by Suzette Haden Elgin, Jeanne Gomoll and Diane Martin

 

This book includes material from “A First Dictionary and Grammar of Láadan (2nd Ed.)” (1988) and merges it with new vocabulary created for the Láadan website.

Elgin died in 2015, but interest persists in the language she created in 1982, embodied in her SF “Native Tongue” series.

Láadan is a feminist constructed language created by Elgin to test the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that the language one speaks influences the way one thinks, i.e., can a language expressing the views of women shape a culture? Láadan includes morphemes that require speakers to own their own perceptions-words that indicate, for instance, whether a statement comes from personal observation, a trusted source, or an unreliable third party. Nowadays Elgin might argue that accusations of “fake news” would be impossible in Láadan. This language also encodes speakers’ intentions into their sentences, eliminating another form of micro-aggression, the rude comment that is passed off as “just a joke.”

All proceeds will go to the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

Can be found at:

• Lulu.com: here
  (The Science Fiction Poetry Association receives a larger part of the proceeds if you order directly from Lulu.com.)
• Amazon: here
• Barnes & Noble: here