In the land of invented languages : Esperanto rock stars, Klingon poets, Loglan lovers, and the mad dreamers who tried to build a perfect language Cover Image

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In the land of invented languages : Esperanto rock stars, Klingon poets, Loglan lovers, and the mad dreamers who tried to build a perfect language

Summary: Okrent tells the fascinating and highly entertaining history of man's enduring quest to build a better language. Peopled with charming eccentrics and exasperating megalomaniacs, the land of invented languages is a place where you can recite the Lord's Prayer in John Wilkins's Philosophical Language, say your wedding vows in Loglan, and read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" in Lojban--not to mention Babm, Blissymbolics, and the nearly nine hundred other invented languages featured in this language-lover's book.

Record details

ISBN: 0385527888
ISBN: 9780385527880
Physical Description: 342 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
print
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Spiegel & Grau, 2009.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [323]-329) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Nine hundred languages, nine hundred years : Scaring the mundanes ; A history of failure -- John Wilkins and the language of truth : The six-hundred page rewrite ; A calculus of thought ; A hierarchy of the universe ; The word for "shit" ; Knowing what you mean to say -- Ludwik Zamenhof and the language of peace : A linguistic handshake ; Un nuov glot ; Trouble in Volapükland ; A nudist, a gay ornithologist, a railroad enthusiast, and a punk cannabis smoker walk into a bar ; Crank pride -- Charles Bliss and the language of symbols : Word magic ; Hit by a personality tornado ; Those queer and mysterious Chinese characters ; The spacemen speak ; The catastrophic results of her ignorance -- James Cooke Brown and the language of logic : The Whorfian hypothesis ; A formula for success ; Suitable apologies ; Meaning quicksand ; To menstruate joyfully -- The Klingons, the Conlangers, and the art of language : Flaws or features? ; The go-to linguist ; What are they doing? ; The secret vice -- Appendix A. The list of languages ; Appendix B. Language samples.