Qapla’!
How the successful adaption of lexicon from fictional media genres has led to a Eucatastrophe of linguistic evolution in world languages
This is the third and final installment of an article series that focuses on linguistic evolution from fictional genres and cultures.
While there are many examples of fictional genres and cultures influencing the lexicon of English, this phenomenon has affected the linguistic development of other languages around the world as well. With the continuous integration of technology into our daily lives, many languages are developing their own linguistic nuances as a result of their own media as well. Let’s investigate just some of the many global examples of this!
British English
One of the most famous science fiction shows from the UK is the BBC’s classic TV series “Doctor Who”. This series, which has been on since the 1960’s, follows the adventures of a human-looking extraterrestrial that travels throughout time and space in a British police box to save different civilizations and help people in need. This series has become a cult classic within the United Kingdom.
A phrase that has evolved in British pop culture that originated from “Doctor Who” is known as “hiding behind the sofa”. This phrase infers that a person who is having a fearful reaction to something they saw on a TV show often might take cover by hiding behind the closest piece of furniture to them at the moment and stay there until the scene changed, at which point they would continue watching the rest of the program like usual. This phrase has both serious and comical connotations associated with it, but the tone and meaning are dependent on how it is used in the context of a conversation.
Czech
One of the most famous examples of this is the origin of the English word “robot”. The word robot was introduced by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek in 1920 in his play Rossum’s Universal Robots (R.U.R.). The etymology of this word is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word “rabota” which means servitude of forced labor. The word began as a group of fictional workers in this play, but gradually evolved into a word that is especially important in the 21st-century. It is fascinating to see how almost exactly a century after the word was invented for a Czech science fiction play, society’s increasing dependence on artificial intelligence (A.I.) makes it a colloquialism we use every single day to describe our technological reality.
Spanish
Another word that has recently developed as a result of today’s technological lifestyle is the Spanish neologism “tuitear”, which means “to send out a tweet on Twitter”. A single tweet posted to Twitter in Spanish is thus called a “tuit”. As the posting of messages on Twitter has created a new definition for the verb “to tweet” in English, it has also created an equivalent neologism within the Spanish language.
French
Social media has also influenced new words, phrases, terms, and expressions in French as well, both with French neologisms and English adaptions into French, such as “en live” to refer to a live event, or “tbh”, which is a social media acronym that means “to be honest”. It isn’t just social media that has been helping the French language evolve, but the older media styles as well.
The French television show Kaamelott re-popularized the already existing French phrase “c’est pas faux”, which roughly translates into English as “you have a point” or “that’s not wrong”. This became a popular catchphrase in French when the illiterate characters Percaval and Karadoc used it in episode 28 of the first season as a way of not making themselves look like fools when they reply to someone who used complex words they didn’t understand during a conversation with them. It became a popular Internet meme on French language sites and has had a rejuvenation of use with its reference within the past decade.
A similar situation occurred when the phrase “OKLM” was popularized by a song of the same title by French rap artist Booba. The term “OKLM” sounds very similar to the French phrase “au calme” which means “calm” or “chill”, and the similarity in the sounds of the two phrases has led to the virtual replacement of the traditional French word for calmness and quietness, “tranquille”.
Mandarin
The development of the modern Mandarin language has been strongly influenced by Mandarin internet slang. Just as internet slang in English has promoted terms like LOL (laughing out loud) or BTW (by the way), the Mandarin language has also developed its own internet lingo in a similar manner. And in some cases, the influence overlaps with other forms of media as well.
One example of the many numerical combinations used in Mandarin internet slang is the number 1314 (pinyin: yīsānyīsì) , which translates to English as “forever”. This is usually preceded by a phrase like “I love you”, which in turn is represented by the number 520 (pinyin: wǔ’èrlíng) within this context.
Many of these number combinations and their associated meanings are a result of similar sounding Mandarin words that acoustically resemble each other. The date May 20th is often written as 5/20. The number in Mandarin is pronounced (using the Roman character-based pinyin writing system) as “wǔ èr líng”. When pronounced, it sounds very close to the Mandarin phrase (pinyin: wǒ ài nǐ), which means “I love you.”
Mandarin television has also influenced Mandarin internet the slang. The term “tall, rich, and handsome” (pinyin: gāofùshuài) originates from an animated TV series in China of the same name. It has come to symbolize the type of traits many Chinese women would want in a partner. The main character in the cartoon series has the exact same name of the TV series he is features in, and thus gives this phrase a much more distinct meaning in Chinese culture.
Taiwanese
The popular Taiwanese singer Yoga Lin is credited with promoting the term “Life is so hard that some lies are better not exposed” (pinyin: rén jiān bù chāi) in his song “Lie”. This term has come to mean that life can be so hard sometimes, it’s impossible to contemplate reality as it is.
Hindi
The name Bollywood refers to the Indian movie industry based in Mumbai (Bombay), India. In much the same way that Hollywood has influenced the development of English, Bollywood has influenced the development of Hindi, the largest Indigenous language within India.
A few examples of Hindi words derived from Bollywood include “justaju”, which means “in search of”, “tishnagi”, which refers to having a thirst or desire for something, as well as “sarfarosh”, which describes a person who has a high enthusiasm for something.
Two other very interesting examples of Bollywood lexicon in Hindi are the words “baazigar” and “diljale”. The former is an abstract term that denotes a person who in their mind believes that they are winners when playing something, but actually loses in reality. The latter term describes a person who has suffered due to the consequences of following romantic pursuits.
Japanese
In a very unique case, the Japanese language has adapted lexicon from the popular anime and manga genres. Anime, which is another name for Japanese animation, is an aesthetic style of cartoons that is heavily integrated into both Japanese culture and cultures around the world. Manga is the comic book style of anime, being printed graphically rather than displayed as a cartoon on screen. These two words are also examples of how media have influenced the every day lexicon of Japanese.
Two popular Japanese words that have developed from the anime and manga include “otaku” and “chibi”. The word “otaku” describes a person who has an unhealthy and time consuming obsession with a specific genre, such as Pokémon or Dragon Ball Z, somewhat akin to a “fan of a genre on steroids”. The word “chibi” originates from the famous anime cartoon Sailor Moon and somewhat translates into the English word “small” in a descriptive sense but while denoting the meaning of something akin to “itsy bitsy” rather than just plain “little” or “short”.
Examples of modern fictional genres and cultures influencing linguistic evolution
But what are some of the fictional culture and genre based lexicon that have emerged in the early 21st-century itself? In the Golden Age of media we currently live in, there are many examples of this. But you appreciate some of the most popular media-based neologisms of the 21st-century by looking at the most popular TV series and movies in society today.
Game of Thrones
By far the most popular genre in the 21st century is HBO’s Game of Thrones. Set in a fictional world reminiscent of the British Isles during the Middle Ages, this series has broken records in audience viewership and will be remembered as one of the most successful television shows in all of human history in the future. Given its fanciful setting, it’s no surprise that new lexicon has evolved from the fictional cultures portrayed in the show.
The term “Iron Throne” has become synonymous with Game of Thrones both as a name and as the actual prop of a fancy, iron-looking seat that one of the regents on the show actually sits in to rule their homeland. This has become of one of the the most prolific symbols of the show. Another word associated with the fictional royalty in the show is “maester” which denotes a set of scholars and specialists that help train the monarchs that will eventually hold the castle. Similarly, the “Hand of the King” is the individual appointed as the top advisor and aid of the king of the fictional land of Westeros, and acts as the king’s substitute if the king is incapacitated and unable to rule (very similar to the position of Vice President in many actual governments).
The most famous word from the language of a fictional culture in Game of Thrones is the honorary title “khaleesi” that is given to the wife of a “khal” that rule a “khalasar” (clan) in the language of the nomadic Dothraki people. Like a few of the genres mentioned above, there are several fictional languages spoken in this world. The two most prominent of these languages are Dothraki and High Valyrian. Klingon and High Valyrian are both available as an actual language course you can learn on the website educational website Duolingo.
Harry Potter
Another super popular genre that takes place in a fantasy world is that of Harry Potter. Two of the most famous words that come from the book and movie series are “quidditch” and “muggle”. The former term refers to an athletic game played throughout the series that resembles polo on flying broomsticks. While magical broomsticks aren’t quite available in the sporting market, a version of the game has been created in reality that involves players batting a ball on a field while holding a stick between their knees to enhance the challenge to the game. The latter term refers to a person in the genre who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born in a magical family. In reality, the word has come to mean a person who does not belong to a group or an individual who is not member within a specific group; it’s somewhat like a specialized word for an “outsider”.
Avatar
Finally, the Na’vi language of the fictional Na’vi people of the moon Pandora in the 2009 movie “Avatar” has created a few words and phrases that have crossed over into reality. While an entire Na’vi/English dictionary exists, the Na’vi language didn’t catch on as strongly as the movie studios had hoped. However, future sequels might reestablish interest in this artificial language.
The phrase “I see you” gained a new meaning from crossover usage from Na’vi and can articulate a thought similar to “I love you” or “we are all one”. This is a very similar case to the aforementioned phrase “c’est pas faux” from the French television show Kaamelott in that the term existed within the language already but has been re-popularized with a new meaning.
A word that is well known in general but not actually used beyond its association with the Na’vi and the movie “Avatar” is “eywa”, or the guiding force of the natural system of Pandora. “Eywa” is thus comparable to an unseen conscious force within Na’vi mythology that’s somewhat in between a nature-based deity of animistic religions and the Tao in Taoism in actual civilizations around the world. Occasionally, it can be used jokingly and lightheartedly in reference to environmentalism here on the planet Earth.
As societies and cultures continue to evolve, so do the languages that help keep it all glued together. Just as French, German, Latin, and various other languages have contributed to the vocabularies of English and other world languages, artificial languages like Newspeak, Klingon, Dothraki, and other genre based languages have as well, albeit in a much more specialized context. As the lexicons of fictional genres develop on our favorite TV series, movies, books, video games, etc., so too shall their association and familiarity within the speech of their viewers. As new worlds and cultures are created within the minds of authors and their fans in the future, more words from fictional sources will develop as well and eventually be incorporated alongside natural linguistic processes.
So what specific piece of fiction will be the next big influence on human culture and language? I will let the reader figure that out for themselves as they continue to be avid fans of the numerous genres out there and develop communication styles based on them each and every single day!
