Advanced Language Construction

Introduction -- How to use the book Writing a grammar -- How to outline; some things to put in; worries about whether it's too simple, too complex, or not weird enough; how to write glosses A taste of logic -- Just enough logic for linguists; creating logical languages Logographic writing -- A detailed guide to creating logographs, plus a glimpse at ideographic writing Pidgins and creoles -- Contact languages of several types, with a short sketch of Tok Pisin Life cycles -- How languages arose; language acquisition; bilingualism; long-term cycles; language death Studies in Morphosyntax -- So. Much. Morphosyntax! Latin case; morphosyntactic alignment including ergativity; gender; aspect; valence; modality; Mandarin syntax; polysynthesis; Steven Foley's guide to the NW Caucasian verb Sign language -- The structure of sign languages, with a focus on ASL Putting it all together -- How to make a complicated linguistic landscape as on Almea- along with some things we didn't cover earlier, like slang, borrowing, and triliteral roots Tools -- How to use the two new Javascript apps on zompist.com: the vocabulary generator gen and the revised Sound Change Applier.;Create plausible and realistic languages for role-playing games, fantasy and science fiction, movies or video games, or international communication.