Ask HN: Do linguists experiment with new languages like computer scientists do?

7 points by craig 7y ago ↗ HN

I've been looking into a lot of new programming languages lately, they are usually designed for a specific domain. I was wondering if language students are experimenting with new languages for specific communication purposes? for example, simple languages that can be learnt in a week? Langauges that are easily translate physical sign? Languages that are more concise on a qwerty keyboard?

2 comments

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yorwba 7y ago ↗

Linguists are usually quite busy dealing with existing languages. Creating languages for specific purposes is more of a hobby. Of course those hobbyists can be linguists, so the lines are blurred a bit. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language

craig 7y ago ↗

Makes sense, thanks for the link it led me to `Esperanto`, it's much more popular than I had expected - I'm really interested in how easy it would be to learn.

Are you one of these hobbyists? If so I'd be intrigued to see any work you have done.