On the friskiness of language

[Sommer Leigh]

The following video is an audio recording by Stephen Fry put to kinetic typography about language and it is lovely and funny in a way I only wish I could be. Stephen talks about the beauty of language and the ridiculousness of those who attempt to box linguistics into boring and lifeless conformity, although he says it better than I. He puts down in words exactly how I feel, that language can do all sorts of amazing things, including one of my favorite linguistic tricks - verbing nouns (gasp!) - an act which delights me though I have no idea why. Is there anything more fun than a noun that has been verbed? I highly doubt it. Nouns love to be verbed, it's the only action they ever get! (Hah! I'm hysterical and a bit punchy at seven in the morning.)

Anyway, with no further ado, I hope you enjoy!

[Jenemb]

I love Stephen Fry. I want to marry his brain!

I'm currently reading An Ode Less Travelled, and really enjoying it. I finally know what Iambic Pentameter is, after bluffing my way through poetry at university.

[bcomet]

at last, a proponent of freedom for language

and for the fun and delight of it too!

(sigh)

[Beethovenfan]

Sommer,
That. Was. Awesome! A great start to my day. :)

[Claudie]

That was so much fun, Sommer! Thank you! I loved Stephen Fry, and now I do so even more. ^^

[Sommer Leigh]

I'm glad you liked it!

I had a creative non-fiction writing class in college and some of us used to play this game every class period unofficially called "Our favorite sexy word of the day." We'd bring each other words that were incredible to say...nevermind their meaning. It was all about the way the word sounded and how the word inspired us when we heard it. It was kind of awesome. (The British kid always won the game - he could read the back of a cereal box and I'd go all jelly in the knees.) We'd sit in class saying these words to ourselves like they were little slivers of chocolate and I'm sure our prof was occasionally freaked out when she'd look out into the class and see six of her students mouthing words to themselves for an hour.

So this video really reminded me of that!

[sbs_mjc1]

I had a creative non-fiction writing class in college and some of us used to play this game every class period unofficially called "Our favorite sexy word of the day." We'd bring each other words that were incredible to say...nevermind their meaning.

In spite of whatever Walter Scott had to say about it (internalized self-hatred ahoy!), I think Scottish Gaelic (and presumably Irish Gaelic) is great for this... all the rolled r's and soft consonant sounds. One of my all-time favorite words in any language is gerrheaghan. It refers to a particular violin bowing technique, but is a an onomatopoeia and sounds a bit like a purr. Much to Michael's puzzlement, I manage to incorporate a number of Galicisms into my writing (I can only wonder whether it puts people off or not).

Do any of you speak a non-English language, and does it influence your English-language writings?

[Down the well]

Do any of you speak a non-English language, and does it influence your English-language writings?

I'm still trying to master English, but my main character speaks Welsh so I've had to incorporate it into my story. It aint been easy.

[Jenemb]

Do any of you speak a non-English language, and does it influence your English-language writings?

I grew up in Papua New Guinea. As a kid I was fluent in Tok Pisin, which was originally the pidgin English spoken there, but is now recognised as a distinct language. It's disappointing that I've forgotten most of it over the years because we moved back to Australia and I was no longer exposed to it. I've also spent some time in Vanuatu, and Bislama is a very similar language. I would love to be as proficient as I was, and I would love to use it in my writing, as soon as I can come up with the right novel for it!

[Anobile1]

I think Scottish Gaelic (and presumably Irish Gaelic) is great for this...

Oh man, Gaelic. I wouldn't say it's the best sounding language (though it's not far off), but it's by far the coolest. There's a legend about Gaelic being the universal language for Europe a few thousand years ago. My linguist mom says the language has a lot of the characteristics of being that old. The legend recently got her to start writing a novel, actually, and I just might incorporate it into one of my novels someday too.

As for the best sounding language, I would have to pick Finnish. Doesn't kaksikorvasella just sound yummy? (though I don't remember what it means...) How about ummiskengilleni? 8D

I met someone online recently who purposely spells words differently (like world is wurld, and better is bhetta) and has invented some of her own words (like sightplace for eyes and thinkspunge for mind). It's really fun and interesting to read stuff she's written.

I'm developing a fantasy world (with hopes to have it be as complex as Tolkien's Middle-Earth; we'll see how far I get) and I have about fifteen languages to create for it. I know some Japanese and I want to learn at least some Finnish and Gaelic (probably Scottish), to help me with that. Creating languages ain't easy. >_>