Intrigued by the linguistics in Arrival? Here’s what to check out next
Many current linguists first discovered linguistics through the invented languages in the Lord of the Rings series and other linguistically-oriented fiction. Now that the movie Arrival stars an actual linguist, we have the opportunity to reach a whole new generation of future linguists.
Now, All Things Linguistic is a linguistics blog, so if you’re reading this here you’re probably already a linguistics fan, but this would be a great post to share with your friends and social networks to help reach (or make!) a few more budding linguists.
And if you’re new, welcome! Here’s your list of things to check out:
The Story of Your Life, Ted Chiang’s original short story that Arrival was based on, has even more linguistic detail, and as a short story, it’s a pretty fast read.
Read about the linguist who consulted for Arrival
Jessica Coon is a real-life field linguist at McGill University who consulted on the linguistics aspects of Arrival. She’s done a lot of interviews about the real linguistics behind the film, what she did on set, and how we’d actually talk to aliens if they arrived – check out her full list of Arrival linguistics media here.
Want to actually do some of the linguistically-oriented problem-solving that Amy Adams’s character does in Arrival?
Take an intro linguistics course
Want to meet or become a linguist like Louise Banks? I can’t guarantee that the FBI will call you up, but taking an intro linguistics course or two is a great first step. As a bonus, intro linguistics course are generally very hands-on, so you’ll probably get to do some assignments where you figure out something to do with an unfamiliar language.
If you’re not at a university with a linguistics program, free online intro linguistics courses run periodically, such as this one on Coursera, or there are perennial resources such as MIT OpenCourseware and The Ling Space.
Intrigued by the heptapod inkblots? Making or learning a constructed language (conlang) is a fun way to learn more about how language works.
There’s a whole society for conlangers which has an extensive list of resources, try searching for “conlang” on your favourite social network, or check out the books The Art of Language Invention by David J. Peterson (@dedalvs on tumblr) and In The Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent.
Try the puzzles of the International Linguistics Olympiad
The puzzles of the linguistics olympiad are kind of like linguistic sudoku: you might have to match words and their translations, decipher unfamiliar writing systems, or figure out how to say a new phrase based on a couple examples. They’re logic puzzles as applied to language and don’t assume any background knowledge of linguistics.
If you’re currently a high school student, you can actually compete in your national linguistics olympiad and potentially qualify for the international one. Regardless, there are a bunch of puzzles and solutions from previous olympiads on the website of the International, North American, UK, Australian, and other national linguistics olympiads.
Want more linguistics media to consume beyond Arrival?
Read other linguistically interesting fiction
It doesn’t have to end at Story of Your Life! One similar story involving linguistic relativity and aliens is Embassytown by China Mieville.
For more, check out this list of lingfic (fiction with a linguistics element). Make sure to read the comments for further ideas.
Check out pop linguistics
Like pop science, there’s a whole field of linguistics explanations for a general audience. Each of these links will take you to a roundup post or tag page with lots of options to get you started:
Nonfiction books about linguistics
Linguistic analyses of popular culture and internet language
Linguistics videos on YouTube
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