Years before J.R.R. Tolkien published “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit,” he had started work on a language in search of a world.

Even before Bilbo Baggins set out on his grand adventure, Tolkien was tinkering with the many  languages that filled Middle-earth. He called it his “secret vice,” one he spent decades working on, up until his death in 1973 –– and he’s not alone.

Constructed languages, or conlangs, are everywhere in fantasy and science fiction, from “Game of Thrones” to “Star Trek,” but they also exist outside of fiction, too.

According to Adam Cooper, director of the linguistics program at Northeastern University, a conlang is any language that has been consciously designed. Developing a conlang involves creating a full linguistic system –– from the most basic units of sound to words, sentences and vocabulary –– from scratch. There’s a reason Tolkien spent decades creating his Elvish languages.

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Photo credit: HBO