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From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

Linguistics

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Language • natural • constructed

Grammar

A constructed or artificial language — also colloquially known as a conlang — is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary have been devised by an individual or group, instead of having naturally evolved. Among the many possible reasons to create a constructed language are the will to ease human communication (see international auxiliary language and code); to make a fictional story or a constructed world more veracious; linguistic experimentation or simply for aesthetic pleasure.

Overview

There are two main categories into which a constructed language can be classified:

• A priori language: The grammar and vocabulary is created from scratch using the author(s) imagination or, less usually, by taking strings randomly generated by a computer. Example: Klingon.

• A posteriori language: Its grammar and/or vocabulary are based on some existing language, either as a variation of one or as a mixture of various. Example: Esperanto.

External links

Langmaker.com - Wiki with resources to create and investigate constructed languages.

Some content on this page may previously have appeared on Wikipedia.