Created Languages in Science Fiction

Author(s): Ria Cheyne

Source: Science Fiction Studies , Nov., 2008, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Nov., 2008), pp. 386-403
Published by: SF-TH Inc

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25475175

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 386 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

Ria Cheyne

Created Languages in Science Fiction

"Alien" languages regularly appear in sf texts, from the "sweet and liquid tongue"
(63) of the Eloi in H.G. Wells's The Time Machine (1895) to the extraterrestrial
languages depicted in Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow (1996).1 Yet "the
modern science-fiction novels which contain a fully worked-out original language
are few and far between" (Yaguello 56). Umberto Eco has pointed out that most
works of fiction that feature invented languages [present readers] "with only short
stretches of speech, supposedly representing an actual language, for which,
however, there is provided neither a lexicon nor a syntax" (3).2 In other words, the
only larger linguistic system to which these samples of alien speech belong is that
of the text itself. This is true for the majority of the created languages that appear
in sf texts. Patrick Parrinder writes that "Actual verbal representations of alien
language present a fascinating, if as yet somewhat restricted, area of study"
(Science Fiction 114). I argue that representations of alien languages have much
more to offer than prior critical discussions have acknowledged. In the analysis
that follows I suggest that their perceived limitations lie less in the sf languages
themselves than in the methods that have been used to analyze them. This essay
outlines an alternative approach that explores the motives behind, and functions
of, language creation in science-fictional contexts.

Natural, Constructed, and Created Languages. Languages devised to appear

in a work of fiction are distinct from natural languages, which "do not originate
with an individual or group of specifiable individuals, nor can their beginnings be
dated" (Yaguello 114).3 Rather than evolving out of earlier languages, as natural
languages do, an artificial language is a deliberate construct designed at a
particular time for a particular purpose. Many terms have been used for such
constructs: auxiliary language, invented language, imaginary language, fictional
language, and more. They have been grouped as philosophical languages, artistic
languages, universal languages, and so forth. For the sake of consistency, I call
all artificial languages constructed languages throughout.4
The alien languages that appear in sf texts are indeed one type of constructed
language, and much of the existing criticism examines them in this context.
Because of problems with this approach, however (which will be discussed
shortly), I instead use the term created languages to refer to constructed
languages as they function within works of sf. Construction implies a thorough
and logical extrapolation, whereas the workings of created languages in sf are
typically not so much scientific and rigorous as creative. Ursula K. Le Guin has
written of one of the languages she created for The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
that "I knew enough Karhidish, when I was writing The Left Hand of Darkness,
to write a couple of short poems in it. I couldn't do so now. I made no methodical
lexicon or grammar, only a word list for my own reference" ("Dreams" 43). To

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 387

clarify the differences between constructed and created languages, let

examine the different purposes they serve.
The devising of languages for reasons other than literary has ha
history and a variety of religious, social, and ideological motivations
Search for the Perfect Language (1995) gives examples from the
century onwards, but it was in the seventeenth century that interest in
languages really developed (Knowlson 8; Yaguello 33). One reaso
desire to rediscover the pre-Babel language, in the hope that "in disco
original language of God and Man, something of God's divine pla
revealed" (Large 10-11).5 Yet this search for the pre-Babel language
interpreted as a quest for a universal language and for a philosophica
Andrew Large writes that "It was widely believed in the seventeenth c
the original language spoken by Adam in the Garden of Eden ha
universal language of mankind until the confusion consequent upon t
of the tower of Babel"; this language "had not merely been a univer
of communication but a language which expressed precisely the nature
words mirrored reality" (10). In addition, as Yaguello writes:
The philosophical quest... [was] only one facet?albeit the most importan
?of the universal language problem in the seventeenth century. Added
was the need for an interlanguage, a lingua franca suitable to replace Lati
designed therefore for practical ends. (199 n 19)

In order to create, or re-create, a language in which words mirror

structure of reality must first be determined. In practice, this meant th
step towards constructing such a language was to classify the world i
concepts: philosophical languages "would need to be based upon a str
and an ordered classification of ideas" (Knowlson 65). Several indi
groups undertook this daunting task, but the result was, of course, not
of "reality" so much as an interpretation of the world offered by a
individual or group: "philosophical languages ... merely repres
naively?cultural order" (Yaguello 117).
Although many prominent thinkers, including Descartes and Lei
drawn to the idea, philosophical languages eventually lost their h
European imagination (Large 14). After 1860, the "idea of a universa
shifted to that of an international language" (Yaguello 52, emphasis in
The benefits of an international language are readily apparent. Today
increasingly established as the language of international comm
Nonetheless, proponents of constructed languages emphasize th
benefits?such as ease of acquisition?of developing a wholly new
Esperanto, though not the first constructed language to gain popular s
international language, is the most successful language of this type.
Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof and first published in 1887, Esperanto was d
be easy to learn, at least for speakers of the European languages it is b
Zamenhof s language construction was politically motivated; h
international language as a way of bringing people together tow
tolerance and human unity" (Large 78). More recent attempts to

