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An artificial or constructed language, colloquially known as a conlang, is a language whose vocabulary and grammar were
specifically devised by an individual or small group, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture like a natural language. Some, like
natural languages, are designed for use in human communication (usually
to function as international auxiliary languages), but others are created for use in fiction, linguistic experimentation, secrecy (codes), or simply for the sake of it. Conlangers differ on
whether linguistic creation of the latter kind is to be considered an art or a hobby. These languages are sometimes associated
with conworlds.
The term planned language is also used, when referring to
international auxiliary languages, and by those who may object to the more common term "artificial". Speakers of Esperanto, for example, have argued that "Esperanto is an artificial language like an
automobile is an artificial horse".
Constructed languages are often divided into a priori languages, in which much of the grammar and vocabulary is
created from scratch (using the author's imagination or automatic computational means), and a posteriori languages,
where the grammar and vocabulary are derived from one or more natural languages. A posteriori planned languages can be
further divided into naturalistic planned
languages - which closely follow the natural languages from which they are patterned in order to minimize learning time - and
schematic planned languages, whose features are
deliberately simplified or synthesized from various sources.
Fictional and experimental languages can also be naturalistic, in the sense that they are meant to sound natural and, if
derived a posteriori, they try to follow natural rules of phonological,
lexical and grammatical change. Since these languages are not usually intended for
easy learning or communication, a naturalistic fictional language tends to be more difficult and complex, not less (because it
tries to mimic common behaviours of natural languages such as irregular verbs and nouns, complicated phonological rules,
etc.).
In light of the above, most constructed languages can broadly be divided as follows:
A constructed language can have "native" speakers, if children learn it at an early age from parents who have learned the
language. Esperanto has a considerable number of native speakers, variously estimated to be between 200 and 2000. A member of the Klingon Language Institute, d'Armond Speers, attempted to
raise his son as a native Klingon speaker, but found that at that
time the Klingon vocabulary was not quite large enough to express the large number of objects normally found in the home, such as
"table" or "bottle".
Proponents of particular constructed languages often have many reasons for using them. Among these, the famous but disputed
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is often cited; this claims that
the language one speaks essentially limits (or expands) the way in which one thinks. Thus, a "better" language should allow the
speaker to reach some elevated level of intelligence, or to encompass more diverse points of view. Many question the validity of
this claim.
Auxiliary languages
Historic auxlangs
Languages published before 1952.
Recent auxlangs
Languages published from 1952 on; some of these were only published online.
Artistic languages
Languages of fictional worlds and peoples
Professional artlangs
Languages that were professionally published in books or multimedia.
- Atlantean language, in the Disney movie Atlantis: The Lost
Empire.
- Babel-17, in Babel-17 by Samuel Delany
- Baronh, language of Abh in Seikai no Monsho (Crest of the Stars) and others, by Morioka Hiroyuki
- Codex Serafinianus by Luigi Serafini is written in a
constructed language which is presumably supposed to be the language of the alien civilization the book describes.
- Drac, language of alien species in Barry B. Longyear's
The Enemy Papers
- D'ni, the language spoken by the subterranean D'ni people in the Myst series of games and novels
- Gargish language, used in the Ultima
computer game series, by the gargoyle race
- Klingon, in the Star Trek movie and television series
- Kobaian, from the fictional planet created by French musician Christian Vander and the language
sung by his progressive rock band Magma
- Láadan, in Suzette Haden Elgin's
science fiction novel Native Tongue and sequels
- Languages of Middle-earth: Sindarin, Quenya, Khuzdűl in the books by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Lapine, in Watership
Down by Richard Adams
- Nadsat slang, in A Clockwork Orange by Anthony
Burgess
- Newspeak, in Nineteen Eighty-Four by George
Orwell
- Pravic, in The
Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
- Syldavian, in some of Hergé's
Tintin stories
See also
Amateur artlangs
Languages published only on the Web:
Logical languages
Human-usable loglangs
Knowledge-representation loglangs
Other conlang types
Non-verbal languages
See also
References
- Alan Libert (2000): A priori artificial languages. Lincom Europa, Munich. ISBN 3-89586-667-9
External links
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