Conlangs

• Phonology deals with the sounds that make up a language.

• Morphology deals with the forms words can take in a language.
  • Inflection is modifying a word in a way that doesn't change its basic meaning.
    • word → words
    • red → redder, reddest
    • walk → walked, walks, walking
    • fall → (has) fallen
  • Derivational Morphology is modifying a word in a way that changes its meaning, and often the category of word it is.
    • agree(v) → disagree(v), agreement(n), agreeable(a)
    • burglar(n) → ex-burglar(n), burglary(n), burglarize(v), burglarious(a)
    • equal(a) → unequal(a), equalize(v), equality(n), equally(a)

• Syntax is how words are put together to form sentences.
  • Basic English form is SVO, which stands for Subject Verb Object. SOV, VSO, VOS, OSV and OVS are all possible, with SOV being the most common, SVO next, and on through the list to OVS being the least common
    • SOV: Alice Oz imagines. (Korean, Turkish, Tamil, Yoda from Star Wars)
    • SVO: Alice imagines Oz. (English, Chinese, Swahili)
    • VSO: Imagines Alice Oz. (Classical Arabic, Hawaiian, Welsh)
    • VOS: Imagines Oz Alice. (Malagasy, Fijian)
    • OSV: Oz Alice imagines. (Hixkaryana)
    • OVS: Oz imagines Alice. (Warao)

• Semantics is about the meaning of words.
  • Semantic Fields are groupings of words based on their shared meanings, such as dig being related to mine and shovel, but also being related to understand in some types of slang. (Can you dig it?)

• Pragmatics is how context contributes to meaning.
  • The meaning of "It's a grave, can you dig it?" is entirely dependant on the context in which it's asked!

• Lexicon is a listing of words that make up a language, not unlike a dictionary.