
Some examples include usage of obscure languages and cultural references to conceal information from others, imperfections of computer translation, use of pidgin and linguistic barriers, psychological concepts which do not have matches in other races' languages, and a race so alien that it cannot be understood at all without a translation by another race which itself can barely be understood due to manifold meanings in each message.
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Cherryh's Chanur series of books relies heavily on linguistic and psychological problems of communication between various alien races. In Dragon Ball Z, Bulma speaks in her usual language (Japanese) and thereby involuntarily activates some functions of an alien starship, as her words are identified by the ship's computer as Namekkian orders.This is identical phonetically to ahel, which means 'continuous fire' in Minbari. In the Babylon 5 episode " Into the Fire", Commander Susan Ivanova gives orders to a Minbari crew in their language, and exclaims "Ah Hell!" in frustration, inadvertently giving the command "continuous fire" in Minbari.The film's universal translator consistently translates these as being offers of friendship despite the fact that the aliens' actions are anything but friendly. In the film Mars Attacks!, the language spoken by the Martians appears to consist only of the words "ack!" and "rack!" spoken at different pitches and volume.In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the crew is forced to speak (broken) Klingon without the universal translator.The existence of alien languages and the ease or difficulty of translation is used as a plot device or script element in a number of franchises, sometimes seriously, and sometimes for comedic value. For his 2009 science fiction film Avatar, creator and director James Cameron constructed the fictional Na'vi language (with the aid of college professor Paul Frommer) for his fictional alien Na'vi race in the film.The language primarily consists of words and robotic sounds. But, it wasn't until the 2007 movie, the language was given sound by the Decepticons. It made its debut in the 1984 episode, "Cosmic Rust". In the world of Transformers, the official language of their planet, Cybertron is Cybertronian.The DC Comics, Kryptonese (for which there exists an alphabet and language glossary).The Zentradi language from the Macross Japanese science-fiction anime series.Examples include the Klingon language of the Star Trek universe (a fully developed constructed language created by Marc Okrand).Ī number of long-running franchises have taken the concept of an alien language beyond that of a scripting device and have developed languages of their own. Merrill not only deals with differences in verbal communication, but gestures and other " body language", pointing out the inextricability of language with cultural and social norms. The novel critically approaches humanity's intelligence and intentions in deciphering and truly comprehending a message from outer space. Stanislaw Lem's novel His Master's Voice describes an effort by scientists to decode, translate and understand an extraterrestrial transmission.Others work on the premise that languages with similarities can be partially understood by different species or could not understood at all. Lewis's novel Out of the Silent Planet is able to use his training in historical linguistics to decipher the language spoken on Mars. Some science-fiction works operate on the premise that alien languages can be easily learned if one has a competent understanding of the nature of languages in general. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī formal description of an alien language in science fiction may have been pioneered by Percy Greg's Martian language (he called it "Martial") in his 1880 novel Across the Zodiac, although already the 17th century book The Man in the Moone describes the language of the Lunars, consisting "not so much of words and letters as tunes and strange sounds", which is in turn predated by other invented languages in fictional societies, e.g., in Thomas More's Utopia.Īs the science fiction genre developed, so did the use of the literary trope of alien languages.

( January 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. This article possibly contains original research.
