Arika Okrent, PhD ’04, investigates invented languages

Arika Okrent, a 2004 PhD graduate from the Department of Linguistics, has written a book on the world of invented languages. In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build a Perfect Language, examines 900 years containing at least 900 attempts at creating new languages. The Boston Globe describes:

Okrent goes so far as to attend an Esperanto congress in Havana, admitting that beforehand “the clearest mental picture . . . I could muster was five gray-haired radicals on folding chairs bantering about the Spanish Civil War and their stamp collections.” What she finds instead is quixotic perhaps, but strangely vital. Beyond Esperanto, she investigates a number of other invented languages, their creators, and speakers – if any.

See the full article here.