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388 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

languages include the logical language movement. Loglan, the first, was
developed by James Cooke Brown in the 1950s as, among other things, a means
of testing the Whorfian hypothesis?the idea that the language a person speaks
influences his or her perception of reality. Loglan and the others that followed,
including Lojban, Lojsk, and Ceqli, are generally structured in such a way as to
minimize ambiguity; they tend to have regular grammatical structures and
phonetic spelling systems.
While few of the constructed-language projects of the last fifty years have
gained the recognition of these earlier projects, the internet has transformed the
world of "conlangs." Numerous sites are devoted to constructed languages. The
Langmaker wiki founded by Jeffrey Henning currently catalogues over 1800
languages constructed for various purposes, offering links to a wealth of articles
and other resources. It is not clear whether the internet has increased the
popularity of language construction or has merely made constructed-language
projects more visible, but it undeniably provides language constructors "with a
place to hang their logodaedalic tapestries, and the technology for some of them
to be heard" (Higley, par. 22). The phenomenon of modern-day conlanging is
beginning to attract academic attention: the first annual Language Creation
Conference was held at UC Berkeley in 2006.
As a subcategory of constructed languages, created languages likewise have
a significant online presence. Over 700 "fictional languages" are listed on the
Langmaker site. Yet their history in science fiction is difficult to map, not least
because of a lack of consensus about what constitutes "science fiction" and what
constitutes a "language." While there are a number of studies examining sf as
itself a kind of "language," the created languages appearing within sf texts have
received much less attention.6 Some individual created languages have been
examined by scholars, but there have been few attempts to consider their
workings in the genre as a whole.7 The key work in this larger area of inquiry
remains Walter E. Meyers's Aliens and Linguists: Language Study and Science
Fiction (1980).
Approaches to sf s created languages have fallen into two categories: studies
that read them in the context of all other types of constructed language, and
studies that consider them specifically within the context of sf. Yaguello
punctuates her survey of constructed languages with discussions of the created
languages of sf and fantasy, including those in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty
Four (1949), Jack Vance's The Languages ofPao (1958), Samuel R. Delany's
Babel-17 (\ 966), and Ian Watson's The Embedding (1973). These discussions are,
however, diversions from her main thesis, creating an impression that the
languages created for fictional purposes are inferior to their real-world
counterparts.
A similar impression is created by many works about language construction.
James Knowlson discusses invented languages in the imaginary voyage in his
study of universal-language schemes, yet specifies that "attention must clearly be
focused upon ... more fully developed 'ideal' languages" (115). Joseph Lo
Bianco's "Imaginary Languages and New Worlds" discusses Suzette Haden
Elgin's Laadan language, Marc Okrand's Klingon, and Tolkien's languages in the

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 389

context of other "serious schemes that have produced more or less

languages" (8). Other studies of constructed languages omit created
altogether: Large merely notes their existence, while Eco's emphasis
concerning true and proper languages" precludes discussion of
languages" (2, 3).
Even when created languages are discussed, an approach through
category of constructed languages will tend to slight them, for the c
necessarily not on the functioning of the created language within the te
as on the grammar, vocabulary, ideology, and other features of the
se?even though very few of sfs created languages are presented in
extensive lexicons or systematic grammar rules. Highly developed lan
as Elgin's Laadan and Okrand's Klingon are much in the minority.
The lack of technical linguistic information behind sfs creative la
no flaw or weakness, however. It only appears that way when created
are read in terms of a scholarly paradigm that does not fit the materi
other purposes they serve, real-world constructed languages are des
used for human communication. They need to be extensively develo
large vocabulary, comprehensive grammar rules, and so on. T
languages of science fiction, in contrast, do not serve the purposes o
communication. "Completeness" is not a relevant criterion, because
not language primers. As Peter Stockwell has pointed out, "a few wel
words can have as significant an effect as thoroughly imagined, ric
innovation" ("Invented Language" 3). Even where a created language
substantially developed, the reader is typically required to go outside
example, to the wealth of extra-textual material on Laadan and
obtain the details.8 Moreover, even if pronunciation guides, vocabula
detailed descriptions of grammar are included, they tend to be placed
the main body of the text in a preface or appendix.
In short, while studies of created languages within the larger c
constructed languages can offer useful information, this approach is
tendency to ignore the role of created languages in fictional
Furthermore, in privileging extensively developed created lang
constructed-language approach gives a skewed picture of the linguist
of the genre. As Stockwell has rightly observed, "Fictional extrapolat
dimension of linguistics seem to be evaluated in a more rigid
comparable speculations in other sciences" ("Invented Language" 9).
Stockwell's comment is supported by two key works: Meyers's A
Linguists, mentioned above, and Myra Edwards Barnes's Lingu
Languages in Science Fiction-Fantasy (1974). Barnes discusses created
in terms of "their adherence to linguistic principles," analyzing
invented languages from a number of sf and fantasy texts and search
rules by which the vocabulary and grammar were constructed (1). Y
method only works for created languages that actually have u
grammatical and lexical organizations: because her primary texts
specifically for their "linguistic value" (3), her analysis gives a false
A tendency to privilege more fully developed created languages is a

