How to Create a Language: The Conlang Guide

by Jessie Peterson

Designed specifically for class use, this text guides students through developing their own full, working constructed language. It introduces basic concepts and the decisions students need to make about their conlang's speakers and world, before walking them through the process of conlanging in incremental stages, from selecting a language's sounds to choices about its grammar. It includes hundreds of examples from natural and constructed languages, and over seventy end-of-chapter exercises that allow students to apply concepts to an in-progress conlang and guide them in developing their own conlang. Ideal for undergraduates, the text is also suitable for more advanced students through the inclusion of clearly highlighted sections containing advanced material and optional conlang challenges. Instructor resources include an interactive slideshow for selecting stress patterns, an exercise answer guide and a sample syllabus, and student resources include a 'select-a-feature' conlang adventure, a spreadsheet of conlang features, and supplementary documentation for the exercises.

Genres: Linguistics

454 pages, Hardcover

Published October 2, 2025