Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
YASID war fought by linguists
14 views
Skip to first unread message
Captain Infinity
Jun 7, 2012, 7:00:23 PM6/7/12
to
A friend and I were discussing Bradbury today and the conversation drifted
to books we read as children, and he told me about one he read as a kid
that he's never been able to find since. I had never heard of it.
It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are fought
not with weaponry but by contests between countries' best linguists.
Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages wins the war for
their country.
That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
**
Captain Infinity
to books we read as children, and he told me about one he read as a kid
that he's never been able to find since. I had never heard of it.
It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are fought
not with weaponry but by contests between countries' best linguists.
Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages wins the war for
their country.
That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
**
Captain Infinity
Scott Lurndal
Jun 7, 2012, 7:28:42 PM6/7/12
to
scott
Brenda Clough
Jun 7, 2012, 8:13:39 PM6/7/12
to
Brenda
--
My latest novel SPEAK TO OUR DESIRES is available exclusively from Book
View Cafe.
http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Brenda-Clough/Novels/Speak-to-Our-Desires-Chapter-01
Captain Infinity
Jun 7, 2012, 11:12:07 PM6/7/12
to
Once Upon A Time,
**
Captain Infinity
Brenda Clough wrote:
>On 6/7/2012 7:00 PM, Captain Infinity wrote:
>> A friend and I were discussing Bradbury today and the conversation drifted
>> to books we read as children, and he told me about one he read as a kid
>> that he's never been able to find since. I had never heard of it.
>>
>> It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are fought
>> not with weaponry but by contests between countries' best linguists.
>> Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages wins the war for
>> their country.
>>
>> That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
>
>On 6/7/2012 7:00 PM, Captain Infinity wrote:
>> A friend and I were discussing Bradbury today and the conversation drifted
>> to books we read as children, and he told me about one he read as a kid
>> that he's never been able to find since. I had never heard of it.
>>
>> It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are fought
>> not with weaponry but by contests between countries' best linguists.
>> Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages wins the war for
>> their country.
>>
>> That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
>
>THE LANGUAGES OF PAO, by Jack Vance.
Thanks Brenda!
**
Captain Infinity
Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Jun 7, 2012, 11:12:06 PM6/7/12
to
In article <jqrg3v$m1v$1...@dont-email.me>,
the details the OP mentions are completely different my my memory of PAO.
In particular, I don't think dead languages were involved, and linguists
weren't competing. It was more of a Sapir-Worf-in-action kind of thing.
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..
Brenda Clough <Brenda...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>On 6/7/2012 7:00 PM, Captain Infinity wrote:
>> A friend and I were discussing Bradbury today and the conversation drifted
>> to books we read as children, and he told me about one he read as a kid
>> that he's never been able to find since. I had never heard of it.
>>
>> It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are fought
>> not with weaponry but by contests between countries' best linguists.
>> Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages wins the war for
>> their country.
>>
>> That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
>>
>>
>> **
>> Captain Infinity
>
>
>THE LANGUAGES OF PAO, by Jack Vance.
>
>Brenda
>
That's going to come to mind anytime someone mentions "language", but
>On 6/7/2012 7:00 PM, Captain Infinity wrote:
>> A friend and I were discussing Bradbury today and the conversation drifted
>> to books we read as children, and he told me about one he read as a kid
>> that he's never been able to find since. I had never heard of it.
>>
>> It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are fought
>> not with weaponry but by contests between countries' best linguists.
>> Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages wins the war for
>> their country.
>>
>> That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
>>
>>
>> **
>> Captain Infinity
>
>
>THE LANGUAGES OF PAO, by Jack Vance.
>
>Brenda
>
the details the OP mentions are completely different my my memory of PAO.
In particular, I don't think dead languages were involved, and linguists
weren't competing. It was more of a Sapir-Worf-in-action kind of thing.
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..
Wayne Throop
Jun 8, 2012, 12:17:24 AM6/8/12
to
:: Captain Infinity
:: It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are
: THE LANGUAGES OF PAO, by Jack Vance.
Stop reading now if you're spoiler-phobic about th'Langs-o-Pao
It rings that bell except for the fact that Pao is definitely neither
a future nor alternate earth; it's a colony planet in one of Vance patented
eclectic future societies. Languages enter into it because a hyperegomaniacal
scholar wants to demonstrate the Sapir-Wharf hypothesis. He manipulates
the governments of various regions of Pao to have him design them a language
that will optimize their thinking in spefic ways, much like Moties are
specialized by genetics.
So, we had diplomats, warriors, politicians, menial laborers, and many
more, each language-speaking group specializing in one area. The project spanned decades, and the scholar had extreme life extension technology
(and lots of cyborgification, so he was nigh unstoppable physically.
Linguists were definitely not encouraged on Pao (except the scholar's
graduate students and employees). And warfare was definitely physical.
It's possible that the design of one of the synthetic languages was a sort
of a competion, and that morphed into general linguistic knowledge
instead of language design, so there's arguably a weak match there.
But the bell rings very very faintly, for me.
The whole scheme collapses, partly because the scholar is declared
"emeritus" meaning "dude, you are one serious fruit-loop, and we're going
to have to restrain you, even though you can still think rings around
most people, onaccounta you have about as many implants as a Cobra or
a Carc". But mainly because it was a really stupid project with it's
own demise built in, because nobody could talk to anybody unless they
had the same job. So, inevitably, creole languages get created and used,
and after a bit of uncontrolled language evolution, most everybody is
speaking a blend of all the languages.
A pretty good book in the usual Vance style, if the extreme effectiveness
of the designed languages (while they lasted) can be wsoded.
:: It's set either on a future Earth or an Alter-Earth, where wars are
:: fought not with weaponry but by contests between countries' best
:: linguists. Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages
:: wins the war for their country.
::
:: That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
: Brenda Clough <Brenda...@yahoo.com>
:: linguists. Whichever linguist has the best mastery of dead languages
:: wins the war for their country.
::
:: That's all he could tell me. Ring any bells?
: THE LANGUAGES OF PAO, by Jack Vance.
Stop reading now if you're spoiler-phobic about th'Langs-o-Pao
It rings that bell except for the fact that Pao is definitely neither
a future nor alternate earth; it's a colony planet in one of Vance patented
eclectic future societies. Languages enter into it because a hyperegomaniacal
scholar wants to demonstrate the Sapir-Wharf hypothesis. He manipulates
the governments of various regions of Pao to have him design them a language
that will optimize their thinking in spefic ways, much like Moties are
specialized by genetics.
So, we had diplomats, warriors, politicians, menial laborers, and many
more, each language-speaking group specializing in one area. The project spanned decades, and the scholar had extreme life extension technology
(and lots of cyborgification, so he was nigh unstoppable physically.
Linguists were definitely not encouraged on Pao (except the scholar's
graduate students and employees). And warfare was definitely physical.
It's possible that the design of one of the synthetic languages was a sort
of a competion, and that morphed into general linguistic knowledge
instead of language design, so there's arguably a weak match there.
But the bell rings very very faintly, for me.
The whole scheme collapses, partly because the scholar is declared
"emeritus" meaning "dude, you are one serious fruit-loop, and we're going
to have to restrain you, even though you can still think rings around
most people, onaccounta you have about as many implants as a Cobra or
a Carc". But mainly because it was a really stupid project with it's
own demise built in, because nobody could talk to anybody unless they
had the same job. So, inevitably, creole languages get created and used,
and after a bit of uncontrolled language evolution, most everybody is
speaking a blend of all the languages.
A pretty good book in the usual Vance style, if the extreme effectiveness
of the designed languages (while they lasted) can be wsoded.
Quadibloc
Jun 8, 2012, 10:49:22 AM6/8/12
to
On Jun 7, 9:12 pm, t...@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) wrote:
> That's going to come to mind anytime someone mentions "language", but
> the details the OP mentions are completely different my my memory of PAO.
Another story in the same category, I think, is Babel-17.
> That's going to come to mind anytime someone mentions "language", but
> the details the OP mentions are completely different my my memory of PAO.
John Savard
Walter Bushell
Jun 8, 2012, 11:43:36 AM6/8/12
to
In article <KOaAr.17121$2T7....@news.usenetserver.com>,
Especially if we send linguists from the City University of New York.
Our CUNY linguists can lick anyone!
--
This space unintentionally left blank.
Our CUNY linguists can lick anyone!
--
This space unintentionally left blank.
Dorothy J Heydt
Jun 8, 2012, 11:43:07 AM6/8/12
to
In article <3db65503-3752-4500...@qq9g2000pbb.googlegroups.com>,
A much better work, but still not fitting the OP's question.
--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.
Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.
--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Should you wish to email me, you'd better use the gmail edress.
Kithrup's all spammy and hotmail's been hacked.
0 new messages