The Ultimate Constructed Languages Quiz

Consciously Devised Language - Key Points:

• A constructed language (conlang) is consciously devised for a purpose, rather than developing naturally.

• Reasons for creating a constructed language include ease of communication, adding realism to fiction, experimentation in linguistics/cognitive science/machine learning, artistic creation, and language games.

• The expression "planned language" is used to indicate international auxiliary languages and other languages designed for actual use in human communication.

• The terms "planned", "constructed", and "artificial" are used differently in some traditions.

• Fictional or experimental languages can be considered naturalistic if they model real world languages.

• Constructed languages can be divided into international auxiliary languages, artistic languages, engineered languages, philosophical languages, and experimental languages.

• A constructed language can have native speakers if young children learn it from parents who speak it fluently.

• As soon as a constructed language has a community of fluent speakers, it begins to evolve and hence loses its constructed status.

• Proponents of constructed languages often have many reasons for using them, such as ease of expression, easier learning, and testing grammatical rules.

• Codes for constructed languages include the ISO 639-2 "art" for conlangs.

• An a priori constructed language is one whose features are not based on an existing language, whereas an a posteriori language is the opposite.

• The earliest non-natural languages were considered less "constructed" than "super-natural", mystical, or divinely inspired.A Brief History of Constructed Languages

• Trithemius attempted to show how all languages can be reduced to one

• In the 17th century, magical languages were continued by the Rosicrucians and alchemists

• Musical languages from the Renaissance were tied up with mysticism, magic and alchemy

• The 17th century saw the rise of projects for "philosophical" or "a priori" languages

• The 19th century saw a bewildering variety of International Auxiliary Languages proposed

• The most successful auxiliary language was Esperanto

• Loglan (1955) and its descendants constitute a pragmatic return to the aims of the a priori languages

• Robot Interaction Language (2010) is a spoken language that is optimized for communication between machines and humans

• Some people construct languages for literary enjoyment or aesthetic reasons without any claim of usefulness

• Ownership of constructed languages is contentious

• The Conlang Mailing List was founded in 1991 and has developed its own community of conlangers

• Online communities include the Zompist Bulletin Board (ZBB; since 2001) and the Conlanger Bulletin Board