How to Create a Fantasy Language
Chances are if you're writing a fantasy or science fiction novel or short story, you will want to have at least a couple words in a fantasy or alien tongue. It can be tricky figuring out what looks or sounds pleasing, and if you're not careful your language can end up sounding ridiculous, or more like gibberish than an actual language. The key is to create a language that meshes well with your story.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Decide what words you need, and how many. You should also decide whether you are looking to create an entire language or just the words you need to further your story. Creating an entire language that can be spoken, like Elvish or Klingon, will be very difficult and very time-consuming. J. R. R. Tolkien's Elvish was a lifetime project for him. Most writers create only the words they need.
-
2
Spend some time researching other languages, and study their word structure, grammar and syntax. This will help you create a flow and sentence structure in your fantasy language.
-
-
3
Choose your sentence structure and the sound "theme" of your words, now that you've studied the structures and sounds that other languages use. You'll need to stick to this once it's decided, unless you want to go to the trouble to create dialects of your language.
-
4
Decide what your vowels are and what sounds they make. Do you want long 'A's or short 'A's in your general pronunciation? Do the research on the different ways that vowels can be pronounced in different languages, and pick the way that sounds the best to you.
-
5
Make a spreadsheet or some kind of chart to keep track of the words you create. Now you can start creating words and deciding their meanings. Keep doing this until you have all the words that you need for your story.
-
6
Name your language now that you've come up with the words you need. Make sure the name matches with the sound you've picked for your words. Now you can just steadily add to the language as needed for your story.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
If you have the time or the inclination, you might want to play around with creating letters or runes for the language. Then you can decide how many characters the language has and how they roughly translate to the English alphabet. This can help add some realism to the language, because not all alien or fantasy languages would have 26 characters. It could be helpful to come up with a history for your language. The history can even influence the words, sounds and structure of the language. This will add a level of depth to your fantasy language that exists in real languages. Invent slang words or shortened versions of words that can be used in casual conversation or by a character who is a little rough around the edges. This will also add depth to your language. Think about the race or people that you're making up the language for, and make sure it fits them. A refined, artsy race should have a musical, refined language, and the opposite may apply for a rougher, less refined race.
Be careful how much of this language you use in your writing. Too much of an unfamiliar language can be disconcerting for readers, and you might be better off using "said in Elvish" or other such phrases during long scenes in the fantasy languages, rather than always creating long sentences. Make sure you keep the sounds of your language similar. It might be easier to build the language over time by adding words as you need them, but it might create an inconsistent language. So if you want to have a consistent language for long-term use, you might want to form the entire language first.
