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Linguistics has an intrinsic connection to science fiction stories given the nature of the genre and its frequent use of alien settings and cultures. As mentioned in Aliens and Linguists: Language Study and Science Fiction [1] by Walter E. Meyers, science fiction is almost always concerned with the idea of communication, [2] such as communication with aliens and machines, or communication ...
A formal description of an alien language in science fiction may have been pioneered by Percy Greg's Martian language (he called it "Martial") in his 1880 novel Across the Zodiac, [1] although already the 17th century book The Man in the Moone describes the language of the Lunars, consisting "not so much of words and letters as tunes and strange sounds", which is in turn predated by other ...
Lexicalization may be simple, for example borrowing a word from another language, or more involved, as in calque or loan translation, wherein a foreign phrase is translated literally, as in marché aux puces, or in English, flea market. Other mechanisms include compounding, abbreviation, and blending. [2]
In systemic-functional linguistics, a lexis or lexical item is the way one calls a particular thing or a type of phenomenon. Since a lexis from a systemic-functional perspective is a way of calling, it can be realised by multiple grammatical words such as "The White House", "New York City" or "heart attack".
Lexicology is the branch of linguistics that analyzes the lexicon of a specific language.A word is the smallest meaningful unit of a language that can stand on its own, and is made up of small components called morphemes and even smaller elements known as phonemes, or distinguishing sounds.
The problem of alien language has confronted generations of science fiction writers; some have created fictional languages for their characters to use, while others have circumvented the problem through translation devices or other fantastic technology.
Lexical words are those that have independent meaning (such as a Noun (N), verb (V), adjective (A), adverb (Adv), or preposition (P)). The definition which reports the meaning of a word or a phrase as it is actually used by people is called a lexical definition. Meanings of words given in a dictionary are lexical definitions.
A universal translator is a device common to many science fiction works, especially on television. First described in Murray Leinster's 1945 novella "First Contact", [1] the translator's purpose is to offer an instant translation of any language.