Bonus 54: Sentient plants, proto-internet, and more lingfic about quirky communication

One of the really nifty things about stories is how they can explore striking and unexpected ways that communication could be different from what we're used to, whether that's communicating with alien life forms or across space and cultures.  

In this bonus episode, Lauren and Gretchen get enthusiastic about some of the linguistically interesting fiction we've been reading lately! We talk about the challenges of communicating with sentient plants (from the plant's perspective) in Semiosis by Sue Burke, communicating with aliens by putting babies in pods (look, it was the 1980s) in Suzette Haden Elgin's classic Native Tongue, communicating with humans on a sailing ship using a sorta 19th century proto-internet in Courtney Milan's The Devil Comes Courting, and taking advantage of the difficulty of translation in communicating poetry across cultures in A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine.  

Warning: this episode may make you want to read some books! We don't spoil major plot points, but we do discuss setup premises and tiny worldbuilding details; if you're someone who likes to go into a book wholly ignorant, check out the list of book links below before listening! 

Announcements:

A new round of Lingthusiasm merch is here! Lingthusiasm the podcast transforms boring activities like going for a walk or doing chores into a lively, nerdy conversation, and we also help you wear your linguistics fandom on your sleeve, on your feet, and surrounding your notes! 

We have a bright and bold Kiki/Bouba design so you can recreate the classic psycholinguistics  experiment of cross-modal perception wherever you go!

You know how some pieces of technical terminology just really sound like they moonlight as minor swear words? “What the fricative” totally looks like something you exclaim when you stub your toe, so we put it on some merch! 

We also have our classic International Phonetic Alphabet print on backpacks, duffel bags, and phone cases!

As ever, we love seeing photos of any Lingthusiasm merch in your lives! Tag us in them @lingthusiasm on social media or show them off in the #merch-crafts-objects channel in the Lingthusiasm Discord!

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

• Sue Burke 
• Semiosis by Sue Burke
• Wikipedia entry for the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
• Suzette Haden Elgin
• Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin
• Lingthusiasm Episode 18: Translating the Untranslatable
• Lauren's review of Native Tongue
• Courtney Milan 
• The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan 
• Arkady Martine 
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine 
• Previously in lingfic episodes: 3: Arrival of the Linguists, 33: Reading fiction like a linguist, 49: How translators approach a text 

You can listen to this episode on this page, via the Patreon RSS or download the mp3. A transcript of this episode is available as a Google Doc. Lingthusiasm is also on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com or chat to us on the Patreon page. Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic. Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

To chat about this episode and other lingthusiastic topics with your fellow linguistics fans, join us on the Lingthusiasm Discord server.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, our production manager is Liz McCullough, and our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles