"Community" Conlang Project

(inb4shadowsayshowpointlessthisis)

If you've been in the chat, you've no doubt seen us discussing this.  Shadow and I thought that developing a/some conlang/s would be a great way for the community of ZEJ to be revitalized.  I will do my best to explain things, so try to bear with me.

Spoiler: Conlang Information and "FAQ"

What is a conlang?
The word "conlang" stands for "constructed language;" what this means is simply a fictional language.  Many conlangs that are encountered are simply "word replacement" conlangs, in that the creator simply takes an already existing language and replaces the words with others.  Most people that are into conlanging, however, highly discourage this form of construction, and suggest to build a conlang from scratch.

How is a conlang built?
When built from scratch, conlangs usually have a procedure that is rarely rearranged.

1. Decide on the sounds that will go into the conlang.
2. Make words for the conlang.
3. Make a grammar system for the conlang.
4. Make a writing system for the conlang.

Of course, this is merely the most commonly used order.  Many beginner conlangers (including myself) tend to make a writing system before even making words, which can be unwise considering that it makes it difficult to make a history for the writing system.

Sounds of Languages
On the planet earth, there exist hundreds of languages.  Each of these tend to sound completely different from each other, and the first part of that differentiation is the sounds that exist in the languages.  English contains an estimated 40 sounds (give or take some due to accents, morphological realization, etc.).  Some of the sounds of English are found in few languages (such as the sound the th makes in "thin"), and many languages have sounds that don't exist in English (such as the ö in German "Hölle," or the rr in Spanish "perro").  Sounds are separated into two primary categories, and I'm sure everyone knows those two categories, and I shouldn't have to explain them -- consonants and vowels.

The fact that the world's languages have such a variety of sounds led linguists to create what is known as the "International Phonetic Alphabet," or IPA, as it is usually called.  A good IPA chart can be found on Wikipedia here.  As much as I'd like to explain every aspect of the chart, I'm sure that you can click on things and read explanations there.

Words in Languages
Words are what make languages what they are, though they are simply sounds grouped together, they hold great power in that they have meaning.  If it weren't for the learning we go through "cat" and "dog" would simply be sounds, like what people think when they hear a language they do not know.

Words are made up of two primary things -- sounds and syllables.  We've already discussed sounds, but syllables are the separations that usually occur between vowels (Yes, sometimes two vowels can become one sound and sometimes consonants can be syllabic in and of themselves, but I'm talking for simplicity's sake).  For example, the word "language" has two syllables -- "lang" and "(g)uage"(which sounds like "gwij").

Many languages have rules for how the syllables in words are made up, though English is quite possibly the most free in this regard.  An example of a language with restrictions as to how its words' syllables are put together is Japanese, the syllable pattern of which could be written as (C)(j)V(N) (And before anyone(Shadow) comments, I know it could be seen as a little more complicated, but I'm making an example). The C stands for "Any consonant in the Japanese language," the j stands for the y sound as in English "yell," the V stands for "any vowel in the Japanese language, and the N is just that -- an n (slightly more complicated than that but I won't go into that). Anything inside parentheses in that pattern is optional.  This means that, if English had this same pattern, the word "play" might be written "pulay" instead.  In general, any pattern of sounds in a language is called "phonotactics."


IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS: Please, feel free to ask on this thread, via PM, or in the chat if I'm there. I will do my best to explain. Shadow might be able to help too.
(This section will probably get bigger as time goes by and I get asked more questions/think of more things to explain.

Current Conlang
The current conlang that is being worked on is the unnamed language for the Erevan race, to which, notably, Tascera Szaufer and Fang Szaufer belong. The following has been decided about the language.

As an Asian-inspired language, it will have the following phonemes (subject to changes)

Spoiler

Unless shown below, the sounds are as their representative letters in English.
CONSONANTS:
ŋ = The ng in "ring;" transcribed as "ng"
ɸ = Similar to blowing out a candle; transcribed as "f"
ɕ = Similar to the sh in "shun," except that the tongue is flatter against the roof of the mouth; transcribed as "sh"
ʑ = Similar to the si in "vision," with the same comment as above; transcribed as "zh"
j = the y in "yell;" transcribed as "y"
ɰ = similar to english w, as in "water," except without the lips rounded. Transcribed as "w"
ts = A single sound, as in Russian "tsar;" transcribed as "z"
tɕ = A single sound, similar to the ch in "chip," tongue flatter against roof of mouth; transcribed as "ch"
dʑ = a single sound, as the j in "jam," tongue flatter against roof of mouth; transcribed as "j"