Your first conlang

[Chagen]

Look up "Demonos" on this forum.

Just....I didn't want to link it myself. That would require going back and looking at it. The shame...

[Omzinesý]

My first conlang was Karitor (many writing forms).
In the beginning, it was very horrible, resembles some worst attempts on the English ortography reform thried. It's last version was not so bad. It even had agentive-stative alignment. - But not good either.

It's maybe still my futhest developed lang.

[mbrsart]

My first conlang is Hra'anh, the language of the hra'vakh, an alien civilization. My first run was a relex of English, and I didn't get far because I hadn't the slightest idea where to start. My second run started after I learned a bit about Mando'a and found out about the conlanging community. I had the script, the phonology, and I set out to create a few words, but again, I had no idea where to start and wound up relexing English. Then I found out about the Conlangery podcast, which I've been listening to religiously. I've learned more in the last few months than I have in my entire schooling experience. And because of that podcast, I'm actually creating things that work! I'm still working on it, and it's my favorite project. I'll probably go all Tolkien on it and tinker until the day I die.

[thaen]

My first "conlang" was something my friends and I devised. It was basically an English phonology with a syllabary. One of my friends knew a couple other languages, but ours was pretty bad! My first conlang I started after learning some on linguistics is one of the ones I am creating now. It is Krwxer, spoken by the Krwx, which are dragons. I am currently working on five conlangs, so non are very well developed.

[Batrachus]

Actually, the language I described in the first post isn't my first conlang. I made some a while before it (I deleted the notes), it had all letters of english alphabet but I removed the voiced ones from pairs. I made only verbs yet, but it was horribly agglutinative, had three types of we and same times as czech.

And there was a conlang a long time ago, when I knew absolutelly nothing about linguistics. It was a cipher of czech, I started (and ended ) with personal pronouns, it had seven cases same as in czech and same genders. The form I made had no connection.

[Click]

Batrachus wrote: same times as czech

Maybe verb tenses?

[Xing]

OK guys, I just found the 3-page grammar of my first conlang. I'll give you some highlight:

It was active-stative, with VOA as the basic word order.

Agentive suffix: -m
Stative/patientive suffix: -k
Genitive suffix: -sk

Plural was marked by a prefix on the noun, ai-.

Some nouns:

longa - 'man'
tenga - 'woman'
tise - 'child'
sare - 'house'
tele - 'river'
tew - 'sea', 'lake', 'water'

Some verbs:

hibeht - 'walk'
nihk - 'see'
werke - 'build'
qelt - 'build'
qelt - 'swim'
rewelt - 'sleep'
zaert - 'sleep'
nit - 'be'
nowt - 'become'

Sample sentences:

Werke sarek ailongam - 'The men are building a house'
build house-PATIENTIVE PL-man-AGENTIVE
Werke aisarek ailongam - 'The men are building houses'

[Batrachus]

Batrachus wrote: same times as czech

Maybe verb tenses?

Suuure, I was confused by czech, where word for "tense" is same as for "time"...

[Click]

Batrachus wrote: same times as czech

Maybe verb tenses?

Suuure, I was confused by czech, where word for "tense" is same as for "time"...

It is also the same in Croatian

[Selinki]

Selinki is my first and only language.
I started it when I was 15 and I knew nothing about IPA or X-SAMPA for 9 years of conlanging. Everything was just based on estonian and russian pronunciation. Now I'm discovering my language :).

[Rik]

My first conlang was Gevey. I started it (calculates in his head - oh shit! I'm that ancient?) in 1976 and, while the current version bears no relation to the original, there's still some hints of my first efforts scattered through the language. Most of the phonemes, for instance, are based on RP English and the numbers 1-10 have barely changed over the decades: onu, drasu, besu (named after my dog), vilu, finu, dizu, aderu, espenu, nuunu - don't need to be a 'genious' to work out what language inspired some of those words. Genitive -n and plural -sh were also in the original.

[samstyan99]

Otarantya

The 'tower of Babel' written in English, Old Otarantya (dated but still used for writing things like the bible) and Standard Otarantya (well I say Standard...it's still a bit old-fashioned, but it is the bible!)

Genesis 11, 1-9: ‘The Story of Babel’

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” 8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

ʟˈaᴦcʏ 11̦ 1-9̤ “ʟuᴍʏşõza ᴅε Baвεʟ”

