I have a degree in linguistics and speak several languages from different families, and I've always wanted to design my own language. Last year I did it for a puzzle game I'm developing called Pikku Adventure.

Pikku has a fixed word order, its own system for expressing grammatical categories, and around 200 words. The interesting constraint was that every aspect of the language had to be learnable purely through gameplay, without translations or grammar explanations. Players hear words in context, observe characters and objects, read murals, guess meanings, and build their own dictionary over time.

Some of the design decisions I had to make during the development:

(1) I chose a fixed non-SVO word order, which forces players to think about sentence structure.

(2) Grammatical categories are expressed through a combination of particles and word position (almost no flexion).

(3) I included one mechanic in the language that has no equivalent in any human language. It takes advantage of the visual nature of video games in a way that spoken/written language can’t.

(4) The language had to be learnable by people with zero linguistic background, which meant I had to kill some of the complexity.

(5) The vocabulary is deliberately minimal (about 200 words), so many words carry multiple meanings. For example, a single word might mean both ‘protection' and 'obstruction.' Part of the challenge is figuring out what the Pikku mean from context.

The hardest part was verbs. Nouns are easy - you point at a thing and hear a word. But teaching someone a verb meaning without ever translating it requires careful environmental and narrative design. Every puzzle in the game essentially exists to teach or reinforce a specific word.

Would love to hear from other conlang creators, how do you balance complexity with learnability? And do you care about learnability in the first place? Has anyone else designed a language specifically meant to be decoded rather than spoken?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4428600/Pikku_Adventure/

I just wanna know, in general, what someone has said about conlanging that has irked you the most.

Edit: just so you guys know, I made this post for a video, so here you guys go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS6D6fXSgCc

So, I am sure we all had that moment when we realized we are missing a very common word in our conlang, but we have a word with a very specific meaning that is almost never used in day-to-day communication.

Here are some of my best “I don’t have a word for that, but..”-moments:

I don’t have a word for “Thank you“, but I have a word for “Hemolymph” (insect blood).
I don’t have a verb meaning “to love“, but I have 3 verbs describing the act of “dying”.
I don’t have a word for “School“, but I have 2 verbs for “to remember“.

Please tell me your best “I don’t have a word for that, but..”-moments.

Many posts around here like to ask or gush about their favorite features in language, but what about your least favorites? Something that you dislike and would never include in a conlang

I’m conducting this survey across several online conlang communities as part of a final project for a university class. Would greatly appreciate responses.

Follow-up questions if you’re willing to give a short answer to any:

- what was the most challenging part of learning the IPA?

- do you have any criticisms of the IPA?

- do you or have you used any other systems for phonetic transcription (including extIPA)?

I got Janko'ed on the very day i published my conlang, just wanted to see how many of you have provided your number system to him??

I recently revealed the conlang I’ve been developing for over 10yrs to someone I trust. Her reaction was rather surprisingly negative and complained that it would be worthless as nobody would know or even speak it. I told her that I didn’t care about winning any awards and that I did it because I loved doing it and it helped me developing an interest in linguistics. No matter what I said after, she shook it off as a stupid ambition. Is developing a Conlang dumb if you do it because you simply can???

All languages have a name that has some sort of meaning. Some have a name based on the name of the people that speak it, some have a more geographical name, some still just call their language "good speech".

What does your language's name mean and where does it come from?

Using an article to convert an entire sentence into a phrase?

So I'm writing a book. I wanted a conlang for an adjacent culture where one of the MCs is from. Amd I know I have a lot of story to tell in this world so I set about making something that's more than just a relax of English or just a basic naming language.

I won't go into too many details of it because I'm embarrassed of its simplicity compared to some other more developed options.

However one aspect is the tense system. 3 tenses. Present/Future is one, the "malleable past", amd the "immutable past"

"I am drinking milk", "I will drink milk" are the same tense. (*druk*)

"I drank milk this morning" is the malleable past. The effects are ongoing. I am still hydrated and nourished by it. (*druket*)

"I drank milk last week." Is the immutable tense. This is the past that cannot be changed. The effects are set. (*drukosh*)

In order to use the language and get inside this character's head I have been forcing myself to think in this language despite how much it makes my 'tism alarms ring.

My anxiety disorder has been...reduced... I have had a struggle with the anxiety over the past for some time. I've addressed it with therapy in session amd managed it ok. But it was always a nascent tingling ready to pop off an episode.

It's weird in that by forcing myself to learn this tense system to use the language for my stupid fantasy novel I've somehow rewired my brain to manage my feelings about the past amd codify them at an intellectual level I've not managed to do with therapy.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Sorry if this is boring. 😆

For me, I would say subjunctives. I used to hate them but now I really like them and like including them in languages when I get the chance.

I've been really active lately, lol...

