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How Are Languages Invented? Why Are They Invented? Who Uses Them? What Are The Cultural Effects Of Invented Languages? This Fascinating Book Looks At All Manner Of Invented Languages And Explores The Origins, Purpose, And Usage Of These Curious Artefacts Of Culture. Written By Experts In The Field, Chapters Discuss Languages From Esperanto To Klingon And Uncover The Motives Behind Their Creation, And The Outcomes Of Their Existence. Introduction By Michael Adams Linking All Invented Languages, Michael Adams Explains How Creating A Language Is Intimidating Work; No One Would Attempt To Invent One Unless Driven By A Serious Purpose Or Aspiration. He Explains How The Origin And Development Of Each Invented Language Illustrates Inventors' And Users' Dissatisfaction With The Language(s) Already Available To Them, And How Each Invented Language Expresses One Or More Of A Wide Range Of Purposes And Aspirations: Political, Social, Aesthetic, Intellectual, And Technological. Chapter 1: International Auxiliary Languages By Arden Smith From The Mythical Language Of Adam To Esperanto And Solrésol, This Chapter Looks At The History, Linguistics, And Significance Of International Or Universal Languages (including Sign Languages). Chapter 2: Invented Vocabularies: Newspeak And Nadsat By Howard Jackson Looking At The Invented Vocabularies Of Science Fiction, For Example 1984's 'newspeak' And Clockwork Orange's 'nadsat', This Chapter Discusses The Feasibility Of Such Vocabularies, The Plausibility Of Such Lexical Change, And The Validity Of The Sapir-whorfian Echoes Heard In Such Literary Experiments. Chapter 3: 'oirish' Inventions: James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Paul Muldoon By Stephen Watt This Chapter Looks At Literary Inventions Of Another Kind, Nonsense And Semi-nonsense Languages, Including Those Used In The Works Of James Joyce And Samuel Beckett. Chapter 4: Tolkien's Invented Languages By Edmund Weiner Focussing On The Work Of The Accomplished Philologist J.r.r. Tolkien, The F
This book investigates the motivations, cultural functions, and linguistic structures behind the creation of artificial languages. The text, edited by Michael A. Adams and featuring contributions from various experts, examines why individuals and authors construct new languages and what these creations reveal about human dissatisfaction with existing communication systems. It argues that language invention is a purposeful act driven by political, aesthetic, and intellectual aspirations.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Experts and readers frequently cite this work as a valuable interdisciplinary resource for understanding the intersection of linguistics and creative writing. The text is noted for its accessible yet scholarly approach to the complex history of constructed languages.
Page Count:
0
Publication Date:
2011-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0191631604
ISBN-13:
9780191631603
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