Chapter 15: “Languages that no one speaks but a great conversation starter!”: The Pedagogical Uses and Value of Language Construction

Chapter 15 is concerned with interlinguistics—the construction of languages for different purposes. It will begin by providing a definition of “constructed languages,” and will identify different types of constructed languages. It will also distinguish between a priori and a posteriori constructed languages, and will offer a discussion of the historical evolution of constructed languages. It will then offer a detailed description of the history, structure, and goals of Volapük as the first widely successful international auxiliary language before turning to a discussion of the history, structure, and goals of Esperanto as the most successful of the international auxiliary languages. Next, it will turn to an examination of several recent examples of constructed languages found in popular media. Finally, the chapter will describe how the activities related to language construction might be utilized to help students better understand the nature of human language in classroom context.