Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Using Constructed Languages in Literature

This article talks about how to use conlangs without getting in the way of a story.  This is fine for one cluster of stories that contain conlangs: the ones that use them as local color.  There, you want a small amount, much as you would if you used dabs of French or Russian or whatever in a story aimed at an English-speaking audience.  So the article makes a decent amount of sense, for as far as it goes.

However, there's another cluster of stories that use conlangs: linguistic speculative fiction.  These stories are ABOUT the conlang.  There are lots of variations, but in all of them, your audience is there to watch you trot that thing around the stage and make it do tricks.  If they can't see enough of it, they will be annoyed.  The audience for these stories is smaller but extremely passionate.  These are people who buttonhole linguists and ask about OVS languages.  You're not going to throw them unless you botch the mechanics of linguistic construction and/or basic storytelling skills.  A closely related subcluster is stories that are primarily about something else, but require a lot of conlang support, such as one about alien genders with unique pronouns or one about time travel with unique tenses.  Effectively, these require guidelines more akin to the linguistic speculative fiction set than the local color set.

What this really means: before you start writing a story with a conlang in it, decide which of those types you want to write.  The guidelines for doing it well are almost entirely opposite.  Walk in the middle of the road, get squished like grape.
Tags: fantasy, how to, linguistics, networking, science fiction
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  • 4 comments

Anonymous

January 22 2018, 22:36:42 UTC 3 years ago

Something for me to look at later tonight. I was just building a vocabulary for a piece and wondering "Is this too much? Am I going Tolkein? HOW am I going to use this?!" so, timely post, thank you! -kellyc
ysabetwordsmith

Okay ...

ysabetwordsmith

January 22 2018, 22:51:12 UTC 3 years ago

Those answers really depend on why you are writing a story and building a conlang.

Do you just need a few words and phrases for local color in a story that is primarily about something else? Use sparingly and don't do more work than you need to.

Is the story about communication in some way? Then you will need to understand a significant amount about your conlang and the people who speak it. Use it to support the story.

Is it just plain fun for you to make languages? Then go for it. Some other folks love reading that stuff. It's like standing around someone's model ship admiring it. In this case, you should have at least the writing system, the Swadesh List of common words, and the core grammar concepts. Use as much as you want.

Also, consider the Six Layers. Conlangs are really better built from the core out. However, if you only want a handful of terms for local color, you can get away with surface-in.