Study: Klingon and Other Conlangs Processed Like Natural Languages by the Brain

Quick Summary:

• Researchers at MIT conducted a study on how the brain processes constructed languages (conlangs) like Klingon,High Valyrian,and Esperanto compared to natural languages.
• using fMRI scans, they observed that conlangs engage the same brain regions as natural languages do when conveying meanings about the inner and outer world.
• This suggests that an ability to express diverse meanings is central to language processing rather than its age or number of speakers.
• The study involved 44 conlang speakers who listened to sentences in their constructed language along with sentences from their native tongue for comparison during the November 2022 weekend conference.
• Conlangs were created by individuals with specific rules for sounds, grammar, and vocabulary but still activate natural language-processing areas in the brain.
• Programming languages recruit different parts of the brain because their meanings are abstract and self-contained rather than tied to real-world experiences.

Image: Klingons at San Diego Comic-Con 2014. Image credit: Chris Favero / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Read More

Indian Opinion Analysis:

This study has implications for IndiaS vast linguistic landscape where over twenty scheduled languages coexist alongside programming and symbolic systems increasingly used in modern society.It highlights that shared human cognitive structures transcend cultural or past evolution of language-making. Conlangs may present new opportunities for learning paradigms or even preserve endangered dialects by demonstrating their equal neural validity as community-evolved tongues.

For a multilingual nation like India striving toward inclusivity in education and tech accessibility, understanding this cognitive universality could offer frameworks addressing linguistic barriers while respecting diverse identities-whether through designing inclusive AI systems or educational tools tailored across demographics transitioning between native dialects and programming literacies alike.