Mark Rosenfelder

A guide to creating realistic languages for RPGs, fantasy and science fiction, movies or video games, or international communication... or just an unusual way to learn about how languages work.

The Language Construction Kit

The sequel to the Language Construction Kit: learn more about constructed languages and about linguistics: logic, pidgins and creoles, sign languages, the linguistic life cycle, and a meaty step-by-step survey of morphosyntax. Create detailed and plausible languages for RPGs, fantasy and science fiction, movies, or video games... or just learn more about how languages work with the same accurate yet fun approach as the original LCK.

Advanced Language Construction

A companion volume to the Language Construction Kit, this book explains everything you need to know about creating your own world with its own geology, creatures, cultures, religions, technology, and styles of war- plus how to create maps, illustrations and 3-D models. An essential whether you're writing science fiction or fantasy, designing RPGs, creating movies or video games, or remodeling a spare asteroid.

The Planet Construction Kit

An accessible but incisive introduction to modern syntax and generative grammar, for conlangers and anyone interested in languages or linguistics. Syntax can be frustrating, because there are multiple schools that seem to fight over inessential things. I hope I can show you that this is normal for a new field, and that it actually makes syntax fun. New discoveries are being made, and you can participate- something that's a lot harder to do in, say, quantum mechanics. The emphasis here is on doing syntax-- learning how to make and how to evaluate syntactic arguments.What's in it? An introduction to the Chomsky Hierarchy, a classification of grammars that's used both in linguistics and computer science, as well as a comparison to other generative techniques, such as Markov text generators. A tour of Chomsky's methods- production rules and transformations- with overnight stays in the Syntactic Structures, X-bar, and Minimalist stages in his thought. A leisurely stroll through interesting bits of syntax: the English verbal complex, pronouns and other anaphors, relative clauses, quantifiers and more. The emphasis is on doing syntax- not just learning rules and drawing trees, but learning how syntactic arguments are made. An overview of alternatives to Chomsky's approach: generative syntax, cognitive linguistics, relational grammars, word grammar, construction grammar, Jackendoff's Simpler Syntax, and Comrie's universals. A chapter on production which asks, how real are these grammars? Do we really have syntactic categories and transformations in the brain, or in the genome? A chapter on how you can apply all this to your conlangs. The Syntactic Bestiary- an annotated list of transformations and constraints, which you can think about for conlanging, or use to evaluate syntactic theories. Plus, unlike most syntax textbooks, this one comes with a set of web toys so you can see the rules in action and write your own. It makes the ideas come alive much more than mere diagrams can.

The Syntax Construction Kit

An engaging introduction to India (and all of South Asia) for conlanger, conworlders, linguists, and anyone who'd like to learn more about the world. It starts with the topography and history of India, deals with all its major religions, and goes on to cover astronomy, mathematics, daily life, cuisine, clothing, and architecture. In addition there are meaty grammatical sketches of Sanskrit, Hindi, and Tamil, and a discussion of the writing systems that have been used in the subcontinent.

India Construction Kit

An essential and very readable resource for conlangers and writers who want to create a non-European world, and anyone who wants to know more about our planet's leading civilization. A concise but meaty overview of the history, philosophy, and literature of China, and much more: clothing, architecture, technology, cosmology, medicine, cuisine, and more. Plus grammatical sketches of both Mandarin and Old Chinese, and a discussion of the writing system. The history and literature sections are written for people interested in the Chinese languages, with key terms in both pinyin and hanzi.

China Construction Kit

"This book is an essential reference on creating words. It's packed with etymologies, ideas on derivation, places you can diverge from English, and fascinating things to think about. Plus it contains the real-world knowledge you need to name everything from colors to elements, from kinship systems to guilds" -- Back cover.

The Conlanger's Lexipedia

This is the omnibus edition containing The Book of Cuzei-- 380 pages of supplementary material including a grammar of Cuêzi, The Count of Years, and The Munkhâshi.---Doesn't anyone want to face the demons? In this book the soldier and diplomat Beretos attempts to clear his name against charges that his mission to the Babblers was a failure. Across the Plain from his native Cuzei, a threatening empire is rising. Guarding the mountain pass is a small Babbler barony. Beretos is sent to build up their defenses. That is, if he can help persuade bored nobles that he should be allowed to undertake a mission he doesn't want to do, and if the Babblers even listen to this unwanted foreigner... Mark Rosenfelder's Almea, a world of dizzying complexity, has been explored for years on zompist.com. This is the first full-length story from Almea.

Babblers + Cuzei Omnibus

It's the 50th century. Socionomics makes the fifty human worlds of the Incatena prosperous and stable, if a bit raucous on Saturday nights. But socionomics doesn't cover crises, such as the dictatorship that's taken over Okura, or the unscrupulous tycoon who's plotting something over on New Bharat. For that we have Diplomatic Agents. Like Morgan. Is Morgan up to the task? The boss isn't sure. The station AI is doubtful. But our best Agents are out of town; time to see what Morgan can do. "A science fiction comedy, set in a future where the speed of light is respected, though grudgingly, and lives are measured in centuries."

Against Peace and Freedom

After creating a grammar, there's the 800-pound gorilla of the lexicon to deal with. This book gives you everything you need to know to create words. The first stop is etymology: it contains thousands of etymologies from a wide variety of languages. Borrow them or let them spark your own ideas! It's easy to let the lexicon be a coded version of your native language. The book contains tips on how to avoid this, including plenty of fascinating examples from non-English languages. You want to know which words to create first. It includes the 1500 words most commonly found in fantasy and science fiction, sorted by frequency. Many parts of the lexicon require real-world knowledge to handle. The Lexipedia contains just enough information on biology, physics, and human cultures to help you out. Plus, there's a discussion of the basic tools of the word creator: categories, metaphors, and derivation. Though aimed at conlangers, this book will be instructive and entertaining for anyone who's interested in words.

Mark Rosenfelder

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