Linguistics in fiction
James Myers
following is inappropriate or old news. I'm interested in how linguistic
concepts show up in the popular media. In particular, I'm trying to collect
examples of fictional works where some aspect of language (the more formal the
more interesting to me) plays a major role. The point? I guess mainly to see
what sort of linguistic concepts people find most interesting. I personally
think there are concepts that linguists discuss that have the potential to
interest nonlinguists a LOT more than the relatively few that show up in
fiction.
Here I give some examples, arranged roughly by idea. If you can think of any
more, please let me know. Let me know especially if somebody else has already
compiled a similar list somewhere!
1. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis:
_1984_ by George Orwell
_The Languages of Pao_ by Jack Vance
_Babel-17_ by ...?
_??_ by ?? [human babies are raised with aliens so as to acquire
alien languages and serve as translators during treaty negotiations; if the
"concepts" in the languages are TOO alien, the babies die; meanwhile, a group
of women secretly design a "woman's language" that allows them to see through
the patriarchy's illusions -- anyone recognize this book?]
2. Species-specificity of human language:
_Dr. Doolittle_ [ie, cognition is not species-specific; all animals think the
same way, even if they communicate somewhat differently]
_Congo_ by Michael Crichton [I haven't read this, but I THINK this involves
signing chimps...?]
_Iceman_ [movie with Timothy Hutton??? about thawing out a frozen caveman;
haven't seen it, but has scenes with linguists studying his language...?]
_Quest for Fire_ [another caveman movie -- contrasts simple language of dumb
cave people with complex language of smart cave people]
The "universal translator" of _Star Trek_ (cf the parody of this as the "babel
fish" in _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_)
3. Modularity of language??:
Episode of _Deep Space Nine_ about some aphasia-causing disease
John Varley story in _Blue Champagne_ which mentions a recreational
aphasia-causing drug which has no other effects
4. Arbitrariness of the sign:
_A Clockwork Orange_ [form/meaning connection is NOT arbitrary: awful people
speak an ugly language, built with inherent ironies like "horrorshow"]
Not only are the above topics treated rather superficially in fiction (except,
of course, for the ever-popular Sapir-Whorf hypothesis), but there are many
OTHER topics that don't seem to be treated at all. Below I list some of
interest to me personally:
Innateness of specific formal linguistic properties
The mere existence of specific formal properties that just "are" but don't
necessarily have any function
Unconscious knowledge (ie speakers "know" grammar but do not "know" that they
know it)
Nature of DIFFERENCES between human and animal communication (most popular
works assume that chimps etc can use human-type language just fine)
Linguistic modules (eg syntax and phonology operate entirely separately)
The systematic and inexorable nature of language variation and change
Systematicity in "sloppy speech" and "bad grammar" (not to mention speech
errors)
In general it appears that the linguistic concepts that find their way into
fiction assume that language is under human control: it may be used as mind
control, as in the Sapir-Whorf stories, but ultimately language is seen as a
human invention. Since language exists "out there", like a tool, of COURSE it
is possible for other species, such as chimps, to use it. The topics that are
not discussed (unconscious knowledge, innateness, laws of language change) are
the ones that imply that people are actually being controlled from the INSIDE
by language; language is not a tool invented by people, but something inherent
in the nature of people, no more invented than anger, lust, or creativity
itself.
I submit that no linguist, not even a functionalist (which I am myself to some
degree), would agree that language was "invented" by people the same way that
digital watches were. Apparently, though, most nonlinguists believe it was.
Comments?
- James Myers
jmy...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
Jacques Guy
>_??_ by ?? [human babies are raised with aliens so as to acquire
> alien languages and serve as translators during treaty negotiations; if the
> "concepts" in the languages are TOO alien, the babies die; meanwhile, a group
> of women secretly design a "woman's language" that allows them to see through
> the patriarchy's illusions -- anyone recognize this book?]
Mother Tongue by Suzette Elgin.
Evan Kirshenbaum
>
>Hello folks! I haven't read much in this newsgroup, so I apologize if the
>following is inappropriate or old news. I'm interested in how linguistic
>concepts show up in the popular media. In particular, I'm trying to collect
>examples of fictional works where some aspect of language (the more formal the
>more interesting to me) plays a major role. The point? I guess mainly to see
>what sort of linguistic concepts people find most interesting. I personally
>think there are concepts that linguists discuss that have the potential to
>interest nonlinguists a LOT more than the relatively few that show up in
>fiction.
I once saw a list of "linguistics in science fiction" posted. I'm
crossposting this to rec.arts.sf.written to see if anybody knows where
it is. I'd also love to see a good list.
Also, one of Geoff Pullum's "Topic...Comment" columns (on _The
Linguists Book of Lists_) had a short list of such books. It's
collected in _The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax_.
There's also a book called _Aliens and Linguists_ by Walter Meyer
(University of Georgia, 1980) which I haven't read, but sounds
relevant.
>_Babel-17_ by ...?
Samuel Delaney
>_??_ by ?? [human babies are raised with aliens so as to acquire
> alien languages and serve as translators during treaty negotiations; if the
> "concepts" in the languages are TOO alien, the babies die; meanwhile, a group
> of women secretly design a "woman's language" that allows them to see through
> the patriarchy's illusions -- anyone recognize this book?]
_Native Tongue_, Suzette Haden Elgin. There's also a sequel which I
haven't read. Elgin *is* a linguist, but that doesn't mean that the
linguistics in the book is any good. :-)
Others:
_Inherit the Stars_, James P. Hogan. One of the problems is
deciphering an alien language from written artifacts.
_Snow Crash_, Neal Stephenson (sp?) involves glosalalia,
neuro-linguistic programming, the invention of language (and thought),
Babel, and lots of other stuff. The linguistics is atrocious and
there are other major flaws with the book, but I love the world he
created, and it's a fun read.
"Omnilingual" by H. Beam Piper. I've never found it, but it always
mentioned on such lists.
>_A Clockwork Orange_ [form/meaning connection is NOT arbitrary: awful people
> speak an ugly language, built with inherent ironies like "horrorshow"]
It's a combination English/Russian argot ("horrorshow" comes from
"xhorosho"). Robert Heinlein's _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ is also
narrated by someone who speaks a Russian tainted English.
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories | Now and then an innocent man is sent
3500 Deer Creek Road, Building 26U | to the legislature.
Palo Alto, CA 94304 | Kim Hubbard
|
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |
(415)857-7572
R o d Johnson
as the protagonist. The first, "Double Negative", is a murder mystery
set in a child language research institute-cum-daycare center (sic).
The second, "The Full Catstrophe", is sort of a domestic comedy, with
our hero doing a kind of therapeutic discourse analysis. The
linguistics in both is kind of superficial, but not egregiously so, as
in "Snow Crash."
Another book (this one SF) that I always mention when this thread
recycles is Edmond Hamilton's "The Haunted Stars". I read this when I
was a kid and realized many years later it had been a big influence on
my life. The setup--alien remains found on moon, linguist must
decipher the language there--leads somewhat implausibly into other
adventures, with our hero the linguist at the center..
--
Rod Johnson * "if you can't read the name of the newsgroup
r...@umich.edu * then you're probably ignorant enough to understand."
--as...@netcom.com
Cecilia M Tan
eluki bes shahar's HELLFLOWER is narrated in an interesting kind of
interstellar patois. Most of the linguistic play is in vocabulary,
creating new words out of old ones, acronyms, etc... but very well
done. Some of the "slang" terms of this future make humourous
references to some issues of today, it was fun getting these little
in-jokes. The book has two sequels also, which I assume are similar,
but I haven't read them yet. Nonetheless, here's an example of heavy
interets/usage of the lexicon.
I will second teh recommendation for SNOW CRASH. Some of the
neuro-linguistic hooks in the book are not *that* far from
current research (ok, late 80s research, I got my linguistics
degree in 1989 and haven't been keeping up). Well, it's about
as far off as some FTL-drive technologies are from real-life
physics. (i.e. fictional extrapoliations of current theories)
-ctan
--
* Circlet Press -Erotic Science Fiction & Fantasy - *
* P.O. Box 15143 Coming Soon: TechnoSex: Erotica for the Cyber Age *
* Boston, MA 02215 Send SASE or e-mail for titles list! *
**-------------------> ct...@world.std.com <-------------------**
coz...@garnet.berkeley.edu
Dorothy J. Heydt
UC Berkeley
coz...@garnet.berkeley.edu
Disclaimer: UCB and the Cozzarelli lab are not responsible for my
opinions, and in fact I don't think they know I have any.
