Editing Artistic language

{{Short description|Language constructed for aesthetic reasons}}
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{{Original research|date=October 2012}}
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An '''artistic language''', or '''artlang''',<ref>{{cite web |url= https://groups.google.com/group/alt.language.artificial.ngl/browse_thread/thread/9171d7f32d4a3407/7232e14586f52fa1?q=%22artlang%22%7C%22artlangs%22#7232e14586f52fa1 |title= Proposal: new language-type name (fwd) |last1=Durst |first1=Jack |date=1997-11-18 |website= alt.language.artificial.ngl |access-date=2015-05-13 | quote= The idea was for "functionlang" to be a useful term to describe a certain group of conlangs that weren't fitting into the pattern. Those being the (relatively rare) conlangs that were not artlangs, logiclangs, or auxlangs, but instead designed around some *other* specified purpose(s). }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://groups.google.com/group/list.sci.lang.constructed/browse_thread/thread/84a0a666398bf13f/ec2fcecc94a8ab94?q=%22artlang%22%7C%22artlangs%22#ec2fcecc94a8ab94 |title= Help with phonological transcription |last1=Roser |first1= Paul |date=1998-01-08 |website= list.sci.lang.constructed |publisher= Usenet |access-date=2015-05-13 | quote= It is my '''artlang''', spoken on an archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, somewhat south of the Azores and northwest of Madeira. The liturgical language has a number of _very_ exotic sounds, partly to indicate that it is not the normal language of the street (these sounds include several velaric egressive sounds, ie reverse clicks; one or two apicovelars; nareal fricatives; and a few others). }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.esperanto/browse_thread/thread/886d620d296542d5/e83a3de6d93e78ac?q=%22artlang%22%7C%22artlangs%22#e83a3de6d93e78ac |title= Question about LSD |last= May |first= Rex F. |date=2000-03-15 |website= soc.culture.esperanto |publisher= Usenet |access-date=2015-05-13 | quote= I'm opposed to an '''artlang''' with tones, in much the same way I'm opposed to an '''artlang''' with the many vowel sounds of English, or the consonant clusters of Russian and English. }}</ref> is a [[constructed language]] designed for aesthetic and phonetic pleasure. Constructed languages can be artistic to the extent that artists use it as a source of creativity in art, poetry, calligraphy or as a [[metaphor]] to address themes such as cultural diversity and the vulnerability of the individual in a globalizing world.<ref>(nl) Lies Daenen, ''[http://bamart.be/nl/pages/detail/10884 De (on)macht van taal. Over Patrick Keulemans]'', kunstenaar (the '(un)power' of language. About artist Patrick Keulemans), text for the art exhibition 'unwritten & written', Kunst, Beeldende kunst, 20 August 2014.</ref> They can also be used to test linguistical theories, such as [[Linguistic relativity]].

Unlike [[engineered language]]s or [[International auxiliary language|auxiliary language]]s, artistic languages often have irregular grammar systems, much like natural [[language]]s.  Many are designed within the context of [[fictional world]]s, such as [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s [[Middle-earth]].  Others can represent fictional languages in a world not patently different from the real world, or have no particular fictional background attached.

==Genres==

Several different genres of constructed languages are classified as 'artistic'. An artistic language may fall into any one of the following groups, depending on the aim of its use.
Similarly to [[philosophical language]]s, artlangs are created in accordance with an initially defined principle in mind.

=== Fictional languages ===

{{main|Fictional language}}

By far the largest group of artlangs are '''fictional languages''' (sometimes also referred to as "professional artlangs"). Fictional languages are intended to be the languages of a fictional world, and are often designed with the intent of giving more depth and an appearance of plausibility to the fictional worlds with which they are associated, and to have their characters communicate in a fashion which is both alien and dislocated. By analogy with the word "conlang", the term ''[[conworld]]'' is used to describe these worlds, inhabited by fictional [[constructed culture]]s.

There are two major categories of fictional languages.

'''Professional fictional languages''' are those languages created for use in books, movies, television shows, video games, comics, toys, and songs. Prominent examples of works featuring fictional languages include the [[Middle-earth]] and ''[[Star Trek]]'' universes, [[Simlish]] in ''[[The Sims]]'', games like ''[[Ico]]'' and the [[Ar Tonelico#Hymmnos|''Ar Tonelico'' series]], and songs of the French band [[Magma (band)|Magma]], singing in Kobaïan.

