Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Stephen Cain (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A unique addition to the literary reference shelf, this overview of synthetic languages covers the gamut of classic and popular works that feature idiosyncratic speech, writing, or code. Impeccably summarized are the syntactic and verbal elements of argot from works by Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, George Orwell, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, and Kurt Vonnegut as well as from films such as Blade Runner and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and television shows such as Alien Nation and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

More than 200 entries are arranged alphabetically by name of work and cover languages found in novels, short stories, films, television shows, and children's books, mostly from the science-fiction realm. Four or five pages illustrated with examples of alphabet systems are devoted to The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek other entries are just a few lines long. Each entry concludes with a list of sources. "Guide to Related Topics" leads the reader to languages of similar types ("Animal Languages," "Extraterrestrial Languages," "Utopian/Dystopian Languages"). A succinct bibliography and indexing by subject and named language round out the book, which is an essential resource tool for the teacher, researcher, librarian, linguist, and reader. Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“Conley and Cain provide over 200 entries on fictional languages in prose literature, film, and television. Most of the entries cover languages in science fiction and fantasy genre texts, whereas others present linguistic exploration in diverse works, e.g., Casanova's 1788 novel Icosameron....[t]he encyclopedia includes many excellent figures, diagrams, and illustrations of fictional scripts, alphabets, and grammatical constructions. Entries are usefully cross-indexed, and the book includes a handy list of topical groupings like "dinosaur languages" and "gender-based languages." The authors write with enthusiasm and authority, as does Ursula LeGuin in the foreword....Lower-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; general readers.”–Choice

“[T]here are no other comparable reference works available on the topic. (It should be noted that this book is thus far the only one with the Library of Congress subject heading "Imaginary languages--Encyclopedias.") This volume is recommended for academic libraries.”–Reference & User Services Quarterly

“A unique addition to the literary reference shelf, this overview of synthetic languages covers the gamut of classic and popular works that feature idiosyncratic speech, writing, or code. Impeccably summarized are the syntactic and verbal elements of argot from works by Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft, George Orwell, Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, and Kurt Vonnegut; as well as from films such as Blade Runner and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and television shows such as Alien Nation and Buffy the Vampire Slayer....A succinct bibliography and indexing by subject and named language round out the book, which is an essential resource tool for the teacher, researcher, librarian, linguist, and reader.”–Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (June 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031333188X
• ISBN-13: 978-0313331886
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,399,844 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Idea, Weak Delivery, May 10, 2007

By	Walter O. Koenig "Amoxtli" (San Diego, California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The idea of an Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages is an excellent one, but not original. Such an encyclopedia already exists in Italian published in 1994 by Albani and Buanarotti as "Aga Magera Difura: Dizionario delle Lingue Imaginarie" (also translated into French) and there is of course also the wonderful "Dictionary of Imaginary Places" by Manguel and Guadalupi. Somehow I think it would have been better just to translate the work by Albani and Buanarotti, because this book is disappointing in almost all aspects.

First of all the choices of languages is highly suspect and one wonders whether the language of "Mork and Mindy" or "Tarzan of the Apes" should have been included, and then one notices that there are too many entries based on films or TV shows. Yes, I can agree with the language of "A Clockwork Orange" possibly being included or the languages of the Tolkien novels, but this book relies too much on what I would call barely developed languages where there are only a few unique words.

So we have dozens of languages that might have been better omitted in an "Encyclopedia" that is only 236 pages long including List of Entries, Guide to Related Topics, Foreword, Acknowledgements, Bibliography, and indices. This means that the entries are brief. Many entries are less than half a page long and this not exactly the format for describing something as complex as languages, many of which have their own writing systems. Most of the entries are not informative and most give only a single reference.

When the authors do encounter a language that is original, complex and incredible such as the language of the Codex Serpahinianus for example, the description is weak. One short paragraph long, no illustrations, no attempt at description and the only reference is the Codex itself. This is not exactly helpful.

In summary, what we have here is an overpriced slim volume posing as a dictionary with short entries, many of questionable value containing limited information, and a bibliography that lists only ten sources, half of which I would not have included. I should have given this book one star, but gave it two because of the idea. Now someone needs to expand on this and create a real Encyclopedia.

Review by Walter O. Koenig