R o d Johnson
>I will second teh recommendation for SNOW CRASH. Some of the
>neuro-linguistic hooks in the book are not *that* far from
>current research
Really? Name one.
Eric Mankin
1. In Gulliver's Travels, Book 3, when Gulliver visits Laputa, chapter
5 contains an extended paraody of then current linguistic theories,
starting with a roast of Leibniz's project to produce an international
language of ideas based on mathematics, and early computational linguistics:
Can't resist quoting at some length "...He then led me to the Frame,
about the sides whereof all his Pupils stood in Ranks. It was Twenty Foot
square, placed in the middle of the room. The Superficies were composed
of several Bits of Wood ... linked by slender Wires. These Bits of Wood
were covered on every Square with Papers pasted on them, and on these Papers
were written all the Words of their Language in their several Moods, Tenses,
and Declensions, but without any Order. The Professor then desired me
to observe, for he was going to set his Engine at work...
Gulliver also makes the acquaintance of savants who have done away with words
and instead converse by means of bags of objects which they point to in
lieu of uttering sounds. [...if a Man's Business be very great, and of various
Kinds, he must be obliged in proportion to carry a greater Bundle of
Things on his back, unless he can afford one or two strong Servants to
attend him. I have often beheld two of those Sages almost sinking under
the weight of their Packs....
And of course:
In part IV, the voyage to the country of the Houyhnhyms, Gulliver's progress
in learning the language of the intelligent horses is blocked by their
lack of words or concepts for lies.
2. In Tarzan of the Apes, the young Lord Greystoke, raised by "anthro-
poid apes" and learning their language as a young teenager comes
upon the house his father built on the African beach. In several densely
written pages, Edgar Rice Burroughs describes how he teaches himself
to read English by means of the books left behind by his father and
mother, beginning with his Helen Keller-like epiphany that the markings
on the page of an illustrated primer constitute a sign meaning the
illustrated thing.
Note: the situatiion is later confused by the gallant French lieutenant
Paul D'Arnot, the ape-man's first language teacher, who puts French
vocabulary on top of this foundation. And, our of order, Burroughs
actually spends a little time on the lanaguage of the anthopoids.
3. But this is getting long.
Eric Mankin
Joe Widows
In article <CA83J...@acsu.buffalo.edu>, jmy...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (James Myers) writes:
|> Hello folks! I haven't read much in this newsgroup, so I apologize if the
|> following is inappropriate or old news. I'm interested in how linguistic
|> concepts show up in the popular media. In particular, I'm trying to collect
|> examples of fictional works where some aspect of language (the more formal the
|> more interesting to me) plays a major role. The point? I guess mainly to see
|> what sort of linguistic concepts people find most interesting. I personally
|> think there are concepts that linguists discuss that have the potential to
|> interest nonlinguists a LOT more than the relatively few that show up in
|> fiction.
|>
|> Here I give some examples, arranged roughly by idea. If you can think of any
|> more, please let me know. Let me know especially if somebody else has already
|> compiled a similar list somewhere!
|>
|> 1. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis:
|>
|> _1984_ by George Orwell
|> _The Languages of Pao_ by Jack Vance
|> _Babel-17_ by ...?
|> _??_ by ?? [human babies are raised with aliens so as to acquire
Mother Tongues by Suzette Elgin -- Ms. Elgin is a linguist and holds
an academic position somewhere in CALIFORNIA.
Also other books by Ms Elgin have linguistic interest (besides her
professional work).
I read a great deal of fantasy and lite Science Fiction. It is my observation
that writers tend to give lip service to the idea but very little hard information
about linguistics per say. Sort of like they use the SF technology rule:
YOU CAN CLAIM ANYTHING, JUST DON'T EXPLAIN IT (avoids psuedo science).
I have seen many references to linguistics but like in 'BABEL-17' The ideas
may be rooted in WHARF-SAPIR but Delany, for instance, has magical transforms
over reality by way of the language. It seemed to me he used a constructed
theory that only resembled WHARF-SAPIR hypothesis, but borrowed heavily the idea
that reality is what you view it as (pre-dates NEW AGE thinking ). I don't
think this was quite the same idea as WHARF suggested.
widows
LINGUIST IN THE DARK
DISCLAIMER: BNR builds telephones not opinions.
ANTIDISCLAIMER: The wrong stuff is mine (the right stuff, too).
Mr. John T Jensen
Sorry, I can't remember the title.
jj
John Thayer Jensen 64 9 373 7599 ext. 7543
Commerce Computer Services 64 9 373 7406 (FAX)
Auckland University jt.j...@auckland.ac.nz
Private Bag 92019
AUCKLAND
New Zealand
Paul Amblard
>examples of fictional works where some aspect of language (the more formal the
>more interesting to me) plays a major role.
In a french novel :
Florence DELAY,
ETXEMENDI,
ed Gallimard 1990
(p 146 of the Folio collection edition)
a basque protagonist speaks :
"Mais nous on n'inte'resse personne a" part les linguistes... a" part Noam
Chomsky qui vient d'e'pouser une Basque ! Il est loin le temps ou" des gens
comme Sartre attiraient les yeux du monde sur ce qui se passait a" Burgos "
--
Paul AMBLARD L.G.I. I.M.A.G. BP 53 F 38041 GRENOBLE Cedex 9
Tel (33) 76514600 ext 5144 Paul.A...@imag.fr
Lars Henrik Mathiesen
culture where the common language is the union of the major European
languages, but where everybody selects a personal idiolect from this.
(Since the books are written in English, the characters happen to use
syntax and vocabulary understandable by reasonably well-read readers
of English, but presumably that is not supposed to be the general
case---and neither, perhaps, is the European restriction.) One of the
books is ``The Void-Captain's Tale,'' and I forget the other title.
Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <tho...@diku.dk> (Humour NOT marked)
00hfs...@leo.bsuvc.bsu.edu
> In particular, I'm trying to collect
>examples of fictional works where some aspect of language (the more formal the
>more interesting to me) plays a major role.
Two science fiction novel that stand out to me as making integrating linguistic
thought intelligently into the plot are Suzette Hayden Elgin's _Native Tongue_
(already mentioned in this thread) and Samuel Delany's _Triton_. The latter
is, IMHO, the better of the two and probably as good an attempt as any I've
read. The book itself is a well-crafted piece of literature and deserves more
attention than it's received, but the notion of arbitrariness in the relation
of form to meaning is a fundamental theme, showing up in his treatment of
social order, planetary reengineering (a word that has lately come to make me
shudder), and even cosmetic surgery.
Herb Stahlke
============================================================================
Herbert F. W. Stahlke (317) 285-1843
Associate Director (317) 285-1797 (fax)
University Computing Services 00hfs...@virgo.bsuvc.bsu.edu
Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306 00hfs...@bsuvax1.bitnet
Rolf Marvin Bře Lindgren
> following is inappropriate or old news. I'm interested in how linguistic
> concepts show up in the popular media. In particular, I'm trying to collect
> examples of fictional works where some aspect of language (the more formal the
> more interesting to me) plays a major role. The point? I guess mainly to see
> what sort of linguistic concepts people find most interesting. I personally
> think there are concepts that linguists discuss that have the potential to
> interest nonlinguists a LOT more than the relatively few that show up in
> fiction.
>
J. R. R. Tolkien's main interest in his fiction (apart from creating a
mythology for England) was to create a world where languages which he had
created was spoken.
In Robert Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", a Lunar variant of
English is spoken, by the main character who is also the narrator.
--
-roffe
rolf.l...@usit.uio.no
James Myers
examples of linguistics in fiction (mostly science fiction). Many have brief
descriptions of linguistic content; the quality of these suggestions I leave
for the reader. Mass acknowledgements are given at the end.
WHERE TO FIND FURTHER LISTS:
Geoff Pullum
"The Linguists Book of Lists"
in _The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax_
[a collection of Geoff Pullum's "Topic...Comment" columns
(originally published in the journal _Natural Language and
Linguistic Theory_)]
Walter Meyers
_Aliens and Linguists_
[this book discussed most of the following stories and novels --
SEE ACCOMPANYING POST!!]
I haven't tried categorizing these by "linguistic concept" because I don't know
what most of these are really about, and the whole question is a matter of
debate anyway. This too I leave as an exercise for the reader.
