Anglash

Anglash is a constructed language designed for use in speculative fiction, language experiments, and language-learning demonstrations. It aims to be readable to speakers of modern English while providing a simplified, regular grammar and a modest phoneme inventory. The project emphasizes transparency of rules, minimal irregularities, and consistency across tenses and aspects.

Anglash emerged in the online conlang community in the early 2010s, developed by a group of hobbyists inspired by English-based naturalistic languages. It spread through forums and learning sites, with grammar sketches and a learner’s dictionary contributing to its dissemination. It is not an official language of any nation, but a community project and a demonstration of design principles.

Phonology closely resembles English for familiar sounds, while keeping a compact inventory of about 25 consonants and 5 vowels. There is no phonemic tone. The writing system is Latin-based; diacritics may be used in dictionaries to indicate stress or vowel quality but are optional. Stress is predictable, typically on the penultimate syllable unless a closed syllable shifts it.

Grammar and syntax are primarily analytic with limited affixation. The basic word order is subject–verb–object. Nouns have no gender; plurality is marked with the suffix -s or -en in common usage, while articles are optional in many contexts. Verbs use preposed auxiliary particles to indicate tense and aspect (for example, will for future, did for past, has for present perfect). Case is not used, with relationships indicated by prepositions and word order.

Lexicon draws largely from English roots, with regularized forms and occasional borrowings from Romance and Germanic sources in learned or stylistic registers. Anglash has a developing dictionary and grammar references, and is used in online communities, fan fiction, and teaching materials, though it remains a niche project with a modest speaker base.