Questions tagged [languages]
Questions about languages, whether alien, fantasy, or human. Always use in conjunction with the specific work tag the language appears in. If a more specific tag exists use that instead, for example, [tolkien-languages].
306 questions
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First story where a real-world word appears / is spoken in a fantastical world, and its impossible appearance is plot relevant
2020's Trash Skill "Gacha" deals with an ability whose name is only understandable to the (Japanese?) audience and is possibly not otherwise explained, but the in-universe uninformative name ...
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Are there any fully formalized Magical Creature languages from the Harry Potter franchise?
Basically what it says up top.
We know Elves, Centaurs, Giants, Merfolk and other magical beings exist in the franchise, but they are most often shown speaking "Muggle speak", or English or ...
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Is there a pattern to the language differences in Lyra's world, and can we learn anything from it?
There are lots of words in Lyra's world that are different to the ones we're used to. Words like anbaric, atomcraft, brantwijn, chocolatl, chthonic railway, coal-silk, coal-spirit, jenniver and ...
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Story sought: language encoded in the gaps between sounds
I read this story somewhen in or around the 1980s translated to (or originally written in) German, it might be older in the first case.
It was probably in a German language story compilation paperback....
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Linguistics SciFi where females and males had developed separate languages
I read several books in the late 1970's, written by female linguist, about a world(?), future(?) or something where females and males had developed separate languages. Young boys stayed with mothers ...
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Why does D.J. translate "liberate me" as "save me"?
In a very early scene in Event Horizon (so no spoilers I would say), D.J., one of the crewman of the rescue ship, interprets an audio recording as having someone saying "liberate me" in ...
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Who invented the Kryptonian language spoken in My Adventures With Superman?
I got dropped into My Adventures with Superman, and in season 1, episode 9, we get some Kryptonian, which...very obviously is based on Romance languages. I believe the phrase was something like
Nos ...
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How, if at all, does the TARDIS translate sign languages?
In 2025 Doctor Who episode "The Well," there is a character who communicates in both an oral language and a sign language, which made me wonder about how (and whether) the TARDIS translation ...
- 123k
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Real-world language inspiration behind the fantasy words used in the Tiger and Del series?
I've started reading Jennifer Roberson's Tiger and Del series after discovering it as an incorrect answer to a story-ID question. An important theme in the worldbuilding is the huge cultural divide ...
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What is the origin of the word "literjon"?
In the Dune novels, the word "literjon" is used to describe a single liter of water. (As far as I can tell.)
Many words in Dune have their origin in old languages, or are a mix of languages, ...
user5645
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What language is used to represent Pokolistani in Creature Commandos?
In Creature Commandos, there's a fictional European nation called Pokolistan whose citizens appear to speak in what sounds like a real European language.
According to the trivia section for Creature ...
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How should I pronounce Jalabhar Xho’s last name?
In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, there is a somewhat exotic character called Jalabhar Xho:
JALABHAR XHO, an exile prince from the Summer Isles
I’m not sure how to pronounce ...
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Fantasy novel read in the 80s or early 90s. Protagonists visit a land where people only speak by quoting their holy book
The way language works in this country is explained to the visitors. The person teaching them says that here only children speak language in the ordinary way. Amongst adults, many never speak at all. ...
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Short story about an alien glossary of untranslatable terms [duplicate]
A story from an anthology, a list of untranslatable terms, possibly written by a female writer... I think one of the terms was "laha sihp", defined as "the first breath of fresh air ...
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Is there an SF story on the theme of language that does NOT use the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? [closed]
There are numerous SF stories based on language but I have never heard of one that doesn't focus on the idea that language shapes thought. For example, here is a previous question that lists a few ...
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