George Orwell
_Nineteen Eighty-Four_
[oppressive government plans artificial
language that will prevent anti-government thinking]
Jack Vance
_The Languages of Pao_
[scholars-for-hire invent languages to foster
rebellion against hated ruler]
Michael Crichton
_Congo_
[involves signing chimps]
John Varley
"??"
in collection _Blue Champagne_
[mentions a recreational
aphasia-causing drug which has no other effects]
Anthony Burgess
_A Clockwork Orange_
[narrator speaks futuristic teenage
slang with lots of Russian loanwords]
David Carkeet
_Double Negative_
[a murder mystery set in a child language
research institute-cum-daycare center]
David Carkeet
_The Full Catastrophe_
[sort of a domestic comedy, with
our hero doing a kind of therapeutic discourse analysis]
Edmond Hamilton
_The Haunted Stars_
[alien remains found on moon, linguist
must decipher the language there]
eluki bes shahar
_Hellflower_
[narrated in an interesting kind of interstellar patois]
Jonathan Swift
_Gulliver's Travels_
[voyage to Laputa and the land of the
Houyhnhyms both involve parodies of contemporary linguistic theories]
Edgar Rice Burroughs
_Tarzan of the Apes_
[human learns ape language, then
teaches self human language with illustrated books]
Samuel R. Delaney
_Babel-17_, _Triton_, and other novels
[Sapir-Whorf and the philosophy of Michel Foucault]
James Cooke Brown
_The Troika Incident_
Robert A. Heinlein
_Gulf_
Diane Duane
_So You Want To Be A Wizard_
[In order to work magic, you learn the grammar and vocabulary
of magical spells. Once you can describe something accurately,
you can control it.]
E. P. Thompson
_Psychaos_
['aliens' who can interbreed with Homo sapiens and
hence may be our ancestors arrive; they have a number of
languages, one of which is a programming language,
which drives a would-be human translator crazy]
Iain M. Banks
_Player of Games_, _Use of Weapons_ and other "Culture" novels
[The language of the Culture is Marain, which is part of
its definition. When contact is made outside the Culture,
the details of Marain are kept secret.]
Pournelle and Larry Niven
_Mote in God's Eye_, _Gripping Hand_ and other "Motie" books
[talk a great deal about the Motie languages and communication
systems]
Robert L. Forward
_Flight of the Dragonfly_
[the aliens learn to swap mathematics with the computer
but have a much harder time communicating with humans.]
Frank Herbert
_Dune_
[much special-purpose language stuff.]
Suzette Haden Elgin
_Native Tongue_ {or _Mother Tongue_?}
[human babies are raised with aliens so as to acquire alien
languages; meanwhile, a group of women secretly design a language
that allows them to see through the patriarchy's illusions]
James P. Hogan
_Inherit the Stars_
[One of the problems is deciphering an alien language from
written artifacts.]
Neal Stephenson
_Snow Crash_
[involves glosalalia, neuro-linguistic programming,
the invention of language (and thought), Babel]
J R R Tolkien
_The Lord of the Rings_ series
[books were originally written solely to provide setting for
Elvish language]
Derek Bickerton
_???_
[a novel about dolphins' communication.]
Florence Delay
_Etxemendi_
[a Basque protagonist speaks: "Mais nous on n'inte'resse personne a"
part les linguistes... a" part Noam Chomsky qui vient d'e'pouser
une Basque ! Il est loin le temps ou" des gens comme Sartre attiraient
les yeux du monde sur ce qui se passait a" Burgos "
-- p 146 of the Folio collection edition]
H. Beam Piper
"Omnilingual"
[one of the many places it's reprinted in is
Piper's _Federation_, published in 1981.
The story is about how an archaeologist excavating ruins on Mars
deciphers some of the Martian language.]
Norman Spinrad
_The Void-Captain's Tale_
[the common language of future world is the union of the major
European languages, but everybody selects a personal idiolect
from this.]
Philip Jose Farmer
_Riverworld_ series
[the star is Richard Burton, based on the real-life polyglot
adventurer who translated the 1001 Nights.
Everyone who has ever lived is resurrected; eventually they all learn
Esperanto.]
Philip Jose Farmer
_Tongues of the Moon_ by Philip Jose Farmer [deals with multilinguism]
Philip Jose Farmer
_[something with "Time" in title]_
[adventurers, including Tarzan, travel back in time to investigate
Proto-Indo-European first-hand]
Stanley Weinbaum
"Martian Odyssey" and other stories in _The Best of Stanley Weinbaum_
[good portrayal of human-alien communication]
William Golding
_The Inheritors_
[largely written in a form of English which
attempts to convey the mental world of the Neanderthal.]
