The Conlang FAQ

Welcome to the world of constructed languages

The conlang FAQ is no longer actively maintained. Jack Durst stopped updating it in 1997, and attempts to contact him in order to recover some of the lost pages have not been successful. The FAQ was a wonderful collection of some of the best that the list has to offer, and I felt it would be a pity to lose that. I currently do not have plans to make active changes, although I will gladly accept new submissions.

Available sections

  1. Formal grammars(13, SEP 1996)
  2. Link brokenColaboration summary (29, NOV 1996)
  3. Phonetics (22, NOV 1996)
  4. Serial verb consturctions (25, NOV 1996)
  5. Morphophonemics (25, NOV 1996)
  6. Morphophonemics and allophones (26, NOV 1996)
  7. Common Pitfalls (27, NOV 1996)
  8. Language intuition (28, NOV 1996)
  9. A priori word creation (03, DEC 1996)
  10. Isolating languages (08, DEC 1996)
  11. Link broken Use of pronouns (09, DEC 1996)
  12. Phonaesthemes (09, DEC 1996)
  13. Idioms & irregularity (09, DEC 1996)
  14. Link brokenDeciding on meaning for your words (10, DEC 1996)
  15. Suppletion (11, DEC 1996)
  16. Creative ways to make questions (14, DEC 1996)
  17. Complexity in language ( pro relex 16, DEC 1996)
  18. Link brokenHow a conlanger got started (18, DEC 1996)
  19. The GSI (gramatical similarity index) (19, DEC 1996)
  20. Unaccusative & unergative (20, DEC 1996)
  21. Pragmatics (29, DEC 1996)
  22. Creole grammar, (10, JAN 1997)
  23. Mutations (29, JAN 1997)
  24. ASCII IPA (22, FEB 1997)
  25. Defining semantic space (01, MAR 1997)
  26. Relex blues (pro relex 06, MAR 1997)
  27. Genitive constructions, opacity (19, MAR 1997)
  28. Mood examples (19, MAR 1997)
  29. What is Conlang? (23, MAR 1997)
  30. Strong vs. Weak inflection (25, MAR 1997)
  31. Passives, etc. (30, MAR 1997)
  32. Clarification of tense, aspect and mood (30, MAR 1997)
  33. Devising vocab/unintentional constructions (01, APR 1997)
  34. Derivation classes (02, APR 1997)
  35. Ergative (13, APR 1997)
  36. Overdeclention (20, APR 1997)
  37. Link brokenCompliments and predicates (multiple articles21, APR 1997)
  38. Adjuncts (21, APR 1997)
  39. Testing for compliments, copulas (22, APR 1997)
  40. Chunks & constituants[cognitive syntax] (23, APR 1997)
  41. Intonation curves (multiple articles24, APR 1997)
  42. Conlanging & religion (multiple articles 26, APR 1997)
  43. Introduction to cases (26, APR 1997)
  44. List of moods (29, APR 1997)
  45. How mood works [open v. closed class] (30, APR 1997)
  46. How to choose phonemes (1, MAY 1997)
  47. Number marking [examples] (2, MAY 1997)
  48. Forms of the subjunctive (2, MAY 1997)
  49. Prepositional cases (5, MAY 1997)
  50. Metathesis (5, MAY 1997)
  51. Zero? (6, MAY 1997)
  52. Pronoun sets (multiple articles 6, MAY 1997)
  53. Phonological glossary (8, MAY 1997)
  54. Vouel systems (20, MAY 1997)
  55. A sample phonological description (22, MAY 1997)
  56. Link brokenComplexity in language (multiple articles 28, MAY 1997)
  57. A Truly Alien Language (29, MAY 1997)
  58. Link brokenCorrelation of aspect (29, May 1997)
  59. Drift from literary forms (30, MAY 1997)
  60. Link broken Linguistic evolution (Multiple articles 31, MAY 1997)
  61. Vouel harmony (31, MAY 1997)
  62. Relating your language [Tech] (21, JUN 1997)
  63. Selecting words (26, JUN 1997)
  64. Braille (9, JUL 1997)
  65. Trigger v. Voice systems (Multiple articles 11, JUL 1997)