¡̥ ƭ̨ᴦa aſéʟuʛʏałcʟʏõ ¡ɡʟǫsʏ ˠ uᴎӎʏʟʏacӎosʏ̥ 2̥ os cîᴎʏséaᴎşʁᴘı aᴎaƭ̃ʟʏ̦ ſᴦéƚéˈǫ ʟuᴘéᴅʏεᴅáᴎ ᴅε śśîᴎá ˠ εᴎcasƚaşǫᴎéεϩɔ̥ 3̥ ᴘõεᴎõaʟéˈǫ̦ «εʁᴎᴅʏᴅɔϩ̦ ᴍacƭ́ſł́ᴎʏᴦᴎɔϩ ˠ ᴘʏsʏŋʟˈóſł́ᴎʏᴦᴎɔϩᴘʟʏεʁz̥» cᴦîzîƚéˈǫ ƭ́ſł́ aᴎƚı ᴘéᴎaᴦaz̦ ˠ cᴦîzîƚé’ǫ ᴘʏáraşa aᴎƚı ɡǫᴅîϩ̥ 4̥ ƭƚ ᴘõéˈǫ̦ «ᴍaéƚéεʟʏ̦ ocoᴅӎʏzuᴎᴘoʟʏaʏᴦᴎɔϩ ᴍε uᴎƭᴦε ƥazóᴎǫ ᴎasyʟõ̦ εƚ caᴎıoᴎӎaᴎᴎõϩᴎɔϩ̤ aʟʏosa ɝsᴘáɡεᴦéʏᴦᴎɔϩ ᴘéᴦa ʟuʛʏałcʟʏõ̥» 5̥ ʾ ƭƚ caƚεſʏęʏos ſʟεᴘǫʟuᴘoʟʏa ˠ ſʟεᴘǫʟuƭᴦε ɝocoᴅӎʏzéʟˈaᴎşʁᴘı̥ 6̥ ᴘõęʏoș «aᴎ óƚaŋ ƭɡεᴦaɡazʟˈanşᴦoᴘı ˠ ᴍʏεʟóᴎɡł̨sʏʟˈaᴎşʁᴘı ʙoʁ́ſεzaſʏƚˈóʟáˈǫ̦ ƭƚ ᴎεᴎᴘᴦaɡᴍa śʏȸſεzıǫ ɝşáᴎεᴎᴅʏᴎaƚos̥» 7̥ ᴘõęʏoș «ᴍaéƚéεʟʏ̦ ᴘʏɡacaƚʏᴦᴎɔϩ ˠ sʏcoᴎʏᴦᴎɔϩ ıǫˈî ɡł̨sʏ εƚ ᴎεᴎcaʟaſaᴎaʟʏʟʏoᴎʏᴦˈǫ̥» 8̥ εƚ sᴘáɡεᴦęʏos ʟˈaᴎşʁᴘı ᴘéᴦa ʟuʛʏałcʟʏõ̦ ˠ sƚasʏéocoᴅӎʏzʟuᴘoʟʏaˈǫ̥ 9̥ ɝaſʏƚʏ óᴘó oᴎӎsõBaвεʟ̤ ɡʏaᴎ sʏcoᴎéşʏos ʟîɡł̨sʏ ᴅε ʟuʛʏałcʟʏõ̥

l’arcy 11̦ 1-9̤ “lumyşõza dε Babεl”

¡̥ ƭ̨ra aféluɠyałclyõ ónglǫsy ˠ unӎylyacӎosy̥ 2̥ os cînyséanşɹpı anaƭ̃lʏ̦ frété’ǫ lupédyεdán dε śśîná ˠ εncastaşǫnéεϩɔ̥ 3̥ põεnõalé’ǫ̦ «εɹndydɔϩ̦ macƭ́fł́nyrnɔϩ ˠ pysyŋl’ófł́nyrnɔϩplyεɹz̥» crîzîté’ǫ ƭ́fł́ antı pénaraz̦ ˠ crîzîté’ǫ pyáraşa antı ɡǫdîϩ̥ 4̥ ƭt põéˈǫ̦ «maétéεlʏ̦ ocodӎyzunpolyayrnɔϩ mε unƭrε ƥazónǫ nasylõ̦ εt canıonӎannõϩnɔϩ̤ alyosa ɝspágεréyrnɔϩ péra luɠyałclyõ̥» 5̥ ʾ ƭt catεfyęyos flεpǫlupolya ˠ flεpǫluƭrε ɝocodӎyzélˈanşɹpı̥ 6̥ põęyoș «an ótaŋ ƭgεragazl’anşɹpı ˠ myεlónglǫsylˈanşɹpı boɹ́fεzafytˈóláˈǫ̦ ƭt nεnpragma śyȸfεzıǫ ɝşánεndynatos̥» 7̥ põęyoș «maétéεlʏ̦ pygacatyrnɔϩ ˠ syconyrnɔϩ ıǫ’î gł̨sy εt nεncalafanalylyonyr’ǫ̥» 8̥ εt spágεręyos l’anşɹpı péra luɠyałclyõ̦ ˠ stasyéocodӎyzlupolya’ǫ̥ 9̥ ɝafyty ópó onӎsõBabεl̤ gyan syconęyos lîgł̨sy dε luɠyałclyõ̥

[Sangfroidish]

Twas just a run-of-the-mill absolute nooblang really. The phonology was just a complete ripoff of English with /x/ thrown in, right down to the diphthongs (I had no knowledge of how to use IPA back then but I distinctly remember copy-pasting the English IPA values from Wikipedia. I didn't even know what /ː/ meant but I didn't dare take it off of /ɑː iː ɔː uː/ just in case.)
I was adamant that I would never ever use any digraphs for whatever reason but I also had no concept of being consistent with diacritics so the vowel inventory just looked like diacritic salad. Off the top of my head I had <â> /ɑː/, <ă> /aʊ̯/, <ï> /i/, and just so many other completely random and inappropriate diacritic vowels I can't even remember them.
Also <č> /x/ but no <c>.
Also <ş v> /θ ð/.

