#writing technology

Lingthusiasm Episode 88: No such thing as the oldest language

It's easy to find claims that certain languages are old or even the oldest, but which one is actually true? Fortunately, there's an easy (though unsatisfying) answer: none of them! Like how humans are all descended from other humans, even though some of us may have longer or shorter family trees found in written records, all human languages are shaped by contact with other languages. We don't even know whether the oldest language(s) was/were spoken or signed, or even whether there was a singular common ancestor language or several.

In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about what people mean when we talk about a language as being old. We talk about how classifying languages as old or classical is often a political or cultural decision, how the materials that are used to write a language influence whether it gets preserved (from clay to bark), and how people talk about creoles and signed languages in terms of oldness and newness. And finally, how a language doesn't need to be justified in terms of its age for whether it's interesting or worthy of respect.

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice or read the transcript here.

Here are the links mentioned in the episode:

Lingthusiasm episode 'Tracing languages back before recorded history'

'My Big Fat Greek Wedding- Give me any word and I show you the Greek root' on YouTube

Glottolog entry for 'classical'

Wikipedia entry for 'Complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir'

Wikipedia entry for 'Bath curse tablets'

Wikipedia entry for 'Cuneiform'

Wikipedia entry for 'Mesopotamian writing systems'

Wikipedia entry for 'Home Sign'

Lingthusiasm episode 'Villages, gifs, and children: Researching signed languages in real-world contexts with Lynn Hou'

Wikipedia entry for 'Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language'

Wikipedia entry for 'Kata Kolok' (also known as Benkala Sign Language)

True Biz by Sara Nović on Goodreads

Gretchen's thread about reading True Biz

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening.

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Lingthusiasm is on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Mastodon, and Tumblr. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Bluesky as @GretchenMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Bluesky as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, our production assistant is Martha Tsutsui Billins, and our editorial assistant is Jon Kruk. Our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

I’d like to say that today is going to be a difficult writing exercise, but this one will be a “do what you will day”. Get loosey goosey with it, and have fun with it. What’s today’s exercise? Find a prompt and write for 30 minutes to an hour. For those who aren’t familiar with prompt generators, or where to find prompts, I’d like to offer up a few below. ServiceScape has over 1000 story…

I remember very little of what it was like to learn to write; I suspect I learned when I was very young and likely taught myself.

Your fantasy world will need some level of technology to be realistic. I use ages in human history as basis for my own levels of technology found within my world. Is your world based in the Stone Age, where they use stone-based weapons and have few advances? Or maybe your world takes place in an industrial era. Sometimes there can be a technological boom in one area, but another area may be behind considerably. You might consider who has technology and why?

 One bit of advice I have about technology is this: go light on the details. Know them, yes. But don’t write out how every light bulb or steam engine works. It bores readers. Just give enough details so that a reader can get the idea. Afterall, the story is about the characters.

 Technology is important for storytelling. Say your character has to get from the valley to the fortress. How will they get there? Do they teleport, fly, walk, or ride in a car or carriage? Or, say a character goes into a dark room. How do they see? Do they have night vision goggles, do they flip on a light, or do they light a torch?  Or, say your character needs to deliver a message. How does this work? Do they call them, text them, or send an owl?

 Sometimes technology isn’t widespread. Technology can be very expensive. Maybe your richer nations have better hospitals, infrastructure, and electricity, while your poorer countries have this to a sparce degree. Maybe people have to travel long distances to see this level of technology. Maybe the people of this place do not want to share with the world. This can create international conflict.

 In my world, the west uses mechanical gears in carts to get around. The driver winds the gears and directs the cart. Not everybody can afford to rent or own one. The people who do not have access to carts, rely on foot travel. In the east, they mainly rely upon great ships that look like sea monsters. Some of the more wealthy humans have horses and carriages. Underground, they use a steam powered locomotive called the Worm. Everyone is allowed access to the Worm. Each of these civilizations developed independently of one another, and they have only begun to influence one another.

 Most of my technology arises from a question I asked. How do they cook? How do they travel? How do they light/ heat their homes? Your technology should have a specific purpose in your world, and it should answer a similar question.

 Technology evolves over time. In human history, we went from the stone age, to the bronze age, to the iron age, and onward. In your world, are scientists working on the new best thing? If not, why?

