Here, I want to outline what my basic plan of attack is. These things are not in order with respect to time (and are thus subject to change) (see also here).
- Establish the sort of aesthetic we're after: Given the proposed uses for the language, I reckon this is the area that needs the most attention. The overall appearance of the language needs to be unique and to fit Shireroth. The orthography is a good place to do this since spelling is really arbitrary, although spelling rules that obscure the pronunciation should be avoided (cf. English).
- Develop a Morphology: Words, like sentences, need structure. Morphology can be tricky because it involves both sentence structure and phonology, and it is possible to engineer a great deal of complexity into the language in just this component. This is another good place to control how the language appears, though it isn't quite so easy to manipulate
- Compile a Lexicon: The language will need words. This I will definitely want some help with, as people will want certain words for certain purposes (translations of titles, etc.) Also, to get the language to a basic level of functionality, it will need some core vocabulary. At this point it is unclear to me how much of the vocabulary should be original and how much should be borrowed in from other sources, and, if the latter, what the sources should be.
- Establish a core grammar: Basically, there ought to be a fairly systematic way of combining individual lexical items (i.e. words) to build phrases (and maybe even sentences!) If we want people to actually use the language for any reason, this should be kept fairly simple, but have enough quirks to make it interesting.
- Phonology: Probably the least of the concerns here is how the language actually sounds, since there won't be much in the way of speaking opportunities. It would still be worth the time to make sure one could actually speak the language if they really wanted to. This also ties into the lexicon as well, as common phonological properties help to make the words in the lexicon look like they all belong to the same language.
I hope for participation from other citizens through much of this process (and it is a process), as I would like some creative input especially with regard to the aesthetic component in addition to certain grammatical points. Without inside input, I will simply make whatever I want and you will get what I give you in the end. That is hardly the way it ought to be as this language is for Shireroth and not for me. However, I'm assuming creative control over this, and in the end I am making the decisions.
Anyway, thoughts or comments from anybody? Is there anything that anybody would like to see in this language?
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