OT<?>: Linguist Heros was Re: No pronoun, no article

 > Date:    Sun, 19 Oct 2003 02:52:13 -0400 From:    John Cowan
 > <cowan@...> Subject: Re: No pronoun, no article
 >
 > Stone Gordonssen scripsit:
 >
 >> Drat my books being packed. There's a 70's sci-fi novel which uses
 >> this idea.
 >
 > Samuel R. Delany's _Babel 17_; one of the few novels of any kind with
 > a linguist for a hero.
 >
 > -- "May the hair on your toes never fall out!"     John Cowan
 > --Thorin Oakenshield (to Bilbo)         jcowan@reutershealth.com
 >
 > ------------------------------
I know a lot of folks don't think there have been that many "linguist
heroes" in fiction, but I think there are more than we want to believe.
  For instance, the hero of _The Languages of Pao_ by Jack Vance, who's
name escapes me.    The already mentioned _Babel 17_, of course.  Most
recently, _The Scar_ by China Mieville has a linguist heroine.  In fact,
she even makes a snide remark about someone mistranslating the pluperfect.
I'm away from my library, but I have a book called _Aliens and
Linguists_ which is an examination of linguistics in science-fiction and
fantasy.  I *know* it lists other examples, but they escape me at the
moment.  (I think C. J. Cherryh has had some linguist heroes, as well.)

When I get home again tonight, I'll scare up the book and list out more.
  In the meantime, can anyone else think of linguist heroes?  There
*have* to be more than the three I listed.

Thanks,
Jim

--
"It's better to light one candle
   than to curse the darkness."
-Chinese Proverb and The Motto of the Christophers
                      http://www.christophers.org

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