Do You Speak Conlang?

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2018

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sci-fi fantasy worlds often use constructed languages (or conlangs for short) as a worldbuilding tool that can make us believe the characters come from an ancient or alien culture. But art can take on a life of its own once it's released into the world -- and so do languages. Marc Okrand, inventor of the Klingon language, and David J. Peterson, inventor of the Dothraki language and The 100's Trigedasleng, talk about the surprises they encountered. I also talk with Lawrence M. Schoen of the Klingon Language Institute and Robyn Stewart, the language consultant for Star Trek: Discovery, about why the Klingon culture spilled over into the real world. And Jen Usellis -- a.k.a. Klingon Pop Warrior -- will give you a serious case of earworms, and we're not talking about the mind-controlling earworms from Star Trek II. To hear Matt Fiddler's episode from Very Bad Words on cursing in conlangs:http://www.verybadwords.com/shows/constructed-curses-in-sci-fi-fantasy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them and why we suspend
0:05.4	her disbelief.
0:06.6	I'm Eric Mullinsky.
0:09.3	Gen Yussellis is a singer in Chicago.
0:12.3	And about eight years ago, a friend of hers told her about a show that was looking for
0:15.8	performers.
0:17.4	The show was a cling on Christmas Carol.
0:20.8	Now, Gen had not watched a lot of Star Trek before.
0:24.7	And I have this hardcore love of really goofy niche theater.
0:30.9	And I was like, really?
0:32.8	What do I have to do to get cast in that?
0:35.7	And he goes, well, are you allergic to latex?
0:37.9	And I was like, no.
0:40.0	And so he goes, we'll come out in our edition.
0:43.5	And then she learned something else about the show.
0:46.1	All of her lines would be in the cling on language.
0:49.8	And yes, cling on is a fully functioning language that actors who play cling on's
0:54.4	in Star Trek usually have to learn.
0:56.9	In this case, in the cling on Christmas Carol, there would be super titles above the stage
1:01.2	in English.
1:02.2	So the audience would know what's going on.
1:04.7	Now that might be intimidating for some performers, but Gen has an opera background.
	...

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