The Language Construction Kit - Build & Learn New Languages Easily | Perfect for Linguistics Students & Language Enthusiasts | Study, Create & Explore Languages at Home or Classroom

I ordered this book not because of a huge interest in RPGs or fantasy/sci-fi writing (which I admittedly don't have) but beacuse of my fascination with languages, real or constructed. I find this book to be pretty interesting and helpful. I must admit that I'm not a great linguist, and there are things in the book that I still don't quite follow, but I think it's one of the better books on language that I've seen.I really like how Rosenfelder describes the sounds that are used in languages, and the sound changes that languages can undergo (and have undergone). I find it fascinating that sound changes are actually REGULAR (in "real" languages, anyway)! Some of the sounds I still have no idea how humans are able to produce! (I also think it's cool that he provided the chart of IPA symbols!)Not only does this book show how language "works," but it can also aid you in creating your OWN language(s). I don't know if I'll ever invent a really good language, but I think Rosenfelder gives a lot of good ideas on language construction. Do you want your conlang to be really complex, with lots of elements from lots of other languages? Or do you want it to be relatively simple? However you want your conlang(s) to be, I think you'll find a lot of useful advice here.Rosenfelder also discusses the more, well, "mental" aspects of language, like how what someone SAYS isn't always what they MEAN, how NOT saying something can actually say it (like when you ask someone a question and they give you an "answer" that doesn't really fit your question but suggests to you, intentionally or unintentionally, what the REAL answer is), and how the WAY that you say something can affect another person's reaction.However, I'm not so fond of some of the example sentences that he uses. For a couple of examples, "The king is f***ing the girl"? "The girl who the king is f***ing likes my dog"? Really, Mark? There are also other instances of "bad" language, but hopefully that and the fact that the book may not display much "diversity" in its example sentences won't bother you too much.Although the book does, in my opinion, have some shortcomings, I would recommend it to those who are into fantasy/sci-fi writing and RPGs or to those who are, like me, more interested in languages (real or invented) and who aren't too prudish or too much of sticklers for "political correctness." (And remember, people: Fantasy languages are just that --- fantasy languages. They should be fun --- they don't have to be treated as seriously as rocket science or brain surgery, or be intended for speakers of all "real" languages! I'm saying this because I think some people take conlanging TOO seriously!)A late addition to this review regarding something that I suppose falls under the umbrella of "political correctness": I'm personally a little skeptical of the charges of "sexism" that have been made against this book regarding Rosenfelder's ideas about the use of the word "girl." For one (not the only) thing, there's really no logical reason why that word "shouldn't" become used as a general term for a female, other than maybe the facts that it could make things confusing, and that in order to make things "equal" (since "equality" is SO important in EVERYTHING...), the word "boy" would have to start being used as a general term for a male, which would have the same type of effect as using "girl" that way for females! (By the way, if a male using "girl" for an adult female (married or unmarried) is "unacceptable," does that mean that unmarried adult males should stop referring to their adult female "significant others" as their "girlfriends"? What about the term "boyfriend" for an adult female's partner? And how about females referring to adult females as "girls"? Is this somehow different from males doing it?)