Subject: summary : linguistics in science fiction

awhile back i posted a query asking for titles of science fiction books / stories in which linguistics ( of a reasonable sort ) played a large part . this turns out to be something of a faq . herewith a highly edited summary of the responses . some respondents gave a synopsis of the plot , which i attach in highly edited form , lest this get even longer than it already is . but first , thanks to the judges , namely : afn11122 @ freenet . ufl . edu , steve blackwelder ( sblackwelder @ firstbyte . ccmail . compuserve . com ) , anthea fraser ( ellgupta @ leonis . nus . sg ) , another anthea ( anfallen @ ursula . uoregon . edu ) , ines shaw ( ishaw @ badlands . nodak . edu ) , mark hansell ( mhansell @ carleton . edu ) , larry horn ( lhorn @ yalevm . cis . yale . edu ) , susan fischer ( sdfncr @ rit . edu ) , deborah d . kela ruuskanen ( druuskan @ cc . helsinki . fi ) , jacqueline anderson ( anderson @ smtp . munet . edu ) , anton ( dasher @ netcom . com ) , herbert stahlke ( 00hfstahlke @ bsu . edu or hstahlke @ bsu . edu ) , dorine houston ( v2188g % templevm . bitnet @ pucc . princeton . edu ) , peter christian ( peter @ gold . ac . uk ) , john anderson ( janderso @ epas . utoronto . ca or madhatter @ intacc . web . net ) , marty laforest ( marty . laforest @ ciral . ulaval . ca ) , mark a . mandel ( mark @ dragonsys . com ) , and larry trask ( larryt @ cogs . susx . ac . uk ) . in addition , the editors of linguist list provided me with the text of previous queries on this subject , and at the end there 's a faq from science . lang . i won't try to credit the authors cited in the latter two sources , or i 'd never get this off . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - and now the envelope . . . ( author 's name first , then titles with occasional comments , which should be apparent ) : suzette haden elgin . native tongue trilogy , including : the native tongue ( wherein language and linguistics are prominent issues in a future society ; laadan is a language in development ) . clans of linguists have become crucial because of their mediation with non-humans . raises issues about innateness , the bioprogram , language learning , relationship between body stucture and language , as well as feminist issues ) , and judas rose . derek bickerton . king of the sea . ( not exactly science fiction . but deals with human-dolphin communication . best explanation of bickerton 's bioprogram available with a valuable dicussion also of the problems of having a meaningful relationship with a dolphin . ) . arnason . a woman of the iron people . vonarburg . in the motherland . robert sheckley . shall we have a little talk ? ( for the evil earth capitalist empire to take over a planet , they have to buy some land on the planet . a representative goes to some planet to start negotiating for a land purchase and finds that every day the language has changed , not only in vocabulary but in grammar . at one point , he exclaims " stop agglutinating ! " the inhabitants of the planet are using accelerated language change as a defense mechanism , and at the end of the story , they are communicating in identical monosyllables ) . david carkeet . double negative ( one respondent called this " a murder mystery in which a linguist uses his knowledge of child language acquisition to solve the murder " ; another said it involved the human / animal boundary ) . samuel delany . babel 17 , triton ( latter takes on the arbitrariness of the relationship between form and meaning and builds a whole society around it , starting with , of course , an artificially engineered environment on a moon ( of saturn ? ) ) ; neveryon series ( second-hand report says it incorporates a good deal of linguistics ) . ian watson . the embedding . ( universal grammar , generative syntax . ) goulet . oh 's profit ( the main character is a signing gorilla named oh , and there 's a chomsky sound-alike baddie called sandground ) . pamela sargent . after long silence ( actually it has to do with communication more by music than by langauge , but communication with alien intelligences at any rate ) c . j . cherryh ( writes about contact between humans and aliens , and between different aliens : the chanur series ( best read in sequence ) : pride of chanur , chanur 's venture , the kif strike back , chanur 's homecoming , chanur 's legacy ( i think that 's the title - - it 