Klingon is a constructed language, otherwise known as a conlang. A conlang is a consciously constructed language that contains grammar, vocabulary, and syllabic structures. Such a language might be designed for use in fiction, international communication, or artistic exploration. Klingon was designed for fiction. Esperanto was designed for international communication.
In case you are unfamiliar with Esperanto (as I was):
Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. It was created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to foster peace and cross-cultural communication. It features a simple, phonetic, and 100% regular grammar designed for ease of learning, with a vocabulary rooted in European languages. It was designed to be a second international language and is actually spoken by as many as two million people worldwide as a second language — and roughly 1,000 to 2,000 native speakers who learned it from birth. It is most common in Europe, Brazil, China, and the United States.
A conlang must be designed for communication among humans and not between computers. It includes characteristics of natural language like grammar, vocabulary, orthography, and phonology. Motivations for building a language include enhancing fictional worldbuilding, exploring linguistic structures, or personal enjoyment. It is said that while there are a few famous conlangs, there are many more ranging from amateur projects to fully developed language.
If you are interested in creating a language, here are some steps!
- Define your purpose. Is is for a fiction book, some type of other communication, or just for fun?
- Choose the sounds (vowels and consonants, etc.).
- Determine how sounds combine for form syllables.
- Develop a system of grammar: sentence structure and word order, parts of speech, etc.
- Create a vocabulary.
Here are some of the more familiar conlangs:
- Esperanto — created by as a universal second language.
- Klingon from Star Trek — intentionally harsh and alien-sounding.
- Elvish such as Quenya and Sindarin, created by J. R. R. Tolkien.
- Dothraki and Valyrian from Game of Thrones.
- Na’vi from Avatar.
Some distinctive types of conlangs:
- Artlangs — Created for artistic/worldbuilding purposes. (Klingon)
- Auxlangs — Meant to help international communication. (Esperanto)
- Engineered languages — Designed around logic or experimentation.
- What about twins? We often hear about twins developing their own language. However, those languages are not conlangs (well, unless they intentionally invent grammar and phonology!). Their languages are known as cryptophasia or idioglossia—and occur in an estimated 40–50% of twins. They are not considered new languages, but rather a combination of onomatopoeias, made-up words, and adapted adult speech that they use to communicate with each other; such languages are often unintelligible to others.
Some fun facts:
- Many conlangs are actually more grammatically regular than natural languages. Esperanto avoids irregular verbs and inconsistent spelling.
- J. R. R. Tolkien once said inventing languages was his “secret vice.”
- Klingon has a real-language institute, certified speakers, dictionaries, and translations of literature. Hamlet has been translated into Klingon because (according to a line in Star Trek) “Shakespeare is best experienced in the original Klingon.”
- Some parents have reportedly tried raising children bilingually in Klingon or Esperanto.
- Some conlangs are intentionally difficult. Ithkuil (you can look this one up!) was designed to express incredibly precise meanings efficiently, but many people find it nearly impossible to speak fluently.
- Not all conlangs are spoken. Some are designed only for writing, symbolism, or visual beauty.
- Several conlangs have even developed dialects because fans began speaking them differently from one another.
- There are conlangs designed specifically to test whether aliens could understand human communication.
- The language in Avatar was built to sound alien but still pronounceable by human actors and audiences.
Thank you to Chat GPT for these two:
“English evolved accidentally over centuries; conlangs are languages assembled with the precision of IKEA furniture — except sometimes with fewer missing pieces.”
“A language becomes surprisingly real the moment two people start arguing about its grammar.”
I loved the article. Languages have been of special interest to me since childhood. It started when someone asked me to explain where is the ‘butter’ in a butterfly? Try learning Koine Greek – it has some twenty tenses.
So glad you liked it! So where is the butter in butterfly??? LOL. Where is the ham in hamburger, while we’re at it. And the band in bandaid? Ooh, these would make a god blog post! Twenty tenses sounds like fun….but I think six is quite enough! If time is just a construct and everything is happening at once, I wonder how those 20 tenses are used!
Thanks for introducing *me* to the word conlang. I hadn’t heard the term either.
If I ever stumble across my old dictionary (from ~20 years ago?), I’ll send it to you if you like.
BTW, there used to be a café in Boonville called Horn of Zeese (!)
If I ever open a cafe, that is what I am naming it!
What a cool, fascinating article, Arlene – thanks for all the great details!
I wonder if you’ve ever heard of Boontling – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boontling – a conlang developed over a century ago by denizens of Boonville in Mendocino County?
I once had a Boontling dictionary. Some of the terms I remember include:
• Harpin’ Boont (speaking Boontling)
• Bahl gorms (good food)
• Horn of zeese (cup of coffee)
Fun stuff!
Thanks, Rosina. I never heard of Boontling! In fact, I didn’t know what a conlang was until I saw it somewhere online and decided to find out what it was and write a post about them. I will have to remember horn of zeese! Sounds like a language that would come out of Mendocino County!