  66. The Strat system (15, JUL 1997)
  67. Link brokenYACC (15, JUL 1997)
  68. Link brokenVerb valency in trigger systems (15, JUL 1997)
  69. Culture in Conlangs (Multiple articles 17, JUL 1997)
  70. Omitted conjunctions (19, JUL 1997)
  71. A list of interesting languages (Many sub-pages 24, JUL 1997)
  72. Morphemes in conlanging (29 AUG, 1997)
  73. Aspects vs. Moods (29 AUG, 1997)
  74. Logography (Myltiple posts30 AUG, 1997)
  75. How to quote an article (2 SEP, 1997)
  76. Jargon, Dialect, Creole, Patois (3 SEP, 1997)
  77. Making a textbook (9 SEP, 1997)
  78. Free word order in O'odham (15 SEP, 1997)
  79. Etymology (15 SEP, 1997)
  80. Free word order and verb inflections (18 SEP, 1997)
  81. Moraics (25 SEP, 1997)
  82. Semantics of Words (27 SEP, 1997)
  83. Analysis by distinctive features (30 SEP, 1997)
  84. Alegro rules (2, OCT 1997)
  85. Precursors to Sapir-whorf (6 OCT, 1997)
  86. Direct/Inverse systems (7 OCT, 1997)
  87. Relavance hierarchies (7 OCT, 1997)
  88. Assesing Aglutination/isolation/inflection (7 OCT, 1997)
  89. Recursive declention [BNF] (9 OCT, 1997)
  90. Multi-meaning morphemes (Multiple posts)
  91. Why linguists are welcome on CONLANG
  92. Pronomial nouns
  93. Approaches to morphosyntax [part 1](Multiple posts)
  94. Reasons for conlanging (12 NOV 1997)
  95. aUI and language philosophy (Multiple Posts 14 NOV 1997)
  96. "Loom of Language" (20 NOV 1997)
  97. Case names (21 NOV 1997)
  98. Help with special characters (23 NOV 1997)
  99. Origins of modern gender (25 NOV 1997)
  100. Word order in Topic-Focus langs (3 DEC 1997)
  101. Word order types (Multiple Posts, universalist and anti-universalist 3 DEC 1997)
  102. Counting bases (11 DEC 1997)
  103. Natural Language Processing (11 DEC 1997)
  104. Work order in sentence elements (11 DEC 1997)
  105. Adverbial order (13 DEC 1997)
  106. Conlang cheat-sheat(14 DEC 1997)
  107. Articles (28 DEC, 1997 Multiple articles)
  108. Hints for creating vocabulary (07 JAN, 1998)
  109. Determiners (08 JAN, 1998)
  110. Phonology of H (11 JAN, 1998)
  111. Nasals in Shoshoni and phonetic terminology (14 JAN, 1998)
  112. Double negatives (15 JAN, 1998 Multiple articles)
  113. Syntactic marking systems (22 JAN, 1998)
  114. Why a vouel trapazoid? (29 JAN, 1998)
  115. Unvoiced vouels (29 JAN, 1998)
  116. Mobile gender (04 FEB, 1998 Multiple articles)
  117. Conlang history (13 FEB, 1998)
  118. More on Ergativity (25 FEB, 1998)
  119. Conlang Turing test (26 FEB, 1998)
  120. Topic V. Focus (06 MAR, 1998)
  121. Classifiers (08 MAR, 1998)
  122. Left & right branching systems (11 MAR, 1998 multiple articles)
  123. What's an Artlang? (13 MAR, 1998)
  124. Basic terminology (19 MAR, 1998)
  125. Semantic space of "To be" (26 MAR, 1998)
  126. More Moods and Aspects (31 MAR, 1998)
  127. Mail trouble shooting (05 APR, 1998)
  128. Ablaut and Umlaut (06 APR, 1998)
  129. Sylable form for English (08 APR, 1998)
  130. Nasal Harmony (09 APR, 1998)
  131. How to make your language unusual (13 MAY, 1998)
  132. Unusual and archaic moods (15 MAY, 1998)
Posts after 5/18/98 have been unfortunately lost.

Help wanted!

As you can see, many pages were never put on the web. If you would like to fill in these gaps, feel free to search your own personal archive or the archive at Yahoo, and then mail them to me at peter-clark@bethel.edu.
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Copyright © 1997, Jack Durst,
Last updated: 18 May, 1998