Constructed language

A constructed language (shortened to conlang)[a] is a

language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and
vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are
consciously devised for some purpose, which may include
being devised for a work of fiction. A constructed language
may also be referred to as an artificial, planned or invented
language, or (in some cases) a fictional language. Planned
languages (or engineered languages/engelangs) are
languages that have been purposefully designed; they are the The Conlang Flag, a symbol of language
result of deliberate, controlling intervention and are thus of a construction created by subscribers to
the CONLANG mailing list, which
form of language planning.[1]
represents the Tower of Babel against a
rising sun
There are many possible reasons to create a constructed
language, such as to ease human communication (see
international auxiliary language and code); to give fiction or an associated constructed setting an added
layer of realism; for experimentation in the fields of linguistics, cognitive science, and machine learning;
for artistic creation; for fantasy role-playing games; and for language games. Some people may also make
constructed languages as a hobby, or in connection to worldbuilding.

The expression planned language is sometimes used to indicate international auxiliary languages and
other languages designed for actual use in human communication. Some prefer it to the adjective
artificial, as this term may be perceived as pejorative. Outside Esperanto culture,[b] the term language
planning means the prescriptions given to a natural language to standardize it; in this regard, even a
"natural language" may be artificial in some respects, meaning some of its words have been crafted by
conscious decision. Prescriptive grammars, which date to ancient times for classical languages such as
Latin and Sanskrit, are rule-based codifications of natural languages, such codifications being a middle
ground between naïve natural selection and development of language and its explicit construction. The
term glossopoeia is also used to mean language construction, particularly construction of artistic
languages.[2]

Conlang speakers are rare. For example, the Hungarian census of 2011 found 8,397 speakers of
Esperanto,[3] and the census of 2001 found 10 of Romanid, two each of Interlingua and Ido and one each
of Idiom Neutral and Mundolinco.[4] The Russian census of 2010 found that in Russia there were about
992 speakers of Esperanto (the 120th most common) and nine of the Esperantido Ido.[5]

Planned, constructed, artificial

The terms "planned", "constructed", "invented", "fictional",[6] and "artificial" are used differently in some
traditions. For example, few speakers of Interlingua consider their language artificial, since they assert
that it has no invented content: Interlingua's vocabulary is taken from a small set of natural languages,
and its grammar is based closely on these source languages, even including some degree of irregularity;
its proponents prefer to describe its vocabulary and grammar as standardized rather than artificial or
constructed. Similarly, Latino sine flexione (LsF) is a simplification of Latin from which the inflections
have been removed. As with Interlingua, some prefer to describe its development as "planning" rather
than "constructing". Some speakers of Esperanto and Esperantidos also avoid the term "artificial
language" because they deny that there is anything "unnatural" about the use of their language in human
communication.

By contrast, some philosophers have argued that all human languages are conventional or artificial.
François Rabelais's fictional giant Pantagruel, for instance, said: "It is a misuse of terms to say that we
have natural language; languages exist through arbitrary institutions and the conventions of peoples.
Voices, as the dialecticians say, don't signify naturally, but capriciously."[7]

Furthermore, fictional or experimental languages can be considered naturalistic if they model real world
languages. For example, if a naturalistic conlang is derived a posteriori from another language (real or
constructed), it should imitate natural processes of phonological, lexical, and grammatical change. In
contrast with languages such as Interlingua, naturalistic fictional languages are not usually intended for
easy learning or communication. Thus, naturalistic fictional languages tend to be more difficult and
complex. While Interlingua has simpler grammar, syntax, and orthography than its source languages
(though more complex and irregular than Esperanto or its descendants), naturalistic fictional languages
typically mimic behaviors of natural languages like irregular verbs and nouns, and complicated
phonological processes.

Overview
In terms of purpose, most constructed languages can broadly be divided into:

Engineered languages (engelangs), further subdivided into logical languages (loglangs),

philosophical languages and experimental languages, devised for experimentation in logic,
philosophy, or linguistics;
Auxiliary languages (auxlangs) or IALs (for International Auxiliary Languages), devised for
interlinguistic or international communication;
Artistic languages (artlangs), devised to create aesthetic pleasure or humorous effect
(secret languages and mystical languages are also usually classified as artistic
languages).[8]
The boundaries between these categories are by no means clear.[9] A constructed language could easily
fall into more than one of the above categories. A logical language created for aesthetic reasons would
also be classifiable as an artistic language; one created with philosophical motives could include being
used as an auxiliary language. There are no rules, either inherent in the process of language construction
or externally imposed, that would limit a constructed language to fitting only one of the above categories.

