www.alphadictionary.com

Here is a nice little piece from The Economist, a beginner's "how to," so to speak.

Regarding Klingon, by brother saw a performance of A Christmas Carol in it a few years back.

Has anyone compared invented languages spoken by twins to each other?

Regarding Klingon, by brother saw a performance of A Christmas Carol in it a few years back.

I bet that was interesting! Reminds me of Star Trek's Chancellor Gorkon: "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.'

Popular sci-fi programs and books have introduced "alien" words into the vocabulary of their fanbase; a couple especially jazzy-sounding words from one of Tanith Lee's old books still come to mind on occasions where an English seems lackluster by comparison. "Alien" swear words are especially popular, perhaps because they easily clear all the swear-word filters! I've been watching Defiance and mentally wagering on how long before I encounter the most recurrent cussing appear out of context.

Grok, from Stranger in a Strange Land.

Grok, from Stranger in a Strange Land.

Great word, great novel, yet it is not quite an entire language, is it?

Perry: Re your question: "Has anyone compared invented languages spoken by twins to each other?"

Compared it with what?

I have brothers who are twins and they never had an invented language. I had three cousins who were sisters but not triplets. Their father moved them from place to place constantly. As a result they were very shy and clung to each other emotionally. They had a full scale invented language they used into their teens.

I respect Tolkien and his invented languages. He was a linguist and well able to do it. I see no need for invented languages to facilitate communication or to reverse the Tower of Babel. English holds fair to be the needed universal language.

Glossolalia is a language of sorts. I don't speak in tongues, but I am well acquainted with the phenomenon. If one listens to it from different individuals, it can be seen to have many common syllables in it. I think that if one allows her/his tongue free reign without any thought applied, certain easy syllables are likely to be spoken. Glossolalia is not peculiar to a branch of Christianity. It has been known to occur in other settings.

"Science Fiction", which seems to be a phrase that negates itself in the same sense as does "military intelligence", holds absolutely no interest for me so I don't know Grok from Klingon. I thought Klingon was the name of a kitchen plastic wrap that clings to the dish it covers.

My original query about twins was to compare grammar, syntax, and word choice with a view to finding whether the brain has any hardwiring to speak one way or another.

I know most people learn language by hearing it. We all did as children. But now, if I play Arabic or Japanese language lessons, i have trouble because I need to look and see what that sound is. Perhaps if someone were there to correct me...

Linguists tend to think we are wired for speaking and hearing words from birth in any possible language. It seem that the part of wiring that might be needed in another language than our native language gets suppressed, perhaps the brain cells die, so that as we age it is harder to learn a new language. There have been some interesting experiments with babies on this line of thought.