How Con-Langing Is Taking the Geek World by Storm

What Is Con-Langing?

Simply put it's a portmanteau, or word made from combining two words. In that case those words are "constructed," and "language." So it refers to the process of making a language and all of the linguistic rules that go with it. This is a bit different from babbling to yourself and specifically refers to languages that have defined rules, could actually be learned by a human, and are capable of being recorded. This means that things like "speaking in tongues", "reconstructed dead tongues," and anything else that doesn't fit the above definition is not included.

Popular Examples You Likely Know

So you might be thinking that you don't know any conlangs and that you aren't actually sure what they are, but if you have watched Television in the last 20 years you have actually likely seen one or more. Disney first showed them to the world in Atlantis, which even had a great video about how they created Atlantean. Star Trek had Vulcan, Klingon, and thousands of others as well. Lord of the Rings is best known for having the Elvish language, which thousands of people actually speak. If you can think of a show where there is a super natural, alien or just weird language it is probably constructed.

Serious Applications

In the realm of more serious things, various sign languages and auxiliary languages fall under the definition of conglang. Universal sign language, which has combined traits from sign languages all over the world, is one of the most successful uses of language construction to make something that feels completely natural to the speaker.

On the vocal end of the spectrum, Esperanto was introduced as a language for international trade that allowed users to add their own words in their language and have them be understood internationally. This was aided by a strict subject verb order, a compound word creation mechanism, and the use of suffixes and prefixes to indicate the parts of speech. While it has enjoyed limited success, it is well known enough to have Universities, Peer reviewed papers, and musical acts associated with the language.

Conlang Artists

One of the most interesting part of the constructed language is the fan communities. This because most people don't realize they are learning their first or second languages. They don't take the time to enjoy it and really play with it, to learn what makes it tick. However, this is what you learn as the basics of a conlang. Each and every part of speech and idea is broken up, and you learn to literally build the language as blocks from the ground up. This makes it easy for most people to learn, but also to play with and be inspired by.

This has led to large communities who do things like paint large Vulcan banners for fun, or go to conventions to speak in Atlantean. This is a particularly interesting part of Geek culture that combines the love of learning with pure artistry and I think it is a beautiful thing.

Learning How To Make Your Own Constructed Language

If you've always wanted to make your own language, it isn't too late to start. There are a number of conlang groups, many of which also tackle world and character building for those of you who want to make your own back story as well. These groups also have people eager to critique new languages and try their hand at learning them as well.

If you want to try things the old fashioned way, learning about the characteristics that make up the different language families is a great place to start. From there, learning why choices were made the way they were when Esperanto was being created or why the code talkers almost all spoke additive languages will help you understand what is necessary to create a good conlang. Sadly there is no short-cut, but I do wish you luck in your studies.