A constructed language can have native speakers if young children learn it from parents who speak it
fluently. According to Ethnologue, there are "200–2000 who speak Esperanto as a first language". A
member of the Klingon Language Institute, d'Armond Speers, attempted to raise his son as a native
(bilingual with English) Klingon speaker.[10]
As soon as a constructed language has a community of fluent speakers, especially if it has numerous
native speakers, it begins to evolve and hence loses its constructed status. For example, Modern Hebrew
and its pronunciation norms were developed from existing traditions of Hebrew, such as Mishnaic
Hebrew and Biblical Hebrew following a general Sephardic pronunciation, rather than engineered from
scratch, and has undergone considerable changes since the state of Israel was founded in 1948 (Hetzron
1990:693). However, linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann argues that Modern Hebrew, which he terms "Israeli",
is a Semito-European hybrid based not only on Hebrew but also on Yiddish and other languages spoken
by revivalists.[11] Zuckermann therefore endorses the translation of the Hebrew Bible into what he calls
"Israeli".[12] Esperanto as a living spoken language has evolved significantly from the prescriptive
blueprint published in 1887, so that modern editions of the Fundamenta Krestomatio, a 1903 collection of
early texts in the language, require many footnotes on the syntactic and lexical differences between early
and modern Esperanto.[13]

Proponents of constructed languages often have many reasons for using them. The famous but disputed
Sapir–Whorf hypothesis is sometimes cited; this claims that the language one speaks influences the way
one thinks. Thus, a "better" language should allow the speaker to think more clearly or intelligently or to
encompass more points of view; this was the intention of Suzette Haden Elgin in creating Láadan, a
feminist language[14] embodied in her feminist science fiction series Native Tongue.[15] Constructed
languages have been included in standardized tests such as the SAT, where they were used to test the
applicant's ability to infer and apply grammatical rules.[16][17] By the same token, a constructed language
might also be used to restrict thought, as in George Orwell's Newspeak, or to simplify thought, as in Toki
Pona. However, linguists such as Steven Pinker argue that ideas exist independently of language. For
example, in the book The Language Instinct, Pinker states that children spontaneously re-invent slang and
even grammar with each generation. These linguists argue that attempts to control the range of human
thought through the reform of language would fail, as concepts like "freedom" will reappear in new
words if the old words vanish.

Proponents claim a particular language makes it easier to express and understand concepts in one area,
and more difficult in others. An example can be taken from the way various programming languages
make it easier to write certain kinds of programs and harder to write others.

Another reason cited for using a constructed language is the telescope rule, which claims that it takes less
time to first learn a simple constructed language and then a natural language, than to learn only a natural
language. Thus, if someone wants to learn English, some suggest learning Basic English first.
Constructed languages like Esperanto and Interlingua are in fact often simpler due to the typical lack of
irregular verbs and other grammatical quirks. Some studies have found that learning Esperanto helps in
learning a non-constructed language later (see propaedeutic value of Esperanto).

Codes for constructed languages include the ISO 639-2 "art" for conlangs; however, some constructed
languages have their own ISO 639 language codes (e.g. "eo" and "epo" for Esperanto, "jbo" for
Lojban, "ia" and "ina" for Interlingua, "tlh" for Klingon, "io" and "ido" for Ido, "lfn" for Lingua
Franca Nova, and "tok" for Toki Pona).
One constraint on a constructed language is that if it was constructed to be a natural language for use by
fictional foreigners or aliens, as with Dothraki and High Valyrian in the Game of Thrones series, which
was adapted from the A Song of Ice and Fire book series, the language should be easily pronounced by
actors, and should fit with and incorporate any fragments of the language already invented by the book's
author, and preferably also fit with any personal names of fictional speakers of the language.

A priori and a posteriori languages

An a priori (from Latin a priori, "from the former") constructed language is one whose features
(including vocabulary, grammar, etc.) are not based on an existing language, and an a posteriori language
is the opposite.[8] This categorization, however, is not absolute, as many constructed languages may be
called a priori when considering some linguistic factors, and at the same time a posteriori when
considering other factors.

