Tuesday, we’re talking about 'ach yIn nuvpu' Hol chenmoH 'Iv, Klingon for “people who create language.” Constructed languages aren’t just for science fiction though. The linguist Arika Okrent says that people have been inventing their own languages for centuries. They’ve wanted to better understand the world, build Utopia or create artistic expression. She’ll join us, along with filmmakers working on a documentary about “conlangs”, to explore how playing with language helps us understand ourselves.
- Arika Okrent is a linguist and author of In the Land of Invented Languages: Adventures in Linguistic Creativity, Madness, and Genius [Indiebound|Amazon]. She's also the language editor at Mental Floss.
- Britton Watkins is directing the documentary film Conlanging. Josh Feldman is director of photography and editor. Filming continues through this year.
- Klingon courtesy of Bing translator
Trent Pehrson lives in American Fork, Utah with his wife and 8 children. He’s a software design engineer. When he was 10 he started creating his own language.
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