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. 2021 May 10;376(1824):20200201.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0201. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

Comparing prehistoric constructed languages: world-building and its role in understanding prehistoric languages

Christine Schreyer  1 , David Adger  2
Affiliations

Comparing prehistoric constructed languages: world-building and its role in understanding prehistoric languages

Christine Schreyer et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

Abstract

In this paper, we compare the languages each of the authors invented as prehistoric languages for popular culture media. Schreyer's language, Beama, was created for the film Alpha (2018), while Adger's language, Tan!aa Kawawa ki, was created for a television series on how early hominins spread throughout the world (the series was green-lit but then cancelled). We argue that though this creative process may seem far removed from classical research paradigms on language evolution, it can provide some insight into how disparate research on the possible properties of prehistoric languages can be brought together to illustrate how these languages might have worked as whole linguistic systems within these imagined worlds, as well as in prehistory. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.

Keywords: anthropology; conlang; language evolution; linguistics; prehistoric languages; world-building.

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Cited by

  • Reconstructing prehistoric languages.
    Benítez-Burraco A, Progovac L. Benítez-Burraco A, et al. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021 May 10;376(1824):20200187. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0187. Epub 2021 Mar 22. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021. PMID: 33745317 Free PMC article.

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