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 390 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

Meyers' s study, in which authors are criticized for not developing their invented
languages in more detail. Barnes and Meyers do explore the relationship between
language and text, but they nonetheless evaluate sf's created languages in terms
of real-world linguistics?terms under which fictional texts are going to be found
wanting.
Most of the works addressed by David W. Sisk in Transformations of
Language in Modem Dystopias (1997) are science-fictional. Yet despite noting
that the boundaries between sf and dystopia are "murky" (103 n26), he considers
his texts as dystopias first and science fiction after. His conclusion about created
languages is that in making the reader "learn" a new language, authors "force us
to rethink the challenge of language acquisition, and by extension they empower
us to reconsider other tasks that we may find daunting?such as avoiding
Armageddon and building a more livable society" (170). This argument is
somewhat restricted, however, by the relatively small body of texts considered.
Few other studies have considered sf's created languages at all. Carl
Malmgren briefly discusses sf novels that feature created languages (including
The Embedding, Elgin's Native Tongue (1984) and Vance's The Languages of
Pao) as a backdrop to his analysis of Delany's Babel-17. Michael R. Collings
highlights parallels between created languages in sf (particularly in Babel-17) and
John Wilkins's seventeenth-century constructed-language project. Marc Angenot
suggests that in sf, created languages function to evoke the "absent paradigm" of
the fictional world; but his focus is on semiotics rather than created languages per
se. Kathleen Spencer takes a similar approach, calling for further investigation
into the exact workings of "the terms authors of sf invent to realize their
imaginary worlds" (46). Others (see Barrette and non-academic studies by Kohan
and Masson) include useful summaries of primary texts but are more descriptive
than analytic. Created sf languages as a feature of the genre from its early days
are a notable omission from several important studies: Stockwell's The Poetics
of Science Fiction (2000), for instance, includes an extensive discussion of sf s
neologisms, but not in the context of invented languages.
For many years, the critics have tended to assume either that this topic does
not invite broad and systematic inquiry or that the ideal created science-fictional
language would be fully constructed?even though methods suitable for
evaluating real-world constructed languages will inevitably slight sf s fictional
creations. I propose an alternative, an approach to created languages on their own
terms?i.e., as they function within sf narratives?that avoids giving preferential
treatment to created languages that happen to fit the models used for real-world
constructed languages. Setting aside the criterion of "completeness," I suggest
that a better approach is to focus on a broad group of traits in common.

Shared Features of Created Languages. I propose that a science-fictional

created language exists and is complete in the totality of information given about
the language in the text (or texts) in which it appears. Most of the elements that
I list below would not be admissible under the constructed-language approach.
Yet all contribute to the reader's understanding of the created language and, more
importantly, to an understanding of the beings that speak it.

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 391

Works of sf featuring created languages include one or more of the following,

whether incorporated into the body of the text or included in an appendix or note:
1. Utterances in, or purporting to be in, the created language.
2. Translated utterances from the created language. Frequently, the translation
imparts information about the beings that speak the language. In Stephen
Leigh's Alien Tongue (1991), an utterance is translated as "every A via
remembers the K?ai*k?*ai from the egg" (143). The phrase "from the egg"
reminds the reader that the bird-like Avia are hatched.
3. Information about how a word or phrase from the language was translated.
Ursula K. Le Guin's Always Coming Home (1985) includes a note that explains
that "the word commensal has been used to avoid the condescending,
patronising overtones of the word pet, and because it better translates the Valley
term, which means people living together" (445). This explanation clarifies the
customs of those who speak the language.
4. Subjective impressions of the created language's sound, or shape in the case
of written languages. In William Tuning's "A Modest Inquiry" (1980), the alien
"Llogans" make "hurried conversation among themselves, which sounded a bit
like a punctured tire learning to yodel" (96).
5. Information about how the sounds in a particular language are to be
pronounced. A guide to pronunciation is appended to the main text in C.J.
Cherryh's Foreigner (1994).
6. Phonemic information. (Broadly defined, phonemes are speech sounds.) In
Elgin's Native Tongue, we learn that the Laadan language invented by the
female characters has eighteen phonemes: "women had chosen its eighteen
sounds with tender care?they hadn't wanted other women to have to struggle
to pronounce it just because those whose lot it was to construct it happened to
have English as their first Terran language" (160).
7. Information about grammatical structure. This may not always be accurate by
the standards of contemporary linguistics. Elgin writes that "the grammar
descriptions of ET languages provided in science fiction are, most of the time,
grossly unscientific. They perpetuate the worst myths of traditional grammar
and language study on Earth" (Linguistics 1).
8. A glossary of terms from the language, as in Cherryh's Foreigner (428-28)
and Leigh's Alien Tongue (xvii-xx).
9. Descriptions or discussions of other properties of the language, or of notable
features within the language. The linguist-narrator of Ted Chiang's "Story of
Your Life" (1998), who is studying the language of the alien "heptapods,"
comes to realize that "for the heptapods, all language was performative. Instead
of using language to inform, they used language to actualize" (170). In Vance's
The Languages ofPao, the reader is told that "the Paonese sentence did not so
much describe an act as it presented a picture of a situation. There were no
verbs, no adjectives: no formal word comparison such as good, better, best" (6).

