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdDXMG9jvwg]. Because its a [[Starfish Language]] (probably of the [[Black Speech]] flavor), wizards didn't devote the resources to getting the verbal phyrexian part right in those videos (In other words what ''sounds'' like gibberish, is gibberish being passed off as phyrexian. In the second video, what sounds like english, is not phyrexian). Good luck learning even the written part<ref>Wizards is withholding the language until it deems it to be more beneficial to itself to release it. Perhaps to promote the next Phyrexian set when it is near. Word of God: [http://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/tagged/phyrexian-language]</ref>.

* Wizards of the Coast hired a linguist <ref>[[Word of God]]:http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3008221 (Brady_Dommermuth)</ref> to make the phyrexian (or New Phyrexian if the current phyrexians don't speak the same language as the old ones) language. Phyrexia is a faction of [[Magic: The Gathering]]. Some things we do know about the language are, the written form is vertical (top to bottom) and going by these videos, left to right (as thats the order words appear [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7ixdHQj3O4] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdDXMG9jvwg]. Because its a [[Starfish Language]] (probably of the [[Black Speech]] flavor), wizards didn't devote the resources to getting the verbal phyrexian part right in those videos (In other words what ''sounds'' like gibberish, is gibberish being passed off as phyrexian. In the second video, what sounds like english, is not phyrexian). Good luck learning even the written part.<ref>Wizards is withholding the language until it deems it to be more beneficial to itself to release it. Perhaps to promote the next Phyrexian set when it is near. Word of God: [http://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/tagged/phyrexian-language]</ref>

== Video Games ==

Line 126:

** And the main theme song, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7oUk9WizNc Dovahkiin], is sung in it.

* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' features Al Bhed, which is made up of a simple cypher of English/Japanese (depending on which localization of the game you play obviously) but is spoken in the game by the Al Bhed as a real language. As an added feature, the player can pick up 'primers' throughout their visit to Spira and slowly translate the language, letter by letter. This is part of a small [[New Game+]] bonus: The next time a player decides to play through the game, if they had collected most/all of the primers before, they can load up their completed 'dictionary' and understand what various characters/signs are saying right from the beginning!

* ''[[Myst]]'' ~~-- D~~'ni.

* ''[[Myst]]''—D'ni.

** Also Rivenese.

* The ''[[Ar tonelico]]'' series has Hymmnos, a language based on English, Japanese, Sanskrit and German. In the setting of the games, it is an obsolete language, used to interface with [[Magic From Technology|ancient technology in the form of songs]]. Though Hymmnos is the one that gets the most attention, the series also has the Carmena Foreluna and Ar Ciela languages. A detailed insight into all three of these can be found [http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Hymmnos here].

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has a whole host of these, with Common (humans), Orcish (orcs), Darnassian (night elves), Gutterspeak (undead), Dwarven (dwarves), Gnomish (gnomes), Zandali (trolls), Draenei (draenei), and Thalassian (blood elves) barely scratching the surface. An interesting note with the Undead: During the beta for ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' (a.k.a. "Vanilla"), the Undead (being formerly living humans) could speak Common, acting as a Translator between the rival factions. However the player-base's tendency to be... juvenile led directly to the creation of Gutterspeak, and is the primary reason you can never learn additional languages, despite some characters knowing 1-2 languages (Faction and Racial).

** In a note of ingenuity and perhaps an example of metagaming, Players have over-time, made simple translations for some of the more commonly spoken enemy chatter as perhaps a way to quickly denote if the enemy player is going to be combative or not. (For example, an Alliance player who says "lol", would be heard by a Horde player as "Bur", and going in the other direction, it would read "Kek", to an Alliance player who encounters a laughing member of the Horde).

** While most people who encounter these languages might cross them off as just made up chatter, there even exists a degree of similar word structure between the Night and Blood Elf languages, given their in-game distant shared ancestry (Darnassian and Thalassian respectively), which shows that the Blizzard creative team probably [[Shown Their Work|Showed their work]] in conlanging. Since in-game [[NPC~~|NPCs~~]] often speak these constructed languages from time to time (battle cries & so forth), any player will inevitably come across some words multiple times, but a complete translation of these languages is unavailable, and only a select number of phrases and words have been [[Word of God|given official translations by Blizzard]].

** While most people who encounter these languages might cross them off as just made up chatter, there even exists a degree of similar word structure between the Night and Blood Elf languages, given their in-game distant shared ancestry (Darnassian and Thalassian respectively), which shows that the Blizzard creative team probably [[Shown Their Work|Showed their work]] in conlanging. Since in-game [[NPC]]s often speak these constructed languages from time to time (battle cries & so forth), any player will inevitably come across some words multiple times, but a complete translation of these languages is unavailable, and only a select number of phrases and words have been [[Word of God|given official translations by Blizzard]].

** More information can be found here: [http://www.wowwiki.com/Language World of Warcraft Languages]

** It should be noted that since these languages appear when the game "translates" player communication into an unintelligible from for those whose character doesn't know said language, a translation back into English is impossible for anything remotely complicated said. The "translation" is intentionally lossy, with many different English letter combinations resulting in the same "translated" words (e.g. both "you" and "lol" are rendered in Orcish as "bur"). This is done on purpose, to prevent players from being able to understand what their opponents are saying even if they have translation software on their side. (This not only prevents the Alliance from getting wind of what the Horde is up to and vice-versa, it also prevents rival teams from hurling insults or death threats at one another; the hot-tempered environment of a Battleground would make this a real danger otherwise.)

Line 167:

== Real Life ==

* The first known artificial language was ''[[wikipedia:~~Volap%C3%BCk~~|Volapük]]'', which meant "World speak." The language's author was attempting to build a universal language that everybody worldwide could use to communicate. It fell flat for two reasons: (1) The pronunciation was way counterintuitive, always placing the accent on the last syllable of every word and using oddball sounds like ü ; and (2) The creator was a minister who didn't want any of the "naughty words" in his language, so you couldn't cuss in it.

* The first known artificial language was ''[[wikipedia:Volapük|Volapük]]'', which meant "World speak." The language's author was attempting to build a universal language that everybody worldwide could use to communicate. It fell flat for two reasons: (1) The pronunciation was way counterintuitive, always placing the accent on the last syllable of every word and using oddball sounds like ü ; and (2) The creator was a minister who didn't want any of the "naughty words" in his language, so you couldn't cuss in it.

* [[wikipedia: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.