Artificial languages are

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

s of a typically very limited size which emerge either in computer simulations between artificial agents, robot interactions or controlled psychological experiments with humans. They are different from both

constructed language A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction ...

s and

formal language In logic, mathematics, computer science, and linguistics, a formal language consists of words whose letters are taken from an alphabet and are well-formed according to a specific set of rules. The alphabet of a formal language consists of s ...

s in that they have been consciously devised by an individual or group but are the result of (distributed) conventionalisation processes, much like

natural language In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languag ...

s. Opposed to the idea of a central ''designer'', the field of artificial language evolution in which artificial languages are studied can be regarded as a sub-part of the more general

cultural evolution Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as "information capable of affecting individuals' behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation ...

studies.

Origin

The idea of creation of artificial language arose in 17th and 18th century as a result of gradually decreasing international role of Latin. The initial schemes were mainly aimed at the development of a rational language free from inconsistence of living language and based on classification of concepts. The material of living languages also appears later.

Motivation

The lack of empirical evidence in the field of

evolutionary linguistics Evolutionary linguistics or Darwinian linguistics is a sociobiological approach to the study of language. Evolutionary linguists consider linguistics as a subfield of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology. The approach is also closely link ...

has led many researchers to adopt computer simulations as a means to investigate the ways in which artificial a