Conlang Lab
A Hands-on Workshop in Building a Language Together
In this interactive workshop, we will collaboratively create a constructed language (conlang) from scratch. Starting with a brief introduction to language construction, participants will explore how linguistic systems are built by making decisions about sounds, word formation, syntax, and vocabulary. Working together, we will develop a small but coherent language and work towards the goal of building a sentence we've decided at the beginning of the workshop. Drawing inspiration from natural languages, the workshop explores theoretical linguistics in an experimentative way. No previous experience with conlanging is required, curiosity about language is enough. By the end of the session, participants will have contributed to a shared language and gained a practical perspective on conlanging firsthand.
Conlanging, or constructed language creation, is a highly linguistic hobby or an occupation for some people who create languages for various entertainment purposes, whether it is for personal projects, books, or Hollywood movies. Although most people aren't aware of this hobby, people in the linguistics community have likely heard of it or even engaged in conlanging themselves. Since creating a language requires a basic understanding of linguistics, conlanging is a perfect pastime for linguists. In my experience, the number of people who do conlanging is incredibly low, even among linguists. That is one of the reasons I have decided to create this workshop; my goal is to break the illusion of conlanging being something difficult or obscure in nature. Conlanging can be really fun and a great way to understand some theoretical concepts in linguistics. In this workshop, there is no prior knowledge or experience in conlanging necessary; anyone can join and participate in language creation themselves. Starting from the goals of the language, we will create the sounds, morphology, syntax, and semantics (to some degree) of the language. After creating the vocabulary needed for the initial sentence we have decided to build, we will proudly declare the end result after an hour of linguistic discussions.