Hello people of Omniglot forums!

I'm Kaylee (by username) or Karina!

I'm interested in languages, cultures, religions, history and writing (though there are more) and have wanted to "conlang" (?) for a really long time, though my resources were/are limited, I didn't know what it was called at the time and I couldn't find good websites/forums to get started on!

So I hope I can share a few languages in the future and even learn a few of other languages you guys have made! :33

I'm currently trying to learn a few languages which could further increase my Conlanging (at least that's what I heard...?), though it started because I love the languages. Here is short list of the "most" important languages I want to learn:

(Lakhota) -Currently trying to learn! :3
(Russian) - Going to learn!
(Italian) - Going to learn!
(Tibetan) - want to learn!
(Arabic) - want to learn!

Well that's all I can think to add....but if you have questions, I'll be glad to answer them! ^.^

(Where is the edit button? ) I couldn't edit, so I have to add it in a separate post. Man, not being able to edit things must be a headache to the Conlangers...

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I began Conlanging with a book called "How to create a language" by Holly Lisle. The book, I guess, helped me understand some things, but in a way I think her book caused me to think of things as terribly, impossibly hard to understand. So after I finished a language using the book (dead, but called "Kalaeka" *Kael-AYE-kah*), I quickly realized its not good, at least not in the sense in which I want to create languages for. What is the reason I want to create languages for? Well...I am an author of three books (two not finished yet, one done), one which has been in writing since 2005 (near the end of the year), but was lost four separate times. I have held off publishing my book because I had built the novel to have four languages in it, for four different peoples: humans etc. And the only step that is keeping me at hold off, is the languages. And nopes, I don't simply want to learn to Conlang just for my novel, I also love languages and have wanted to create a language of my own since I heard Quenya and Klingon (grew up with that TV show and that fantastic series).

So that lead me to Conlanging forums and I met a few people who really -- REALLY -- helped me. I asked what I should learn before I start, and they said: Phonology, Phones etc and so I began. First I tried Wiki, which in the less disrespectful way I can use to those who use Wiki, it was terrible at explaining things (but that's just to me, a Dyslexic >.>). I then googled and googled, and then read two books but they all explained it badly, at least in a way where you would already have to know about it. And then finally, a member linked me to this PDF on Google that quickly helped me to understand it all xD

And now, with a grasp on the most important things (the foundation?), I am in a bit deeper

Thank you for reading,

K~

"Well, what have you learned of Phonology/Phonetics etc?"
I have learned of Phones, Phonemes, Allophones, Morphemes.

Phones:
The sounds.

Phonemes:
Though it means sound, it is -not- a sound. Phonemes are well, um...For example, [p] (pit) and [ph] (spit) are somewhat different sounds.
(I'm not exactly sure how I could explain what it is xD)

Allophones:
Such as the earlier example, [p] and [ph] are allophones of /p/

Morphemes:
Suffixes, prefixes, affixes... like "s" and etc

Welcome to Omniglot! I hope you achieve fluency in all of your goals, especially Arabic.
I see you want to learn Lakhota, that's an interesting choice.

If it's okay, I'd like to add some of my input.

You got phones down, the simple sounds. Phonemes are the smallest piece of a language, single phones, that are distinguishable. Distinct phonemes change the meaning in words which are otherwise the same. 'Sea' /si/ and 'tea' /ti/, are phonetically distinguished solely by the phonemes [s] and [t].

You pretty much got allophones right. An allophone is when two (or more) different phones can stand in for the same phoneme; [p] and [pʰ] are both allophones of /p/, they are technically the same phoneme. For example, the word pit, with [p] or [pʰ], is the the same word and has the same meaning.

You were right with morphemes but they can also be words. A morpheme is a unit that actually has any meaning. /s/ (and [z]), like you mentioned, is a morpheme. When added to the end of a noun, it creates the plural. However, words like cracker are also morphemes. The word apples is really two morphemes <apple> 'a red fruit'+ <s> 'plural'.

Philámayaye! (I thank you!)

Oh, thank you again! I hope I have time to learn Arabic (been to Tehran, Esfahān, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia -- though only for a bit xD). And yups, I want to learn Lakȟóta! It is my favorite language on the planet, and then Russian

Oh yes is is very much okay! I posted it so keep space clean on another topic! Thank you for the corrections and help.

I think I understand Morphemes, but the part about them also being words is confusing me a bit.

It's simple, really[*]. Morphemes come in two flavours: free and bound. Bound morphemes only show up attached to other morphemes (like the -eme in morpheme or the -s in flavours) whereas free morphemes can be used on their own. So used is two morphemes, one free (use) and one bound (-(e)d).


[*] Laying aside for a moment such complications as cranberry morphs and clitics.

So what's the difference from a word and a free Morpheme?

Because it sounds like words are Morphemes... >.>

Easy answer: Practically speaking, there isn't a difference.

Harder answer: This is where we get into a discussion of clitics, which involves bringing up the fact that there is more than one definition of "word" and they don't all line up perfectly. You're used to thinking in terms of orthographic words, but that's not really a useful definition from a grammatical point of view.

Clitics? That's something I've never heard of it.

Essentially, a clitic functions like a word but can only appear attached to another word. You can think of it as a bound morpheme that attaches to a phrase or clause rather than to another morpheme or you can think of it as something which is not a separate word in terms of pronunciation but is from the point of view of meaning.

Examples of clitics in English are: possessive s, abbreviated auxiliaries (e.g. 've, 'll, etc.), and the articles a and the.