Constructed language
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:
- auxiliary languages (auxlangs) - those devised for international communication
- artistic languages (artlangs) - those devised to create aesthetic pleasure
- logical languages (loglangs) - those devised for the purpose of experimentation in logic or philosophy
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.
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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 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.
See also
Amateur artlangs
Languages published only on the Web:
Logical languages
Human-usable loglangs
Knowledge-representation loglangs
Other conlang types
Non-verbal languages
Language games
See also
References
External links
Communities
How To
Link Collections