Questions tagged [language]
For questions about the written or spoken language of a world.
133
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33answers
50k views
You can control a Demon by knowing its True Name, but why?
The power of True Names over demons is unbelievable:
A Lamashtu demon can drain you of your blood in under 5 seconds, blend into shadows, and travel at the speed of darkness. Yet it will crumple like ...
86
votes
15answers
13k views
Does a hive mind race need a written language?
Imagine that human beings in a parallel world evolved with hive mind, so that they can communicate telepathically almost instantly at infinite range. To put thoughts into writing requires effort and ...
76
votes
13answers
11k views
Are there techniques for creating alien or foreign sounding names?
An interesting setting conducive to telling many stories in? Go!
Well thought out inhabitants in this setting with diverse cultural
backgrounds? Go!
A proper noun for any of it? Houston, we ...
74
votes
17answers
18k views
How can I develop names for my fantasy land?
I'm writing a traditional fantasy novel (minus the cliches). I have a land that the novel takes place in. The land does have a name, which sometimes sounds all right, but most of the time sounds kind ...
68
votes
18answers
13k views
How could a language that uses a single word extremely often sustain itself?
The most commonly used word in english is "the" accounting for about 6% of all the words being used. The second most common word is "be" account for less than 1% of all the words used (see ngram ...
63
votes
22answers
9k views
How can I make my languages structurally less like English?
Making vocabulary for a language isn't too difficult (at least, not as hard as it might seem at first!). You can come up with some simple patterns of letters and syllables, and work off of those to ...
59
votes
10answers
6k views
Is there a more effective way to build a language than a word frequency list?
I'm in the process of creating my own language, and so far, I've built a basic vocabulary set of about ~200 words. From here, however, I'm somewhat unsure as to what vocabulary I should work on adding ...
58
votes
19answers
9k views
Would it be possible for an Earth-sized world to speak a single language?
We have thousands of languages in the world, which seem to have evolved differently due to lack of communication methods (it wasn't quite easy for a Chinese guy to speak with French people thousands ...
55
votes
23answers
12k views
Is it plausible to have two written forms of one spoken language that are so different as to be indecipherable?
For a story idea in my head to work on paper, a character has to be able to fluently and eloquently speak a common language, to the point of being able to turn a phrase or make plays on words ...
52
votes
13answers
5k views
How should a country introduce a constructed language as the official language?
Story background
The government has chosen to use a constructed language as a part of the process of building national identity. They don't want to use a foreign language. They also don't want to use ...
51
votes
18answers
10k views
In an atheist alien society where bodily functions (reproduction and waste elimination) are not taboo what would be used to curse?
Most human swearing and cursing is based on either bodily functions (notably reproduction and waste elimination) or on religion. In an alien society where there are no taboos along those lines and ...
45
votes
20answers
7k views
Is there a reason to believe that programming languages are going to converge?
On Earth today, even though most people speak some English, there is seemingly no reason to believe that future generation's main language will be the same in decades/centuries to come (i.e., we'll ...
44
votes
20answers
9k views
How can I explain English existing in a fantasy world?
My hero travels from our world to a fantasy world where people speak English. While there are other nations that speak non-English languages, the particular land she arrives in does. How can I explain ...
42
votes
11answers
10k views
How to avoid the language barrier when there is no time to learn the other language?
In my medieval world, population A and population B have not had any contacts for thousands of years. But pressing events will make them look for each other.
However when they meet... how are they ...
42
votes
20answers
8k views
Would people develop spoken language if everyone was telepathic?
Let's assume for a moment that humans developed telepathy as part of our divergence from apes and becoming bipedal. Like intelligence, that evolutionary trait was powerful, leading to it quickly ...
40
votes
20answers
6k views
How expressive is a color-based language?
In the answers to this question I learned that some cephalopods communicate via color:
Some cephalopods are capable of rapid changes in skin color and pattern through nervous control of ...
