Portal:Constructed languages/Language of the month/March 2007

Láadan is a constructed language created by Suzette Haden Elgin in 1982 to test the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis for women, specifically to determine if Western natural languages were better suited for expressing the views of men than women. The language was included in her Native Tongue science fiction series. Láadan contains a number of words that are used to make unambiguous statements that include how one feels about what one is saying. According to Elgin, this is designed to counter male-centred language's limitations on women, who are forced to respond "I know I said that, but I meant this". Find out more...