<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Constructed languages, sometimes called conlangs or invented languages, have long played a role in creating verisimilitude in the imaginary worlds of science fiction and fantasy.

In literature, the elaborately detailed Elvish languages developed by philologist J.R.R. Tolkien set a gold standard for linguistic inventiveness which no other author can match.

In movies, the most quoted line in a constructed language is the iconic phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" of 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still. The Klingon language created for the Star Trek films by linguist Marc Okrand is a fully-fleshed out language with an elaborate grammar and a vocabulary sufficient for the publication of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (The Restored Klingon Version) (1996, Pocket Books paperback 2000). David Salo created dialogue sequences for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films based on several of Tolkien's languages.

Study and enthusiasm for these invented languages and their alphabets has been part of fandom since the 1960s, in several cases evolving into academic work with peer-reviewed journals such as HolQeD (on Klingon) and scholarly conferences such as Omentielva Minya, the First International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien's Invented Languages, held in Stockholm in August, 2005.