Category Archives: ghostlang

Pictish is a dead language. It was probably yet another Celtic language, but we don’t have enough information to rule out anyone’s pet theory. It is a remnant language that lives on in a few possible given names, place names … Continue reading →

Why not go to the movies? Without a strong economic incentive to learn a language, any recreation is just is good. Presumably people are rational and will choose recreation that suits them. If learning rare languages is recreation, then governments … Continue reading →

A language is a system of communication subject to some constraints. In English, we can’t independently decide to start using clicks, dispense with -ed for past tense, etc. In a revived language, speakers will still be subject to these constraints … Continue reading →

I’m going to try to use Algonquian languages to illustrate. The language at the top of the list are living languages. The middle ones stopped evolving as soon as they were written down. With scholarship and hard work, one theoretically … Continue reading →

1) Memorize the attested words 2) Track down the corresponding words in related languages 3) Fill in lexical gaps with loans from related languages. Ditto for syntax gaps. Also check with proto-Algonquian with plausible mutations. 4) Work out the transliteration … Continue reading →

As is typical with conlangs, the first thing people do is work out a script of their own. To my amazement, there already is a script for reconstructed VA Algonquian, created by Ian Custlow (I believe), who is from the … Continue reading →

A fake language isn’t worth studying unless it has a suitable word+lang portmanteau. I’m going to call all attempts to revive completely dead and incompletely attested languages ghostlangs. In this family, I’d place Dnghu (so-called Modern Proto-Indoeuropean) and certainly Virginian … Continue reading →