Vulgar is a constructed language (conlang) generator for fantasy fiction writers and role players that creates unique and usable languages for your race of peoples in the click of a button. Vulgar's output models the regularities, irregularities and quirks of real world languages: from grammar, to sounds, to vocabulary.
Trial the free version with a 200 word output. Purchase the pro version and getting access to a 4000 word vocabulary, extra custom features and more!
Vulgar's Phonotactic Analyser (available in full version) analyses the frequency and locations of phonemes in any chunk of text and populates the result to the Word Structure fields. Separate words by space or new line. Checking Control phoneme frequencies will populate phonemes proportionately.
Phoneme Classes:
Create custom classes of phonemes with single upper case letters (note: in other sections of Vulgar, upper case letters have very specific meanings, like C = any consonant, V = any vowel, however these classes are independent from those sections).
For common patterns, classes can be combinations of other classes, such as S = CV.
Word Patterns:
Word patterns are made of phoneme classes (defined above) or actual phonemes, eg: zVC means the word will always start with z, then a V and a C.
Type numbers after each class/phoneme to change its probability. CVC₅ means the final C will only occur 50% of the time; (al)₃VC means 'al' will apper at the beginning of the word 30% of time.
e > i / _g = e turns into i before g j > g / #_ = j turns into g at the beginning of a word {p,b} > m / V_V = p or b turns into m between vowels C > Ø / _# = all consonants are deleted at the end of a word w > v / _% = w turns into v before syllable boundary
To use RegEx notation, do not include forward slash or underscore symbols (i.e. use same format as Spelling rules).
Define how IPA symbols turn into written symbols, eg:
ʃ > sh (spaces are optional,ʃ>shworks too) ne > ネ
c > 🐪 (supports Unicode Emojis) o > o|ou (creates a random choice between o and ou)
This section supports RegEx matching. This allows you to do cool things, like mimic English spelling:
^ʤ > j = ʤat the beginning of a word turns into j, as in joke ʤ$ > ge = ʤat the end of a word turns into ge, as in age o$ > ot = oat end of word adds silent letter t (similar to French spelling)
This creates a second spelling alongside the main spelling. This can be useful for having non-Roman orthography alongside a Roman orthography. Eg: a Japanese alphabet and Roman alphabet.
Add or remove possible genders for the dictionary words. If you use genders in the Grammar Editor, they need to be reflected here too. Capitalized letter(s) become the abbreviation.
Language name (IPA):
Anglicized name (orthographic):
Only 1 in 10 added words will display in free version.
Enter extra words to be generated, in the format word(s) : part-of-speech
comely : adj
conlang, constructed language : n
Specify what the word translates to as english : part-of-speech = conlang word (in IPA) queen : n = kalisi
Remove default words with minus sign:
-woman
Derived words:
Add affixes to words to create derived words as new word : pos = existing word-AFFIX.TAG
comeliness : n = comely-ADJ.TO.NOUN
Create compound words: God of War : n = war+god
Use + to create single compound word or & to put a space between the words.
Adding a UNIQUE.TAG generates a brand new affix and attaches it to the new word. This tag can be named anything, but must be in capitals (optionally with numbers and full stops). It must also hyphenate on to the old word. Using the affix tag a second time applies the same affix to the next word. Read a more in-depth guide here.
Create affixes and sound changes for parts-of-speech. The below examples adds an "o" to masculine nouns, "a" to feminine nouns, and "ar" to verbs. Conditional affixes can be created - see this guide.
- saves setting with language seed number - does not save seed number
There are not enough sounds in your language to generate a sufficient set of unique of words! Enter more consonants and/or vowels or turn off custom options.
Phonemes are the individual sounds of a language. This is not the same as the spelling of a language (which is the orthography). Phonemes are represented by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which is used to transcribe the exact pronunciation of words in all languages worldwide. IPA is written between /forward slashes/.
Becoming familiar with some of the IPA sounds will enhance your understanding of the languages generated by Vulgar.
The seed number can be used to recover a generated language. If you create something you like in the free version, you can recover its full output in the full version using its seed number. If you just want something random, leave it blank.
Important! If you use any custom settings in the free version, those settings must be re-entered exactly the same as they were (along with the seed number) to get the same output in the full version. Otherwise the program will output what the seed number would have generated if it was allowed to randomly pick its own settings. Furthermore, any custom phonemes must be re-entered in the exact same order, otherwise it will apply different frequencies to those phonemes.
