Researchers recently embarked on a fascinating journey to understand how constructed languages (conlangs) in popular fantasy culture—such as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Black Speech—evoke specific impressions in listeners. The results, published inLanguage and Speech, uncovered several factors that influence perceptions of conlangs, irrespective of the context in which it is presented. “Personally, I have been a huge fan of Tolkien for a long time. And I always found it amazing how he chose the names for people or locations that were quite fitting. The languages he invented seemed to be designed in order…
