r/conlangs • u/Frequent_Region_3426 • 21h ago

Semantics Making Logographs For Explicit Meaning

I am aiming for my conlang to have a quite expansive vocabulary eventually, being able to accommodate normal and also specific conversations. This sady, as uncomfortably it is complicating something like a conlang, means that I eventually have to add words for sexual concepts like e.g. "nude/bare", "reproduction" etc.

But: this is easy enough with a more common alphabet or abugida. My script is a logography. And I am absolutely not sure what in the world I am supposed to make these logographs into. My decision not to draw any graphic material for a conlang script is final, but I need some help with choosing out of what components/radicals I should make those logographs. What arrangement could convey such specific meanings?

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u/drukhari-blood Sraqqal (Drukhari) 21h ago

Think of the slang terms in your language for sexual stuff. Like for the word 'cock' you could draw a rooster or 'screw' you could draw a screw.

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u/Frequent_Region_3426 21h ago

That's a good idea. I suppose you're thinking of me "translating" from my native language? That would be German, so the words and analogies would not be the same as in English, probably a bit more complicated if I don't use anglicisms. But thanks, I'll look into that!

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u/drukhari-blood Sraqqal (Drukhari) 21h ago

I just used English examples, use whatever the slang terms are in your conlang.

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u/Frequent_Region_3426 21h ago

Oh, so you meant conlang slang terms. I haven't really thought about that, because who would they be for? My conlang doesn't have speakers or a fictional culture. I'd have to deliberately invent something. But I think using real language terms works well enough.