Syllable structure refers to how many consonants are permitted to appear on either side of the vowel. A syllable structure of (C)V means the syllable must have one vowel and an optional consonant at the beginning. It permits patterns such as tito, raleo, ala. Languages with this kind of simple structure include Swahili and Fijian.
A syllable structure such as (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C) would allow more complex words such as strips, trainers. Most European languages have more complex structures.
Stress pattern refers to which syllable in a word gets emphasis. English has no exact fixed pattern; the stress can fall on any syllable: VIGorous (first), emPLOYment (second to last), hoTEL (last). Most of the world's major languages have no fixed pattern, however some do. Finnish words have stress on the first syllable. Greek is second to last syllable. Persian has it on the last syllable.
IPA uses the ˈ symbol before the syllable to represent primary stress. The word siho /si ˈho/ would be pronounced siHO.
Stress pattern refers to which syllable in a word gets emphasis. English has no exact fixed pattern; the stress can fall on any syllable: VIGorous (first), emPLOYment (second to last), hoTEL (last). Most of the world's major languages have no fixed pattern, however some do. Finnish words have stress on the first syllable. Greek is second to last syllable. Persian has it on the last syllable.
IPA uses the ˈ symbol before the syllable to represent primary stress. The word siho /si ˈho/ would be pronounced siHO.
All languages have phonemes that change slightly (or sometimes dramatically) based on the effects of other phonemes around it. These are known as phonological processes. We express them in writing as phonological rules, eg: e > i / _g = e turns into i before g.
For a more in-depth lesson on phonological rules, and the kinds of phonological rules that exist click here.
A diphthong is when two vowel sounds combine into one. English has various diphthongs. For example, the word "light" /laɪt/ is comprised of /a/ and /ɪ/, but is perceived as one vowel.
Consider using diphthongs to expand your vowel inventory.
Adpositions are words that express spatial or temporal relations (in, on, under, towards, before) or mark various semantic roles (of, for). When adpositions come before the noun phrase they are called prepositions, i.e. in English: on the table. If they come after the noun phrase they are called postpositions. Languages that use postpositions include Chinese and Turkish.
Articles are the words the, a, and some. The definite article, the, is used to refer to something whose reference is already known. Indefinite articles, a and some, are used to refer to new things in the discourse. In English, the indefinite article changes to match the plurality of the noun (a cat vs. some cats) however the definite does not. In other languages, articles may change to match grammatical properties of nouns based on a complex matrix of number (singular, plural) multiplied by gender (masculine, feminine, neuter, etc.) multiplied by case (nominative, accusative, etc.).
For an in-depth explanation of genderclick here. For an explanation of caseclick here.
Morphology is the changing of a word to express various grammatical properties. In English, the plural marker "s" is an example of morphology. Some other languages change nouns based on a complex matrix of number (singular, plural) X by gender (masculine, feminine, neuter, etc.) X by case (nominative, accusative, etc.).
For an in-depth explanation of genderclick here. For an explanation of caseclick here.
Phonemes are ranked by frequency from left (most frequent) to right (least frequent). Medium makes the frequencies slightly more even than fast. When using equiprobable, phonemes can be custom weighted by writing *multiplier, eg: p*10 makes p ten times more common than a phoneme without a weighting. These options work for Custom phonemes and Word structure.
This checkbox also controls output from the Phonotactics Analyser.
Specify sequences that can't occur in a word. For example, although w and u do occur in Japanese, wu does not.
This field supports RegEx matching, so you can specify vowels that cannot occur word-initially or finally, among other things.
Notes: Separate rules by space or new line. Rules apply to base words only; words created by base word + affix may violate a rule, however custom conditional affixes can overcome this. Rules about diphthongs may need the diphthong diacritic (ia̯) to be correctly matched, regardless of whether they are entered in vowel field with the diacritic or not.
Some languages do not have plural markers in the same way as English. Instead plurality may be determined by context or with 'counter' words such as "a few", "various", etc. Japanese is an example of a language with no plurals. Other languages may have some limited plural markers for nouns that refer to humans (Chinese). Others may not use plurals with inanimate nouns (Tamil).
