Conlangs & computer games, part 2: The reconstruction of Babel

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Sennaar Cover Firkant 1

We just can’t let that tower go, can we? When it comes to linguistics in pop culture, and to conlangs in particular, there’s no getting around the Tower of Babel. Chants of Sennaar is a video game released in 2023 by the French studio Rundisc, and it does not bother with sublety when taking its influence from the story of the Tower of Babel. But the confidence is well-earned, as it puts a spin on the story’s themes and makes great use of the medium’s interactivity and the unique opportunities that conlanging provides.

This is part two of a serial about conlangs – i.e. invented languages – and their role in the world of video games. Part one can be … ↪

Conlangs & computer games, part 1: The gaming giants

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Splatoon screenshot 1 1

Conlangs, or constructed languages, is a category of languages deliberately created by individuals or groups – as opposed to the seven or eight thousand natural languages on this planet. My interest in conlangs is already well-documented here on Lingoblog, but I also have an interest in games: Board games, word games, video games, and the mechanisms which make all of them work.

For the next couple of Wednesdays, I will be discussing a few video games which use conlangs in interesting ways.

I’ve been wanting to write this mini-serial after I noticed a small trend. It seems to me that game developers in recent years have been experimenting with the interactive potential of unique language systems, and this has

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Creole languages and island vernacular architectures

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Palmerston Island church and other buildings

It is my belief that analogies between Creole linguistic patterns and West Indian vernacular architecture are valid and important. When well constructed, they should open up many important avenues for further research in Caribbean architectural ethnography. They must not be drawn too specifically, however, or they will remain unproductive. Similarities between these two institutions of West Indian culture relate more directly to sociocultural processes than to specific forms. One should begin not only with the forms of the Creole language, but with the dynamic interrelationships between all levels of the post-creole speech continuum. Both architecture and language are forms of social symbolic communication. In both, the adoption of specific forms from a scale of possible alternatives symbolizes one’s identity, values

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Mr. Love and Mrs. Liberty: Does grammatical gender influence personification in abstract concepts?

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What is grammatical gender? 

Grammatical gender is a fascinating feature of language. Not every language utilizes it, and those that do, might not necessarily agree on noun classification systems or assignment of gender to nouns. For example, English has no grammatical gender, Spanish utilizes a masculine-feminine dichotomy, and German has an additional neuter gender. Apart from categorization of biological gender, such as “the man; the father” (Spanish: el hombre, el padre; German: der Mann, der Vater) or “the woman; the mother” (Spanish: la mujer, la madre; German: die Frau, die Mutter), grammatical gender is seemingly arbitrary. This means that various non-human, inanimate objects are assigned a gender, without any logical reason. The categorizations are random, as different languages sometimes assign … ↪

Bob Marley and his language, the film about him, and irates of the Caribbean

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There are still places where you can see the “biopic” about the life of the Jamaican reggae star musician Bob Marley. The title of the film is One Love, a kind of slogan of the Rastafari movement, of which Marley was a prominent member. All religions seem to have love as a central topic, but representatives of the major religions sometimes forget that. It is also the title of a Bob Marley song with more than a quarter billion views on Youtube.

Bob Marley was a Rastafari. Rastafaris believe that their God is a living man and living in Africa, and they pointed to emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia as their living god Jah – at least until … ↪

Global Languages Day, Sept. 17, Dokk1, Aarhus, Denmark

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Researchers and teachers connect to Aarhus University (AU) who are interested in languages, are organizing Global Languages Day, an initiative aimed at showcasing the work they do with and about languages at AU to the general public, including gymnasium students. As many languages  as possible will be represented.
The event is planned in three parts:
  1. Short talks
  2. Small booths representing the languages we have at AU (sprogsmagning) – including snacks and possibility for 2-minute language dating
  3. Q&A session (with questions selected in advance for preparation: globallanguagesday@cas.au.dk)
Global Languages Day will take place on September 17 at DOKK 1.
We plan to have the talks (part 1) from 10:00 – 12:10, the sprogsmagning (part 2) from 12:10 – 13:30, and
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Creaking in the throat – why Danish high school students have a hard time pronouncing Spanish

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¿Mi casa… Jacobolo Ditzolo. Pablo spaniol?

The quote comes from Jacob Ditzel, a character played by comedian Charter McCloskey from the Danish satirical TV show called Ditzel All Inklusiv. Ditzel has gone to the Spanish island of Mallorca and is explaining to the viewers how you make do on the island with only a few Spanish words and phrases. Most importantly, he reminds 11- 12 year old kids that they should say ’¡no!’ to sangrias and cervezas.

One of the reasons why the show is funny to Danes is that many of us have some knowledge of Spanish, although it might be quite limited. This helps us realize that there is something strange about Ditzel’s Spanish – it’s just … ↪