Conlangs — or constructed languages — give a feeling of reality to science fiction.

But constructing or learning a language means you have to know something about the structure of language. What choices are there, and what do you need to know?

In the second of a two-part series, linguist Daniel Midgley unfolds the scrolls on this episode of Talk the Talk.


Listen to this episode

162: Conlangs 2

Download this episode

You can listen to all the episodes of Talk the Talk by pasting this URL into your podlistener.

http://danielmidgley.com/talkthetalk/talk_classic.xml

Promo

Promo with James Hall, 2014-05-06: Conlangs 2

Here’s the book James and I are talking about, in our discussion of derby and clerk: A universal and critical dictionary of the English language from 1849.

And here’s the relevant page. See the entry for sergeant.


Show notes

Microbes combine chemicals to communicate.
http://phys.org/news/2014-04-microbes-insights-evolution-human-language.html

‘Word’ in Klingon? Mu’.
http://klingonska.org/dict/?q=mu%27

David J. Peterson’s presentation on Dothraki, including cases
http://dedalvs.com/dothraki/dothrakireno.pdf

Low blood sugar makes you ‘hangry’.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/low-blood-sugar-linked-to-hangry-fights-for-spouses-study-1.1775718