A priori language
An a priori language is any constructed language with some features which are not based on existing
languages. Instead these features are invented or elaborated to work differently or to allude to different
purposes. Some a priori languages are designed to be international auxiliary languages that remove what
could be considered an unfair learning advantage for native speakers of a source language that would
otherwise exist for a posteriori languages. Others, known as philosophical or taxonomic languages, try to
categorize their vocabulary, either to express an underlying philosophy or to make it easier to recognize
new vocabulary. Finally, many artistic languages, created for either personal use or for use in a fictional
medium, employ consciously constructed grammars and vocabularies, and are best understood as a
priori.

Examples of a priori languages

A priori international auxiliary languages

Balaibalan, attributed to Fazlallah Astarabadi or Muhyi Gulshani (14th century)
Solresol by François Sudre (1827)
Ro by Edward Foster (1906)
Sona by Kenneth Searight (1935)
Babm by Rikichi Okamoto (1962)
aUI by W. John Weilgart (1962)
Mirad (aka Unilingua) by Noubar Agopoff (1966)
Kotava by Staren Fetcey (1978)

Experimental languages
Láadan by Suzette Haden Elgin (1982)
 Ithkuil by John Quijada (2004)

A priori artistic languages

Quenya and Sindarin by J. R. R. Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings (published 1954)
Klingon by Marc Okrand for the science-fiction franchise Star Trek (1985)
Kēlen by Sylvia Sotomayor (1998)
Naʼvi by Paul Frommer for the movie Avatar (2009)
Dothraki and Valyrian by David Peterson for the television series Game of Thrones (2011)
Kiliki by Madhan Karky for the Baahubali films (2015)

Community languages

Damin (Yangkaal and Lardil people, 19th century or earlier)

Eskayan (Eskaya, c. 1920)
Medefaidrin (Ibibio, 1930s)
Palawa kani (Palawa, 1990s)

A posteriori language
An a posteriori language (from Latin a posteriori, "from the latter"), according to French linguist Louis
Couturat, is any constructed language whose elements are borrowed from or based on existing languages.
The term can also be extended to controlled versions of natural languages, and is most commonly used to
refer to vocabulary despite other features. Likewise, zonal auxiliary languages (auxiliary languages for
speakers of a particular language family) are a posteriori by definition.

While most auxiliary languages are a posteriori due to their intended function as a medium of
communication, many artistic languages are fully a posteriori in design—many for the purposes of
alternate history. In distinguishing whether the language is a priori or a posteriori, the prevalence and
distribution of respectable traits is often the key.

Examples of a posteriori languages

A posteriori artistic languages

Brithenig by Andrew Smith (1996)
Atlantean by Marc Okrand for the film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
Toki Pona by Sonja Lang (2001)
Wenedyk by Jan van Steenbergen (2002)
Trigedasleng by David Peterson for the TV series The 100 (2014)
Nagwai by Naxikeestan (2023)

Controlled auxiliary languages

Latino sine flexione (Latin, 1911)
Basic English (English, 1925)
 N'Ko (Manding, 1949)
Learning English (English, 1959)
Kitara (SW Ugandan Bantu, 1990)
Globish (English, 2004)

A posteriori international auxiliary languages

(1868) Universalglot
(1879) Volapük
(1885) Pasilingua
(1887) Esperanto
(1888) Mundolinco
(1902) Idiom Neutral
(1907) Ido
(1912) Reform-Neutral
(1922) Interlingue
(1928) Novial
(1937) Esperanto II
(c. 1943) Mondial
(1951) Interlingua
(1961) Neo
(1970) Afrihili
(c. 1979) Glosa
(1986) Uropi
(1991) Romániço
(1998) Lingua Franca Nova
(2007) Sambahsa
(2010) Lingwa de planeta

Zonal auxiliary languages

Efatese (c. Vanuatu Oceanic, 19th century)

Romanid (Romance, 1956)
Palawa kani (Aboriginal Australian, 1992)
Folkspraak (Germanic, 1995)
Budinos (Finno-Ugric, 2000s)
Neolatino Romance (Romance, 2006)
Interslavic (Slavic, 2011)

History

Ancient linguistic experiments

Grammatical speculation dates from Classical Antiquity; for instance, it appears in Plato's Cratylus in
Hermogenes's contention that words are not inherently linked to what they refer to; that people apply "a
piece of their own voice ... to the thing".

