Language Creation - Vocables needed

[Verequus]

I want to create a new language, which will be Draconic in my campaign world and can be theoritically spoken like any other existing ones (if developed high enough), but for that I need a foundation of words. But I'm not very creative regarding names and so I do the thing, I do everytime, if I don't know any further: I ask for help.

Everyone, who provides a name or a word, should follow these simple rules:

1. The format: word (pronunciation): meaning
2. Use the bullet point list because of easier reading.
3. Combination of words are separated by an apostrophe ('). It can mean as simple things like "and" or can give the combination an entire new meaning like in Chinese.
4. If combinations of words are used, then the parts have to be explained, too.

Don't worry about contradictions with other posters, I'll cherrypick the best fitting contributions, anyway.

My sole existing example:

• We'Jata (Wea-Shah-Ta): Name of the dragonfolk race, meaning has still to be determined

To everyone, who'll help me with my project: Thanks in advance!

 

[Mercule]

Kaasag (KAH sahg): A dragon's lair -- specifically, a cave or other rock formation used as a permanent abode. Implication is that the inhabitant is an elder dragon of some note. Similar to the Common "manor".

Oh, and here's a good place to go for language building: http://www.langmaker.com/. You could also Google for "conlang".

 

[Verequus]

Thanks for the link - it was interesting to read. And a nice word, too!

 

[Incenjucar]

Delicious notion for a website (Linguistics is -fun-). I think a huge issue is trying to decide on the way things sound. Should "G" sound like "Garden" or "garaGe", "enouGh", etc. And then you have the accents and dialects...

 

[Tonguez]

When I create languages I tend to start with the Syntax (the sentence structuring of Subject, Verb and Object) ie will it be

then create markers for each part (eg verb subject markers include tense markers for past present and future actions and the verb 'to be' (ie 'is', 'are'))

So in your Draconic you may decide that the sentence order is VSO with the present tense marked by the subject-suffix 'akh'

so
Jafh is sitting- VSO - Sitting is Jafh
~Druah Jafh-akh

Jafh is Running
~Agozh Jafh-akh
Jafh ran (past tense marker enaz)
~Agokh Jafh-enaz
Jafh ran to the lair
~AgokhenKasaag eas Jafh-enaz
= AgokhenKasaag eas Jafh-{enaz} (run-to-lair did Jafh-{past tense})

Oh and here are some possible syntax structures
S-V-O John eats apples(e.g. English, German, Kiswahili, Chinese, Russian)
V-S-O Eats John apples (eg Celtic languages, Polynesian, Arabic)
S-O-V John apples eats (e.g. Japanese, Persian, Latin)
V-O-S Eats apples John (e.g. Fijian)
O-S-V Apples John eats (e.g. Xavante)
O-V-S Apples eats John (e.g., Klingon)

 

[Starman]

Wasn't there an article in Dragon awhile back that had an article on the Draconic language?

Starman

 

[Starman]

Here's another website devoted to artificial language creation: http://www.zompist.com/kit.html

Starman

 

[Li Shenron]

Have you also thought about borrowing words from an existing language? South-east asian languages and native american languages sound very fantasy-like, and you rarely meet someone who knows them

You can easily find small online dictionaries for several of them, and doing this will make the whole process much easier. Unless you are really going to have the whole campaign revolving around deciphering scripts in that language, I suppose this way could be enough...

 

[Incenjucar]

Aye to the SE Asian languages. Heck, Malay is to me as Celtic is to Tolkien. Full of great words like 'ular' for snake (which I named my Ulari after). Great language, though it has a lot of blending lately since it's basically a tiny version of America in regards to cultural integration.

 

[Verequus]

Thank you for the tips, but seeing them, I should have mentioned, that I already have someone who takes care of explaining the difficulties of language creation to me. And he needs some vocabulary as starting point, which I can't as easily provide as I would like. That's the reason, I started the thread. Sorry for the missing detail.