LANGUAGE EXTRAPOLATION: glossopoesis in science fiction

Abstract

In this thesis, I address the following research question: how can fictional languages add depth and credibility to a narrative? To this, I explore the literary phenomenon of glossopoesis in science fiction regarding fictional languages as narrative constituents rather than as unimportant textual decorations. According to this view, glossopoesis should be the object of literary criticism, unlike most previous studies that have largely revolved around such properties as linguistic accuracy or plausibility criteria anchored in natural language paradigms. Throughout this thesis, I have applied a predominantly bibliographic method, thoroughly reviewing authoritative scholarly works and prominent literary texts informed by an interdisciplinary framework. The first part of the thesis provides a diachronic survey of literary glossopoesis that ranges from the 1500s to contemporaneity and is sensitive to literary and historical contexts. Additionally, I reanalyse the reading protocols of science fiction, foregrounding textual features that form the set of interpretative cues common to the genre. With a qualitative approach, the second part of the thesis deploys an analytical toolkit that draws on literary stylistics, pragmatics and narrative theory. On that account, I revisit Stockwell’s (2006) three broad functions of fictional languages in contrast with Cheyne (2008) and Tolkien (2016) to propose a new model comprising of five specific functions: speculative, rhetorical, descriptive, diegetic and paratextual. The speculative and descriptive functions seek to conciliate what Stockwell and Cheyne respectively refer to as ‘indexical’ and ‘alien encounter’ as well as ‘elaborative’ and ‘characterisation’, including particular world-building techniques. The rhetorical function is concerned with the use of glossopoesis as a rhetorical device to generate readerly and textual effects. In the diegetic function, glossopoesis operates as a diegetic ancillary tool to move the plot forward, interfacing theme and style within the narrative discourse. Finally, the paratextual function involves fictional languages shown in extradiegetic material, not written in prose and outside what is typically considered narrative, while still impacting reading and interpretation. Using case studies with a corpus covering twentieth- and twenty-first-century English-language science fiction novels and short stories, I focus on texts in which fictional languages become narrative dominants, studying them from a theoretical perspective centred on the narrative function that is most salient in each. As a result, a critical model to tackle various aspects of literary glossopoesis in a principled way is provided, in addition to new interpretative angles to architexts and more recent literature as I combine key findings from each case study to present a multipart account of the literary phenomenon of fictional languages in science fiction.