ABSTRACT
Language invention has occupied many brilliant minds throughout history, from the philosophically driven pursuit for the prelapsarian "perfect language" of Adam in the Middle Ages to the more utilitarian 20th-century aim of facilitating communication in an increasingly globalized world by creating languages such as Esperanto and its offspring. Invented languages emerging out of childhood play and world-building can be seen in the childhood experiences of several authors and artists, often leading to more developed imaginative works in adulthood. A frequent usage of invented languages is naming. Naming is, indeed, a subcreative act: it can be used to introduce new ideas or concepts, or to cast the Primary World word in a new light. The interlacing of language invention with other elements of world-building is now a natural element of fantasy and science fiction texts. The prevalence of these languages has also inspired people to invent their own languages not just for fiction but also as a purely private pleasure.
