Conlanging can be overwhelming for even the most experienced conlangers—especially in the beginning stages of a new project when swirling swarms of ideas create a flurry of possibilities. I break the process down into daily prompts for a yearlong experience. One year, one conlang. Join me in making this a Conlang Year!
Goal: Create the lexical forms you need for naming places Note: Focus on the list you made yesterday to prepare for the naming process. Tip: These forms may include nouns, verbs, modifiers, and adpositions! Work focus: Create/Make/List Today’s goal is to fill in the list of forms you made yesterday. Add in any form you’ve…
Goal: Plan the forms you need for creating place names Note: Focus on making a list of what you have/need for now. Tip: Include a list of forms you already have that might be helpful. Work focus: Organize/Plan/Structure Organize your brainstorming notes about place names and make a list of the forms (words, affixes, etc.)…
Goal: Brainstorm options for naming places Note: These strategies often focus on prominent terrain features. Tip: The forms may include both compounds and derivations (e.g. “-town/-ton”). Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Today’s goal shifts the focus to place names. Use today to brainstorm ideas for how you might name places in your conworld. I encourage you to…
Goal: Enter time words into your dictionary Note: Write the definitions so they reflect how your speakers view time. Tip: Use extra notes to indicate what Earthly concepts they might be similar to. Work focus: Solidify/Write/Share Today’s goal is to enter the new words you’ve created into your dictionary. As you write the definitions, try…
Goal: Create time-based words in your conlang Note: Some of these forms may be basic, but they don’t have to be! Tip: The more abstract the time division is, the more likely it is to be non-basic. Work focus: Create/Make/List It’s time to create some time-based words in your language! You can opt to make…
Goal: Organize your notes and make a list of time words Note: Identify what time-measuring words you will need in your language. Tip: These don’t necessarily have to be nouns—they could be verbs. Work focus: Organize/Plan/Structure Use your brainstorming from yesterday to make a list of words you need to create in your language to…
Goal: Brainstorm options for measuring and marking time Note: Consider how your speakers divide time on a regular basis. Tip: Think about concepts like day, week, month, season, and year. Work focus: Learn/Brainstorm/Try Brainstorming options for measuring and marking time goes beyond having temporal adverbs like “now” and “then” in your language and asks how…
Goal: Create new sentences to showcase adverbs Note: Demonstrate word order when there are multiple adverbial forms. Tip: Use a variety of verbs with different argument structures. Work focus: Create/Make/List Today’s goal is to use your newly minted adverbs (or adverb-like forms) in sentences to showcase their form and function in context. Try to use…
Goal: Update your dictionary with adverbs Note: Don’t forget to include any new roots you created to support the process. Tip: Some adverbs may be better documented as subentries within another entry. Work focus: Solidify/Write/Share Spend your time today going through your dictionary and making sure you’ve entered all the new forms you created while…
Goal: Write a section on adverbs Note: Include spatial, temporal, manner, and degree/discourse adverbs. Tip: Show how they are used and, where needed, how they are formed. Work focus: Solidify/Write/Share Now that you have done a lot of work on adverbs, it’s time to document their forms. Remember to include information on all the kinds…
