Recent Additions
The Conlanging Librarian has been busy adding new items to the Library:
- A new book has been added to Books (Science Fiction): Years in the Making: The Time-Travel Stories of L. Sprague de Camp.
- Several new articles and a video (from Arika’s appearance at Geeking Out) have been added to the Press Coverage of Arika Okrent and her popular book.
- And, finally, a new article by Arika Okrent herself that appeared at Slate.com about Paul Frommer’s Na’vi. Find this one in the Press Coverage of Dr. Frommer and his language of Pandora.
Enjoy!
New Book Added to Sci-Fi
I came across a new “old” book recently and have added it’s Google Books page to the Sci-Fi section of TCL. The book is by Frederick Spencer Oliver and was published originally in 1894. The Atlantean or Poseid language is featured in it. For more details:
Frederick Spencer Oliver
A Dweller on Two Planets or, The Dividing of the Way
[Atlantean or Poseid language]
This novel, first published in 1894, purports to be the biography of the author’s past live as an Atlantean names Phylos.
New Old Books Added
Two new science fiction novels have been added to the Books section of The Conlanger’s Library. They are both works from the late 19th century. The works have obviously affinities for the universal language movements of their time as evidenced from this excerpt: I soon found that, unlike any Terrestrial tongue, the language of this people had not grown but been made–constructed deliberately on set principles, with a view to the greatest possible simplicity and the least possible taxation of the memory. Thanks are also due to Jim Henry for suggesting the addition of Across the Zodiac for the Library! Check out Books for these and other “required reading” for conlangers.
Additions to the Library
Just a quick post today to highlight some new additional to The Conlanger’s Library. A new book on universal grammar in Linguistics – Advanced and a new one on idioms in Popular Nonfiction. We’ve also loaded a new link in the Linguistics Online resources on glossing rules. Check out the sections above for the new as well as the other resources available at the Library.
Tarzan and His “Languages”
This article highlights a new exhibit on Tarzan in the Musée du Quai Branly, the museum near the base of the Eiffel Tower. Our conlang connection comes in with this paragraph:
Tarzan’s first spoken language, in the original novel of 1912, was ape-speak – long before scientists discovered that apes do have a language. The exhibition’s catalogue contains a fascinating linguistic study of the words used by Tarzan’s adoptive ape clan, “the Waziris”. They have 250 words, including several verbs, which are used only in the infinitive, rather like George Orwell’s Newspeak. It is worth noting that Tarzan’s second spoken language in the original novel was French, learned from a French officer rescued from cannibals.
This link gives a nice summary of the languages in Edgar Rice Burrough’s Tarzan series. Here is a nice online glossary of Mangani, the language of the apes.
Yel dan-do, yo!
UPDATE: National Public Radio did a news story on the Tarzan exhibit on Aug. 11, 2009.
Kaor!
Recently, I’ve been re-reading the Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs (or ERB), and I had forgotten about how much fun they were. It’s easily been more than 20 years since I last visited with John Carter, Tars Tarkas, and Dejah Thoris. They’re a quick read, full of adventure, bravado, and, yes, political incorrectness. However, it never ceases to surprise me that the first novel, A Princess of Mars, was serialized in 1912! With that in mind, it becomes easier to overlook ERB’s sometimes overwrought prose and political incorrectness. Just think, in 1912, the First World War hadn’t even been fought yet, less than 50 years had passed since the end of the U.S. Civil War, and Robert Goddard had just begun experimenting with rockets.
True, the Barsoomian language (ERB’s name for Mars was Barsoom) is not well documented in the Martian stories. ERB was no JRRT. He did, however, provide tantalizing glimpses with words here and there and employed an exotic naming language for the Red Planet. An interesting article is posted in the Magazine Articles section of the Conlanger’s Library from ERBzine #1508 on the protolanguage of Barsoom and it’s influence on “current” Barsoomian. The novels are featured in the Books section.
And “Kaor!”? That’s Barsoomian for “Hello!” Check out Jeffrey Henning’s great site at Langmaker.com on Barsoomian as well as this site.
I have spoken.
Conlangmey!
The title of this post is pidgin Klingon for “conlangs all over the place”! I didn’t expect to have another post on Arika Okrent’s new book, In the Land of Invented Languages, so soon (especially since I haven’t gotten my copy from Amazon yet). However, I am ecstatic to announce that she (along with various conlangs) is getting a great deal of press coverage.
Due to this, several new additions to the Library need to be touted. You’ll find an article from Languagehat.com in the Magazine Articles area, a podcast from NPR’s Studio 360 in the Online Audio area, and (as if that was not enough) I have included a link to Arika’s timeline of conlangs in the About section.
Forthcoming Conlanging Book from Arika Okrent
Arika Okrent (pictured here in the back row of the Language Creation Conference II group photo and here in the second row at the Klingon qep'a') has now provided an important (and unique) contribution to the body of conlang literature scheduled for release on May 19, 2009: In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language. Receiving a starred review from Publishers Weekly (5th from the bottom), Arika’s book is poised to become a favorite among conlangers and the general reader interested in language alike. Pre-order your copy today. For more books, visit the Books section of The Conlanger’s Library.