 Technology should have consequences. For example, where there are lots of electric lights, a person cannot see the stars as well. Pollution goes into the air and water. Gaps between the haves and the have-nots are widening. People become complacent and do not fight for change when it’s needed. But there are good consequences too. Our lives have gotten easier with modern conveniences.

 What impact does technology have on your world?

 Some blogs I found:

https://writefortheking.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/world-building-5-questions-to-ask-when-thinking-through-technology/

This week we discuss how the Sci-Fi genre uses technology to set itself apart from others. From Light Sabers to First Ones Tech, we list a few of our favorites as well as some that have had actual impacts on innovation in the real world. We had a lot of laughs this week, so it was a fun one to edit. 

How to Write 225 Words Per Minute – With a Pen

Lingthusiasm Episode 52: Writing is a technology

There’s no known human society without language, whether spoken or signed or both, but writing is a different story. Writing is a technology that has only been invented from scratch a handful of times: in ancient Sumeria (where it may have spread to ancient Egypt or been invented separately there), in ancient China, and in ancient Mesoamerica. Far more often, the idea of writing spreads through contact between one culture and its neighbours, even though the shape of the written characters and what they stand for can vary a lot as it spreads. 

In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about writing systems, and how the structure and history of a language contribute to the massively multigenerational project of devising a writing system (a project which is still ongoing). We also talk about some of our favourite origin-of-writing system stories, including the invention of the Cherokee syllabary and Korean hangul. 

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice or read the transcript here

Announcements 

We’re just about to hit 100 Lingthusiasm episodes! If you’re wondering why this is only episode 52, that’s because the other half of them exist as bonus episodes on Patreon. It’s also been one year since we launched the Lingthusiasm Discord server, which has grown into a place where casual conversations about food and pets always have the potential to veer off into linguistics. There are always new people trickling into the Discord, so come by if you’re looking for a place to nerd out with fellow linguistics enthusiasts!

This month’s bonus episode is outtake stories from Lingthusiasm interviews! We've interviewed lots of great linguists on Lingthusiasm, and sometimes there's a story or two that we just don't have space for in the main episode, so here's a bonus episode with our favourite outtakes! Think of it as a special bonus edition DVD of the past few years of Lingthusiasm with director's commentary and deleted scenes. Join us on Patreon to get access to this and 46 other bonus episodes!

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

Cuneiform gingerbread 

Meso-America writing

Chinese Oracle Bones 

Stokoe Notation System

HamNoSys 

Examples of written Sign Languages

Writing as an identity symbol

Lingthusiasm Episode 21: What words sound spiky across languages? Interview with Suzy Styles

Crash Course Linguistics: Writing Systems

Full Crash Course Linguistics playlist 

You can listen to this episode via Lingthusiasm.com, Soundcloud, RSS, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also download an mp3 via the Soundcloud page for offline listening.

To receive an email whenever a new episode drops, sign up for the Lingthusiasm mailing list.

You can help keep Lingthusiasm ad-free, get access to bonus content, and more perks by supporting us on Patreon.

Lingthusiasm is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com

Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic.

Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, our production manager is Liz McCullough, and our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles.

But nah, you were right in your comment on Winter Wonderland, I don't know much about computers lol

I only address Caine's technical side when I need to. Luckily the series is about Caine's emotions and bonds instead of his technological workings.

But I am very aware that the technical and computery parts of Caine's character in my stories are complete nonsense, and I apologize for that 😅

HAHA REALLY?! I did the same thing! Opened up a laptop to fix the charging port only to shred the grounding wire for the case. The little sucker knew it had been opened and refused to boot, had to pay to get it fixed. That's just the unfortunate truth about (most) tech these days, it's not built to be opened up and poked at.

Aww, don't apologize for skimming over the tech stuff. Sorry if my comment on Winter Wonderland came over as harsh, I didn't mean it like that. Technology, especially game design, is my very special interest, so I care a little (way) to much when it gets interpreted wrong. Though, the tech stuff in your fics is less wrong and more like I can tell you are getting your understanding of software from Minecraft. Redstone really did a lot for the world, huh.

I 100% understand not wanting to spend hours researching all the little details that go into computers. Modern videogames truly are a rats nest of different technologies. Trying to find an accurate reason for Caine to have memory issues and need for sleep would stuck, especially when the why doesn't matter.