Language and Creativity: Fiction Language and Writing

Abstract

Fictional languages are a type of artificial language known as a constructed language. They, and their writing systems, are developed in association with fictional works including literature, television, and film to bring a sense of authenticity to the fictional world. The fictional languages also act to help add a realistic element to the sociolinguistic aspects of the world, as dialects of a language may be used to illustrate social standing. Fictional languages and writing systems are of interest to linguistic anthropologists as they help us understand a unique form of human creativity, they can be tools for students to learn about linguistic structures and the relationship between language and culture, and they are often learned by fans, who develop speech communities associated with the fictional languages.