Athenaeus tells the story[18] of two figures: Dionysius of Sicily and Alexarchus:

Dionysius of Sicily created neologisms like menandros "virgin" (from menei "waiting" and
andra "husband") for standard Greek parthenos; menekratēs "pillar" (from menei "it remains
in one place" and kratei "it is strong") for standard stulos; and ballantion "javelin" (from
balletai enantion "thrown against someone") for standard akon.
Alexarchus of Macedon, the brother of King Cassander of Macedon, was the founder of the
city of Ouranopolis. Athenaeus recounts a story told by Heracleides of Lembos that
Alexarchus "introduced a peculiar vocabulary, referring to a rooster as a "dawn-crier", a
barber as a "mortal-shaver", a drachma as "worked silver", ... and a herald as an aputēs
[from ēputa "loud-voiced"].
"He [Alexarchus] once wrote something ... to the public authorities in Casandreia ... As for what this
letter says, in my opinion not even the Pythian god could make sense of it."[18]

While the mechanisms of grammar suggested by classical philosophers were designed to explain existing
languages (Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit), they were not used to construct new grammars. Roughly
contemporary to Plato, in his descriptive grammar of Sanskrit, Pāṇini constructed a set of rules for
explaining language, so that the text of his grammar may be considered a mixture of natural and
constructed language.

Early constructed languages

A legend recorded in the seventh-century Irish work Auraicept na
n-Éces claims that Fénius Farsaid visited Shinar after the
confusion of tongues, and he and his scholars studied the various
languages for ten years, taking the best features of each to create
in Bérla tóbaide ("the selected language"), which he named
Goídelc—the Irish language. This appears to be the first mention Page 68r of the Voynich manuscript.
of the concept of a constructed language in literature. This three-page foldout from the
manuscript includes a chart that
The earliest non-natural languages were considered less appears astronomical.
"constructed" than "super-natural", mystical, or divinely inspired.
The Lingua Ignota, recorded in the 12th century by St. Hildegard
of Bingen, is an example, and apparently the first entirely artificial language.[14] It is a form of private
mystical cant (see also Enochian). An important example from Middle-Eastern culture is Balaibalan,
invented in the 16th century.[2] Kabbalistic grammatical speculation was directed at recovering the
original language spoken by Adam and Eve in Paradise, lost in the confusion of tongues. The first
Christian project for an ideal language is outlined in Dante Alighieri's De vulgari eloquentia, where he
searches for the ideal Italian vernacular suited for literature. Ramon Llull's Ars Magna was a project of a
perfect language with which the infidels could be convinced of the truth of the Christian faith. It was
basically an application of combinatorics on a given set of concepts.[19] During the Renaissance, Lullian
and Kabbalistic ideas were drawn upon in a magical context, resulting in cryptographic applications.

Perfecting language
Renaissance interest in Ancient Egypt, notably the discovery of the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, and first
encounters with the Chinese script directed efforts towards a perfect written language. Johannes
Trithemius, in Steganographia and Polygraphia, attempted to show how all languages can be reduced to
one. In the 17th century, interest in magical languages was continued by the Rosicrucians and alchemists
(like John Dee and his Enochian). Jakob Boehme in 1623 spoke of a "natural language" (Natursprache)
of the senses.

Musical languages from the Renaissance were often tied up with mysticism, magic and alchemy,
sometimes also referred to as the language of the birds. A non-mystic musical language was Solresol.

17th and 18th century: advent of philosophical languages

The 17th century saw the rise of projects for "philosophical" or "a priori" languages, such as:

Francis Lodwick's A Common Writing (1647) and The Groundwork or Foundation laid (or So
Intended) for the Framing of a New Perfect Language and a Universal Common Writing
(1652)
Sir Thomas Urquhart's Ekskybalauron (1651) and Logopandecteision[20] (1652)
George Dalgarno's Ars signorum, 1661
John Wilkins' An Essay towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language, 1668
These early taxonomic conlangs produced systems of hierarchical classification that were intended to
result in both spoken and written expression. Leibniz had a similar purpose for his lingua generalis of
1678, aiming at a lexicon of characters upon which the user might perform calculations that would yield
true propositions automatically, as a side-effect developing binary calculus. These projects were not only
occupied with reducing or modelling grammar, but also with the arrangement of all human knowledge
into "characters" or hierarchies, an idea that with the Enlightenment would ultimately lead to the
Encyclopédie. Many of these 17th–18th centuries conlangs were pasigraphies, or purely written
languages with no spoken form or a spoken form that would vary greatly according to the native language
of the reader.[21]

Leibniz and the encyclopedists realized that it is impossible to organize human knowledge unequivocally
in a tree diagram, and consequently to construct an a priori language based on such a classification of
concepts. Under the entry Charactère, D'Alembert critically reviewed the projects of philosophical
languages of the preceding century. After the Encyclopédie, projects for a priori languages moved more
and more to the lunatic fringe. Individual authors, typically unaware of the history of the idea, continued
to propose taxonomic philosophical languages until the early 20th century (e.g. Ro), but most recent
engineered languages have had more modest goals; some are limited to a specific field, like mathematical
formalism or calculus (e.g. Lincos and programming languages), others are designed for eliminating
syntactical ambiguity (e.g., Loglan and Lojban) or maximizing conciseness (e.g., Ithkuil[14]).