Long story short it was hideous and awful in every way to an extent Vorynthel couldn't even dream of. I don't remember any of the actual grammar or words besides ločar ne ya /lɔˈxar nɛ ja/, "I love you", which I'm pretty sure was love-PRS 2sg 1sg, making it VOS.

Really wish I still had some of the documentation of it, it'd be hilarious to look back on. Pretty sure I've got something knocking around from maybe the attempt after or maybe the one after that, but god knows where.

[Egerius]

My first conlang... yup, that's Romanz - the buonavallese dialect.
It started out as a naïve anti-ACTA auxlang in late 2011 (Lingua Latina Nova) and started to become a (somewhat) naturalistic romlang from 2012 on (Mezzuromano).
It moved from an alternate Earth (2012) to a distant planet inhabited by sentient/anthropomorphic chinchillas (mid-2013), dogs (early 2014) and rabbits (May 2014).

It's still in development, but the text generated is in the dialect of Buonavalle, disregarding the (substandard) varieties of Saselva (mirrors salat Catalan and Portuguese) and Argemúnt/Argemonte (mirrors Dalmatian and southern Italian).

Romanz descends from the Vulgar Latin spoken in my WIP conworld (Tèrra Rodentiana), brought there by spacecraft two million years before sentient life emerged (2193 A.D.), four years after the collapse of a communist colony of Earth, which was subsequently used to preserve a few endangered species.

Romanz will improve as soon as I will know more about linguistics.

[Shemtov]

My first conlang was Tanubitian, which I started when I was 11. It was more of a naming language, and I didn't know anything about linguistics other then the concept of IE and PIE, soI said it was IE, but I didn't know enough to derive it systematically.
The grammar was English with some Spanish features, like conjugations and gender.
Phonemic Inventory:
/p b t d k g/
/m n/
/f v θ s z ʃ x h/
/dd͡ʒ/
/l r/
/j w ʍ/

Vowels:
/i u ɪ ʊ e o ə ɛ ɔ a/

What Vocab I can remember:
/rudd͡ʒ/ <ruj> 'king'
/tev/ <Tave> 'god' or 'goodness'
/s/ <s> 'is'
/pɪn/ <pin> 'all'
/zar.vɪ/ <zarvi> 'slave'
/mur.sa/ <Morsa> 'death'

[Sḿtuval]

My first conlang was called Aǧmaxa, et je le déteste beaucoup

The phonology wasn't that bad, but it lacked a defined syllable structure. Aǧmaxa's orthography (before I changed it last month in a futile attempt to revive the language) used too many diacritics, and the grammar was based somewhat on English and Spanish. The vocabulary was taken almost entirely from natlangs, mostly English and Spanish.

Some strange examples:

Woj kivreo nilo secro, xe kripoe briekeme.
woj kivre-o nilo-∅ secro-∅ xe krip-oe brieko-eme
1SG want-1SG lemon-NOM.F juice-NOM.F NEG fried-F milk-PRED.F
[woɪ̯ kiv.ɾe.o ni.lo se.tsɾo xe kɾi.po.e bɾi.e.ke.me]
I want lemonade, not fried milk.

Woj buňoda koj alweme rom wojvo šogeme.
woj buň-o-da koj alwa-eme rom woj-vo šogi-eme
1SG bathe_self-1SG-PST with the.SG mother-PRED.F of 1SG.POS pig-PRED.
[woɪ̯ bu.ɲo.da koɪ̯ al.we.me ɾom woɪ̯.vo ʃo.ge.me]
I bathed with the mother of my pig.

The reason I started conlanging was because I wanted to create a language one day. After looking at Esperanto, I used that as some of my inspiration for this conlang. What resulted was a mess (I didn't realize it then, though), and no one wanted to learn it, which I was expecting. I spent the following month learning about how languages work on the Internet (so far I've made no mistakes resulting from bad sources, surprisingly) and realized how not thought out Aǧmaxa really was. Now my conlangs don't completely suck.

[ZedSed]

Hahaha. Wow! I just remembered my first conlang when I was about ten years old.

Actually it wasn't really a conlang. Just a cypher/language game. I had the idea to switch all the unvoiced plosives and fricatives with their voiced counterparts and vice versa. Also -r- and -l- were switched. I thought it was cool at the time, with kind of a russian feeling to it. Of course, I didn't know any actual russian back then.

Actually, similar to Tolkien, it was the discovery of Finnish that opened my eyes to *real* conlanging. All those cases! I suddenly understood that grammar can be a weird and wonderfully interesting thing!

[Ahzoh]

My first conlang was Arkhean, originally intended to be based off of TzHaar language: http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/TzHaar_language

[thetha]

I think my first real conlang was a phonological clone of Polish with who knows what grammar. I used to make a ton of ciphers when I was a little kid though. I even bought a couple books about it.

[Znex]

I'd been attempting an insectoid language last year when I was still learning the IPA, but I stopped when I thought I was way in over my head.

I might try it again at some point when I know more about languages and sentient nonhuman creatures.