37
votes
14answers
7k views
A believable (and not irritating) proto-language
On an expedition to an inhabited planet, we encounter intelligent life. However, they are not as intelligent as we are. They have language, but it's less expressive and more concerned with the ...
35
votes
17answers
11k views
Can the number of letters in alphabet suggest how advanced civilization is?
Let's suppose we intercepted a message in an unknown language. We were not able to decipher it, but we were able to decode it. Meaning we know the letters but not the meaning of the words in the text. ...
35
votes
3answers
1k views
For designing a vocal language for an intelligent species, how to decide on phonemes?
When you are designing a language for a species that uses vocal communication, one of the early decisions you need to make is that of which phonemes can be used.
How does one determine what phonemes ...
33
votes
25answers
11k views
Why would a language be undubbable by universal (machine) translator?
A hypothetical speculative fiction setting uses the universal translator/babelfish/translator microbes/whathaveyou as a convenient plot device. However, certain languages are simply untranslatable by ...
33
votes
11answers
9k views
A language made of silence
Currently, most, if not, all human languages use sound to communicate. What if, language A, a language much like English in terms of its global dominance and widespread use, on a planet much like ours,...
31
votes
16answers
6k views
Why would robots use verbal communication?
Robots (intelligent machines using some form of artificial intelligence), are central to the plot in a snippet I'm working on. These robots do not have to interact with humans on a regular basis: ...
31
votes
14answers
11k views
Is mathematics a truly universal language?
The quote has many forms, but is basically "mathematics is a universal language." My question is if this is true? If we met aliens could we use mathematics to talk to them?
The fact that we could ...
30
votes
29answers
7k views
Would a civilization simplify their languages (eg:English) in order to let their citizens learn more easily?
I know language is not easy to learn, so I have a little bit strange idea: would a civilization simpify their language just because it is too difficult to learn?
For example, to simplify English:
...
30
votes
16answers
15k views
In the future, around year 2500, will only one language exist on earth?
In the future, will only one unified language exist on earth, which will be spoken and used for writing by all humans?
Will all the other languages and various forms that language become extinct and ...
30
votes
13answers
3k views
How could names plausibly change over several generations of humans living in a space station on another planet?
I'm worldbuilding for a story in which a certain portion of the population relocates to a slightly habitable planet due to the complete inhabitability of Earth. It takes place several generations ...
29
votes
18answers
9k views
What event would cause a huge, dominant nation to adopt the language of a smaller, inferior one?
Inspired by this question. I was thinking about the constructed language I'm building and a group of countries in the history of my world, and ended up wanting to ask this question. Please do take the ...
29
votes
14answers
11k views
Is it practical to make English the global language?
The Hegemony since day 1 of its formation in 2041 has enforced a single global language for: education, legal documents, announcements, and for communication between citizens across the various states ...
29
votes
15answers
5k views
How to share knowledge to a future human civilization who doesn't know our languages?
Consider that I want to let an object to share knowledge to a civilization living in a far future (~10.000 years after today). It can be a book or any object which can store information, must be ...
29
votes
7answers
5k views
Is one year a realistic timescale to learn an ancient language if every language you knew didn't exist yet?
Say you've gone back in time Terminator-style (no possessions, no clothes, nothing but you and your cells) to roughly 6,000 BC to the ancient near east. You meet a farmer and his family who take you ...
28
votes
11answers
8k views
How could the English language gradually dwindle to just one word?
This excerpt below is from George Orwell's 1984 and it is the character Syme talking about the progress of the official language "Newspeak" and how its goal is to eventually destroy modern language.
...
24
votes
36answers
7k views
Why would a telepathic species use spoken language? [duplicate]
I'm currently designing an advanced alien civilization that has achieved telepathy. The idea is that each one of their species has a small device merged with their brain that can allow them to ...
24
votes
7answers
4k views
Scientific Naming Conventions for Alien Creatures
I'm a xenobiologist going on an expedition to a habitable planet about 14 LY away. We don't expect to find anything amazing - maybe some bacteria to study - but lo and behold, the place is teeming ...
