I create new languages
(conlangs)
and new writing systems both privately and professionally. If you happen to need a language for your movie, series, or novel, feel free to contact me for a commission! My credentials and contact information are conveniently summarized in my Portfolio. If you prefer an in-depth view of my professional conlang work, have a look at my Ipani Reference Grammar.
As for my rates, I am a member of the Language Creation Society (LCS) and follow their pricing standards.
The sections below introduce my professional conlangs, my professional writing systems, my personal conlangs, and my personal writing systems, in that order.
Commissioned conlang work
Fjerdan (2021) is a language spoken by a Scandinavian-inspired people in
Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse novels,
commissioned by Netflix for their
Shadow and
Bone series. I created it together with David J. Peterson.
Kat öle yer lindigen chükkas feshnet?
[kʰɑt ˈø.lə jəʀ ˈlin.di.gən ˈtʃyk.kʰɑs ˌfeʃ.nət] well let:PASS:1s 1s next:DEF dance:ACC to_ask_for
«May I ask for the next dance?»
The best way to experience Fjerdan is to watch Shadow and Bone on Netflix!
Otherwise, I posted quite a few tidbits of Fjerdan on my Instagram.
Ipani (2021) is a language with a vaguely Polynesian flavor spoken by the
island-dwelling natives of
Tarotland. It was commissioned by author
Killian Wolf for her
Chronicles of Tarotland novel series. I am particularly fond of its phonology and
grammar.
Uám kekong pamu’y a n’keo puvohang ā chie m’parang.
[u.ˈãŋ ke.ˌkõm pa.ˈmu ja ŋ̩.ˌkeo̯ pu.ʋo.ˈhaŋ ˈʔaː cie̯ m̩.pa.ˈɾãŋ] mushroom type any COP can ICP:eating:PRF one instance
at_least
«Any kind of mushroom can be eaten at least once.»
[Redacted] (2026) is a full-scale language that I’ve developed for a feature movie. It is currently under NDA, so I can’t say more for now. I’m having a lot of fun with it, though, and can’t wait for it to come out!
Shu (2021) is a writing system for the eponymous people in Netflix’
Shadow and
Bone series. It was commissioned to have an Asian appearance, but not to
imitate any one Asian writing system too closely. It is an alphabetic syllabary (like
the Korean Hangeul) and comprises more than 2000 precomposed syllable glyphs,
as well as a base-100 numbers system.
The best way to experience the Shu script is to watch the second season of
Shadow and Bone on Netflix. Otherwise, I have a detailed explanation on
reddit. (Do contact me if you would like a tattoo in Shu!)
The Fjerdan writing system (2023) was, unfortunately, never commissioned by
Netflix — presumably they were saving it for the spin-off series Six of Crows,
which was canceled to everyone’s chagrin. However, I had already developed the writing
system on my own during my work for
Shadow and Bone, so Netflix claimed ownership over it. They have, however,
allowed me to show it in public.
Fjerdan writing started out as runes struck into wood and then evolved as the tools
of the trade changed to brushes, broad-nib pens, and finally the printing press. At
each stage, the shapes of the letters evolved along, adapting to the constraints and
opportunity of the new implements.
While you won’t see the Fjerdan script on Netflix, you can read up on it in my
reddit post on the matter. (Do contact me if you would like a tattoo in
Fjerdan!)
These go back to the dark ages of the internet, a time before widespread Unicode support, where phonetic notation had to be improvised with ASCII and web formatting was a matter of luck. Proceed at your own risk.
Jovian (2001–) is a fictional Romance language spoken in the fictional country of Jervaine (corresponding to Alsace, Moselle, and Schwarzwald in the real world), grown from Classical Latin with a substrate of Alemannic. I am using it as a testbed for high-level conlanging practices, such as poetry, dialects, and slang. The sample text below is a faithful translation of the first stanza of Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen (Lo, how a rose e’er blooming) — in meter and rhyme.
¡Ec! Noe hae crede a roſul
D’in herde ni raehe deicade,
In ſeine praezicte ei mozu il;
Ioßae id ſeime hae ſade.
Hae prompfe un flore d’in oc,
Yh hiowe in frize ei iwun,
Con meidſe era blude ja noc.
[ˈeç nɑj he ˈgreːd ə ˈroːzəl]
[din ˈɛrd ni ˈrajç deˈkaːd]
[in ˈdzejn prɛˈziçt e ˈvoːz il]
['isse i ˈdzejm he ˈzaːd]
[he ˈbrɑmpf əm ˈpfloːr din ˈɑχ]
[y ˈhiə vim ˈpfriːz e ˈiːvə]
[kɑm ˈmejdz eːr ˈbluːd jə ˈnɑχ]
Oro Mpaa (2004) is a rudimentary language idea built around an original grammar concept, where complex sentences are expressed as a string of simple statements, the object of each is promoted to the subject of the next. I never made enough words for it to come into its own.
Ttou ropa ccaro ee terepa penia.
[t’ò.ɾú.ba.ˈk’à.ɾu.í.i.ˌdʒì.ɾi.ba.ˈbín.ja] man throw stone go bird die
«The man throws a stone at the bird, killing it.»
Hairo (2005) was going to be a fictional «lost» language spoken around the North Sea before the rise of Indo-European, but it never made it past the conceptual stage. I did create an original writing system for it, though:
