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The Vril-ya - Language Invention in Early Science Fiction

(...)the most extraordinary evidence of The Coming Race‘s grip on Victorian popular imagination came on 5–10 March 1891, when the Royal Albert Hall in London was transformed into the cavern of the Vril-ya for a five-day costumed fundraiser: the “Coming Race and Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fete”, organised by Herbert Tibbits in aid of the West End Hospital and the School of Massage and Electricity.

The Hall was decorated with palm leaves, ferns, and a grand Pillar of the Vril-ya modelled on Cleopatra’s Needle — a reference to Bulwer-Lytton’s description of Vril-ya architecture as resembling that of ancient Egypt, Sumeria, and India. Visitors were encouraged to come in fancy dress; many arrived with wings. The character of Princess Zee was played by a young woman wearing a black satin dress with a tiara of electrically lit silver flowers. Winged Vril-ya mannequins were suspended from the ceiling. There were magic shows, a fortune-telling dog, grand feasts, and musical entertainment. And — most significantly for the history of invented languages — printed brochures were distributed containing a glossary of the Vril-ya language, together with conversational phrases that guests could use to greet one another in character.

#the coming race #vril-ya #conlang #andrew higgins #fandom

The ludic dimension of Virgilius’ project manifests in multiple layers of playful experimentation. He invented pseudo-Latin terms constructed from recognizable morphological elements but absent from any existing lexicon—words like “inscrutari,” “gande,” “declinamentum,” and “querulous”—creating what might be called “plausible Latin” that sounds authentic while being entirely fabricated. This technique remarkably anticipates modern conlanging methodology: constructing invented words from systematic phonological and morphological principles that give them internal coherence and aesthetic plausibility. In some of Tolkien’s earliest language invention he too would invent words that sounded like a primary world language, in this case Finnish, but were completely invented. For example for the Finnish name Suomi Tolkien invented an alternative place name Sutse that sounded Finnish but was completely invented (Kullervo, p. 50). But Virgilius didn’t stop at inventing words. He populated his grammatical discussions with citations from entirely fictitious authorities, creating an elaborate scholarly apparatus of invented grammarians with exotic names such as Galbungus, Glengus, Asinus, and Aemilius Asper (not the historical grammarian of that name, but Virgilius’ own fabricated character). Long before authors like H Rider Haggard, Robert Louis Stevenson and of course Tolkien were creating ‘new romance” inspired items like maps, reproductions of invented artefacts and language glossaries, Virgilius was inventing phantom scholars who cite non-existent texts, offer contradictory grammatical rules, and engage in absurdist debates, transforming grammatical discourse into imaginative fiction. In one text, the invented grammarian Galbungus argues with another grammarian for fourteen days and nights over the vocative form of the pronoun ego!

Virgilius Maro- The Grammatical Prankster of the Seventh Century

#conlang #andrew higgins #virgilius maro

Find out about Andrew Higgins, designer and builder of the Higgins boat that revolutionized warfare and played a key role in winning World War II

#American History #Andrew Higgins #Higgins Boat #World War II #WWII

Enough Already? Enough already? For months, President Vladimir V. Putin has predictably denied accusations of Russian interference in last year’s American election, denouncing them as fake news fueled by Russophobic hysteria.

#2016 US presidential election #active measures #Andrew Higgins #democracy #Donald Trump #Hillary Clinton #kleptocracy #legal anarchy #Leonid Volkov #mafia state #New York Times #revenge #rule of law #Russian involvement #Russian liberalism #Russian obsession with US #Vladimir Putin

But nothing happened to me. I thoughtlessly gave something dangerous to my children, one of whom suffered unquantifiably for it, and I suffered only guilt. For those living with it, guilt is compounded by the private truth that it is a decadent indulgence. There is an unspeakability to the death of a child but I find myself looking for punishment. And I welcome it. In sober, reflective moments, this strikes me as a kind of selfishness, a mutation phase in the taxonomy of narcissism. I imagine if there is a God, this is a thing he doesn’t forgive for the obviousness of its preventability: I gave you a will. Make the choice. Love the child.

The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Admission of Guilt by Andrew Higgins.

#Essays #Andrew Higgins

Randy Forbes: The one New Year's goal our nation needs

Randy Forbes: The one New Year’s goal our nation needs

At the beginning of a new year, we stand at the cusp of possibility. We have the chance for a fresh start. And though the start of the New Year may not bring with it a completely blank slate, it at least offers an opportunity to recalibrate. We find ourselves considering where we’ve been in the year before and what we want to become in the year ahead.

For many people, myself included, this…

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