It is good to know ... that there are resources such as the Language Creation Society to help when a writer decides that a new language is just what their novel needs. - Elaine Frei, SFF Chronicle Network
We welcome members of the press and are willing to actively assist you in researching a story about conlangs or conlangers.
We maintain a list of diverse language creators within the conlanging community who are willing to serve as press contacts and whom you can contact for interviews. Just send an email describing your project, background, and contact information to ; we will be happy to forward it on to our contacts for their consideration.
You are also welcome to attend the Language Creation Conference (LCC) (also see below for more details on past LCC's). Registration is the same as for any other attendee, but we ask that you identify yourself as a journalist.
To ask any other questions with which we might be able to help, please email us at . For urgent inquiries, call +1 (918) 9-CONLANG (926-6526).
Language creation (or "conlanging" — "conlang" is short for "constructed language") is the process of inventing a new language. Though the extent to which a language is created varies, creators might include sound systems, grammars, and writing systems for their languages. Some creators are also interested in cosmogenesis: the creation of cultures and worlds in which their languages are used.
People create constructed languages for a number of reasons. Artistic languages (artlangs) are often included in fictional works: for example, J.R.R. Tolkien's Quenya and Sindarin ("Elvish") in The Lord of the Rings, Klingon in Star Trek, or Na'vi in Avatar. International auxiliary languages (auxlangs) are intended for communication between people of different native languages, usually to prevent one being elevated over others or to make learning easier; some famous examples are Esperanto, Volapük, Ido, and Interlingua. Logical and philosophical languages (loglangs) are used to test linguistic (and other) theories; Loglan and Lojban are well-known examples of the former, and Suzette Haden Elgin's Láadan is an example of the latter — which she incorporated into the Native Tongue series of novels.
For more information and web links on conlangs and conlanging, check out the Wikipedia article on constructed languages.
Past Media Coverage of Conlanging
- Newspapers (2004-2009)
- Magazines (1976-2010)
- Journals (2000-2009)
- Radio/Podcasts (2001-2009)
- Press coverage and interviews: Arika Okrent, In the Land of Invented Lanugages (2009) (official website)
- Press coverage and interviews: Paul Frommer, creator of Na'vi (the conlang featured in James Cameron's Avatar)
- Press coverage, Internet communications, and interviews: David J. Peterson, creator of Dothraki (the conlang to be featured in HBO's Game of Thrones). Additional coverage here.
- Conlang, an independent short film by Marta Masferrer and Baldvin Kári (Screenings)
- Esperanto, the most widely spoken international auxiliary language created by L.L. Zamenhof (and the topic of some debate)
- Ithkuil, a highly complex engineered language created by John Quijada
- Kēlen, an artistic language with no verbs created by Sylvia Sotomayor
- Klingon, from Star Trek - developed into a complete language by Marc Okrand
- Láadan, a language specifically designed to express the perceptions of human women, from the Native Tongue series by Suzette Haden Elgin.
- Lojban, a very well-known logical language maintained by The Logical Language Group
- Quenya and Sindarin, from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Solresol, a philosophical language created by François Sudre that can be sung, signed, written, and more
- Teonaht, a highly developed artistic language created by Sally Caves
- Toki Pona, a minimalist philosophical language, inspired by Taoist philosophy, created by Sonja Elen Kisa
Selected Online Community Links
- CONLANG mailing list - The oldest (founded Sept. 1991) and most active online mailing list dedicated to conlanging.
- Zompist Bulletin Board (ZBB) - An online forum dedicated to the discussion of conlangs, conworlds, linguistics, and Mark Rosenfelder's invented world of Almea.
