SANJIESAN LORE / Invented languages
Give invented place names a small syllable pattern
A region’s names can feel related without sharing a decorative suffix. WALS discusses syllable structure as the permitted combinations of sounds. For a naming exercise, choose a small sound pattern first, then test whether several different names can fit it without becoming interchangeable.
Set a pattern small enough to use
For an original exercise, let an ordinary syllable contain one consonant followed by one vowel, and let names contain two or three syllables. Choose a short inventory of sounds you can pronounce consistently. Draft six place names and read them aloud before assigning meanings. This is a constraint for this workshop, not a claim about how all languages work or how sophisticated a fictional culture is. Complexity of spelling does not measure cultural depth.
Make the names distinguishable in a scene
Place three candidate names in a paragraph about a journey. If readers must stop to check which destination is which, change syllable count, opening sound or stress pattern rather than adding random punctuation. Keep the regional pattern while varying enough features to support recognition. A port and a mountain village can belong to the same naming tradition without having names that differ only in their final letter.
Reserve departures for a reason
Choose one name that does not fit. Perhaps it is an older name retained by residents, or a label introduced by visitors. State which explanation is true in your project and who uses that form. Do not manufacture an entire historical language to justify every draft error. Keep the exception only if it adds something to the place or the scene; otherwise revise the name and return attention to the story.