Generating Naming Languages
For NaNoGenMo 2016, Martin O’Leary created a fantasy map generator, complete with names in a generated language. Now, he explains how it works.
The basic idea is based on Mark Rosenfelder’s Language Construction Kit, though Martin’s current version is the result of further experimentation. It starts by generating some nonsense syllables constructed out of a set of vowels and consonants, and building up into phonotactics, introducing an orthography, and generating a morphology.
The result is a name generator that can create interesting, plausible-sounding names that sound similar enough to be part of the same language…and can go on to generate another language that has the same properties but sounds completely different.
If you’re looking at generating a language, or even in just learning how to think through how a generator works, this project is a great example.
The code is on GitHub, in JavaScript and Python.