The ancient world had 10 times more languages than we do now. But we now have the power of LLMs to construct and translate languages. I'm also seeing loads of LLM powered hardware appearing, like this young girl's school science project.
Are we on the brink of ConLang fever? A time where it's cool to create new languages and celebrate old ones. Just to be clear, I don't expect people to actually learn all these languages.
With all these new language related hardware gadgets appearing, people could be translating far more easily. There may come a time when people are having alot of fun with different languages in the real world using translation hardware.
What would ConLang fever look like? What kind of languages would people naturally gravitate towards? Exotic languages, like Inuit, Norwegian or Japanese? Tradition languages based on stable cultures going back millennia. Or would new languages emerge?
Unconstrained by culture or borders, languages could focus on what sounds good to hear or feel good to speak out loud. Throat warbling languages, that mostly use the throat and sound like a didgeridoo. Or silky smooth languages for whispering in, that use the front of the mouth and soft pallet of the roof of the mouth. Or powerful back of the mouth shouty languages.
Again, you wouldn't need to actually learn these languages to get your bot to speak them using a speaker, expecting another bot to hear and translate using a mic and an LLM.
So if you're walking down the street, and you see a person walk up to another person and unleash the sound a loud didgeridoo at them, and they respond by considering them for a moment and then leaning in and whispering a secret in a snakelike tongue, you'll know why, it'll be ConLang Fever!