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Linguist. Nerd. Conlanger.

Jot it down: written language in conlangs

6/30/2018

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klingon
one ring
aurebesh
As many begin the fantastical journey that is conlanging, there is one trap to be careful not to fall into. The writing system is, in my opinion, one of the biggest pitfalls that can halt or stifle a language creation. It's important that all good world building starts from the ground up and the same is with conlangs. Creating a language that is linguistically sound and functioning is by no means a small feat, but we are all visual creatures. I have seen countless conlangs that are visually intricate and stunning, but lack real gravitas to the syntax, phoneme inventory, etc. 

Now what happens when you are ready to start the orthography? It's important to keep one thing in mind; Visual rhetoric is key. This is what the script of your language is communicating to those who are viewing it. All of us have loaded semantic memory. This is important when creating how your language looks visually. If you're still unsure what I mean by this let's do a test, below is a series of sentences all in English but in different fonts. Look at them and think to yourself, what's the first thing that comes to mind when you see them. Then compare your answers to mine. 
Picture
1) Disney
2) Greek
3) Mario Brothers
4) Swamp Thing

So, how'd we do? Did you think of the same things as I did? Probably not. Don't be afraid to test out your orthography. A good conlanger will allow the language to adapt and change, just like any natural language would. 
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