麻豆影院

David Peterson, who will be coming to campus to discuss the history of language creation and his own methods of 'conlanging'鈥攐r constructing languages鈥攐n Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. in the CASE Auditorium

Dothraki and High Valyrian, two languages created for the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones, helped draw a large community of captivated fans to the show鈥檚 mythical world, and now their creator will be speaking at an event at the 麻豆影院.

The languages, based on George R.R. Martin鈥檚 fantasy series, were created by linguist David Peterson, who will be coming to campus to discuss the history of language creation and his own methods of 鈥渃onlanging鈥濃�攐r constructing languages鈥攐n Feb. 18 at 6 p.m. in the CASE Auditorium.听

Tickets for the event, which is co-sponsored by the CU Linguistics Club and the Department of Linguistics, are free and . A light reception will follow the talk.

鈥淚 think what's so cool about this event is that it will get the audience interested in a whole new area of knowledge,鈥� said Delaney Deskin, a linguistics and political science undergraduate and president of the CU Linguistics Club.

On top of Dothraki and Valyrian, Peterson has created other 鈥渃onlangs鈥� for shows and movies like the Netflix film Bright, the CW series The 100 and Marvel鈥檚 Thor: The Dark World.听

As such, Peterson is Hollywood鈥檚 go-to linguist for conlangs that bring a sense of reality to fictional worlds. While the art of conlanging has been around since series like Star Trek and J.R.R. Tolkien鈥檚 Lord of the Rings, Peterson鈥檚 work with Game of Thrones pushed the field of linguistics to the front of pop culture.

Though conlanging may seem like a simple compilation of random sounds, Deskin discusses, language creation mingles closely with the role of language in social dynamics in creating a sense of reality within a fictional society.听

"Something that distresses me is that people see the title "conlanging" and limit themselves and think, 'Oh, well that's just made up,' when it's not,鈥� Deskin explains. 鈥淚t's another thing, and it's another tool in someone's arsenal to engage with their community and find common interests and stuff."

With the increasing emergence of conlangs in the entertainment industry, Deskin sees further emphasis on the field of linguistics鈥� interdisciplinary involvement in many aspects of society. As she studies both linguistics and political science, Deskin also tells of her department鈥檚 push for connecting linguistics with other fields of study and its emphasis on language鈥檚 鈥減lacement in the larger background of daily life.鈥澨�

From the linguistic club, Deskin, vice president Lauren Nelsen, secretary Maisa Nanmari and treasurer Nadine Salvador came up with the idea of inviting Peterson to speak on the creation of language. They collaborated with Professor Laura Michaelis and Cynthia Clark of the Department of Linguistics to bring him to campus.听

Deskin hopes that this event is a fun way to introduce the larger campus community to linguistics through pop culture. With the notion that language is not isolated from society, she hopes people will further learn more about language through its connection to other fields 鈥渙utside of the vacuum.鈥�

鈥淚 think it's really powerful for someone to actually think about what is the society and the dynamics I'm creating, and how does language play into that? Because language isn't isolated from the rest of society.鈥�

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