Natlang Resources

A mirror of this page exists at KneeQuickie. Note that both pages are updated independently, and thus may not always feature the same content.

This is a collection of links from around the web that provide information about natural languages that can be helpful in either learning the language itself, or simply providing more information about how natlangs work. It is mostly an organization of the links found here. This list is not meant to be for conlangs of any kind to include international auxiliary languages, no matter how widely spoken.

There is also a separate page with selected links to material about highly Inspirational Natlangs.

General Resources

Phonology

• A Course in Phonetics
• UCLA Phonetics Lab Data
• IPA Charts with recordings
• IPA Audio Illustrations
• Phonetics, the sounds of spoken language
• Diachronic orgins of retroflex consonants

Orthography

• NRSI: Computers & Writing Systems
• Ancient Scripts.com - very informative site about writing systems
• Omniglot.com - very informative site about writing systems

Lexicon

• Moby Multiple Language Lists of Common Words by Grady Ward
• YourDictionary - reference for English and other langs.
• Word2Word - Language Dictionaries and Translators.
• Basic vocabulary
  • Mills Basic Vocabulary
  • Longman Defining Vocabulary
  • Swadesh list

Other

• USNA Language Studies Department
• The World Atlas of Language Structures
• Creative Relaxation Exercise - Mostly downloadable .docs for basic info on many langs.
• IU - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Recording Archive
• Webradio stations around the world
• The Online Database of Interlinear Text
• The Linguistics Research Center (LRC)
• Grammar Writing for a Grammar-reading Audience - PDF file.
• The Lingua Descriptive Studies Questionnaire
• Leipzig Glossing Rules
• Wordgumbo "The site is primarily an archive of public domain and redistributable[sic] language learning resources."
• Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center
• Glottopedia - A linguistics wiki.
• alphaDictionary - Plenty of information on languages all over the world.
• The Tower of Babel Electronic Library - A large collection, especially in the database section. Some of it should be digested with care though: Starostin's Nostratic etymologies, for instance, are highly speculative.
• Spoken languages of the world, this site seems to have sound sample of almost spoken language that exist today.

Afro-Asiatic

Chadic

Hausa

• Hausa

Ngamo

• The Great Ngamo Tone Shift - PDF file.

Egyptian

• Hieroglyphs Home

Coptic

• Coptic linklist

Semitic

Arabic

• Arabic Romanization - ALA-LC PDF file.
• Arabic Romanization - Library of Congress PDF file.
• Arabic Romanization - BGN/PCGN 1956 System PDF file.
• Arabic Romanization PDF file. Also using BGN/PCGN 1956 System.
• Arabic Alphabet Arabic alphabet learning method
• Wikepedia entry for Arabic
• Wikimedia Commons entry for Arabic
• An open door to the Arab world Introduction to Arabic language
• The Arab World A collection of useful resources such as words, phrases, some grammar and expressions in Arabic.
• LookLex Online Arabic Course
• Arabic script The Omniglot entry for Arabic.
• Fun with Arabic
• Learn Arabic Online An on-line collegiate style site.
• Arabic Language Institute of Fez An info site about studying abroad in Morocco.
• ArabicLanguage.com More of an on-line store, but loads of good products
• Arabic Yamada Language Center links and resources for Arabic.
• Arabic Language & Middle East/North African Cultural Studies Background and info on Arabic
• Acon Verb Conjugator
• Arabic Calligraphy
• Typing in Arabic

Aramaic

• Aramaic alphabet
• Aramaic Forum

Hebrew

• Maskilon English - Hebrew - English dictionary.
• Amharetz - allows you to type in Hebrew using an English keyboard by converting Latin transliteration of Hebrew into Unicode
• Proto-Sinaitic, Ugaritic & Phoenician Sign Chart

Japanese-Ryukyuan

Amami

• Shodon: A Dialect of the Northern Ryukyus, by Samuel E. Martin
• (ja) Amami Dialect Database, Okinawa Center of Language Study
• The Phonemes of the Shodon dialect in Amami-Oshima (Part 1) (Part 2)

Japanese

• Kanji Transliterator, the baby can do Kanji - Hiragna / Kanji - Romaji
• Japanese - odds and ends about Japanese.
• Japanese - A wealth of links to Japanese info.
• Kanji with example sentences in Japanese
• Japanese Language lessons
• An Introduction to the Japanese Language by Tomioka Nobuyuki

General Dialects

• (ja) Ibaraki Database
• (ja) Atok: Database of Japanese Dialects
• (ja) The Dialect Study Room – illustrative maps of dialectal words and expressions, by the National Institute for Japanese Language

