How does one go about creating a language? Simple, really:
1. INSPIRATION
2. FRAMEWORK
3. MECHANICS
4: SPRINKLES
As a longtime fan of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Duolingo offered a course in High Valyrian, the language of its iconic dragon-lords. When putting together a language of my own, I wanted to emulate some of the naturalistic elements present in David J. Peterson’s work while incorporating stylistic elements that were a better fit for the context of my personal worldbuilding.
When it comes to language creation, individual sounds (and their absence) serve as the building blocks for everything else. Phonology was one of the more complex aspects of my process, especially considering how I lacked substantial know-how in the subject. However, I managed to pick up the rudimentary basics of the International Phonetic Alphabet, settling on a phonetic inventory that incorporated harsh, firm consonantal blends and alveolar trills.
While I wanted my language to be naturalistic, to some extent, I still felt the urge to incorporate elements that strayed from convention. I sought to capture the gladiatorial spirit of Dromesh with conflict incorporated directly into its mother tongue. After quite a bit of trial and error, I settled on two non-gendered classifications for roots and words: the overarching “dominant” and the secondary “subservient.” To my delight, they meshed together quite neatly.
It wasn’t until after I assembled an ample array of mechanical elements that I was able to begin the more enjoyable part of the process: ornamentation. Piece by piece, I started mixing in bits of flair that added liveliness and complexity to my otherwise bare-bones tabula rasa. I incorporated a plethora of pronunciation rules and conjugative deviations, drawing from my knowledge of Spanish accentuation and Mandarin tones.