23
votes
24answers
7k views
In a culture that writes in circles, what would the medium for writing look like?
Most Earth cultures — as far as I know — tend to use square or rectangular surfaces to write upon, and similarly our texts are also organized into square and rectangular shapes. However, a culture ...
23
votes
23answers
6k views
What gets lost in translation?
I've got a magic item that translates languages.
The rules are this: the closest word to the word used in meaning is given to the listener, unless there's something the other language doesn't have a ...
23
votes
7answers
5k views
Is there a way to translate a language that includes words for things we don't know?
I saw some ideas of translating an alien language, like in the movie Arrival. The steps make sense, but I thought of another scenario:
Imagine you meet aliens in space. They speak, but you can't ...
23
votes
8answers
2k views
Dragon script/writing system — how would it work?
Let us assume we have our prototypical European dragon representative over here, George. He has four ground-limbs with four clawed digits including an opposable digit on the forelimbs, normally is ...
23
votes
4answers
10k views
How can I develop scientific names for my species'?
I'm building a fantasy world and I am building the animals that inhabit it. Now I am working on the animals that live in this world, and after building their anatomy, I wonder about their names.
I'm ...
22
votes
11answers
4k views
How to explain a character's ability to communicate while traveling across a land of extremely fractured dialects?
So, on my post apocalyptic world, most people are relative homebodies compared to today. Nobody travels more than a few days distance, except for soldiers, merchants, and slavers. It’s been 500 years ...
22
votes
16answers
6k views
Is a galaxy-wide language possible? [duplicate]
While working on the world I talked about here, I decided to tweak one thing. Instead of having the group of aliens terraforming a planet be of the same species, I decided to have them be different ...
22
votes
4answers
2k views
How (if at all) would being able to speak and listen simultaneously alter the structure and development of language?
Spoken communication requires human beings to be able to do two separate things:
The first is to understand what is being said to them (including isolating the sound of the other person's voice from ...
22
votes
8answers
1k views
How do I blend cultures - naming world features?
In my world I have a variety of nations and city states but I also have a history/background that means they are not and have not been completely isolated. In fact there was once a continent spanning ...
21
votes
15answers
6k views
What royal title can an absolutistic ruler have? [closed]
The world is based on the old norse and 13th century Europe culture (northern places, names and climate and Europian titles, castles and technology). In this world an organized group of people resists ...
21
votes
17answers
3k views
How alien can a language be - grammar?
While we have notable variation in grammar certain patterns can be found in almost all human languages. For example verbs, nouns and adjectives can be found in some form. They are strung together into ...
20
votes
14answers
2k views
Justifications for a language learned via magical transference?
Say I've got a hero who's been summoned to another world. The inhabitants of this world have been expecting his arrival, and are armed with the knowledge that he won't speak their language. So the ...
20
votes
8answers
2k views
Pheromone-based language
On Earth, there are many species that communicate using pheromones - from the simple (cats marking their territory) to the complex (ants conveying information about food, danger, and the current ...
20
votes
6answers
2k views
What are some tips for designing symbols for a constructed language?
Constructed languages are the life blood of imaginary cultures. If a culture speaks an earthly language, how can we be expected to believe that we are in a different culture? While every detail is ...
19
votes
17answers
5k views
You need to disguise a manual as the diary of a madman. How?
Let's say you are creating secret instructions for a new, very dangerous weapon.
You have decided to encrypt the instructions. But you do not want anyone to guess that these notes are encrypted! So ...
19
votes
9answers
4k views
How to force a country to use a language that merges two languages that diverged 1000 years ago?
This country currently only has two languages in common use: Language A, spoken by 62% of the population, and language B, spoken by 38%. Both languages have official status in the country, so road ...
19
votes
15answers
3k views
What could cause a culture to change their writing style?
What could cause a culture to change their writing style from left to right similar to English to vertically like traditional Chinese?
Example:
