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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/4690
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I created my own language for a game, and I've come to learn a lot from it. I am no expert on linguistics, and my tips are a bit random/rambling, but maybe they might help.

Here's some of what I would suggest:

- Try to create something with only a few basic rules, so it is easy for you to remember. Readers will not like noticing that your fictional language seems inconsistent.
- Try to reuse syllables within your language in a way that indicates conjugation and a kind of "history" to the language.
- Unless you are writing by hand, make use of the Latin alphabet :), especially if that is your native alphabet.
- Only use what you need in dialogue and when writing phrases/sentences in your fictional language. Overdoing it can lead to confusion for both you and your audience.
  - Every language has a history - so if you are going to use a fictional one, ensure that the "speakers" of your language have a good story (even if you don't use it in your main story) to draw from. A good way to do this is to write down a side story somewhere, so you can draw on it when working on your fictitious language.
  - Some languages are "harsher" or "more coarse" than others. For example, I've found Portuguese to be less "soft" than Spanish (I could be wrong :D!). It helps, when creating your own language, to keep this in mind with relation to the civilization, secret society, or who ever - uses your language. For example, a race of friendly aliens who never knew warfare are unlikely to use "harsh" tones and "hard" consonants like p and d often, but more likely to use something "soft" like "ah" and "oh".

Over all - be creative, but don't overwork yourself. Use words or parts of words from other languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tend to be very useful to me). Many languages have multiple ways of saying the same thing, or different related words for the same subject. For example, Greek has many words for "love". You can try to use this concept when creating your own language.

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I know my answer was a bit... "all over the place", and probably not a professional/scholarly answer - but I hope it helps :)!

Original score: 5