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Let's Make a Language: Day 1, Setting Goals

 Hot off the heels of my previous conlanging endeavor, Synkatokopa (Kopa), I want to create something brand new. For this project I will be (loosely) following along with Quothalinguist's "conlang year" series. In that vein, day 1 will be all about intentions and goals.

This is the most important part when starting a new project, any project not just a conlang, in my opinion. Setting a good foundation will not only springboard your progress on your journey faster and farther, but it will let you know when it's time to wrap up. So, no matter how excited I am, or you are, to start your own conlang, right now is the moment to ask a few important questions.

Question #1 and the most important one, in my opinion, is "why do I want to create this language?". My answer? I want to create another language for a worldbuilding and ttrpg project I've been working on since 2018, one that will slot in next to Kopa. More specifically, I want to create a strictly CV structured language featuring heavy agglutination with a unique sound from Kopa's, possibly featuring a broad/slender or plain/palatalized distinction within its consonant inventory and maybe even tone since I have yet to create a tonal conlang. More personally speaking, I create every conlang with the intention of satisfying my desire to express myself, the more succinctly or uniquely the better.

Question #2 "who is the audience for this creation?". For me. Obviously I am sharing the process with you all, but at the end of the day, I am the intended audience for my own creations. I do not expect anyone but me to need to pronounce these words, so they can be as divergent from english or as close to english as I please.

Question #3 "who do you intend to speak this language?". This question dives into a little bit of the worldbuilding side of conlanging, which may be a turnoff for some, but it can be incredibly helpful to have an answer to this question later on in the process. I intend for this language to be spoken by the original inhabitants of my world's primary setting, the Flip Side. Whereas Kopa is spoken by the Witches that inhabit the cities, this language will be spoken by the nomadic cultures who exist on the fringes of society.

Question #4 "what is the geography like of the area where this language arose?". I'm picturing a swampy environment. Rolling hills, thick temperate forests, vast wetlands, and rivers. I like to draw on what I know when making things, so for the setting I drew upon my immediate environment when creating the Flip Side. As for the flora and fauna, besides the magical creatures (which exist in this setting) they would be rather analogous to north american, specifically north eastern species.

 I'll expand on these later, cement things or perhaps abandon ideas as we progress, but for now that's all the questions I'll ask myself.

Following along with Quothalinguist's "day 1" page of conlang year, I'm going to create a short little introduction for this language utilizing all of the answers to the questions above, which I will come back and edit over the coming weeks.

MyConlang

By V

Goal: Naturalistic, strictly CV, heavy agglutination, with tones.

Audience: Myself

Speakers: Nomads

Geography: American-esque wetland

And that's all for now! Thank you for reading and have a pleasant rest of your day!

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