Constructed language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
An artificial or constructed language, colloquially conlang\, is a language whose vocabulary and grammar were specifically devised by individual [or small groups of] humans, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture like a natural language. Some are designed for use in human communication, the same as natural languages, usually to function as an international auxiliary language, 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 last kind is to be considered an art or a hobby. These 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 said 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 follow the natural languages from which they are patterned closely 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.).
Taking all of the above into account, constructed languages can be divided up as follows from a simplified point of view:
- auxiliary languages (auxlangs) - those intended to be used for international communication
- artistic languages (artlangs) - those intended to create aesthetic pleasure
- logical languages (loglangs) - those intended to be an experiment in logic or philosophy
Proponents of particular constructed languages often have many reasons for using them. Among these, often cited is the famous but disputed Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, which claims that the language one speaks essentially limits and drives 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.
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2 Artistic languages 3 Logical languages 4 Other conlang types 5 See also 6 References 7 External links |
Auxiliary languages
Historic auxlangs
Languages published before 1950.
- Antido
- Basic English
- Esperanto
- Idiom Neutral
- Ido
- Interlingua de IALA
- Latino sine flexione
- Novial
- Occidental (also known as Interlingue, not to be confused with Interlingua)
- Ro
- Solresol
- Sona
- Volapuek
Recent auxlangs
Languages published from 1950 on; some of these were only published to the Web.
- Babyish
- Comunleng
- Dunia
- Ekspreso
- Europanto (Intended as a joke by its creator)
- Lojban (and TLI Loglan)
- Lingua Franca Nova
- Romanica
- Slovio
- Toki Pona
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 .
- 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
- Laadan, in Suzette Haden Elgin's science fiction novel Native Tongue and sequels
- Languages of Middle-earth: Sindarin, Quenya, Khuzdul 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
Amateur artlangs
Languages published only on the Web.
- Brithenig, created by the inventor of the alternate history of Ill Bethisad, Andrew Smith
- Fyksian, created by the inventor of Fyksland, James Wong
- Wenedyk, a language of the alternate history of Ill Bethisad created by Jan van Steenbergen
- Verdurian, one of several languages created for the fictional planet of Almea by Mark Rosenfelder
Logical languages
Human-usable loglangs
Knowledge-representation loglangs
- CycL (from Douglas Lenat's Cyc project)
- Lincos
- Loom (from the University of Southern California's Loom project)
- KIF (used by the SUO project)
Other conlang types
Non-verbal languages
- Blissymbolics
- Gestuno (sign language)
- Hand signal systems used in military, SWAT, construction, sports such as scuba diving, etc..
Language games
- Pig latin
- Ubbi dubbi
- Mock Swedish (Bork Bork Bork), language of The Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show
- Verlan
- Geringoso
- Gibberish
See also
- Artificial script
- Conlanger
- Language translation
- Knowledge representation
- Language planning
- Literary dialect
- Language academy
References
- Alan Libert (2000): A priori artificial languages. Lincom Europa, Munich. ISBN 3-89586-667-9
External links
Communities
- The CONLANG Mailing List Archives
- LiveJournal Conlangs community
- Zompist BBoard An online forum devoted to conlangs (and conworlds in general).
- The Language Construction Kit
- How to Create a Language by Pablo David Flores. Inspired by the Language Construction Kit; covers some topics overlooked by the Language Construction Kit. Also in Spanish ("Como crear un lenguaje").
- Invaluable Conlang links
- Conlang Profiles at Langmaker.com Over 1,000 languages listed. Frequently updated.
- Blueprints For Babel
- Garrett's links to Logical Languages
- (others can be found on Language pages)