I've created some very, very, very basic naming conventions for my homebrew world. These follow absolutely no linguistics rules and are simply guidelines I keep in mind when making up a new NPC name or town name or whatever.
I want to take this to the next level.
There are a bajillion fantasy name generators out there but without some basic level of understanding on how linguistics work, I can't even really begin to create any sort of template or language rule to even input into these generators.
So I wanted to start a discussion on how one would go about learning these basics and applying them to their homebrew worlds. Links are fine and all but at the end of the day, anyone can do a basic web-search and probably find those links for themselves. I'm hoping more for some level of educated discussion on the matter, or at least pointers to where said discussion could be accessed.
The aim here isn't to become a language student or even to construct an entire language, it's simply to learn and understand some of the basics behind naming conventions and how they can be applied to our settings. By this I mean that you generally can tell that a Scandinavian name sounds pretty darn Scandinavian, or a British name is usually pretty Britishy, or a Greek name, or Chinese name, etc. If someone says to you that your destination lies down Poo Fong Hung Dong lane, then generally you can safely assume you're going to Chinatown. I want that same level of language recognition for names used within a setting without necessarily requiring a degree in linguistics to accomplish it.
I want to take this to the next level.
There are a bajillion fantasy name generators out there but without some basic level of understanding on how linguistics work, I can't even really begin to create any sort of template or language rule to even input into these generators.
So I wanted to start a discussion on how one would go about learning these basics and applying them to their homebrew worlds. Links are fine and all but at the end of the day, anyone can do a basic web-search and probably find those links for themselves. I'm hoping more for some level of educated discussion on the matter, or at least pointers to where said discussion could be accessed.
The aim here isn't to become a language student or even to construct an entire language, it's simply to learn and understand some of the basics behind naming conventions and how they can be applied to our settings. By this I mean that you generally can tell that a Scandinavian name sounds pretty darn Scandinavian, or a British name is usually pretty Britishy, or a Greek name, or Chinese name, etc. If someone says to you that your destination lies down Poo Fong Hung Dong lane, then generally you can safely assume you're going to Chinatown. I want that same level of language recognition for names used within a setting without necessarily requiring a degree in linguistics to accomplish it.