19th and 20th centuries: auxiliary languages

Already in the Encyclopédie attention began to focus on a posteriori auxiliary languages. Joachim
Faiguet de Villeneuve in the article on Langue wrote a short proposition of a "laconic" or regularized
grammar of French. During the 19th century, a bewildering variety of such International Auxiliary
Languages (IALs) were proposed, so that Louis Couturat and Léopold Leau in Histoire de la langue
universelle (1903) reviewed 38 projects.
The first of these that made any international impact was Volapük, proposed in 1879 by Johann Martin
Schleyer; within a decade, 283 Volapükist clubs were counted all over the globe. However, disagreements
between Schleyer and some prominent users of the language led to schism, and by the mid-1890s it fell
into obscurity, making way for Esperanto, proposed in 1887 by L. L. Zamenhof, and its descendants.
Interlingua, the most recent auxlang to gain a significant number of speakers, emerged in 1951, when the
International Auxiliary Language Association published its Interlingua–English Dictionary and an
accompanying grammar. The success of Esperanto did not stop others from trying to construct new
auxiliary languages, such as Leslie Jones' Eurolengo, which mixes elements of English and Spanish.

Loglan (1955) and its descendants constitute a pragmatic return to the aims of the a priori languages,
tempered by the requirement of usability of an auxiliary language. Thus far, these modern a priori
languages have garnered only small groups of speakers.

Robot Interaction Language (2010) is a spoken language that is optimized for communication between
machines and humans. The major goals of ROILA are that it should be easily learnable by the human
user, and optimized for efficient recognition by computer speech recognition algorithms.

Artlangs
Artists may use language as a source of creativity in art, poetry, or calligraphy, or as a metaphor to
address themes as cultural diversity and the vulnerability of the individual in a globalized world.

Some people prefer however to take pleasure in constructing, crafting a language by a conscious decision
for reasons of literary enjoyment or aesthetic reasons without any claim of usefulness. Such artistic
languages begin to appear in Early Modern literature (in Pantagruel, and in Utopian contexts), but they
only seem to gain notability as serious projects beginning in the 20th century.[2] A Princess of Mars
(1912) by Edgar Rice Burroughs was possibly the first fiction of that century to feature a constructed
language. J. R. R. Tolkien developed families of related fictional languages and discussed artistic
languages publicly, giving a lecture entitled "A Secret Vice" in 1931 at a congress. (Orwell's Newspeak is
considered a satire of an international auxiliary language rather than an artistic language proper.)

By the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, it had become common for science fiction and
fantasy works set in other worlds to feature constructed languages, or more commonly, an extremely
limited but defined vocabulary which suggests the existence of a complete language, or whatever portions
of the language are needed for the story. Constructed languages are a regular part of the genre, appearing
in Star Wars, Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings (Elvish), Stargate SG-1, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Ar
Tonelico (Hymmnos),[22][23] Game of Thrones (Dothraki language and Valyrian languages), The Expanse,
Avatar, Dune, and the Myst series of computer adventure games.

Ownership of constructed languages

The matter of whether or not a constructed language can be owned or protected by intellectual property
laws, or if it would even be possible to enforce those laws, is contentious.

In a 2015 lawsuit, CBS and Paramount Pictures challenged a fan film project called Axanar, stating the
project infringed upon their intellectual property, which included the Klingon language, among other
creative elements. During the controversy, Marc Okrand, the language's original designer expressed doubt
as to whether Paramount's claims of ownership were valid.[24][25]

David J. Peterson, a linguist who created multiple well-known constructed languages including the
Valyrian languages and Dothraki, advocated a similar opinion, saying that "Theoretically, anyone can
publish anything using any language I created, and, in my opinion, neither I nor anyone else should be
able to do anything about it."[26]

However, Peterson also expressed concern that the respective rights-holders—regardless of whether or
not their ownership of the rights is legitimate—would be likely to sue individuals who publish material in
said languages, especially if the author might profit from said material.

