I became obsessed with designing a language over the last two weeks. I'd love some honest feedback.
Hi everyone,
About two weeks ago I fell down the rabbit hole of constructed languages. What started as an experiment quickly turned into an obsession, and I've spent most of my free time building an open-source project called Fonora.
The project explores a simple question:
>Could a language designed from first principles be learned quickly enough that two people with no shared native language could communicate after only a short period of study?
Rather than trying to imitate natural languages, I've been experimenting with:
- a small semantic root vocabulary that builds larger concepts through composition
- a regular, highly predictable grammar
- a phonetic writing system based on how sounds are physically produced
- interactive tools including a translator, dictionary, word builder, and learning exercises
The entire project is open source, including the website, translator, language data, and tooling.
I'm not a linguist, and I'm definitely not claiming this is "the future of language." This is simply a research project I've become deeply interested in, and I'd value feedback from people with more experience than I have.
In particular, I'd be curious to learn:
- Does the overall design philosophy make sense?
- Are there obvious linguistic problems I'm overlooking?
- Does the semantic composition system seem intuitive, or does it become too dense?
- If you spend a few minutes exploring the site, what feels confusing or unnecessary?
The project is still evolving, so I'm much more interested in criticism than praise.
Thanks for taking a look.