Languages and names

The Languages module holds the languages of your world. Each language is a record of its own, with a description, tags and a picture like any other, and a setup that describes how it sounds and how it is spelled. From that setup you get a name generator that stays inside the language, a check that tells you when a name does not belong to it, a dictionary, and a map of where the language is used.

How do I describe a language? #

Open the Languages module, choose Create language and give it a name. The page has a list of sections on the left (Overview, Setup, Names lab, Names in use, Where it's used and Dictionary), the open section in the middle and a panel on the right whose Preview tab shows what the language sounds like as you change it. The description lives on the Overview; the rest of this section is the Setup, which has a wand in the Sound classes header with presets (soft, harsh, ancient, minimal) if you would rather start from something than from nothing. The first time you open Setup a short tour walks through its cards; the help icon in the header plays it again. The address remembers the section, so a link opens the page where you left it.

Sound classes are the groups of sounds a language uses. Each class has a letter, a name, a kind (consonant, vowel or other) and a list of sounds written the way they are spelled, separated by spaces: k t th s. Give a sound a weight to make it more common: t:3 is three times as likely as k. A new language starts with C for consonants and V for vowels; add a class for anything else, such as nasals or liquids.
Word shapes say how a syllable is built from your classes. CV, CVC and V are the simplest. (C)V makes the consonant optional, and a letter that is not a class stays as written. Add a weight to prefer a shape: CV:3. Set how many syllables a word has, from one to six.
Spelling rules turn the sounds a word is built from into how it is written. A rule th → þ writes every generated th as þ. The name check understands both forms.
Sounds that never meet lists clusters the language avoids, such as kk or tl. No generated name contains one, and a name that does is flagged.
Prefixes and Endings are the pieces a name pattern can attach.
Name patterns are templates for the kinds of name the language has. {word} makes a new word, {short} a short one, {long} a long one, and {prefix} and {suffix} pick from your lists. A pattern for places might be {word}{suffix}. Each pattern can say which kinds of record it suits (character, creature, organization, location, place).

If a word shape cannot be built, for example because it uses a letter that is not a class, the card says which one and the generator ignores it until you fix it.

How do I see what it sounds like? #

Sounds like, in the Preview tab, shows a dozen words made from your setup and changes as you edit it. Press New set for another and click a word to copy it. On a page too narrow to put the panel beside the section, the panel moves below it, and Setup and Names lab repeat a compact preview at their top.

Check a name answers the question for any name you type. It shows the name with the letters that do not belong underlined, and says which letters or clusters break the rules. The name is checked letter by letter against your sounds, ignoring case, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes. The last three names you checked are listed under the result as Recently checked; click one to check it again.

How do I generate names? #

The Names lab makes names from a pattern. Choose the pattern and how many names you want, limit the number of syllables, and ask for names that start with, end with or contain certain letters. The seed makes a batch repeatable: lock it and the same names come back until you unlock it. If nothing can satisfy your filters the lab says so.

Each name has four actions: pin it to the Shortlist, copy it, read it aloud, or create a character or entry with that name, linked to this language. Reading aloud follows your spelling rules, so a name written with þ is spoken as th, and it uses a voice that suits the script of the name; the speaker in the Sounds like header reads the whole set, and the name checker reads the name you typed. The shortlist belongs to the language, holds up to a hundred names, and keeps them when you roll again. You can also pin a name you made yourself and see at once whether it fits.

Can I check names while I create a record? #

Yes. When you create a character, creature, organization, location or place and the project has a language, a small language button sits beside the name field. Choose a language and the name is checked as you type: a tick at the end of the field when it fits, and a warning with one line naming the letters or clusters that do not fit, underlined, when it does not. The dice beside the name now rolls names in that language, using a pattern that suits the kind of record.

Once you pick a language, its menu also offers Relate to this language when created. It is on by default and links the new record to the language, so the language's name list and the consistency check include it from the start. Pick No language to create the record as usual. The modal remembers the last language you used in each project.

How do I keep a word list? #

The Dictionary section is the language's dictionary. Add a word with its meaning, part of speech and tags; press Enter in the meaning to add it and start the next. Click a cell to edit it, sort by word or meaning, search, and filter by part of speech or tag. The dice suggests a word that fits the language's sounds. The list holds up to two thousand words and is kept with the language, so it is part of any backup.

Where is a language spoken? #

Relate any character, creature, organization, location or place to the language, using Related entries on either page. Locations get more: in Where it's used, add a location with the plus button (it opens a picker beside it), give it a role (native, official, trade or ceremonial) and see it on a map of the world.

Names in use lists everything related to the language and marks each name as fitting or not, with the reason. Chips for each kind of record, a fit filter and a search narrow the list, and it is shown a page at a time, so a language used by hundreds of records stays quick. The Overview keeps a summary: how many records of each kind, the ones that do not fit first, and a link to the whole list. The Consistency check card on each of those records says the same, so a character whose name slipped in from another culture does not go unnoticed. If a name is deliberately foreign, do not relate that record to the language.

In the map editor, open Overlays and switch on Territories with Languages chosen: each language becomes a region around the locations where it is used, nearby places merging into one area and the language with more locations nearby taking contested ground. Untick a language to leave it out, use the role chips to show only native or trade use, and Colour the markers to tint the locations themselves.

Tips #

Start with fewer sounds. Eight consonants and four vowels already give thousands of names, and a small inventory is what makes a language sound like one language.
Weight your favourites. A few common sounds and several rare ones sound more natural than an even spread.
Make a pattern for each kind of name. People, places and houses rarely follow the same shape.
Write down the words the story keeps needing. A greeting, a toast and the word for home do more than a full grammar.
Relate whole cultures to the language. Relate the organization that speaks it and the places it holds, and the names in those places are checked too.

World entities — the records you relate to a language.
Relations — how records are linked.
Maps — where language territories are drawn.
Lens — the module that switches on the consistency check.
Characters — create the people whose names you generate.