<p>Yes, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damin" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Damin language (Wikipedia article)</a>, a ceremonial language and only natural click language outside Africa, was probably constructed.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T13:12:20.303Z
2020-12-27T18:56:46.077Z
2020-12-27T18:56:46.077Z
Cecilia
<p>You could argue that modern Hebrew is at least partly constructed.</p>

<p>Hebrew fell into disuse and only survived as a 'sacred' language in a religious context. Then, with the rise of the Zionist movement towards the end of the 19th Century, Hebrew was modernised and used as a <em>lingua franca</em> in the Palestine region. In the process, aspects of Hebrew variants were combined, and the vocabulary was extended to allow the use of Hebrew in modern day life.</p>

<p>See the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_of_the_Hebrew_language" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia article on the Revival of Hebrew</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-03T11:38:21.273Z
I know the intricacies of modern Hebrew, I wouldn’t argue that. :-)
Dr. Shmuel
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-03T11:38:31.837Z
On re-reading the question, this is actually kind of the other way round: a natural language from more than 2000 years ago died out and got revived through constructing a modern version of it.
Oliver Mason
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-03T11:37:02.220Z
2018-05-03T11:37:02.220Z
Oliver Mason
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(language)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Cryptolects (aka Cants or Secret languages)</a> come to my mind as candidates. While they are typically not fully constructed, they often contain a constructed core vocabulary making the language unintelligible to outsiders. When they exist long enough, they are learned as first language by the group members.</p>

<p>Examples of such cryptolects include <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verlan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Verlan (French based)</a> and <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_(bei_Mendig)#Dialekte_Beller_Platt_und_%E2%80%9EL%C3%A4ppe_Tallep%E2%80%9C" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Läppe Tellep (German dialect based)</a>.</p>

<p>EDIT: It took me some time of searching for this one because I forgot the name: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskayan_language" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Eskayan</a> spoken on Bohul island in The Phillipines.</p>

<p>EDIT2: Another example where it is probably no longer decidable whether it is an isolate language or a secret language is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihali_language" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nihali language</a> in central India.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T13:34:01.473Z
Eskayan is a bit dubious of an example because it's a) only ~100 years old, not 1,000, b) I can't find any strong evidence of people actually speaking this [outside of very specific contexts](http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Qabr) (i.e. is not how I interpret OP's meaning of "natural") and c) it's more or less just Boholano with a largely artificial lexicon: If only a (partially-)constructed lexicon satisfies criteria, e.g. [Turkish would be a much better candidate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_language#Language_reform_and_modern_Turkish).
errantlinguist
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T13:39:52.760Z
Indeed, time depth is a problem—it will be very hard to find something fitting that is a millennium old or older.
Sir Cornflakes
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T14:06:23.317Z
I'd be willing to bet that with enough digging one might find a secret "language" with only an artificial lexicon especially among clergy that may have lasted in some form for a while, but, again, it would only be used for very specific purposes and only by a very few people.
errantlinguist
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T11:54:52.820Z
2018-05-03T14:12:55.407Z
2018-05-03T14:12:55.407Z
Sir Cornflakes
<p>People learn languages from other people who speak them. If someone ever got others to adopt his language as their "natural language," they would have had to learn it from him. Without a community of speakers, it would have been impossible for this to happen. At some point we have to account for the fact that someone would have had to design the language and actually teach it to others.</p>

<p>I believe that this has never happened in <em>recorded history</em>. We do indeed find that an early Greek philosopher named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pherecydes_of_Syros" rel="noreferrer">Pherecydes</a> invented an "artificial" word for "table":</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>He maintained that the divine name for "table" is θυωρός, or that which takes care of offerings. (<a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D11" rel="noreferrer">Diogenes Laertius 1.119</a>)</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There is no evidence for anyone ever having invented an <em>entire language</em>, which would certainly be much more notable.</p>

<p>This leaves thousands of years of prehistory (before the invention of writing) when this could have happened, but it seems much more difficult to design a language without writing, or, for that matter, to do it without the linguistic knowledge that exists today. </p>