Furthermore, comprehensive learning material for such constructed languages as High Valyrian and
Klingon has been published and made freely accessible on the language-learning platform Duolingo—but
those courses are licensed by the respective copyright holders.[26] Because only a few such disputes have
occurred thus far, the legal consensus on ownership of languages remains uncertain.

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre claims ownership of Palawa kani, an attempted composite
reconstruction of up to a dozen extinct Tasmanian indigenous languages, and has asked Wikipedia to
remove its page on the project. However, there is no current legal backing for the claim.[27]

Modern conlang organizations

Various papers on constructed languages were published from the 1970s through the 1990s, such as
Glossopoeic Quarterly, Taboo Jadoo, and The Journal of Planned Languages.[28] The Conlang Mailing
List was founded in 1991, and later split off an AUXLANG mailing list dedicated to international
auxiliary languages. In the early to mid-1990s a few conlang-related zines were published as email or
websites, such as Vortpunoj[29] and Model Languages. The Conlang mailing list has developed a
community of conlangers with its own customs, such as translation challenges and translation relays,[30]
and its own terminology. Sarah Higley reports from results of her surveys that the demographics of the
Conlang list are primarily men from North America and western Europe, with a smaller number from
Oceania, Asia, the Middle East, and South America, with an age range from thirteen to over sixty; the
number of women participating has increased over time.

Later online communities include the Zompist Bulletin Board (ZBB; since 2001) and the Conlanger
Bulletin Board. Discussion on these forums includes presentation of members' conlangs and feedback
from other members, discussion of natural languages, whether particular conlang features have natural
language precedents, and how interesting features of natural languages can be repurposed for conlangs,
posting of interesting short texts as translation challenges, and meta-discussion about the philosophy of
conlanging, conlangers' purposes, and whether conlanging is an art or a hobby.[2] Another 2001 survey by
Patrick Jarrett showed an average age of 30.65, with the average time since starting to invent languages
11.83 years.[31] A more recent thread on the ZBB showed that many conlangers spend a relatively small
amount of time on any one conlang, moving from one project to another; about a third spend years on
developing the same language.[32]

Conlang creation
Most modern conlangers create conlangs as a hobby, for a fictional work, or for personal fulfillment.
Conlangers typically create languages by defining their conlang's phonology, syntax, grammar, and other
properties. Doing so requires at least a rudimentary understanding of linguistics.[33]

See also
Constructed
languages portal
 List of constructed languages
Interlinguistics
Aboriginal constructed languages: Damin, Eskayan
Idioglossia
Idiolect
Cant (language)
ISO, SIL, and BCP language codes for constructed languages
Language construction
Artificial script
Langmaker
Language Construction Kit
Language game
Language regulator
List of language inventors
Language modelling and translation
Knowledge representation
Language translation
Metalanguage
Universal grammar
Mystical languages
Glossolalia
Language of the birds
Spontaneous emergence of grammar
Artificial language
June and Jennifer Gibbons
Nicaraguan Sign Language
Origin of language
Pidgin
Poto and Cabengo
Linguistic determinism
Linguistic relativity
Pasigraphy
Universal language
In the Land of Invented Languages

