Posts tagged language
I’ve always been fascinated by “fictional” languages.
I put fictional in quotes because if it’s a language isn’t it a language? For example, though Klingons of Star Trek and Elves of Lord of the Rings don’t exist, people still learn and become fluent in their language.
Is Dothraki a real language? What do you think?
The HBO series “Game of Thrones” transports audiences to a fantasy world in which the politics and violence are as brutally real as our own. The Dothraki are a nomadic warrior tribe that figure heavily in the series. When the show’s creators were looking for someone to invent a language for the Dothraki people, they needed something that sounded as believable as the bloody battles looked.
The Berkeley-trained linguist and Language Creation Society member David Peterson got the job when he submitted a 300-page book of Dothraki vocabulary and grammar. More.
(Photo: Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo in the HBO series “Game of Thrones” / CC Dothraki language)
- Want to learn Klingon? Visit the Klingon Language Institute.
- Want to learn Elvish? Visit Elvish Linguistic Fellowship.
- Want to learn Dothraki? Visit the New York Times or this old looking website.
(via publicradiointernational)
'Vagina' Muzzles Female Lawmaker
Two Michigan state representatives were told that they wouldn’t be recognized to publicly speak on any matters before the House because of comments they made.
Dolphins Greet Each Other With Signature Hellos
Bottlenose dolphins swap signature whistles with each other when they meet in the open sea, a new study reports, suggesting that these marine mammals engage in something akin to a human conversation.
Earlier research found that signature whistles are unique for each dolphin, with the marine mammals essentially naming themselves and communicating other basic information.
A signature dolphin whistle in human speak, might be comparable to, “Hi, I’m George, a large, three-year-old dolphin in good health who means you no harm.”
Image Credit: Corbis
npr:
Woot Now an *Official* Word According to the Concise OED
A new edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary arrives in stores today, and it contains some 400 new(ish) words, including woot, sexting, retweet, and cyberbullying.
To make room for the new, some words that have fallen out of use had to be excised from the edition’s pages, such as “brabble” (meaning “paltry noisy quarrel”) and “growlery” (a “place to growl in, private room, den”). The editor of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary notes that we might call a growlery a “man cave” nowadays, but growlery is so evocative I hope it makes a comeback.
woot! woot!
