Relationships Between Place and Language Creation: Analysis and Synthesis

Numerous writers construct original languages for creative or experimental purposes. Language construction can function as a tool for philological study: a way to apply and experiment with theoretical potential. In terms of fictional settings, language construction offers another outlet for expression through writing. It also creates an additional level of detail that authors can use to further enrich the world they are writing about. The goal of this project is to analyze existing constructed languages, followed by my own version of language creation, in order to better understand the process and motivations related to them. A survey of existing “conlang” examples, featuring the languages of J.R.R. Tolkien and Suzette Haden Elgin, highlights the variety of approaches and purposes for language creation. Their perspectives combine an academic background in linguistics with fictional writing, offering a unique way to study the roles of language. Heavily influenced by Tolkien’s work, my own constructed language is outlined in the final section. Considering the languages created by others, I explain my process and reasoning in order to illustrate a personal approach to the described concepts. This is followed by a series of vignettes that place the language in a philological context, featuring relevant lexical elements and history. The goal is to demonstrate how my constructed language adds to a sense of place.