In the United States, 22% of the population speaks a language other than English at home. This number reflects 74 million Americans who actively engage in language play.
“Conlanging” is one way language can be played with, where individuals construct their own languages. This pastime has brought together a community of language enthusiasts in the Conlanging Club.
The niche group gives students the chance to create their own languages in a space full of other passionate linguists and creators.
“We’re each doing our own thing,” said Brandi Vanderpool, Conlanging club president. During meetings, members share ideas and help each other through roadblocks. Members give each other advice on grammar and content, helping each student make their language unique.
Vanderpool first discovered her interest in language at the age of 12, writing her history notes in English and mixing up the letters to create her own secret language.
“I didn’t even know anything about linguistics before I started that,” Vanderpool said . “I wanted to do computer science, but I still wanted to keep linguistics — so I was like, ‘Well, I could do computational linguistics’. The more I learned about linguistics, [the more] I got really interested in the communication of it all.”
In addition to exploring language with her computer science background, Vanderpool uses the languages she creates in her art, incorporating the orthography — the writing itself — in pixel art.
Vanderpool’s language, Khronian, uses scratchy lines and crude angles. These features affect the identity and culture she wants to create. Conlangers focus on this, referring to time spent on their language’s background as “world-building.”
“I do world-building every second of my day that I have free time,” she said. “[My speakers] were getting hunted by humans, so they had to be like, ‘Humans live over there — that’s danger’.
Building the culture of her speakers is another way of creating the world her language is tied to, ensuring all the puzzle pieces fall neatly into place.
Financial Officer of the Conlanging Club, Thomas Staley, noted his fixation on language began at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staley spent his time in lockdown watching YouTube videos on linguistics.
“I started learning Japanese and Spanish and I found it really interesting how those languages write everything phonetically,” Staley said.
This is where the idea of his language was born: a phonetic version of English he believes could be easier for non-native speakers to understand.
Through one of Staley’s classes, he volunteered in classrooms where most of the students were learning English at a beginner level.
“One of the things that we learned in that class was just because someone’s a beginner-level English learner, doesn’t mean they’re a beginner-level thinker,” he said. “You don’t want to infantilize them too much or talk down, but you still have to simplify the way you speak.”
This advice inspired Staley to continue with his conlang, using his approach to help those that have trouble learning English.
“With how many people struggle learning to read, or learning English from another language background, or have dyslexia or something — I feel like [my language is] something that could be useful,” Staley said.
The Conlanging Club has built a small community of language-fanatics, exploring how real-world languages and their constructed languages interact cohesively.
“Everyone in the entire world plays with language in different kinds of ways,” said Linguistics Professor and Director of English Support Systems Gail Shuck. “Language is essentially a creative system. It creates new sentences all the time, we create new words all the time, we play with words and then make puns about those new words … and then you build a sense of community.”
Language, as a creative system, is constantly manipulated and molded in everyday speech. Playing with a community’s slang and sentiments builds connection and community
[When] we’re playing, it cements our relationship; it signals your stance towards the other person,” Shuck said. “Often, we use the word indexing, like your index finger points to something. You’re actually pointing to some element of the context, a particular political point of view.”
From an outsider’s perspective, linguistics can be a daunting topic, however the group believes any creative would benefit from being in a like-minded circle gripped with the power of language. Vanderpool urges any student interested in the Conlanging Club to join in on the fun. Students can get involved with the club by joining on Campus Groups.
“If you want to meet other people who are into languages or world building, [we’re] a place where people get together and talk about anything they do creatively with languages,” Staley expressed. “It’s just a social space.”