Using these criteria has a number of useful consequences. It removes the focus
on the utterance as primary instantiation of the language within works of sf, an
inevitable consequence of an approach modeled on analysis of constructed
languages. Under my proposed scheme, utterances are only one of the ways a
created language functions in a text; indeed, alien utterances need not be included
at all (as in Babel-17, for example). This model emphasizes how created

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 392 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

languages consist of more than simply the words in the language: the examination
of neologisms alone does not fully address the created language.9 I have
concentrated here on created languages that work in the vocal-auditory mode that
dominates human-language use, but a further advantage of using these criteria is
that they can also be applied to the analysis of created sf languages said to work
in different modes.

Communication. Constructed and created languages both communicate?but in

different ways. In the sf text, created languages are used by the characters to
communicate with each other, but they are also a means by which the author
communicates with the reader. Utterances in created languages?the samples of
alien speech included in sf texts?are polyvalent, allowing authors to reach
readers on several levels. On the first and most basic, all samples of a created
language within an sf text serve to give notice of difference. When an "alien"
word or phrase is encountered, the reader immediately recognizes that it is not in
the same language as the surrounding text, a recognition often assisted by the
author's use of a different font style or size, as in Tuning's "A Modest Inquiry,"
where utterances in the alien language are italicized. While the alien utterance
may also signify at a number of other levels, this one is universal. Within the
meta-text?i.e., all previous sf texts?that defines the conventions of the genre,
the utterance in a created language signifies that "This is alien." "Alien"?as in
Ursula Le Guin's Always Coming Home?need not be synonymous with
"extraterrestrial," though often it is. An utterance in a created language
communicates the difference of the beings that speak it?the difference, that is,
from readers' expectations for contemporary humans.
That all alien utterances within sf texts signify in this way means that the
concept (signified) of alienness is in sf represented by multiple, and potentially
endless, signifiers. Wholly unlike the situation in natural languages, the
relationship between concept and sound-image (or visual image) is motivated: the
more ostentatiously an utterance flouts the norms of the language in which the
rest of the text is written, the more exotic the author's intended perception of the
beings who speak. In texts where the principal language is English, alien
difference is often demonstrated by clusters of consonants, the letter q not
followed by the letter u, the use of apostrophes not as grammatical markers but
to indicate a click or whistle, and the use of characters outside the English
alphabet.10
A second level on which alien utterances communicate meaning is that
which, in a natural or constructed language, would be placed first: the actual
meaning or denotation of those words within the language. In Cherryh's
Foreigner, the utterance "man 'china aijia nai 'am" is immediately followed by its
English translation: "I'm the aiji's associate, foremost" (105). Consulting the
glossary at the end of the text reveals that "man 'chi" means "primary loyalty to
association or leader," "aiji" means "lord of central association," and so on. While
using this type of simplified dictionary is not exactly the same as translating from
an unknown natural language?the catch-all "grammatical form" is substituted
for detailed grammatical information, so that "man'china" is listed as

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 393

"grammatical form of man 'chi"?any readers who so desire can transla

utterances for themselves rather than relying on translations in the t
By contrast, in Russell's The Sparrow, although it is clear from the c
in the language of the Runa, an intelligent species on the planet Rakh
khaerr is a greeting, its exact meaning is never specified (286).
Indeed, it is not always possible to deduce the meaning of a sampl
speech from context or from further information in the text, rend
utterances untranslatable for the reader. Sometimes a solution may b
going beyond the text?for example, by consulting a website about th
if there is one, or authorial statements on the subject?but even when
exists, such information stands at a remove from the text itself. Whe
translation, the author may intend that the utterance communicate
some other level at which alien utterances signify, rather than iden
particular denotation. In either case, as far as the reader is con
utterance does not have a connected signified (concept) within
language of which it is part, and the linguistic sign remains incompl
level, such untranslatable utterances are empty signifiers.
A third level on which "alien" utterances convey meaning i
connotation: alien speech may be read in a process akin to readin
because an emotional impression forms from the appearance (as
poetry) and/or sound of the words.11 Authors may design samples of
to suggest qualities of harshness, softness, and so on. The following
from Cherryh's The Kif Strike Back (1986):
The stsho recoiled in a wild motion of gtst spindly limbs, retreating in a
of gtst gossamer robes and a warble of stsho language, headed full-til
from the scene. "Ni shoos, ni shoss, knthi mnosith nos!" (420)

Compare this with another sample of alien speech that occurs in the
a few pages later:
I will deal with you, hunter Pyanfar. Nankhit! Skki sukkutkut shi
skkunnokktt. Hsshtk! (427)

These samples of two different alien languages offer contrasting imp

the beings that speak them. In contrast with the smooth sibilance of th
consonant clusters in the second extract look formidable and give a ha
effect. The alien beings who speak the first language play a relatively
in the novel, but according to the appendix are beings "of great sens
fragility" (681). The second language is that of the kif, carnivorous w
who are the villains of this series.
On a fourth and final level, an author may have embedded withi
speech a kind of linguistic puzzle that points back to some terrestr
language. When this link to a natural language is recognized, the rea
extra information. Meyers's analysis of the term "mirabhasa" in Fran
Dune Messiah (1969) is one example of this kind of decoding:
The -bh- suggested a construction from Indo-European or Sanskrit roo
found that bhasha means "speech, language," and that mrl, a root me
"death" (compare Latin mors), has an alternate form mir. And whi

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394 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

characters are using their "death-language," they are plotting the assassination
of the central figure of the novel. (6)

This process of decoding is distinct from translation, for "mirabhasa" is not a

Sanskrit word and the language spoken by the characters in Dune Messiah is not
Sanskrit. Nonetheless, knowledge of that language imparts extra information.
Barnes performs a similar analysis on Nadsat, the teenage jargon in Anthony
Burgess's A Clockwork Orange (1962), concluding that the "intermingling of
English and Russian" in Nadsat vocabulary indicates "Russian occupation [of
England] over a long period of time" (62,63). This projection of alien languages
by partly using existing natural languages is interesting, and some authors,
including Herbert and Burgess, do work this way. Yet it does not apply to all
created-language fragments in sf and could be counterproductive: for one thing,
readers familiar with the natural languages employed, although they may
understand the meaning of particular words or phrases without authorial
translation, will also lose the impression of alien difference.
Utterances in created languages, it is clear, communicate meaning on several
levels. It is the authorial control over all of these levels that matters. The use of
wholly created languages is very different from cases where authors use an
existing language (natural or constructed) to represent alien speech.12 Only in
cases where the existing language is unknown to the reader can such utterances
still convey alienness; also, possibilities for connotation are limited by the
demands of an existing denotation. When using an existing language, the author
cannot change the shape or sound of the words if accurate denotation is to be
preserved, and therefore cannot exploit all the different levels on which utterances
in a created language may communicate meaning.

Created Languages in Context. By their very existence, created languages

communicate important pieces of information. First, they indicate that the beings
who speak the language are intelligent. As Parrinder has observed, "the central
feature of alien intelligence is its possession of a different language" ("Alien
Encounter" 155). Aliens without an identifiable language (or language substitute,
such as telepathy) are either mysterious and unknowable?as exemplified in
Stanislaw Lem's Solaris (1961)?or uninteresting, the alien equivalent of sheep
or cattle. In terms of plot plausibility, alien languages indicate the author's
recognition that aliens, of whatever form, would almost certainly have a language
different from any of those used by present-day humans. And alien languages
themselves signify difference or strangeness (just as isolated phrases from them
do): these beings do not talk like us and therefore are not like us. Again, levels of
difference or strangeness may be indicated by the language's form. A language
of radio waves, as seen in Judith Merril's "Daughters of Earth" (1952), is more
exotic than a language of gesture, which in turn is more alien than a vocal
auditory language.
The alien difference demonstrated through language can have a number of
different inflections: it may, for instance, demonstrate the superiority?or, more
commonly, the inferiority?of the alien beings who speak it. Lo Bianco contrasts
invented languages that "exist in imaginary space" with those that "attempt to

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 395

impact on the here-and-now" (11), but I would suggest that created

just like their real-world counterparts, are often designed with
influencing views about language. In Native Tongue, Elgin's Laad
illustrates the inadequacy of existing languages for talking about th
women want to talk about; and a number of other feminist texts h
languages in which gender bias has purportedly been eliminated, or i
nature of that bias has been altered. In a slightly different vein, the
sfs created languages beyond "imaginary space" can be seen in J
Brown's The Troika Incident (1970). This novel depicts a future in w
adoption of a new language, "Panlan," has transformed Earth into a Ut
The novel's time-travelling narrators tirelessly extol the virtues of Pan
existing languages, offering disquisitions on all its aspects, from et
phonetics. Yet there is a limit to the information about a created langu
be included within a text without having a negative effect on the stor
this case explication of the language itself is Brown's priority. It is
revealed, in fact, that Panlan is the descendant of Loglan, the logic
created by Brown himself in the 1950s: the science-fictional context i
mainly to promote that language.

