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].
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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 ...
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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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When was the first time a human spoke an alien language in Star Trek, without the use of the Universal Translator?
The Universal Translator in Star Trek translates languages to allow species to communicate with each other.
This obviously leads to a need not to know an alien language, as the computer will translate ...
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How did Lo'ak learn the language of the Tulkun?
At one point during the movie, Jake Sully's son Lo'ak is abandoned (by Na'vi of the Metkayina clan) in the middle of a sea predator's territory. Lo'ak is saved from the predator by Payakan, a member ...
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Why didn't Gandalf identify the troll's swords?
Elrond identified the swords by their runes in The Hobbit:
Elrond knew all about runes of every kind. That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the trolls’ lair, and he said: ‘These are ...
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Linguistics science-fiction story by James Tiptree, Jr
A while ago I stumbled on a list of science fiction with linguistic themes. I'd quite like to re-find the list, but I remember little more about it than that it mentioned Babel-17 by Delany, and a ...
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Novel or short story where people who had different professions spoke different languages?
There was a work about a distant future where people belonged to different castes or tribes based on their education/specialization, and every tribe had their own language. A mathematician would ...
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