"Skxawng"! ( -translated from the Klingon- )
source: http://visualthesaurus.com
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- remanns
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Skxawng!
When James Cameron’s science-fiction opus “Avatar” comes to the screen this month, audiences will witness meticulously conceived alien characters — speaking a meticulously conceived alien language.
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It is in these linguistically credible interactions that “Avatar” may make its biggest contribution to science fiction. In her foreword to “The Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages,” Ursula K. Le Guin mocked the conventions of pulp sci-fi perpetuated by films like the “Star Wars” franchise: “the permanent hegemony of manly, English-speaking men, the risible grotesqueness of non-English languages and the inviolable rule that pretty women have musical names ending in ‘a.’ ” The linguist Harold F. Schiffman has similarly noted that alien languages in films are primarily designed to “confuse and amuse,” with little or no attention paid to the nuances of cross-linguistic communication. Our sci-fi heroes may still be buff English speakers, but a little sensitivity across the human-alien divide could help them seem less like skxawngs.
Ben Zimmer is executive producer of visualthesaurus.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/magazine/06FOB-onlanguage-t.html
http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/images/2009/10/Avatar-Michelle-Rodriguez.jpg
When James Cameron’s science-fiction opus “Avatar” comes to the screen this month, audiences will witness meticulously conceived alien characters — speaking a meticulously conceived alien language.
.............................................................................................................................................
It is in these linguistically credible interactions that “Avatar” may make its biggest contribution to science fiction. In her foreword to “The Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages,” Ursula K. Le Guin mocked the conventions of pulp sci-fi perpetuated by films like the “Star Wars” franchise: “the permanent hegemony of manly, English-speaking men, the risible grotesqueness of non-English languages and the inviolable rule that pretty women have musical names ending in ‘a.’ ” The linguist Harold F. Schiffman has similarly noted that alien languages in films are primarily designed to “confuse and amuse,” with little or no attention paid to the nuances of cross-linguistic communication. Our sci-fi heroes may still be buff English speakers, but a little sensitivity across the human-alien divide could help them seem less like skxawngs.
Ben Zimmer is executive producer of visualthesaurus.com.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/magazine/06FOB-onlanguage-t.html
http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/images/2009/10/Avatar-Michelle-Rodriguez.jpg
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- groups:
- Movies, Film, Comic Book Universe, SF&F and Comics
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- tags:
- Movies, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi, Aliens, 8 more
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pjacobs51
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I've heard much of this new alien language.
May it be as good as the Elven language spoken in Lord of the Rings?
We shall see.Until then:
Aa' menle nauva calen ar' ta hwesta e' ale'quenle
- 2 years ago
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pjacobs51
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remanns
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pjacobs51:
And a green breezy back to you as well good fellow!
- 2 years ago
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remanns
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remanns
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Le Guin's language is always golden.
- 2 years ago
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remanns
