MRU class constructs a new language
Karra Smith, Staff Writer |
Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, is a fundamental form of communication for all humans. With the constant developments and ever-changing rules, it’s hard to imagine where one would begin with the invention of a language. However, a linguistic anthropology class at Mount Royal University (MRU) is tackling that challenge this semester.
“A constructed language is a language invented by a person or a group of people rather than being naturally developed within a certain culture,” says Dusan Nikolic, a professor teaching Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. “Some of the most popular examples of constructed languages are Esperanto, Dothraki (Game of Thrones), and Klingon (Star Trek).”
Nikolic says he tasks students with this project because it provides a practical and creative scenario for students to apply their knowledge.
“Language is part of everyday life and communication of every human culture and society,” says Nikolic. “Which means that when students try to create a language, they think of all the aspects one language could have.”
The project began by dividing the class into four groups, with each group working on a separate aspect of language structure—phonology, morphology and syntax, writing systems, and design features.
The division of students into these four categories provided an extra challenge because each group needed aspects of other groups’ work in order for the language to be cohesive.
“These teams are not allowed to communicate with each other for the exercise,” says Ben Taylor, one of the students tasked with design features. “What ended up happening is that certain groups would, I wouldn’t say conflict, but they wouldn’t synthesize super well.”
Rachael Budge, one of the students focused on morphology—the general study of words—and syntax—the study of how words form—says that besides the framework of where this language would be spoken, the students had complete creative control.
To help create the language, Nikolic also outlined the fictional world in which this language would exist to give students more background information to work with.
“It’s a habitable, earthlike planet located in the habitable zone, breathable atmosphere, larger than Earth, it’s one point three (1.3) times Earth’s radius so there is slightly stronger gravity. The star is stable, but it’s a bit cooler than our sun. The planet has a little less biodiversity but they’re much more technologically advanced,” says Budge. “So Dusan had really given us the baseline of this world and told us ‘these are your parameters, other than that, go crazy.’”
While most groups needed information from the other sections to begin their work, Taylor and the others assigned to design features jumped right in once given the planet details.
Taylor explained that his group was in charge of figuring out the biology of the planet’s inhabitants, which gave them the most room for creativity. While the others focused on choosing consonants and similar details, his team was more focused on things like whether the creatures might be shorter due to higher gravity or possibly have purple skin.
Despite the challenges that arose with the project, both Budge and Taylor enjoyed the process of the exercise and the takeaway they gained from working on constructing a language.
“It’s very interesting, and I think it’s a good way to put into practice what we’re learning,” says Budge. “When you get to put it into a little bit more of a theoretical, especially like a fictional fantasy setting, it makes it a little bit more of a fun thing that you get to play with, rather than feeling like [you] work so much.”