Notes
1. Klaus Schubert, Designed Languages for Communicative Needs within and between
Language Communities, in: Planned languages and language planning (https://www.onb.ac.
at/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF_Download/ESP_abstracts.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.
org/web/20230425213737/https://www.onb.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF_Download/ES
P_abstracts.pdf) 25 April 2023 at the Wayback Machine (PDF), Austrian National Library,
2019
2. Sarah L. Higley: Hildegard of Bingen's Unknown Language. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
3. "Hungarian Central Statistical Office" (http://www.ksh.hu/nepszamlalas/tables_regional_00).
www.ksh.hu. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
 4. "18. Demográfiai adatok – Központi Statisztikai Hivatal" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180
617000434/http://www.nepszamlalas2001.hu/hun/kotetek/18/tables/load2_39_1.html).
www.nepszamlalas2001.hu. Archived from the original (http://www.nepszamlalas2001.hu/hu
n/kotetek/18/tables/load2_39_1.html) on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
5. "Kiom da esperantistoj en Ruslando? Ne malpli ol 992 – La Ondo de Esperanto" (http://sezo
noj.ru/2011/12/censo/). 18 December 2011.
6. "The Process of Inventing Fictional Languages" (https://www.boisestate.edu/presidents-writi
ng-awards/the-process-of-inventing-fictional-languages/).
7. François Rabelais, Œuvres complètes, III, 19 (Paris: Seuil, 1973). Also cited in Claude
Piron, Le Défi des Langues (L'Harmattan, 1994) ISBN 2-7384-2432-5.
8. Peterson, David (2015). The Art of Language Invention (1st ed.). Penguin Books. pp. 21–22.
ISBN 978-0143126461.
9. The "Conlang Triangle" (http://www.carolandray.plus.com/Glosso/Glossopoeia.html) by
Raymond Brown. Accessed 8 August 2008
10. Derian, James Der (1 August 1999). "Hollywood at War: The Sequel" (https://www.wired.co
m/1999/08/hollywood-at-war-the-sequel/). Wired – via www.wired.com.
11. Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns (http://www.zuckerma
nn.org/pdf/Hybridity_versus_Revivability.pdf), Ghil'ad Zuckermann, Journal of Language
Contact, Varia 2, pp. 40–67 (2009).
12. Let my people know! (http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242212397385&pagename=J
Post/JPArticle/ShowFull) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110916161700/http://fr.jpo
st.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242212397385&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull)
16 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Ghil'ad Zuckermann, Jerusalem Post, 18 May
2009.
13. Fundamenta Krestomatio, ed. L. L. Zamenhof, 1903; 18th edition with footnotes by Gaston
Waringhien, UEA 1992.
14. Joshua Foer, "John Quijada and Ithkuil, the Language He Invented" (http://www.newyorker.c
om/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer), The New Yorker, 24 December 2012.
15. "My hypothesis was that if I constructed a language designed specifically to provide a more
adequate mechanism for expressing women's perceptions, women would (a) embrace it and
begin using it, or (b) embrace the idea but not the language, say "Elgin, you've got it all
wrong!" and construct some other "women's language" to replace it." Glatzer, Jenna (2007).
"Interview With Suzette Haden Elgin" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070612005757/http://w
ww.absolutewrite.com/novels/suzette_haden_elgin.htm). Archived from the original (http://w
ww.absolutewrite.com/novels/suzette_haden_elgin.htm) on 12 June 2007. Retrieved
20 March 2007.
16. Garber, Megan (16 April 2013). "The First SAT Tested Students Using a Fake Language" (ht
tps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/04/the-first-sat-tested-students-using-a-f
ake-language/275046/). The Atlantic. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
17. "Artificial language tests" (https://whatsinabrain.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/artificial-languag
e-tests/). What's in a Brain. 26 August 2013. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
18. Athenaeus of Naucratis. Deipnosophistae. Book III.
19. Eco, Umberto (1997). The search for the perfect language. London: Fontana. p. 53.
ISBN 9780006863786.
20. "Logopandecteision" (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/urquhart/index.html). uchicago.edu.
21. Leopold Einstein, "Al la historio de la Provoj de Lingvoj Tutmondaj de Leibnitz ĝis la Nuna
Tempo", 1884. Reprinted in Fundamenta Krestomatio, UEA 1992 [1903].
22. game.salburg.com http://game.salburg.com/hymmnoserver/ (http://game.salburg.com/hymm
noserver/). Retrieved 3 July 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
23. "Hymmnoserver - Main" (https://hymmnoserver.uguu.ca/). hymmnoserver.uguu.ca.
Retrieved 3 July 2024.
24. Bhana, Yusuf, Can you copyright a language? (https://www.translatemedia.com/us/blog-usa/
can-copyright-language) Translate Media, 6 June 2019
25. Gardner, Eriq, Crowdfunded 'Star Trek' Movie Draws Lawsuit from Paramount, CBS (https://
www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/crowdfunded-star-trek-movie-draws-851474) Hollywood
Reporter, 30 December 2015
26. Owen, Becky,Can you copyright a fictional language? (https://www.cla.co.uk/blog/further-ed
ucation/fictional-language-copyright) Copyright Licensing Agency, 26 September 2019
27. Robertson, Adi (13 August 2014). "Can you own a language?" (https://www.theverge.com/20
14/8/13/5998273/who-owns-a-language-wikipedia-palawa-kani-raises-old-debate). The
Verge. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
28. "How did you find out that there were other conlangers?" (http://archives.conlang.info/ge/bh
aelvhua/vhurtaethuan.html) Conlang list posting by And Rosta, 14 October 2007
29. Archives of Vortpunoj (http://revo.bierfaristo.com/vortpunoj.html) at Steve Brewer's website
30. Audience, Uglossia, and Conlang: Inventing Languages on the Internet (http://journal.media-
culture.org.au/0003/languages.php) by Sarah L. Higley. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture
3.1 (2000). (Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20050616085932/http://journal.media-cul
ture.org.au/0003/languages.php) 16 June 2005 at the Wayback Machine, media-
culture.org.au site sometimes has problems.)
31. "Update mailing list statistics—FINAL" (http://archives.conlang.info/bhe/gherque/chivirchein.
html), Conlang list posting by Patrick Jarrett, 13 September 2001
32. "Average life of a conlang" (http://www.spinnoff.com/zbb/viewtopic.php?t=28831) Archived
(https://web.archive.org/web/20110614035040/http://www.spinnoff.com/zbb/viewtopic.php?t
=28831) 14 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine thread on Zompist Bulletin Board, 15
August 2008; accessed 26 August 2008.
"Average life of a conlang" (http://archives.conlang.info/wu/seifi/phirqondal.html) thread on
Conlang mailing list, 27 August 2008 (should be archived more persistently than the ZBB
thread)
33. www.researchgate.net
http://web.archive.org/web/20241119023000/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Baraat-
Faqeabdulla/publication/378315077_Exploring_the_Purposes_Behind_the_Creation_of_Co
nlangs/links/65d4745f1141586f3f513535/Exploring-the-Purposes-Behind-the-Creation-of-
Conlangs.pdf (http://web.archive.org/web/20241119023000/https://www.researchgate.net/pr
ofile/Baraat-Faqeabdulla/publication/378315077_Exploring_the_Purposes_Behind_the_Cre
ation_of_Conlangs/links/65d4745f1141586f3f513535/Exploring-the-Purposes-Behind-the-Cr
eation-of-Conlangs.pdf). Archived from the original (https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio
n/378315077) on 19 November 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2024. {{cite web}}:
Missing or empty |title= (help)

