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<blockquote data-quote="shadow" data-source="post: 1844791" data-attributes="member: 2182">Fantasy Linguistics Guide?&nbsp; As someone with a BA in linguistics I have two words: $#@! YES!I would love to see linguistics finally expounded upon.&nbsp; I've seen one too many campaigns where everyone speaks the exact same language and dialect.&nbsp; Even in campaigns where different languages exists, all languages seem to be based off English.What gets to me even more is annoying fantasy names.&nbsp; Most fantasy names seem to consist of either some arbitrary, unpronounceable string of letters (eg. the Empire of Xqw'er'awqwn), or some name that essentially falls under English phonotactic rules (although names such as Feldor, Beldane, Telgar are not standard English names they all fall under English phonotactic rules.)In my homebrew that I'm developing, I am trying to come up with some standard naming conventions.&nbsp; I decided to violate English norms for some exotic names.&nbsp; For example, gobling names can begin with the velar nasal sound &quot;Ng&quot; (like in Vietnamese), dwarven names can begin with consonant clusters &quot;kn&quot; and &quot;gn&quot; (like in German).I'm always surprised by people who want &quot;realism&quot; in a campaign world, but don't care at all about linguistics.&nbsp; For example, I've known a DM who was really concerned with a realistic economic system, with trade routes, taxes, and inflation, but when it came to language &quot;everybody speaks the same way&quot;!&nbsp; There are several d20 books dealing with economics, historically realistic arms &amp; armor, and land ownership, but there is not a single book dealing with linguistics.&nbsp; Why the disparity?Anyway, what I would like to see in a d20 Linguistics book:1. A brief introduction to phonetics and phonology: Essential to coming up with unique names and naming conventions.&nbsp; Afterall, not every fantasy languages is going to have the same sounds, or distribution of sounds as English. (It would be nice to see the IPA introduced here)2. Syntax: Not every language uses the English SVO word order.3. A Brief Discussion of Pragmatics and Sociolinguistics: This could include expressions of politeness, different levels of the language, and how the language is used in different types of conversations.&nbsp; This could lead to some interesting role-playing moments.Just my 2 cp!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="shadow, post: 1844791, member: 2182"] Fantasy Linguistics Guide? As someone with a BA in linguistics I have two words: $#@! YES! I would love to see linguistics finally expounded upon. I've seen one too many campaigns where everyone speaks the exact same language and dialect. Even in campaigns where different languages exists, all languages seem to be based off English. What gets to me even more is annoying fantasy names. Most fantasy names seem to consist of either some arbitrary, unpronounceable string of letters (eg. the Empire of Xqw'er'awqwn), or some name that essentially falls under English phonotactic rules (although names such as [i]Feldor, Beldane, Telgar[/i] are not standard English names they all fall under English phonotactic rules.) In my homebrew that I'm developing, I am trying to come up with some standard naming conventions. I decided to violate English norms for some exotic names. For example, gobling names can begin with the velar nasal sound "Ng" (like in Vietnamese), dwarven names can begin with consonant clusters "kn" and "gn" (like in German). I'm always surprised by people who want "realism" in a campaign world, but don't care at all about linguistics. For example, I've known a DM who was really concerned with a realistic economic system, with trade routes, taxes, and inflation, but when it came to language "everybody speaks the same way"! There are several d20 books dealing with economics, historically realistic arms & armor, and land ownership, but there is not a single book dealing with linguistics. Why the disparity? Anyway, what I would like to see in a d20 Linguistics book: 1. A brief introduction to phonetics and phonology: Essential to coming up with unique names and naming conventions. Afterall, not every fantasy languages is going to have the same sounds, or distribution of sounds as English. (It would be nice to see the IPA introduced here) 2. Syntax: Not every language uses the English SVO word order. 3. A Brief Discussion of Pragmatics and Sociolinguistics: This could include expressions of politeness, different levels of the language, and how the language is used in different types of conversations. This could lead to some interesting role-playing moments. Just my 2 cp! [/QUOTE]

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