![]() Katie Palmer, Senior Editor: By comparison, was anyone else underwhelmed by physicist Gary? That was probably done pointedly-it’s nice to have the hard science subjugated to the soft science in sci-fi-and I liked that. They prefer a subtler, diplomatically effective approach. Maybe I just overlook them because linguists tend not to run around with laser guns, shooting aliens in the face. Sure there’s Uhura, but it took our esteemed colleague and resident sci-fi expert, Adam Rogers, to remind me that James Spader played a linguist in Stargate. Chiang’s hero made so much sense she got me wondering where the hell the linguists have been in sci-fi all along. ![]() Gonna drop that at a cocktail party soon. Did learn a new word, though: glottographic. I wasn’t about to go fact-checking everything. They were so well integrated into the plot and purpose that I fully believed these characters were saying exactly what they were supposed to be saying. ![]() Nor did I ever feel condescended to or overburdened in the explanations. Do linguists love Ted Chiang for elevating one of their own? I won’t pretend that dabbling undergraduately in language-acquisition research qualifies me to pass judgment on Louise-as-linguist, but there wasn’t really a moment where I doubted Chiang’s basic understanding. ![]() Kehe: Has to be one of the lesser-represented professions in sci-fi-though it makes so much sense in the context of first contact. ![]()
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