Russel Hoban
_Riddley Walker_
[written in language of a post-holocaust world]
George Bernard Shaw
"Pygmalion"
[hero is a phonetician and dialectician]
Robert Heinlein
_The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_
[Lunar variant of English is spoken, by the main character who is
also the narrator.]
Thanks to: Paul Amblard, Peter Christian, Jim Gillogly, John Thayer Jensen,
Rod Johnson, Patrick Jost, Evan Kirshenbaum, Rolf Lindgren, Eric Mankin, Lars
Mathieson, Paul Saka, Stephen P. Spackman, Kathy Sullivan, Cecilia M Tan, and
Tim (of Edinburgh), from whom I stole most of the above (including some direct
quotations). And of course thanks to all the other folks whose names and/or
suggestions I've misplaced.
-- James Myers
jmy...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
James Myers
Following a tip from Evan Kirshenbaum, I sought out the following book. It is
the only book on this topic I've ever seen, and though it is far from perfect,
it should please all interested parties:
Walter E. Meyers
_Aliens and Linguists: Language Study and Science Fiction_
(1980) The University of Georgia Press (a "South Atlantic Modern
Language Association award study")
Meyers (no relation) dicusses science fiction, with some fantasy thrown in
where appropriate, going at least as far back as _Frankenstein_ on up through
the late 1970's, with most of his examples (which fill up almost 14 pages in
the bibliography) concentrated in the "golden age" (ca. 1940-1960). His
primary theses are that (a) science fiction tales turn on some issue of
language or communication more often than not, (b) but in spite of that, sf
writers are for the most part embarrassingly ignorant about linguistics.
But he remains hopeful:
"This book argues that... linguistics and science fiction
are not strange bedfellows; their meeting on common ground
should be expected, and the exploration of their intermeshing
may be not merely interesting but highly useful, perhaps even
crucial to our understanding of ourselves." (p.11)
"Science fiction, as I have tried to demonstrate throughout
this book, is especially suited for giving instruction
about language, and is a medium especially popular with
the young. The pioneers of the American pulps saw science
fiction as a means of teaching science. Although science
fiction seldom achieves that goal, and although we have no
right to demand anything more than art from its writers, the
possibility is always there. And the possibility includes
the chance to say something about language, something
liberating and tolerant and entertaining." (p. 209)
His chapters include:
"The Future History and Development of the English Language", wherein
he concludes: "in [sf] stories we see what the writers know about language in
general and historical linguistics in particular. Sadly, that knowledge is
seldom more than that of the man in the street." (pp. 36-7)
"Berlitz in Outer Space": "Writers of science fiction seldom spare their
characters: they may slam their heroes' ships into planets or send their
heroines to kill tigers with knives; they may freeze them into statues on Pluto
or shoot them through exploding suns. Hardly any degradation or suffering is
spared -- with the exception of exposing them to the rigors of learning a
foreign language." (p. 117)
"Plausibility vs. the Automatic Translator", wherein he shows that the oft-made
boast that sf writers respect plausible science above all is a lie. (He shows
that the automatic translator is more common in short stories than in novels,
implying that it is used solely as a means of speeding the story along.)
"Avoiding the Boring Stuff": mental telepathy as the ultimate linguistic
cop-out (though he seems to agree with the quotation from the _Encyclopedia
Britannica_ that says that "...ESP certainly... does exist" (p. 144)).
He complains about how aliens almost always communicate in an oral/aural way,
and wishes other channels (smell, touch, etc) would be explored more often.
But he doesn't complain about the unimaginative humanness of most alien
COGNITION, presumably because he doesn't notice this as a problem.
In general he seems to buy the implicit assumption in sf that the differences
between humans and aliens are differences between CULTURES, not differences in
cognition. (He has a chapter on stories involving human-earth animal
communication, though.)
He agrees that most large-scale uses of language in sf involve the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis (Whorf himself wrote an sf novel, never published). He argues, in
fact, that in order to qualify as a true dystopia, an imaginary world must
employ language as a means of thought control. By this criterion, for example,
Skinner's _Walden II_ is a dystopia, even though Skinner clearly intended his
world as ideal.