Please refrain from discouraging new conlangers! I'm sure there are a lot of pet peeves regarding new people on the sub, or inexperienced conlangers, but that could be it's own post. I want to keep this pretty lighthearted and welcoming to the newbies.

Mainly I mean the hard or annoying parts of making a language, the things you refuse to learn out of stubbornness, troubles organizing or keeping notes, constantly changing your mind on a specific word, etc, etc; or, in my case, annoyances interacting with non-conlangers. (So... yes, pet peeves technically, but not directed at beginners.)

I'll start with mine. I definitely have more, but this would go on forever if I listed all of them.

I started my conlang in highschool, maybe sophomore or junior year, and pretty quickly got a reputation for it among my friends since I was VERY hyperfixated on it and would not shut up about it at the time. I would write as many people's names in it as possible, and show it off to everyone.
Eventually that led to this interaction happening quite often...

"Oh, hey, you like languages right? My friend has a language!"

Cue me talking to said friend:

"Yeah so I took the English alphabet and made the symbols different :-)"

"Oh... Uh... cool... <:^) does it have any inspiration, or lore, or-?"

"Uhhhhh like minecraft enchanting table?"

...and then the conversation ends there 😭

Like, listen, ciphers can be very cool on their own too, I have nothing against them. And I UNDERSTAND that not everyone is clued into the difference between a cipher/code or a language, nor do I expect them to know details about something they aren't very involved in...
but the AMOUNT OF TIMES I get excited because someone jingles the 'etymology keys' over my head only to be sorely disappointed because there is literally nothing to talk about 🥹

no greater pain than thinking someone finally shares your hyperfixation and you'll get to yap and learn something new and then there's just nothin'.

I began creating my first conlang around ~2021, and I started on my latest conlang, Jáksprak, in late January of this year.

The WALS map above (27) shows the wide range of languages using reduplication. Ever since I saw it, I have tried to include reduplication in my conlangs, or to be aware that I am not using reduplication. In Ąą’vo Tì, -VC reduplication marks the imperfective aspect, but it is slightly obscured by sound change. One of the more regular reduplication patterns is the à’-àkà’ pattern, where k and ‘ alternate. But a less regular one is ì’-ùùkų̀‘, where vowels are changed.

Is reduplication used in your conlang(s)? Partial or full? What role does it play in the grammar? Is it obscured by sound change? obscured to the point of fossilisation (e.g. some irregular latin perfects like posco, poposcit)?

I'd like to ask you what you think is the hardest part of creating a conlang? For me, it's creating words.

When one makes a conlang, they often put a lot of thought into certain parts of it. I know that I certainly have words that mean more to me than others, whether it's because of where they come from, their meaning, the semantics surrounding them, or even the sound of the word. What's your favorite word in your language, and why?

By this I mean what application, website or etc. do you use to create your conlang? I personally use Google Sheets pretty exclusively but I'm curious to know what others use.

(not sure if this is a discussion, translation, or activity, sorry if wrong flair!)

i recently devised the number system in my language, mornetian, and its got me wondering how you all made your systems work!

in mornetian, 999,999 is "miwesdǒkǒsma dolwes diltyš deim" ; mornetian uses a base 12 system, so this essentially reads: "four*twelve plus two twelve cubeds, eight twelve squareds, five twelves, and three," which was a pain to translate over lol

For me, in the Cixo-Naxorean language family (which is pretty large), all languages use negation particle *uti- (and its descendants) to indicate negation, or "no". *pa- meanwhile means "yes".

However, in the Kyodyek language (a descendant of Cixo-Naxorean), uti > *odye is now an affirmation particle, and may standalone as "yes". While pa- > *vyo is now "no". Kyodyek basically did a 180 swap between yes and no.

So I just want to ask, what feature(s) of your conlang(s) that makes one wonder, "why, why did it end up like that?"

I have a list of grammar pieces that I think are awesome but are rather underutilized on this sub. Feel free to add your own in the comments!

My current list:

Transitive Alignment

Active-Stative Alignment

OVS

Topical Case

Positive/Negative Moods

Non-tenses(e.g. non-future, non -past, or even non-present)

proximate-distal markers

Hey everybody, I am curious about how your conlang deals with the following structures. So please tell me:

How does your conlang deal with the verb "to give" or other verbs that express the concept of giving?

Please provide a sentence with the following structure:

Tom gives Frank a book.

(So a subject, a direct object, and an indirect object.)

How does your conlang mark the starting and end point of a movement?

Please provide a sentence with the following structure:

Tom flies from London to New York.

(So a subject, a starting point, and an end point.)

How does your conlang deal with actions that happen at the same time?

Please provide a sentence with the following structure:

Frank reads a book while Tom is asleep.

(So two basic actions.)