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...world war, 100 years ago this month. It is the first story in what would become his legendarium – the mythology that underpins The Lord of the Rings. But behind the fiction was his interest in another epic act of creation: the construction of imaginary languages. That same year, on the other side of Europe, Ludwik Zamenhof died in his native Poland. Zamenhof had also...

...world with others who understand the same language system. All languages are fluid, taking on new words, meanings and grammatical rules throughout their existence. However, society’s relationship with language is complex, holding an ability to tell those who communicate a lot about each other. Language is one of the most salient yet least understood means we have for...

...world dates back to the era of British colonialism. English spread across the globe as a consequence of the British Empire and was often imposed on countries as a result of colonialism. But what is the attitude of post-colonial countries to the language now? And how has the legacy of colonialism affected the way that English exists around the world? The short films in...