Types of Constructed Languages

When you sit down ready to think up a new language you may be overwhelmed by possibility. There's indeed an infinite number of languages you can create, but I feel every new language inevitably belongs to one of three major categories: A) Isolated Languages, B) Derived Languages, C) Hybrid languages.

A) An isolated language is a language that is purposefully designed to be nothing like any other. This is easier said than done. Pure isolation is difficult to achieve if we consider all the different aspects that we must take into account when creating the language, namely its lexis, morphology, phonology and syntax. It's a bunch of stuff to make up from scratch! Pure isolation may be needed for example to give depth to a fictional world (J.R.R. Tolkien did it with the Lord of the Rings) or other similar endeavours, but in general I feel pure isolation shouldn't be strived for unless you have a specific reason.

B) A derived language is a language that is designed to sound and look like another, or sound and look like a member of a specific group of languages (e.g. germanic or romance languages). For instance, you may want to create a variation of French that for some reason has retained a number of features from Latin or some sort of Germanic language with a crazy verbal inflection system. Usually a derived language would focus on one or two areas (say morphology and phonology) and would keep the rest pretty much like other existing languages. For this reason, derived languages are a great way to test new ideas without say having to think up a new phonological system or a whole bunch of new words.

C) A hybrid language is a language that mixes two existing languages (or two existing groups of languages) that don't naturally influence each other much. Say, what if English had been in close contact with Arabic for centuries and had absorbed some of its features? What would that sound like? Or say an African language that had a major romance influence? Or vice versa? Creating a hybrid language can easily turn into a major work of research, but it is well worth it for the feeling of depth and realism that you get from it.

These are obviously broad categories that break a long spectrum into simpler parts, and thus are merely descriptive. They are intended as guidelines for somebody just getting started or somebody looking for some insight into the underlying process of language creation.