<p>Coining of new words has always happened, but that is language change, which develops from an existing language, and not the invention of an entire language from scratch.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T18:53:32.407Z
I disagree with your claim that no evidence anyone invented an entire language. People these days do it all the time and my answer provides some tentative claims (depending on definition of entire language).
qwr
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-03T12:21:58.183Z
Of course there is evidence for people having invented entire languages. This has happened with some frequency throughout history. The questionable thing is more a matter or if there was one that was constructed several thousand years in the past that's still in use.
Cubic
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T12:39:58.600Z
2018-05-02T12:39:58.600Z
b a
<p>Depending if you include scripts in the definition of "natural language", <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul#Creation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hangul</a> is a famous example of an alphabet that was created in the 15th century and has evolved since then.</p>

<p>In addition, the notoriously difficult <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangut_script" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Tangut script</a> was created "in a very short time" around 1036 and was widely used in books and inscriptions by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Xia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Western Xia</a> for about 500 years. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T19:35:57.653Z
Yeah, I was going to mention Hangul as example of successful man made script, but anyways it’s not a language
Dr. Shmuel
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T19:37:42.207Z
Are there any scripts that weren't constructed by someone? At least Glagolitic and Cyrillic definitely were.
Vladimir F Героям слава
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T19:38:52.377Z
@VladimirF my examples are scripts we know were created in a short amount of time
qwr
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T19:49:41.970Z
OK, but so are mine.
Vladimir F Героям слава
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T18:43:53.287Z
2018-05-02T18:55:51.777Z
2018-05-02T18:55:51.777Z
qwr
<p>Possibility? Of course, there is always a possibility, but rather remote one, if you mean a full featured well-known modern language.</p>

<p>The best candidates are "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidance_speech" rel="noreferrer">taboo languages</a>", where the lexical items are replaced because of taboo/religious pressure. Perhaps the best known is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyirbal_language" rel="noreferrer">Dyirbal</a>, where a special version of the language is to be used in front of "tabooed" persons.</p>

<p>Though it probably does not go millennia into the past, and it's questionable if it should be considered a language, since it is just a vocabulary encoding.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T20:49:14.513Z
These sound like [registers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_(sociolinguistics)) to me.
jambrothers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-09T09:02:13.090Z
Were some [cants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(language)) and [argots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argot) constructed? The established ones have probably become 'natural'.
Qsigma
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T11:24:08.333Z
2018-05-02T11:24:08.333Z
Radovan Garabík
<p>Is there any evidence that a ‘natural’ language that exists today was created by somebody a thousand (or two) years ago. And that it evolved till today? </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-02T19:06:19.827Z
I'd like to point out that the definition of *natural language* is `(retronym, linguistics) Any human language that has evolved naturally in a community, usually in contrast to computer programming languages or to artificially constructed languages such as Esperanto.` Could you clarify what you mean by the quotes around 'natural'? Otherwise, this question has by definition no answer (if natural language's definition is held) or is too broad (if you don't define the scope of ''natural' language').
Duncan
<classification><natural-languages>
Is there evidence that any natural languages were actually constructed?
# Is there evidence that any natural languages were actually constructed?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-05-02)

Is there any evidence that a ‘natural’ language that exists today was created by somebody a thousand (or two) years ago. And that it evolved till today?

**Tags:** classification, natural-languages

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I'd like to point out that the definition of *natural language* is `(retronym, linguistics) Any human language that has evolved naturally in a community, usually in contrast to computer programming languages or to artificially constructed languages such as Esperanto.` Could you clarify what you mean by the quotes around 'natural'? Otherwise, this question has by definition no answer (if natural language's definition is held) or is too broad (if you don't define the scope of ''natural' language').  

---

## 6 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2018-05-02. Score: 16 | Accepted answer

Possibility? Of course, there is always a possibility, but rather remote one, if you mean a full featured well-known modern language.

The best candidates are "[taboo languages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidance_speech)", where the lexical items are replaced because of taboo/religious pressure. Perhaps the best known is [Dyirbal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyirbal_language), where a special version of the language is to be used in front of "tabooed" persons.

Though it probably does not go millennia into the past, and it's questionable if it should be considered a language, since it is just a vocabulary encoding.

> **Comments:**
> **username_11**: These sound like [registers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Register_(sociolinguistics)) to me.  
> **username_12**: Were some [cants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(language)) and [argots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argot) constructed? The established ones have probably become 'natural'.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-05-02. Score: 12

Yes, the [Damin language (Wikipedia article)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damin), a ceremonial language and only natural click language outside Africa, was probably constructed.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-05-03. Score: 9

You could argue that modern Hebrew is at least partly constructed.