Testing the Whorfian Hypothesis. Science fiction also uses created l

to speculate about linguistic science. Many novels and stories explore
linguistic theories in much the same way that Heinlein's "By His Bo
(1941) works through the implications of time travel. In The Embeddi
uses created languages to explore the ideas behind transformational gr
language theory most frequently showcased, however, is linguistic re
key proposal of the linguistic relativity hypothesis (often called the W
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, after the linguists associated with it) is the i
language that people speak affects the way that they think.13 As Elg
"human perceptions of reality are structured and constrained?not con
structured and constrained?by human languages, in interesting and s
ways" (Language Imperative 52). This hypothesis has suggested to wr
that changing the language a person (or a society) speaks will chang
patterns as well.
Many dystopian texts depict such a correlation?most famously
Nineteen Eighty-Four, although many other works likewise depict th
manipulation of the masses through language-control. Delany's Babe
a new language as a potential weapon. In Le Guin's The Telling (
enforced use of a single language, along with changes in culture, resul
of "massive monoculturalism" (13), a bad thing always in Le Guin's u
Vance's The Languages ofPao, the introduction of compulsory new la
again in conjunction with changes in culture, is used for "human en
(60) without regard for the consequences to individuals.14
Linguistic relativity can also be imagined as opening Utopian possi
transformation. In Elgin's Native Tongue, the creation and adoption
language allows oppressed female characters to change the reality in
live. In Le Guin's The Dispossessed (1974), an invented language rein

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396 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

Utopian project of the settlers of the planet Anarres. Where linguistic relativity?a
theory about human language and human thought?is extended to the encounter
with alien languages, the possibility of acquiring a new way of thinking, or of
becoming more than human, is opened. In Chiang's "Story of Your Life,"
learning the language of the alien "heptapods" leads the linguist heroine to gain
a new perception of time. The protagonist of Naomi Mitchison's Memoirs of a
Spacewoman (1962) likewise finds that communicating with aliens changes her
understanding of the world.
Malmgren suggests that "it is not at all surprising that most sf featuring an
alien or invented tongue as its narrative dominant adopts a Whorfian view of the
relation between language and reality. Such sf wants to emphasize the extent to
which any new language system can affect our view of reality" (16). I would
suggest, however, that texts that foreground created languages need not limit
themselves to consideration of a Whorfian view. Exploration of theories of
linguistic relativity within sf are only one element of a broader relationship
between language and culture that is also revealed through characterization.

Language as Characterization. The linguistic relativity hypothesis is usually in

play when a new language is encountered in texts?either because the characters
in the text have invented it or because they have come into contact with an alien
culture. Yet created languages demonstrate a language-culture relationship in a
number of other ways as well.
Science fiction's created languages are primarily vehicles for communicating
information about the beings who speak such languages. Just as alien utterances
can express or imply meaning on different levels, so can the created language as
a whole speak to the beings who speak it. As mentioned, the very existence of a
created language establishes some level of alien intelligence, but it imparts further
information, too. As readers encounter a created language (in all the forms
outlined in the taxonomy above), they only acquire information about the
language in order to understand the character of the beings who speak it. As with
utterances, this information may be communicated directly or by connotation. The
Time Traveller's initial impression of the speech of the Eloi as "soft cooing
notes" and "laughing speech" (Wells 65, 66) begins a process of association
between these beings and character traits such as lack of will, frivolity, and lack
of intelligence. In Russell's The Sparrow, the "fluid and melting" language of the
friendly, gentle Runa is contrasted with the "staccato glottal stops and rhythmic
choppiness" of the language of the predatory Jana'ata (285). The contrast between
harshness and softness is played out in the rest of the novel. In fact, a created
language is not just spoken by the beings who belong to a particular alien culture.
The language also speaks them.
The properties of an alien language and its alien culture are thus intertwined.
Use of a created language in this way?i.e., as a means of characterization?is
distinct from a use of created language to explore some form of the linguistic
relativity hypothesis (although both uses may occur within the same text). Texts
that explore linguistic relativity are foregrounding the idea of influence: the
language forms the thoughts of those who speak it. When language is used as a

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 397

means of characterization, however, influence is irrelevant. In Russell's n

there is no suggestion that the Runa and Jana'ata are a certain way because
languages are "fluid and melting" and "staccato" respectively; and the A
Leigh's novel certainly do not hatch from eggs because their term for bein
carries this semantic freight.

Created Languages as Emblem. In some sf texts, the alien language is use

an emblem for the state and destiny of the alien culture. Barnes writes t
simple fictional society usually has a simple language?that is, 'simple' in
grammatical sense of being easily learned and spoken?and a complex
has a complex language" (141). Simple alien languages (whether exp
described that way, or self-evidently so from the ease with which the h
characters learn them) are often a shorthand way of indicating that the
beings can be outwitted by human beings. In James Blish's VOR (195
example, the reader's initial impression of the robot or alien VOR is
awesome power, but this is undercut by the later revelation that its langu
color-flashes can be adequately "spoken" using a simple device consist
three colored lights. In Downward to the Earth (1969), Robert Silverberg
the reader to assume that the alien nildoror are considerably less intelligen
humans, giving them a language that is "narrow in range, simple in gra
(22)?before revealing that this assumption is wrong.
In Blish's novel, alien language and alien being are inextricably conne
both the creature and its language initially pose massive problems to the h
characters. Just as the humans are unsure how to deal with the threat po
VOR's superhuman capabilities?the alien is highly radioactive and apparen
immune to human weapons?they are unable to solve the probl
understanding VOR's language: "There is almost no point of contact betwe
thought patterns and his" (78). Solve the problem they do, however. The
scientists gradually acquire the vocabulary to be able to talk to VOR
increasingly complex concepts, allowing VOR to deliver its message:
humans do not destroy VOR, VOR will destroy Earth. In this case, the h
assimilation of the alien language indicates a shift in power: mastery of th
language equals mastery of the alien species. Learning its language is not o
key to defeating VOR on a practical level (to outwit the alien, the huma
to be able to talk to it), but also presages the eventual triumph of its hu
adversaries. This is made clear in the final exchange with VOR, in which
language device used to convince it to self-destruct is described as a "gun"
Made to perceive its own weakness, VOR destroys itself, saving the Earth
invasion and destruction.
Delany's Babel-17 explores many links between alien language and
culture. The novel's protagonist, Rydra Wong (a poet, linguist, an
captain), is hired by the government to work on Babel-17, a military co
by the "Invaders" with whom the "Alliance" is at war. Rydra realizes tha
code is actually a language and learns it, acquiring a different perception
world.

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 398 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

Although it initially seems that in learning the language Rydra is making

progress towards defeating the Invaders, the reverse is true. Babel-17 is designed
so that speakers of it will attempt to sabotage the Alliance. Rydra eventually finds
that she has been sabotaging her ship and later hypnotizing herself into forgetting
that she has done so. Another Babel-17 speaker is likewise a puppet. At the end
of the novel, however, these two Babel-speakers appropriate the language for
their own side, reshaping it into Babel-18 by removing the anti-Alliance bias and
adding personal pronouns that had been absent from Babel-17. Their
transformation of the language, turning the weapon into one for the Alliance,
presages the eventual victory over the Invaders anticipated at the end of the novel.
Another clear case in which alien languages are emblematically linked in sf
to the wider fate of alien cultures is seen in texts wherein the difficulty of the
human characters in acquiring the alien language suggests general
incomprehension of the aliens themselves. In a small group of sf texts, such
efforts remain futile: the alien language either remains beyond the grasp of human
characters, or is impossible to learn and still remain human. Lem's Solaris is the
best known example of the former. In The Kif Strike Back, Cherryh refers to the
"knnn," methane-breathing aliens whom the hani (the non-human viewpoint
characters) can only talk to "through the tc'a, who can get a kind of general
translation?if you can understand the tc Vs seven-part matrix-sentences" (685).
In Elgin's Native Tongue as well, the languages of the non-humanoid aliens
remain beyond human comprehension, for learning them destroys the minds and
bodies of the infants who have been exposed to them.
Although completely incomprehensible created languages are rare, the device
of imagining an alien language that is only partially understood or translated
appears frequently as a means of indicating an only fragmentary understanding
of the alien beings' "otherness." In Gregory Benford's Furious Gulf (1994), the
communications of a seemingly benevolent but definitely alien being, Quath, are
punctuated by "<untranslatable>" words and phrases, and the problems the
humans have in understanding her words match the difficulty they have in
understanding how her mind works. The limitations of the system of hand signals
that function as common "language" between humans and Foreigners in
Lovegrove's The Foreigners (2000) are likewise an indication of how little the
human characters (and the human reader) understand about these alien beings. In
Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven (1971), the difficulty the novel's humans
experience in understanding its aliens (even with the aid of translating devices)
is indicated by the "vast areas over which no communication was possible" (129).
In all these cases, there is a close association of alien beings with the
language they speak, whether this is because the created language itself stands for
the alien beings, whether the language is used as a means of characterization, or
whether the alien language shapes the alien culture through linguistic relativity.
And there is one final way in which the created languages of science fiction are
linked to the beings who speak them.

