Láadan is a constructed language with five vowels, thirteen consonants, and a simple tonal/stress system. It was created by novelist, linguist, and self-help writer Suzette Haden Elgin from 1982 to 1992 with help from others. It is described in a grammar-and-dictionary with three editions, and attested in primarily online use. The language plays a central role in Elgin's 1984 novel Native Tongue — or a fictional equivalent by the same name does, also going by the code name Langlish. The intention of the language is to lexically encode various situations and emotions often neglected by natural languages, whose expression may be useful to women and other groups disadvantaged by patriarchal language patterns. The name translates to 'perception language' for this reason. A secondary motivation is to allow for elocution that takes advantage of the tones, as if singing them.