Are conlang (artificially constructed natural languages) questions on topic?
A major aspect to some people of building imaginary worlds is to come up with an artificial language for the people in that world; often referred to as "conlangs" for "constructed languages".
Are questions about conlangs on topic on Languages & Linguistics, or is the site's scope limited to existing (current and historical) human languages?
2 answers
I think questions about linguistics as applied to a language one is constructing (or has come across) should be on-topic as linguistics questions. For example: "Here's a description of how noun cases work in my novel's language.… I'd like some of the cases to disappear over time, replaced in use by others. Based on what has happened in other (real) languages and on linguistic principles, which cases would likely disappear, to be replaced in use by which?"
(I do not mean to imply that I think that's the only type of question about conlangs that should be allowed. I mention it because I suspect it's a large part of what the asker is asking about.)
Questions about constructed languages are on topic to the same extent as questions about natural languages.
A question about a world or a book series is not automatically on topic just because that world contains constructed languages, or because the books were written in a natural language. However, once the question digs into how one or more of those languages work and interact, in becomes a linguistic question.
We welcome questions about language management of natural languages; therefore we also welcome questions involved in construction of a language from scratch, or based on another constructed language, or based on a natural language, as long as they are answerable based on insights grounded in existing languages (constructed or not), as opposed to based entirely on opinion and artistic preference.
Some languages are recorded as a tiny and effectively closed body of texts. They may be the creation of a single artist, or they may be extinct languages. Most questions asked about such languages will have to be answered with "we will likely never know". Again, this applies to constructed and natural languages equally.
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