a. Artificial languages are informally called conlangs (constructed languages), and the study of
artificial languages and related matters is interlinguistics.
b. Esperanto is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language.

References
Eco, Umberto (1995). The search for the perfect language (https://archive.org/details/searchforp
erfect00ecou). Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-17465-6.
Comrie, Bernard (1990). The World's Major Languages (https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject
_swh_misc-1). Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506511-5.
Couturat, Louis (1907). Les nouvelles langues internationales. Paris: Hachette. With Léopold
Leau. Republished 2001, Olms.
Couturat, Louis (1910). Étude sur la dérivation dans la langue internationales. Paris: Delagrave.
100 p.
Libert, Alan (2000). A priori artificial languages (Languages of the world). Lincom Europa.
ISBN 3-89586-667-9.
Okrent, Arika (2009). In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets,
Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language (https://archiv
e.org/details/inlandofinvented00okre). Spiegel & Grau. pp. 352 (https://archive.org/details/inl
andofinvented00okre/page/n359). ISBN 978-0-385-52788-0.
Peterson, David (2015). The Art of Language Invention (1st ed.). Penguin Books. p. 22.
ISBN 978-0143126461.
"Babel's modern architects" (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-aug-24-sci-conlang
24-story.html), by Amber Dance. The Los Angeles Times, 24 August 2007 (Originally
published as "In their own words -- literally")

External links
Language Creation Society (http://conlang.org/), a nonprofit dedicated to all forms of
language creation.
Conlang Atlas of Language Structures (http://cals.conlang.org/) Archived (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20080618203733/http://cals.conlang.org/) 18 June 2008 at the Wayback
Machine, a typological database of conlangs, based on the World Atlas of Language
Structures.
Blueprints For Babel (https://web.archive.org/web/20120321094315/http://www.homunculus.
com/babel/), focusing on international auxiliary languages.
ConWorkShop (https://conworkshop.com/), a conlanging tools website, with documentation
for over 5000 constructed languages.
Garrett's Links to Logical Languages (http://minyeva.alkaline.org/links.htm)
Department of Planned Languages Esperanto Museum (https://web.archive.org/web/20120
822080103/http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/esperanto_museum.htm) of the Austrian National
Library.
The Conlanger's Library (http://library.conlang.org)
Henrik Theiling's (Con)Language Resources (http://www.conlang.info/)
Jörg Rhiemeier's Conlang Page (http://www.joerg-rhiemeier.de/Conlang/)
Create a sentence most people understand, by using common words between languages.
(http://www.ezglot.com/meta-language.php)
r/conlangs (https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs), a Reddit community for conlangers.

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