Imaginary Languages

Imaginary Languages
Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
Total Pages : 349
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780262547154
ISBN-13 : 0262547155
Rating : 4/5 (155 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Imaginary Languages by : Marina Yaguello

Download or read book Imaginary Languages written by Marina Yaguello and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2023-09-19 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the practice of inventing languages, from speaking in tongues to utopian schemes of universality to the discoveries of modern linguistics. In Imaginary Languages, Marina Yaguello explores the history and practice of inventing languages, from religious speaking in tongues to politically utopian schemes of universality to the discoveries of modern linguistics. She looks for imagined languages that are autonomous systems, complete unto themselves and meant for communal use; imaginary, and therefore unlike both natural languages and historically attested languages; and products of an individual effort to lay hold of language. Inventors of languages, Yaguello writes, are madly in love: they love an object that belongs to them only to the extent that they also share it with a community. Yaguello investigates the sources of imaginary languages, in myths, dreams, and utopias. She takes readers on a tour of languages invented in literature from the sixteenth to the twentieth century, including that in More’s Utopia, Leibniz’s “algebra of thought,” and Bulwer-Lytton’s linguistic fiction. She examines the linguistic fantasies (or madness) of Georgian linguist Nikolai Marr and Swiss medium Hélène Smith; and considers the quest for the true philosophical language. Yaguello finds two abiding (and somewhat contradictory) forces: the diversity of linguistic experience, which stands opposed to unifying endeavors, and, on the other hand, features shared by all languages (natural or not) and their users, which justifies the universalist hypothesis. Recent years have seen something of a boom in invented languages, whether artificial languages meant to facilitate international communication or imagined languages constructed as part of science fiction worlds. In Imaginary Languages (an updated and expanded version of the earlier Les Fous du langage, published in English as Lunatic Lovers of Language), Yaguello shows that the invention of language is above all a passionate, dizzying labor of love.


Imaginary Languages Related Books

Imaginary Languages
Language: en
Pages: 349
Authors: Marina Yaguello
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2023-09-19 - Publisher: MIT Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An exploration of the practice of inventing languages, from speaking in tongues to utopian schemes of universality to the discoveries of modern linguistics. In
Lunatic Lovers of Language
Language: en
Pages: 256
Authors: Marina Yaguello
Categories: Foreign Language Study
Type: BOOK - Published: 1991 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Examines the creation of imaginary languages in history and fiction as an expression of the search for an original and primitive or universal language. The auth
Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Tim Conley
Categories: Imaginary languages
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006 - Publisher: Greenwood

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Fictional languages are central to numerous creative works. This book examines such languages in a wide range of literature, films, and television shows. Includ
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Language: en
Pages: 1360
Authors: Library of Congress
Categories: Subject headings, Library of Congress
Type: BOOK - Published: 1994 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the Land of Invented Languages
Language: en
Pages: 354
Authors: Arika Okrent
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-05-19 - Publisher: Random House

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Here is the captivating story of humankind’s enduring quest to build a better language—and overcome the curse of Babel. Just about everyone has heard of Esp