Dictionnaire des langues imaginaires: A Guide to Non-Natural Languages
Paolo Albani and Berlinghiero Buonarroti's 'Dictionnaire des langues imaginaires' (published by Les Belles Lettres) catalogs over 3,000 entries on non-natural languages, including sacred glossolalia, social constructs like Esperanto, and fictional tongues from Klingon to Schtroumpf. The 570-page volume covers idioms of nonexistent peoples, universal language projects, and linguistic inventions, referencing figures like Noam Chomsky and Sapir-Whorf. Its cross-referencing system enables fluid navigation, treating language as a paradoxical foundation for dictionaries when the languages listed are often unused. Christophe Kihm reviewed the work in artpress.
Key facts
- Dictionnaire des langues imaginaires by Paolo Albani and Berlinghiero Buonarroti published by Les Belles Lettres
- Contains over 3,000 entries on non-natural languages
- 570 pages covering sacred glossolalia, social languages like Esperanto, and fictional tongues
- Includes Klingon, Schtroumpf, and references to Noam Chomsky and Sapir-Whorf
- Cross-referencing system allows fluid reading
- Reviewed by Christophe Kihm in artpress
- Considers any non-natural language as 'imaginary'
- Explores hidden potentials of language
Entities
Artists
- Paolo Albani
- Berlinghiero Buonarroti
- Christophe Kihm
- Noam Chomsky
- Sapir
- Whorf
Institutions
- Les Belles Lettres
- artpress
- Académie internationale de Volapük
Sources
- artpress —