For my second paper proposal, I have been thinking about working with the Na'vi language from James Cameron's Avatar. As much as I hated sitting through that movie (and never will again) I figured I will write about it. In this movie, Na'vi is the Avatar language which Paul Frommer, created after studying linguistics. He made this language realistic so it is has typical conventions familiar to humans for learning. There are established charts for learning consonants, vowels and pronunciation, which would be a vital part to include in the paper. Language is the basis of communciation and two people have to at least be on that level to begin communicating. In the movie, there is a noticable barrier in which the humans do not understand the Avatars.
To create such a language, Frommer had to use realistic linguistics and phonetics and that language is just as realistic to learn as English is. If everyone were to learn Na'vi, it would also evolve from oral to print, to manuscript and digital with all of the same challeges our world faced with the revolution of language.
Useful brainstorming, Tiffany. The idea of artificial languages is certainly interesting. Esperonto is one such language, and so is Klingon, and you might research how these languages evolved during the print and digital era. Those examples might give you more specific examples to examine, since what you had to say about Na'vi is speculative. (I gather that the Na'vi are depicted as pre-literate.) Can you tell me a little more about how this paper topic will help you demonstrate what you have learned about the history and future of the book?
:( I loved Avatar.
You thought a very interesting idea, after read your blog I really want to search the Na'vi dictionary & read some part of it, and it is so amazing.