"The invented languages that proliferate on the Internet are a remarkable phenomenon of a very natural creative instinct.  Inventing languages is not new, nor is it pathological as so many people claim: from Hildegard of 
Bingen in the twelfth century to John Dee and Edward Kelley of the sixteenth, to Dr. Psalmanazar and Helene Smith in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and to Tolkien in the twentieth, the inspiration for sustained 
language creation has been shaped by various complex philosophies and media.  The Internet has provided a way for like-minded people to share their inventions in ways never before seen.  This understudied Internet phenomenon is 
finally getting some press in the Language Creation Conference, headed by Sai Emrys, at the University of California, Berkeley."<br /><br/>

<em>Sarah L. Higley, professor of medieval studies and language creator is currently at work on a scholarly book on the subject with a focus on Hildegard of Bingen.</em>