Publications

Publication details [#49341]

Barnes, Lawrie and Chantelle van Heerden. 2006. Virtual Languages in Science fiction and fantasy literature. Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Africa 37 (1) : 102–117.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
Routledge

Annotation

The fictional languages created for use in science fiction and fantasy literature make up an interesting subcategory of artificial language. This paper examines the nature of these languages by exploring three fictional languages: The Old Tongue, Quenya, a dialect of Elvish, and Klingon. They help create a fictional world and within that world, they constitute a sociolinguistic context within which group as well as individual identities can be created.