's the funniest book but you can't appreciate it until you ' ve read the others ) ; others by cherryh ( not series ) : cuckoo 's egg ( less ling . than chanur ) , foreigner ( the hero is a guy who wrote his dissertation on plural forms in a non-human language , and it 's quite a good meditation on whether it would be possible to really understand a non-human intelligence - - in the form of a whodunit / spy / action novel ) . c . s . lewis ' space trilogy = out of the silent planet , perelandra , and that hideous strength ( the main character in two - - a minor character in the third - - is a 1930 's philologist , elwin ransom ) . card . ender 's game / xenocide / speaker for the dead series . john berryman . " something to say " in _ analog _ ( 1966-67 ) james p hogan . inherit the stars . janet kagan . hellspark , uhura 's song . h beam piper . " omnilingual " . ( i ' m not sure if the quotes here indicate this is a short story , rather than a novel . ) neal stephenson . snow crash . jack vance . languages of pao . ( comparative linguistics , sapir - whorf hypothesis ( weak form ) , semantics . ) walter jon williams . " surfacing " . roger zelazny . " a rose for ecclesiastes " ( ? ) russel hoban . riddley walker ( the whole thing is in the narrator 's own dialect , which is a future form of english . ) burgess , anthony . a clockwork orange ( futuristic version of anglicized russian ) . frank herbert . dune ( carefully worked out historical derivations of arabic religious language set thousands of years in the future ) . delany , samuel r . stars in my pocket like grains of sand . ( language change , alien languages ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ the ff . are several works about sf and linguistics , rather than sf works themselves ] delany , samuel r . the jewel - hinged jaw : notes on the language of science fiction ( essays about how sentences work in sf as distinct from other kinds of writing ) . delany , samuel r . starboard wine : more notes on the language of science fiction . meyers , walter e . aliens and linguists : language study and science fiction . athens , ga : university of georgia press , 1980 . ( a scholarly work analyzing the linguistics in sf . . . how plausable it is , frequent errors that sf authors make when talking about linguistics , and examples of good linguistics . ) barnes , myra edwards . linguistics and languages in science fiction - fantasy . new york : arno press , 1975 . geoff pullum 's essay ` some lists of things about books ' in nllt 6 : 2 ( 1988 ) , pp . 283-290 , and reprinted in geoff 's book _ the great eskimo vocabulary hoax _ , 1991 , chicago : university of chicago press , pp . 190-200 . ( list of six sf novels featuring linguistics ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ the following works were n't classified so much as being about linguistics , as that they made some use of linguistics , typically by using an invented language . ] brin , david . sundiver . ( language change , animal language , dolphins ) clarke , arthur c . rendezvous with rama . ( animal language , apes ) heinlein , robert a . red planet ( alien language : phonetics , semantics ) ; stranger in a strange land ( alien language : phonetics , semantics , shading into mysticism ) ; the moon is a harsh mistress ( future dialects of english ) hoban , russell . ridley walker . ( language change ) . le guin , ursula . always coming home ( invented language : semantics , grammar , etc . ) ; the left hand of darkness ( invented language : semantics ) . orwell , george . 1984 ( invented language : semantics , sociolinguistics , language and thought ) . tolkein , j . r . r . the lord of the rings ( invented languages , historical change , writing systems ) . womack , jack . terraplane ( language change , dialect differences ) . zelazny , roger . eye of cat ( alien language ) . [ short stories : ] carr , terry . " the dance of the changer and the three " in the best of terry carr . haldeman , joe . " a tangled web " in dealing in futures ( humorous alien language ) . haldeman , joe . " anniversary project , " in infinite dreams ( the evolution of human language ) . heinlein , robert a . " gulf , " in 6 x h ( superior language ; the limits of language ) . murphy , pat . " rachel in love " in points of departure ( animal language - - chimps ) . robinson , kim stanley . " the translator " in universe 1 ( edited by robert silverberg and karen haber ) ( a fresh look at the automatic translator ) . sallis , james . " the attitude of the earth towards other bodies , " in full spectrum 2 ( edited by lou aronica , et . al ) ( universal grammar ) . williams , walter jon . " surfacing " in facets ( alien grammar / semantics ) . poul anderson 's " delenda est " in " worlds of maybe " ( 1960s ; incorporated as a chapter in a recent anderson book ; someone undid the second punic war and carthage became a major power in europe . anderson creates at least two languages that might have been - a celtic language with semitic loanwords that would be used in north america , and a germanic language spoken by tribes that took over the italy that had a power vacuum . ) hal clement . ocean on top . poul anderson . " a tragedy of errors " in _ the long night _ , from tor . ( a planet that has new meaning for words like friend , slave , and business . ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - finally , the following is copied from sci . lang faq ( frequently asked questions ) . while the topic is broader ( not just * science * fiction ) , i would likely err if i tried to edit out stories that are n't science fiction . there is some duplication with the list above , that i also have n't tried to edit out . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - what are some stories and novels that involve linguistics ? [ - - markrose ] the following list is by no means exhaustive . it 's based on james myers ' list of books , which was compiled the the last time the subject came up on sci . lang . additions and corrections are welcome ; please suggest the approximate category and give the publication date , if possible . aliens and linguists : language study and science fiction , by walter meyers ( 1980 ) contains a general discussion and lists more works . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - alien languages " tlon , uqbar , tertius orbis " in ficciones - jorge luis borges ( 1956 ) 40000 in gehenna - c . j . cherryh babel-17 - samuel r . delany ( 1966 ) flight of the dragonfly - robert l . forward ( 1984 ) the haunted stars - edmond hamilton inherit the stars - james p . hogan " omnilingual " , in federation - h . beam piper contact - carl sagan ( 1985 ) psychaos - e . p . thompson " a martian odyssey " in sf hall of fame - stanley weinbaum ( 1934 ) " a rose for ecclesiastes " in sf hall of fame - roger zelazny ( 1963 ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - futuristic varieties of english a clockwork orange - anthony burgess ( 1962 ) hellflower - eluki bes shahar the inheritors - william golding ( 1955 ) the moon is a harsh mistress - robert heinlein ( 1966 ) riddley walker - russel hoban ( 1980 ) 1984 - george orwell ( 1948 ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - other invented languages native tongue - suzette haden elgin ( 1984 ) the gameplayers of zan - m a foster " gulf " in assignment in eternity - robert a . heinlein ( 1949 ) dune - frank herbert ( 1965 ) the klingon dictionary - marc okrand ( 1985 ) the void-captain ' s tale - norman spinrad the lord of the rings - j r r tolkien ( 1954-55 ) the memorandum - vaclav havel ( 1966 ) the languages of pao - jack vance ( 1957 ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - linguist heroes double negative - david carkeet the full catastrophe - david carkeet pygmalion - george bernard shaw ( 1912 ) the poison oracle - peter dickinson ( 1974 ) hands on - andrew rosenheim ( 1992 ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - animal language watership down - richard adams tarzan of the apes - edgar rice burroughs ( 1912 ) congo - michael crichton - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - use of linguistic theory snow crash - neal stephenson ( 1992 ) gulliver ' s travels - jonathan swift ( 1726 ) the embedding - ian watson ( 1973 ) ozark trilogy - suzette haden elgin yonder comes the other end of time - suzette haden elgin - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - other the troika incident - james cooke brown ( 1969 ) [ loglan ] love me tomorrow - robert rimmer ( 1976 ) [ loglan ] etxemendi - florence delay [ chomsky ref ] so you want to be a wizard - diane duane tongues of the moon - philip jose farmer the dispossessed - ursula leguin ( 1974 ) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - if i do n't get much linguistics done in the next while , you ' ll know why . enjoy !