Kagoshima Dialect

• (ja) Kagoshima Dialect (+phonology, morphology) & Dictionary
• (ja) Overview of the Kagoshima Dialects
• (ja) Dictionary of the Kagoshima Dialect
• (ja) Basic phonology and grammar overview of the dialect

Miyako

• (fr) Ōgami — Éléments de description d'un parler du Sud des Ryūkyū
• (ja) Miyako Dialect Database, Okinawa Center of Language Study

Okinawan

• (ja) Shuri, Naha and Nakijin Dialect Database, Okinawa Center of Language Study
• (ja) Okinawan-English Wordbook

Korean

• Korean lessons
• Korean Lessons not very in depth.
• Korean, best to learn about Hangul.
• Hong's Hangul Conversion Tools
• Korean Course, nice for phrases.

Altaic

Mongolic

Mongolian

• Writing Mongol in Uighur Script
• Uighur-script Mongolian Resources

Turkic

Turkish

• Basics of Turkish Grammar

Uyghur

• Uyghur-English Dictionary

Austro-Asiatic

Mon-Khmer

Khmer

• Khmer Lessons
• Study Khmer
• Learn Khmer
• Tom's Learning Khmer
• Khmer, Angkorian Khmer, and Proto-Khmer Numbers
• SEALang Khmer Dictionary
• Modern Spoken Khmer, by Franklin E. Huffman

Austronesian

• Austronesian Languages Basic Vocabulary Database

Malayo-Polynesian

Hawai'ian

• Hawaiian Language course

Indonesian

• Sederet, English - Indonesia - English dictionary
• Online Nias - Indonesian - English dictionary
• Toggletest, English - Indonesia - English automated translator.
• Beginning Indonesian - An Indonesian course (in Indonesian, though) by the Univeristy of Victoria, BC
• Indonesian Dictionary - Kamus Indonesia-Inggeris
• Indonesian - Grammar and vocabulary

Tagalog

• Tagalog dictionary

Nias

• Grammar of Nias (PDF)
• Online Nias - Indonesian - English dictionary
• Nias wordlist (uses nonstandard orthography, might not distinguish /w/ from /ʋ/)

Dravidian

Southern

Kannada

• Grammar of spoken Kannada

Fajian

Lau

• Grammar and Vocabulary of the Lau Language

Indo-European

• Early Indo-European Online
• Indo-European Language Tutorials
• The Slavic and East European Language Research Center Also includes resources and links for other (non-Slavic) languages.

Anatolian

Hittite

• The Hittite Grammar Homepage Also Sumerian and Akkadian information.

Celtic

Welsh

• A Welsh Course
• An Introduction to Early Welsh - A PDF file.
• Reading Middle Welsh
• Wild Wales: Its People, Language and Scenery by George Henry Borrow

Germanic

• An in-depth grammar of Proto-Germanic

Afrikaans

• Afrikaans Lessons

Dutch

• Dutch Online Grammar

English

• Introduction to Old English
• Online Etymology Dictionary
• Words in English
• Urban Dictionary
• Alan Cooper's Homonym list - useful for English lerners

German

• The German Dictionary of the brothers Grimm, now digitalized -- in German, though
• A grammar of common features of Old High German dialects
• Manual of German language for English speakers
• Germanic Lexicon Project
• German Conjunction Summary
• Index of German Verbs
• Online German-English Dictionary
• Min-Jae Kwon: Modalpartikeln und Satzmodus. Untersuchungen zur Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik der deutschen Modalpartikeln
• LEO German-English dictionary
• DICT.cc German-English dictionary
• Canoo.net German Grammar, ... and Word formation

Gothic

• An Introduction to Gothic

Icelandic

• Icelandic Online - Icelandic course by the University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands)
• Mímir - Tables of Icelandic morphology
• Icelandic Online Dictionary and Readings - An Icelandic-English dictionary by the University of Wisconsin
• Icelandic Primer with Grammar, Notes and Glossary

Old Norse

• Old Norse for Beginners
• Old Norse Online
• Norse Links

Swedish

• Lexin Swedish-English Dictionary
• Svenska Akademiens Ordbok Swedish-swedish dictionary with etymology

Greek

• Greek Grammar by H. W. Smyth
• Greek-English Dictionary
• Pahtfinder Lexicon Greek-English Dictionary

Indo-Iranian

• Devanagari Alphabet Used by Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Nepali.

• Iranian Studies at Harvard: Introductions to New Avestan, Old Avestan, Old Persian, Manichean Sogdian; reference grammars for Kurdish varieties

Pali

• Pali grammar

Persian / Farsi

• Persian Lessons
• Persian-English dictionary

Sanskrit

• Sanskrit Grammar

Romany

• The English Gipsies and Their Language by Charles Godfrey Leland
• Romano Lavo-Lil: word book of the Romany; or, English Gypsy language by Borrow
• Account of the Romansh Language by Esq. F. R. S. Joseph Planta

Urdu

• Urdu Dictionary

Italic

Catalan

• The Catalan-Valencian-Balearian Dictionary a.k.a. Alcover-Moll
• Catalan dictionary (by the IEC)
• Catalan terminology (neologisms among others)
• Valencian orthography and pronounciation dictionary (by the AVL)
• Catalan grammar, by the IEC
• Valencian grammar, by the AVL
• Linguistic Atlas of Valencian
• Valencian dialectology
• A collection of maps related to Valencian (dialects, vocalism, consonantism, morphology...)

French

• Conjugating thousands of French verbs

Latin

• New Latin Grammar by Charles E. Bennett

Spanish

• Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures
• Master List of Spanish Verbs

Slavic

Polish

• Polish Reference Grammar and Dictionary
• Polish Grammar by Grzegorz Jagodziński
• Polish aspects

Russian

• Russian Lessons and Dictionary
• Russian Radio
• On-line Russian Reference Grammar
• Russian Dictionary In Russian; click the box under the entry field (labelled перевод) for translation to English.

Khoisan

• Khoisan Linguistics
• Phonology of !Xóõ
• Historical reconstruction of Khoisan
• Relationship between Kwadi and Khoe

Sandawe

• Recordings of Sandawe

Native American Language Families

Note: These are actually a collection of distinct languages families, grouped together for practical reasons.

• Native Languages of the Americas Online Resources

Eskimo-Aleut

• Inuktitut Linguistic Database
• Inuktitut Phonology for Technocrats

Mayan

• Mayan Epigraphic Database Project
• A grammar of Yucatec Mayan

Muskogean

Choctaw

• A Choctaw Sketch

Na-Dene

Athabaskan

• A typologically oriented portrait of the Athabaskan language family
• Tanacross grammar

Tlingit

• A collection of Tlingit resources

Penutian

Chinook

• Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or, Trade Language of Oregon by George Gibbs

Mutsun

• Extracto de la gramatica mutsun by Felipe Arroyo de la Cuesta

Uto-Aztecan

Heve

• Grammatical Sketch of the Heve Language (North American)

Nahuatl

• Nahuatl Lessons - Plus other resources.
• GRAMÁTICA NÁHUATL Nahuatl grammar in Spanish

Other / Isolates

Aymara

• Aymara lessons by MJ Hardman (English, but not very updated yet)
• Aymara Language Materials Program

North-West Caucasian

Circassian

Kabardian

• A Short Grammar of Kabardian

Niger-Congo

Atlantic-Congo

Akan

• Akan Teleteaching Course

Bantu

• Comparative Bantu OnLine Dictionary
• Bantu Lexical Reconstructions Database

Swahili

• The Kamusi Project - An interactive lexical project for Swahili.

Paleo-Siberian

Chukchee

• Chukchee Homepage

Pama-Nyungan

Note: Also included are Indigenous Australian languages which may be argued to belong to distinct family groups.

• Aboriginal Languages of Australia

Sino-Tibetan

• Handbook of Proto-Tibeto-Burman

Chinese

• Chinese Etymology, what it says on the tin.
• Online dictionary, English-Chinese Online Dictionary
• Translator
• Mandarin Chinese Phonetics
• Chinese Characters and culture
• Chinese Radicals
• Kangxi Radicals
• Cojak Unihan Hanzi Radical Chart
• Hanzi fonts, this page also has Seal Script font.
• Xiaoma Chinese-English Dictionary, some phrases and idioms as well.

South Caucasian / Kartvelian

Georgian

Georgian

• Georgian Grammar
• The consonant phonotactics of Georgian

Trans New Guinea

• PNG Language Resources
• Papuaweb

Abui

• A grammar of Abui - PDF file

Uralic

Finno-Ugric

Finnish

• FINTWOL Finnish words morphology parser
• The Finnish language
• English-Finnish Dictionary

Magyar / Hungarian

• Introduction to the Hungarian language
• A Hungarian Language Course
• English-Hungarian Dictionary

Sámi

• Sámi-related odds and ends Small dictionary and some grammar.

Unclassified, Isolates and Mixed Family Languages

Creoles / Pidgins

• Pidgin Genesis in Optimality Theory

Basque

• Trask's Etymological Dictionary of Basque (PDF)

Hadza

• Sound Recordings of Hadza

Nivkh

• Sound Materials of the Nivkh Language
• Topics in Nivkh Phonology (PDF)
• Analysis of Nivkh consonant alternation (PDF)