How to Create a Language

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.

Jessie Peterson is a full-time professional conlanger, whose work has appeared in TV shows and films such as Pixar's Elemental, Legendary's Dune: Part Two, and Netflix's Shadow and Bone. She was a professor of linguistics at Stephen F. Austin State University for thirteen years, where she created a conlanging course, mentored students who won academic awards for their conlang work, and received a teaching excellence award. She and her husband David Peterson co-host the weekly live stream LangTime Studio on YouTube.