Language Creation Society
Language Creation Society

The Conlanger's Library

Conlang Blog Aggregator  
Language Creation Conference

A Brief Introduction to Conlanging for Journalists
NEWS: LCS makes Dothraki language for HBO's Game of Thrones.
HBO Contact:

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).

Thanks!

Conlanging

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

Notable Conlangs

Selected Online Community Links

Perspectives on Conlanging

General Resources on Conlanging

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.

General LCS Resources

Language Creation Conference