- LiveJournal Conlangs Community
Perspectives on Conlanging
- Apologia pro imaginatione (Boudewijn Rempt)
- Conlang Manifesto (David J. Peterson)
- Artlanger's Rant (Jesse Bangs)
- Audience, Uglossia, and CONLANG: Inventing Languages on the Internet (Dr. Sarah Higley)
General Resources on Conlanging
- Essays on Language Design (Rick Morneau)
- Model Languages Newsletter (Jeffrey Henning)
- The Conlanger's Library (Don Boozer)
- Conlang Flag, designed by Christian Thalmann, Jan van Steenbergen, Leland Paul, and David Peterson, represents the Tower of Babel (translating Genesis 11:1-9 has been a tradition for conlangers) against a rising sun
Language Creation Society
The Language Creation Society (LCS) is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 California-based non-profit corporation with 13 international board members. Its goal is to promote conlangs and conlanging through offering platforms for conlangers to publish high-quality work of interest to the community, raising awareness about conlanging amongst the general public, organizing work for professional conlangers and people in the entertainment industry interested in adding more depth to their alternative worlds, and providing a central place for reliable contacts and information to those seeking to learn more.
LCS Board of Directors
The LCS Board of Directors is divided into an Executive Committee and an Advisory Committee.
- LCS Officers
- David J. Peterson - President - photos (1), creator of the Dothraki language, articles, SLIPA, Kamakawi, Zhyler, and another 10 languages
- Henrik Theiling, Ph.D. - Vice President, LCS IT Committee Chair - CONLANG-L list owner
- Sylvia Sotomayor - Treasurer (photos 1)
- Don Boozer - Secretary/Librarian - creator of the CPL Conlangs Exhibit
- LCS Board of Directors
- Doug Ball, Ph.D. - Truman State University (Linguistics).
- Don Boozer
- John E. Clifford, Ph.D. - Associate Professor Emeritus of the Department of Philosophy, University of Missouri -- St. Louis; former Logical Language Group board member
- George Corley - Host of Conlangery Podcast
- David G. Durand, Ph.D. - former adjunct professor of Computer Science, Brown University; CONLANG editor; long-time member of CONLANG; Tizra.com CEO (photos 1, 2, 3)
- Alex Fink, Ph.D. - North Carolina State University (Mathematics)
- Amanda Furrow
- Sarah L. Higley, Ph.D., aka Sally Caves - Associate Professor of English literature, University of Rochester; author of Hildegard of Bingen's Unknown Language: An Edition, Translation, and Discussion in addition to numerous other books & articles including Audience, Uglossia, and CONLANG: Inventing Languages on the Internet, and creator of the conlang Teonaht (photos 1)
- David J. Peterson
- John Quijada - Creator of the Ithkuil language.
- Sai - photos (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), resume, non-linear writing systems, gripping language (video), pkt, design of an ideal language, DE-Cal class
- Sylvia Sotomayor
- Henrik Theiling, Ph.D. (Vice President, LCS IT Committee Chair) - CONLANG-L list owner
General LCS Resources
- LCS Podcast: interviews with notable personalities in the conlanging community as well as video from the LCS's Language Creation Conferences
- LCS Board members and vital documents, seal (HQ image)
- Informational flyer: color or grayscale
Language Creation Conference
- The Language Creation Conferences (LCC), sponsored by the LCS, are comprised of talks, panel discussions, and workshops about issues related to language creation from different perspectives. It includes both fairly technical linguistic discussions and presentations as well as more general, sociological, or philosophical ones as well as examples of the art and craft of conlanging in action. Voices from many parts of the conlanging community and people from all over the world have attended, and the conference is open to the public.
- LCC1: UC Berkeley, April 23, 2006 - program (pdf), slides, talks, photos, interviews, video (HQ video available)
- LCC2: UC Berkeley, July 7-8, 2007 - program (pdf), slides, talks, photos, relay, video (HQ video available), more video
- LCC3: Brown U., March 21-22, 2009 - program (pdf), talks, photos, chatlog, conlang relay* results, presentations, posters, and further reading
- *Note: A conlang relay is a translation game involisconlangs similar to games like Telephone or Chinese Whispers but instead of whispers a text is passed from translator to translator. (See FrathWiki entry for more details)
- LCC4: Groningen, the Netherlands, May 14-15, 2011 - talks, photos, conlang relay results