Hi everyone,
as you can probably see on the left, I'm new to this fine forum and just browsed through some of the threads. Having no own questions at the moment (though they sure are about to come), I asked myself what I could possibly contribute in terms of advice. Well, I am what you may call a linguaphile - I am heavily interested in foreign languages, hell, even in this beautiful, arcane phenomenon that is human language itself: how it works, what it is made of, what it is used for, how it changes over time, what the differences and similarities are between the world's many tongues. I believe that language is an - if not THE - ability that makes us human. Language shapes our thoughts and our understanding and interpretation of reality, therefore, learning about language is learning about mankind, about history, society, and culture. This is the main reason why I study linguistics the third year now and it is in fact also a reason for my interest in history, mythology and fantasy.
Furthermore, I dare say that language is a key element of every culture, some would even argue that the way a certain language works depends on culture (and/or vice versa). Since many of us in this forum are eager to create entire worlds with an abundance of different, exotic, interesting cultures in it, I want to offer some help when it comes to language.
So please, feel free to ask everything even vaguely language-related. I have a solid knowledge about most Indo-European languages but also some insight into very different ones, spoken far away or long ago. Maybe you want to base character and place names on a real-world language. Maybe you want to know about vocabulary or sounds of a certain unusual and less known language. Maybe all this theoretical linguistic stuff in my head will prove useful, at last, and I can help with the creation of a fictional language.
Hope, I can be of use!
as you can probably see on the left, I'm new to this fine forum and just browsed through some of the threads. Having no own questions at the moment (though they sure are about to come), I asked myself what I could possibly contribute in terms of advice. Well, I am what you may call a linguaphile - I am heavily interested in foreign languages, hell, even in this beautiful, arcane phenomenon that is human language itself: how it works, what it is made of, what it is used for, how it changes over time, what the differences and similarities are between the world's many tongues. I believe that language is an - if not THE - ability that makes us human. Language shapes our thoughts and our understanding and interpretation of reality, therefore, learning about language is learning about mankind, about history, society, and culture. This is the main reason why I study linguistics the third year now and it is in fact also a reason for my interest in history, mythology and fantasy.
Furthermore, I dare say that language is a key element of every culture, some would even argue that the way a certain language works depends on culture (and/or vice versa). Since many of us in this forum are eager to create entire worlds with an abundance of different, exotic, interesting cultures in it, I want to offer some help when it comes to language.
So please, feel free to ask everything even vaguely language-related. I have a solid knowledge about most Indo-European languages but also some insight into very different ones, spoken far away or long ago. Maybe you want to base character and place names on a real-world language. Maybe you want to know about vocabulary or sounds of a certain unusual and less known language. Maybe all this theoretical linguistic stuff in my head will prove useful, at last, and I can help with the creation of a fictional language.
Hope, I can be of use!