Highest scored questions
647 questions
51
votes
5
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"Turing-completeness" in conlangs
Programming languages & programs are often said to be Turing complete when it's possible to simulate any Turing machine with it.
I'm now designing a constructed language for my game and I want ...
- 711
41
votes
14
answers
4k
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From known languages, what are the expected features of a Generation Ship Language?
Pandorum is a generation ship movie. Generation ships are a fairly big sub-genre of sci-fi where people live for many generations in a ship while travelling to a distant star.
The movie Pandorum did ...
- 1,771
36
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How common is it for the creator of a conlang to be fluent in that conlang?
This was one of my example questions but I now am actually interested in the answer. I am an amateur conlanger; I have one pretty complete language and a couple in the process. But I can't construct ...
- 1,375
34
votes
6
answers
1k
views
How can syntactic ambiguity with pronouns be avoided?
Due to the way pronouns work in place of any particular noun (subject or object) in the sentence, this often leads to ambiguous grammatical constructions.
Take this phrase in English for example:
...
- 1,013
34
votes
2
answers
985
views
Are there any grammatical aspects which do not have parallels in natural languages?
In Describing Morphosyntax, Payne uses a number of diagrams for visually explaining aspects and what they say about actions relative to time.
Payne outlines the following, all of which occur in ...
- 440
31
votes
7
answers
2k
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Are there conlangs using constructed sounds?
Usually, constructed languages of all kind (naturalistic or not) draw their sounds from existing natural languages.
Are there conlangs with constructed sounds, i.e., sounds that do not occur in ...
- 11.8k
30
votes
1
answer
22k
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Is the alien writing in "Arrival" really a language? Can we form custom sentences?
Here are few examples of words written in the alien language from "Arrival" (film):
Image source: Pinterest.
Does this alien writing have some logic in order to construct some custom meaningful ...
- 1,517
29
votes
3
answers
3k
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Are there any good programs out there to help when constructing languages?
Are there any tools out there to keep track of which works you have already defined, managing your lexicon easily, and storing conjugations and the like?
Barring that, what are some good strategies ...
- 463
28
votes
3
answers
1k
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Are constructed languages intellectual property? Do they ever stop being IP, once people use them?
Are conlangs intellectual property? Can they be copyrighted?
The second question is a little more complicated. Does a certain level of public, common usage cause a conlang to become public domain, ...
user23
26
votes
1
answer
599
views
How does Láadan aim to express the views of women more than natural Western languages?
Láadan was created, according to Wikipedia, to try an experiment in seeing if a constructed language designed specifically for women could better express the views of women better than natural Western ...
- 2,169
25
votes
3
answers
1k
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Why are sign languages considered to be natural rather than constructed languages?
Linguists consider sign languages to be natural languages. Surely they had been invented/constructed at some point in time by someone.
So why are they not categorized as constructed, but as natural ...
- 1,517
24
votes
10
answers
5k
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What's a good starting place to work on vocab?
Obviously, generating a lexicon is very time-consuming, and there's so much that needs to be done, I often find myself suffering with analysis paralysis, because I just can't decide where to begin.
...
user348
24
votes
3
answers
960
views
Why is the Lord's Prayer so common as a translation?
I'm an amateur conlanger, but I've seen multiple instances of people using the Lord's Prayer as a test or a way of showing off a translation of their conlang. I've even done it a couple times myself. ...
- 1,375
23
votes
2
answers
832
views
Is there a constructed language in existence that has graduated to "natural" status?
That is, are there any such languages in use today that are in use for day to day activities, or are formally recognized, etc?
- 331
23
votes
3
answers
874
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Were Tolkien's Elvish languages based on known natural languages?
I'm a great fan of Tolkien's books, especially The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. One thing I have always wondered about in his books though, is whether the Elvish tongues were actually fully new ...
- 1,237