One of my interests that sometimes contributes to, & sometimes distracts from, my more purely literary pursuits, is constructed languages. There are an amazing number on the Net (Kennaway catalogues 310). Most have few if any speakers. A good example of the "artlang" is Taneraic, a wonderful creation by Javant Biarujia of Melbourne, who has a kept a secret diary in this language most of his life. I have learned enough of it to read some, with difficulty: it's irregular, like a "natlang", & unlike virtually every other "conlang" in existence... It also has one of the largest vocabularies; his ongoing dictionary project is being published by Nokusumo. But several are more ambitious: their avowed goal is to provide all the minority languages of the world with something simpler that other people will want to learn, an "interlang". Esperanto is well represented, & even its predecessor Volapük. (I have written poetry in both of these.) Two of the most active & interesting subcultures are Klingon & Lojban. The Klingons are, shall we say, Trekkies with an attitude, & have been so busy they've already translated "Hamlet" & "Gilgamesh" "back into the original". Lojban, devised in 1960 with the avowed purpose of testing the Sapir Whorf Hypothesis, only really got going in the late 80's, but now has many activities, from technical discussions (in this language, they can run on for years) to a translation of Alice in Wonderland (including the puns & neologisms). I have myself contributed to this one in a small way, being the author of the first 2 books of poetry in the language, as well as its first "novel". Someone who is not a linguistics geek might well ask me, what do i get out of this intense but pointless hobby? Well, at one time i might have answered, it's not often you have a chance to be a tribe's Chaucer & Shakespeare at once... Now i think it has something to do with literalizing the alienation i feel as an author. You don't want to read me? Fine: i'll write something you can't read. --And other times, in a mellower mood, i'll answer: all languages are essentially one language, & our job is to acquire as much of it as possible.