Meyers's examples of the very best sf/fantasy has to offer in the way of
linguistically sophisticated fun include:
Various books by Samuel Delaney such as _Babel-17_ and _Triton_, which though
riddled with errors (eg, in _Babel-17_ the concept of allophones is explained
with the "example" of <th> in English, which is voiced in "they" but voiceless
in "theater"!), show a mind very interested in language issues, especially the
more philosophical ones. Meyers just wishes he would write a book about ideas
based on some relatively clear philosopher like Quine, rather than one based on
an obscure one like Michel Foucault (which is what _Triton_ is).
_The Embedding_ by Ian Watson: the only example known to him that turns on
assumptions of Chomskyan linguistics. (I've heard this book stinks as a story,
though.)
_The Winds of Time_ by Chad Oliver: the best sf story [he says] incorporating
the tenets of the post-Bloomfieldian structuralists, written by an
anthropological linguist.
_The Lord of the Rings_ by erstwhile editor of the OED J R R Tolkien, which, as
has been pointed out by Rolf Lindgren, was originally conceived solely as a
forum for presenting Tolkien's Indo-European pastiche language of Elvish (which
is filled with puns, such as the Elvish word "esse", which means "name", not
"essence" as it does in Latin).
Naturally, books, stories and movies created after 1980 are not included in his
list.
Anyway, whoever's in charge of these things might be interested in putting this
book in the FAQ.
-- James Myers
jmy...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
Rich Alderson
>Below I give the list of all stories and novels that have been suggested as
>examples of linguistics in fiction (mostly science fiction). Many have brief
>descriptions of linguistic content; the quality of these suggestions I leave
>for the reader. Mass acknowledgements are given at the end.
> Michael Crichton
> _Congo_
> [involves signing chimps]
Actually, one signing gorilla.
> Samuel R. Delaney
> _Babel-17_, _Triton_, and other novels
> [Sapir-Whorf and the philosophy of Michel Foucault]
And then there's the Neveryon stuff, with Derrida as the background...
> Suzette Haden Elgin
> _Native Tongue_ {or _Mother Tongue_?}
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> [human babies are raised with aliens so as to acquire alien
> languages; meanwhile, a group of women secretly design a language
> that allows them to see through the patriarchy's illusions]
And her "Ozark Trilogy" and a cross-over between another series ("Coyote
Jones") and the Ozark novels called _Yonder Comes the Other End of Time_, in
which magic on the planet Ozark is performed by means of _Aspects_-style
transformations!
> Philip Jose Farmer
> _[something with "Time" in title]_
> [adventurers, including Tarzan, travel back in time to investigate
> Proto-Indo-European first-hand]
_The Gift of Time_. The adventurers are much earlier than the Indo-Europeans,
even under Renfrew's version, like 30,000 BCE or so. Tarzan, being immortal,
doesn't go back to the future, and lives with two tribes who joined together
under the influence of the adventurers. Their descendents millenia later
become the IE speakers.
One major hoot: The language of the first group contains an orthographic
cluster "mng" (presumably a doubly-articulated nasal) which he consistently
makes reference to as a very rare sound, a "bilabial nasal"!
--
Rich Alderson You know the sort of thing that you can find in any dictionary
of a strange language, and which so excites the amateur philo-
logists, itching to derive one tongue from another that they
know better: a word that is nearly the same in form and meaning
as the corresponding word in English, or Latin, or Hebrew, or
what not.
--J. R. R. Tolkien,
alde...@cisco.com _The Notion Club Papers_
James Marshall Unger
In the classic SF flick Forbidden Planet (circa 1957?), a retelling
of The Tempest, the Prospero character is a linguist named Moebius.
--
J. Marshall Unger, Chair
Hebrew & East Asian Languages & Literatures
2106 Juan Ramon Jimenez Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-4831
Rob Brady
I don't think anyone mentioned
Loglan was first publically announced in the June 1960 Scientific
American. JCB had not completed the language design, and did not for
several years to come. However, several science fiction authors took
note, most notably Robert Heinlein in 'Moon is a Harsh Mistress'. In
1965 and 1968, limited editions of a book called 'Loglan 1' (L1) were
published the latter in microfilm. After several years outside the
(this a quote from the Logical Language Institute (loj...@grebyn.com))
I also read another Heinlein book (which I can't recall the name of) that
uses speedtalk to improve thought quality.
--
--
NObody's gonna go to school today, Rob Brady
she's gonna make them all stay home r...@panix.com