An image with multiple ways of saying "hello" and "welcome" in a variety of conlangs

Day 20: January 20, 2024


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Conlang Year, Day 20 prompt

Goal: Create proto-forms for terrain features

Note: Using information you outlined about the terrain, select at least five to assign words to.

Tip: Focus on the most prominent features as you assign these roots.

Work focus: Create/Make/List


Today’s focus is on creating at least five proto-forms for terrain features. As you select which features will be represented by basic roots, focus on the most visible, prominent, and salient terrain features. The more your speakers see, are affected by, or interact with particular terrain features, the more likely they are to assign those features their own word forms.

The terrain features of your conworld might include mountains, hills, valleys, dunes, rivers, lakes, beaches, large rock formations, caves, or meadows. Review the notes you made about your conworld’s terrain, and remember again to think back to your earliest speakers and what they would have seen in the land and how they would have interacted with it.

Also remember that any features not assigned a basic root can still be named through other conventions, such as compounding or derivation. Just because something doesn’t get a proto-root doesn’t mean it won’t eventually get a word in the language!