'''Internet-based fictional languages''' are hosted along with their "conworlds" on the Internet, and based at these sites, becoming known to the world through the sites' visitors. An example is [[Verdurian]], the language of [[Mark Rosenfelder]]'s Verduria on the planet of Almea.

=== Alternative languages ===

'''Alternative languages''', or ''altlangs'', speculate on an alternate history and try to reconstruct how a family of natural languages would have evolved if things had been different, e.g.: What if Greek civilization had gone on to thrive without a Roman Empire, leaving [[Greek language|Greek]] and not [[Latin]] to develop several modern descendants? The language that ''would have'' evolved is then traced step by step in its evolution, to reach its modern form. An altlang will typically base itself on the core vocabulary of one language and the phonology of another.

The best-known language of this category is [[Brithenig]], which initiated the interest among Internet conlangers in devising such alternate-historical languages, like [[Venedic language|Wenedyk]]. Brithenig attempts to determine how Romance languages would have evolved had Roman influence in Britain been sufficient to replace Celtic languages with [[Vulgar Latin]], and bases its phonology on that of [[Welsh language|Welsh]]. An earlier instance is [[Philip José Farmer]]'s [[Winkie language]], a relative of the [[Germanic languages]] spoken by the Winkies of Oz in ''A Barnstormer in Oz''. Another example is [[Linguistic purism in English|Anglish]], which tries to reconstruct how English could have looked without Latin influence.

Although technically a professional fictional language, [[Wenja language|Wenja]], used in the video game [[Far Cry Primal]] is an attempt an reconstructing an earlier stage of [[Proto-Indo-European]], before the appearance of characteristics such as [[grammatical gender|gender]], [[ablaut]] or the [[s-mobile]], to name a few.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Zorine Te|title=Far Cry Primal Developers Talk About Uncovering History|url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/far-cry-primal-developers-talk-about-uncovering-hi/1100-6434103/|website=GameSpot|access-date=February 8, 2016|date=January 26, 2016}}</ref>

=== Micronational languages ===

'''Micronational languages''' are the languages created for use in [[micronation]]s. Having the citizens learn the language is as much a part of participating in the micronation as minting coins and stamps or participating in government. The members of these micronations meet up and speak the language they have learned when they are participating in these meets. They coin new words and grammatical constructions when needed. [[Talossan language|Talossan]], from R. Ben Madison's [[Talossa|Kingdom of Talossa]], is an archetypal example of a micronational language.<ref>{{Cite magazine |author=WIRED Staff |title=It's Good to Be King |language=en-US |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/2000/03/kingdoms/ |access-date=2022-11-22 |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

=== Personal languages ===

'''Personal languages''' are ultimately created for one's own edification. The creator does not expect anyone to speak it; the language exists as a work of art. A personal language may be invented for the purpose of having a beautiful language, for self-expression, as an exercise in understanding linguistic principles, or perhaps as an attempt to create a language with an extreme phonemic inventory or system of verbs. Personal languages tend to have short lifespans, and are often displayed on the Internet and discussed on message boards much like Internet-based fictional languages. They are often invented in large numbers by the people who design these languages.  However, a few personal languages are used extensively and long-term by their creators (e.g., for writing [[Diary|diaries]]).  Javant Biarujia, the creator of [[Taneraic]], described his personal language (which he terms a '''hermetic language''') thus: "a private pact negotiated between the world at large and the world within me; public words simply could not guarantee me the private expression I sought."<ref>[http://www.phreacs.com.au/tanerai/ Taneraic on the Web]  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050731075734/http://www.phreacs.com.au/tanerai/ |date=July 31, 2005 }}</ref>  The author [[Robert Dessaix]] describes the origins of his personal language K: "I wanted words that described reality. So I made them up."<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/s693291.htm "The Language of K"], ''Lingua Franca'', 19 December 1998  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060527161927/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/s693291.htm |date=May 27, 2006 }}</ref>

=== Languages with small vocabulary ===

The aim of such languages is to express deep meaning with very few parts. For instance, [[Toki Pona]] is generally said to have around 120,<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/08/toki-pona-invented-language-memrise|title=What happened when I tried to learn Toki Pona in 48 hours using memes|last=Bramley|first=Ellie Violet|date=2015-01-08|work=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=2019-01-07}}</ref> 123,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/podcast-of-the-week-the-smallest-language-in-the-world-1.3597426|title=Podcast of the week: The smallest language in the world|last=Griffin|first=Sarah|date=2018-08-18|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|access-date=2019-01-07}}</ref> or 125<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last1=Zorrilla|first1=Natalia C.|date=2018|title=Still Hoping: The Relation of International Auxiliary Languages to Worldview and Perception|url=https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/sj24a/|doi=10.31235/osf.io/sj24a|s2cid=240167472 |via=SocArXiv}}</ref> root words<ref>Originally 118 roots, with several roots added later.</ref> and 14 [[phoneme]]s. It was created by Canadian linguist and translator [[Sonja Lang]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/canadian-has-people-talking-about-lingo-she-created/article20399052/|title=Canadian has people talking about lingo she created|last=Roberts|first=Siobhan|date=2007-07-09|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|access-date=2017-03-10|language=en-ca}}</ref> for the purpose of simplifying thoughts and communication.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morin |first=Roc |date=2015-07-15 |title=How to Say Everything in a Hundred-Word Language |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/toki-pona-smallest-language/398363/ |access-date=2022-08-10 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref>

=== Jokelangs ===
{{see also|Language game}}
The term '''jokelang''' is sometimes applied to conlangs created as jokes. These may be languages intended primarily to sound funny, such as [http://www.dilingo.net/ DiLingo], or for some type of [[satire]], often as satire on some aspect of constructed languages.

Some typical jokelangs are:
* [[Europanto]] – an unstructured mixture of European languages
* [[Transpiranto]] – constructed from international words inflected to sound like Swedish jargon, in order to improve malplacedness and ambiguity
* Oou – a deliberately ambiguous and [[polysemous]] language whose writing system is made up entirely of punctuation marks and whose [[phoneme]] inventory is made up entirely of vowels
* DiLingo – a rhyming language<ref>[http://www.dilingo.net/DiLingo/Home.html DiLingo - official website]</ref>
* Gulevache – a fictional joke romance language created by the Argentinian comedy-musical group [[Les Luthiers]] for its opera [[Cardoso en Gulevandia]]
* Unwinese – the nonsensical but structured alternative English, also known as [[gobbledygook]] but named by its creator Basic Engly Twentyfimode, used by comedian [[Stanley Unwin (comedian)|Stanley Unwin]]
* Inflationary Language – invented by comedian [[Victor Borge]], incrementing numbers embedded in words, e.g., ''crenine'' ("create") and ''elevennis'' ("tennis")

===Experimental languages===

{{main|Experimental languages}}

An experimental language is a [[constructed language]] designed for the purpose of exploring some theory of [[linguistics]]. Most such languages are concerned with the relation between [[language and thought]]; however, languages have been constructed to explore other aspects of language as well. In [[science fiction]], much work has been done on the assumption popularly known as the [[Sapir–Whorf hypothesis]]. Artlangs of this type overlap with [[engineered language]]s.

==Examples of artistic languages==

See '''[[list of constructed languages#Artistic languages|list of constructed languages]]'''.

==See also==
* [[Asemic writing]]
* [[Constructed language]]
* [[Engineered language]]
* [[Esoteric programming language]]
* [[Idioglossia]]
* [[International auxiliary language]]
* [[Language game]]
* [[Divine language#Occultism|Mystical language]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}<!--added above External links/Sources by script-assisted edit-->

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120414191202/http://listserv.brown.edu/conlang.html The CONLANG Mailing List]
* [http://www.zompist.com/ Zompist.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060210132953/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9219/conlib.html A Constructed Languages Library]
* [http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0003/languages.php Audience, Uglossia and CONLANG] by Sarah L. Higley
* [http://www.asemic.net ''Asemic Magazine''] is an Australian publication that explores artistic writing systems, at least some of which are ''asemic'', not representing specific meaning. <!-- i.e., arguably irrelevant to this article...? -->

===Wikis on or about constructed languages and artistic languages===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050404061620/http://www.talideon.com/concultures/wiki/ ConlangWiki] – a wiki devoted to the topics of ConLangs and ConCultures.
* [https://conlang.fandom.com/wiki/Portal:Main Conlang wiki at Fandom]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041029101529/http://home.unilang.org/main/wiki/ Unilang.org] – a database of language- and linguistic-related information

{{Constructed languages}}

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