Conlangs as Explicit Framework Design
Unlike natural languages that evolve organically, constructed languages (conlangs) are built from the ground up by an individual or group. This makes them perfect, controlled experiments in meta-linguistics. The conlanger must make explicit choices about every level of the linguistic framework: phonology (what sounds are allowed), morphology (how words are formed), syntax (sentence structure), semantics (how meaning is assigned), and often pragmatics and writing systems. At the Institute, we maintain an archive of hundreds of conlangs, from international auxiliary languages like Esperanto and Ido, to artistic languages like J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish or David J. Peterson's Dothraki, to philosophical or logical languages like Lojban or Toki Pona. We study these not as curiosities, but as test cases. What happens when you design a language with no irregular verbs? With a purely visual grammar? With words limited to 120 core concepts? Each conlang is a hypothesis about what is essential, possible, or efficient in human communication.
Testing Linguistic Relativity and Cognitive Effects
Conlangs provide a unique opportunity to test the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (linguistic relativity) in a controlled way. While it's ethically impossible to raise a child in a purely conlang environment, we conduct experiments with adult learners. We teach groups of volunteers a new conlang that encodes a specific conceptual framework—for example, a language where all nouns are classified by shape rather than by animacy, or where verb tense is replaced with markers for source of knowledge (evidentiality). We then administer cognitive tests to see if learning this framework affects how they perform non-linguistic tasks, like sorting objects, recalling events, or making decisions under uncertainty. Preliminary results from our 'Linguistic Framework Lab' suggest that even short-term immersion in a strongly framed conlang can produce measurable, though often temporary, shifts in cognitive style. This research is invaluable for understanding the malleability of thought and the mechanisms of framework influence.
The Challenge of Creating a 'Living' Language
A major meta-linguistic question explored through conlangs is: What makes a language feel alive and natural? Many conlangs, despite logical elegance, feel sterile to users. Our analysis identifies key factors. Natural languages are messy, filled with idioms, irregularities, historical fossils, and room for play and ambiguity. They evolve through social use, not top-down decree. Some of the most successful artistic conlangs, like Klingon, have developed these features through fan communities that create slang, poetry, and new grammatical constructions, effectively 'naturalizing' the language. We study this process of community-driven language evolution as a meta-linguistic phenomenon in itself. It demonstrates that a framework becomes truly robust not just through design, but through adoption, adaptation, and the unpredictable creativity of its users. This insight informs projects in digital communication and human-computer interaction, where designers seek to create intuitive, 'living' interfaces.
Applied Conlanging: From UI Design to Thought Experiments
The principles of conlanging have direct practical applications. Our institute collaborates with UX designers to create coherent, learnable 'languages' for software interfaces—consistent systems of icons, menus, and interaction patterns that form a communicative framework. We also work with scientists to develop specialized notation systems for complex domains, like a 'language' for precisely describing protein folds or ecological interactions. On a more philosophical level, we sponsor conlang projects as thought experiments to explore alternative modes of being. For example, a project to create a language for a post-scarcity society, or a language designed to minimize conflict by structurally discouraging blame attribution. These are not meant for real-world adoption, but as tools to stretch our imagination about social and cognitive possibilities, making the invisible constraints of our native frameworks visible by contrast.
Constructed languages are therefore far more than hobbies or fictional set-dressing. They are a vital methodological tool and a creative outlet for meta-linguistic inquiry. They allow us to ask 'what if' in the most fundamental way: What if our language worked like this? By building and studying these alternative frameworks, we gain a deeper appreciation for the intricate design of natural languages, a clearer understanding of the relationship between language and thought, and practical skills for designing clearer, more effective symbolic systems in technology, science, and art. The Institute of Meta-Linguistics celebrates conlanging as a serious and illuminating branch of our discipline.