It’s been a while, hasn’t it? 😅 Fear not, my little Tolkienians, we shall continue! In this post, we will go over a few ways to flesh out your language beyond just its grammar and vocabulary. If you’d like to look over my previous posts, check them out here!
Spicing up a conlang with culture
Something that gives conlangs a little “oomph” is to flesh it out and really integrate it into the culture you are creating. Culture and environment shape language and vice versa. The lives that the people live dictate what words they commonly use and their general outlook on life, expressed in language.
After reading my book, The Warriors of Bhrea: The Lost King, you might remember the concept of pakrea, or etiquette. Pakrea manifests in Korvet by using many different words and inflections to talk to and about different types of people. For instance, when talking to an aristocrat as a commoner or a servant, you would use an entirely different set of pronouns than if you were talking to a social equal. The social caste system is built into the language, thus enforcing the social strati even further.
In Po’Am, a tropical island culture, they have no word for things like snow and ice because they do not experience that weather. However, there are many words for storms and rain, differentiated by minute details that may not matter to a landlocked nation, but to a sea-faring nation, the differences could mean life or death.
These are the small details that can really bring your language to life. Play around, have some fun, and let your imagination run wild!
What about other cultures?
No culture exists in a vacuum. There is a world beyond your culture’s borders, and chances are, your culture interacts with it. Perhaps they are trade partners, perhaps they are at war. Regardless of the nature of those interactions, there are almost certainly words and cultural bits shared between the two cultures.
A really good way to spice up your conlang is to include borrowed words from other languages. They may be integrated into your conlang by changing a few sounds, but their origin will be different, and thus the word might sound a little unique in your language.
In Korvet, there are a few borrowed words from another language, Sopta–the language of the southern country Zulda. Some of these words include:
Jesvena (from Chesfena, the Zuldan Sun Goddess)
desakh (from desuq, a popular drink)
Some more borrowed words:
ajlit, slang for “awesome” or “cool” (from Bwe’at’s achelet, meaning “bird wing”)
An interesting phenomenon that occurred in English (and I’m sure other languages) was that when the Normans invaded England and essentially took over, the English language we see today reflects the social changes occurring in England. If you are a native English speaker, you might use these words every day! For words that describe the source of a meat product, the etymology reflects the more lower-class Saxon side of English: pig, cow, sheep, deer. This was because they were the ones hunting and raising these animals. However, the upper-class French Normans would have usually only seen the culinary result of hunting, thus influencing the words used to describe the meat: pork, beef, mutton, venison. Read more about this fascinating tidbit here!
The reason I bring that up is because the conqueror between two cultures might very well replace or usurp the conquered language’s words in certain ways. Yet another way you could think about fleshing out the cultural influences of your language!
Language families
Another aspect to consider is whether a conlang is part of a language family. In the world of Bhrea, Korvet is related to several languages: Pronegh, Bwe’at, and Detma, to name a few. It is also more distantly related to the Bhaida family, a group of Algaran languages.
Here is a rather rudimentary table from when I was doing some early planning:
| ***** Faghaena/Algara ***** | ***************** Bhrea ******************* | ||||||||||
| Gloss | Proto-Bretasji | Ancient Bhaida | Aroa | Fardh | Gwae | Ancient Jolan | Korvet | Detma | Pronegh | Kewas | Bwe’at |
| one | sajun | runa | roa | shru | ro | sjun | jun | shun | sjun | sjua | chu |
| two | davti | dava | dafh | sa | fa | dva | dva | tva | dvat | dvan | dvar |
| three | gwal | gwae | gwaelh | gwaet | gea | gwa’al | gal | kal | gwom | gwal | ka’al |
| four | ngetya | nai | naio | nat | nai’e | nge | nge | nge | gae | nga | nes |
| five | sobad | soa | san | ona | soa | soka | soka | sokra | sog | sokan | zoka |
| six | ayaj | taka | tagh | taya | ta | ayaki | aya | ayan | aki | taki | aha |
| seven | mit | mit | bitai | pit | bi | mira | mir | mirl | viti | mita | omi |
| eight | ve’at | fe’a | faedh | taekh | fe’a | ve’et | vet | veh | ve’at | ve’et | set |
| nine | liang-ga | liya | lita | lida | le | nia | ria | niang | liya | liang | tiaz |
| ten | sjevet | re | reka | ret | ge | sje | sjekh | sjeng | sjet | resje | sjeche |
I personally did not go into much depth beyond this chart. However, it is nice to have in the background as a reference for general patterns in changes between related languages. For example, when I want to reference the Bwe’at language, I know from this chart that the /s/ phoneme often changes to /z/, that /j/ or /Ê’/ changes to /tʃ/. Perhaps this method would be useful for you as well.
Wrapping up
There are many more things to consider when integrating your conlang into a culture–I’ve only listed a few! Here are some resources on worldbuilding/conlanging to help flesh out your ideas:
- Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions (this is very helpful for determining how a society and environment might influence the language)
- Hello Future Me (some general, broad ways to structure your world, and writing as well)
- Worldbuilding Stack Exchange (an incredible collection of resources for just about any aspect of worldbuilding you might want to explore)
Next time, we will go over writing systems. And, I will have a special guest on to showcase how he created his own writing system! Stay tuned, and don’t forget to check out my series, The Warriors of Bhrea, complete with several conlangs and unique cultures.