When words fail them, creative writers imagine entirely new ones. Author Patti Callahan Henry examines fictional language, from the words of Tolkien to her own. Our editors and experts handpick every ...

Khawla Badwan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...

Corrections & clarifications: An earlier version of this story contained inaccurate or incomplete facts about the history of language. Language is an essential part of human communication, allowing ...

Of course, plenty of languages share words that have similar sounds because they’re either “descended” from the same original language (such as Spanish “hospital” and French “hopital,” both of which ...

Students studying for exams, competing against each other in areas involving language, and in general, should learn to distinguish between a language and its dialects. While the words are frequently ...