Created Languages as Cumulative Alien Encounter. I suggested earlier that

a science-fictional created language is complete in the totality of information

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 399

about that language given in the text. But this information is not acqui
once. The encounter with the created language in sf is cumulative: wh
later builds on the reader's understanding of what has come before, and
final page, the meaning is fluid and unfixed. In a process of con
reinterpretation, readers repeatedly modify their understanding of the
language. Comprehension, in contrast to natural languages, is always def
The created language, while complete within the sf text, always ev
readers the phantom of a larger linguistic system, one comparable in sc
development to their own language. Yet readers cannot hope to ob
encompass this system, usually because further information does not ex
when a language has been extensively developed, help can usually be fo
by going outside the text: it is not immediately accessible.
The created sf language is then simultaneously complete and incom
used within the text to develop the reader's understanding of the alien t
the point the author deems appropriate, but also tantalizing the reade
larger linguistic system that remains out of reach. In this way, the encoun
the alien language is the encounter with the alien: the created language is
means by which information about the alien is communicated and the fo
brings these beings into life. It is true that language is the means by whi
beings in all fiction are created, but the created languages in sf are not t
protocols of natural languages (or of literary realism in general). They b
alien to readers.
My survey of the created languages in science fiction?what they do a
they work?only scratches the surface. Matters treated briefly here, suc
relationship of language to the genuinely alien other, or the use of
languages by feminist writers, are themselves deserving of exte
investigation. Science fiction as a genre offers unique potential to
interested in language and linguistics, because sfs created languages ar
so many ways: to challenge established norms, to probe the relationship
language and thought, to question the human-animal distinction, to ch
notions of what constitutes both intelligence and "the human," and mor
argues that criticism of speculative fiction needs to "examine precisely w
of word-beast sits before us" (Jewel-Hinged Jaw 36). I would suggest t
word-beasts that themselves speak in so many sf texts are equally notew
NOTES
The author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Science Fiction Foundati
1. Here and throughout, "alien" is used not as a synonym for "extraterrestri
a broader sense. "Alien languages" therefore includes the languages of future
alternate human societies depicted in sf, as well as the languages of non-hum
such as robots, extraterrestrials, and artificial intelligences.
2. Eco's comment refers to all forms of fiction in which invented languages
While invented languages do occasionally appear in other types of ficti
famously, in Tolkien's LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy?only works of science fi
discussed here. As a mode of writing, science fiction offers unique opportun
linguistic experimentation (including language creation). The frequency wit

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400 SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 35 (2008)

invented languages appear in science fiction is directly related to particular conventions

of this mode of writing that do not apply to other literary forms.
3. Yaguello does note that dating is possible in a few special cases: certain pidgins,
for example.
4. The use of the term "artificial" is often protested by constructed-language
enthusiasts as bearing negative connotations: hence my choice of "constructed."
5. For a science-fictional treatment of the Babel myth, see Neal Stephenson's Snow
Crash (1992).
6. The idea of science fiction itself as a kind of language appears in several critical
works, including Sawyer and Seed's Speaking Science Fiction collection and Attebery's
Decoding Gender in Science Fiction. The most recent major study of language in sf is
Stockwell's The Poetics of Science Fiction, but see also Delany's The Jewel-Hinged Jaw,
Rabkin's "Metalinguistics and Science Fiction," and chapter 6 of Parrinder's Science
Fiction: Its Criticism and Teaching.
I. Languages that have received critical attention include Suzette Haden Elgin's
Laadan language (see Armitt, Gough et al., and Sisk), Marc Okrand's Klingon (Shapiro),
and Delany's Babel-17 (Malmgren, Weedman). There are also numerous critical
discussions of Orwell's Newspeak.
8. Details of the major resources for these two invented languages can be found on
Elgin's home page and the Klingon Language Institute's website.
9. For discussion of neologisms in sf, see Westfahl's "Words of Wishdom: The
Neologisms of Science Fiction" and chapter 6 of Stockwell's Poetics.
10. Stockwell also notes the "cultural specificity" of these purportedly alien
utterances: "The norms for evaluations assumed by many English writers are always
English language norms, so alienness is indexed by phonetic and lexicogrammatical
systems that are exotic only in relation to English" ("Invented Language" 9).
II. Marie Maclean makes a similar point about the "typographically or visually
suggestive" nature of some signifiers in sf (170).
12. Harlow discusses examples of this in "Esperanto and Science-Fiction."
13. There is an extensive critical debate as to the origins and precise formulation of
this theory. Some critics stress the importance of the structure of the language, others
emphasize that culture itself influences language and so the two are in a reciprocal
relationship. For an overview, see Gumperz and Levinson's "Introduction: Linguistic
Relativity Re-examined" and Elgin's The Language Imperative (49-71).
14. Change is effected through the control of both linguistic and cultural factors in
a number of these novels, raising the question of which influence is primary: the influence
of language upon culture or the influence of culture upon language? Barnes argues that
authors of sf choose either one or the other and ignore the possible complexities of a
reciprocal relationship (146); the actual picture is more complex.

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 CREATED LANGUAGES IN SF 403

Yaguello, Marina. Lunatic Lovers of Language: Imaginary Languages

Inventors. Trans. Catherine Slater. London: Athlone, 1991.

ABSTRACT
The language of science fiction has been the topic of many critical discuss
"alien" languages that appear in sf texts have received significantly less
propose a new approach to these languages, setting up a crucial distinct
"constructed" languages (those designed for real-world use) and the "create
appearing in fictional texts. Utterances in created languages are polyvale
authors to communicate with readers on multiple levels; and created language
have a wide variety of functions, from characterization to speculation abo
science. I develop the motives behind, and functions of, language creation in s
directions for future scholarship.

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