Hebrew fell into disuse and only survived as a 'sacred' language in a religious context. Then, with the rise of the Zionist movement towards the end of the 19th Century, Hebrew was modernised and used as a *lingua franca* in the Palestine region. In the process, aspects of Hebrew variants were combined, and the vocabulary was extended to allow the use of Hebrew in modern day life.

See the [Wikipedia article on the Revival of Hebrew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revival_of_the_Hebrew_language).

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I know the intricacies of modern Hebrew, I wouldn’t argue that. :-)  
> **username_3**: On re-reading the question, this is actually kind of the other way round: a natural language from more than 2000 years ago died out and got revived through constructing a modern version of it.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2018-05-02. Score: 7

[Cryptolects (aka Cants or Secret languages)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cant_(language)) come to my mind as candidates. While they are typically not fully constructed, they often contain a constructed core vocabulary making the language unintelligible to outsiders. When they exist long enough, they are learned as first language by the group members.

Examples of such cryptolects include [Verlan (French based)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verlan) and [Läppe Tellep (German dialect based)](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_(bei_Mendig)#Dialekte_Beller_Platt_und_%E2%80%9EL%C3%A4ppe_Tallep%E2%80%9C).

EDIT: It took me some time of searching for this one because I forgot the name: [Eskayan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskayan_language) spoken on Bohul island in The Phillipines.

EDIT2: Another example where it is probably no longer decidable whether it is an isolate language or a secret language is the [Nihali language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihali_language) in central India.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: Eskayan is a bit dubious of an example because it's a) only ~100 years old, not 1,000, b) I can't find any strong evidence of people actually speaking this [outside of very specific contexts](http://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail&key=Qabr) (i.e. is not how I interpret OP's meaning of "natural") and c) it's more or less just Boholano with a largely artificial lexicon: If only a (partially-)constructed lexicon satisfies criteria, e.g. [Turkish would be a much better candidate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_language#Language_reform_and_modern_Turkish).  
> **username_4**: Indeed, time depth is a problem—it will be very hard to find something fitting that is a millennium old or older.  
> **username_5**: I'd be willing to bet that with enough digging one might find a secret "language" with only an artificial lexicon especially among clergy that may have lasted in some form for a while, but, again, it would only be used for very specific purposes and only by a very few people.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2018-05-02. Score: 7

People learn languages from other people who speak them. If someone ever got others to adopt his language as their "natural language," they would have had to learn it from him. Without a community of speakers, it would have been impossible for this to happen. At some point we have to account for the fact that someone would have had to design the language and actually teach it to others.

I believe that this has never happened in *recorded history*. We do indeed find that an early Greek philosopher named [Pherecydes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pherecydes_of_Syros) invented an "artificial" word for "table":

> He maintained that the divine name for "table" is θυωρός, or that which takes care of offerings. ([Diogenes Laertius 1.119](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0258%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D11))

There is no evidence for anyone ever having invented an *entire language*, which would certainly be much more notable.

This leaves thousands of years of prehistory (before the invention of writing) when this could have happened, but it seems much more difficult to design a language without writing, or, for that matter, to do it without the linguistic knowledge that exists today.

Coining of new words has always happened, but that is language change, which develops from an existing language, and not the invention of an entire language from scratch.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: I disagree with your claim that no evidence anyone invented an entire language. People these days do it all the time and my answer provides some tentative claims (depending on definition of entire language).  
> **username_8**: Of course there is evidence for people having invented entire languages. This has happened with some frequency throughout history. The questionable thing is more a matter or if there was one that was constructed several thousand years in the past that's still in use.  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2018-05-02. Score: 4

Depending if you include scripts in the definition of "natural language", [Hangul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul#Creation) is a famous example of an alphabet that was created in the 15th century and has evolved since then.

In addition, the notoriously difficult [Tangut script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangut_script) was created "in a very short time" around 1036 and was widely used in books and inscriptions by the [Western Xia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Xia) for about 500 years.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Yeah, I was going to mention Hangul as example of successful man made script, but anyways it’s not a language  
> **username_9**: Are there any scripts that weren't constructed by someone? At least Glagolitic and Cyrillic definitely were.  
> **username_7**: @VladimirF my examples are scripts we know were created in a short amount of time  
> **username_9**: OK, but so are mine.  

---

