“Conlang” is short for “constructed language,” which is just what it sounds like: a language that has been constructed… conlanging is an art as well as a science, something you might do for your own pleasure, as well as for the entertainment of others.
From J. R. R. Tolkien to Esperanto and Game of Thrones, Josephine Livingstone writes about the history and the current rise of invented languages in an essay over at The New Republic.
