Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘How to invent a language — like that of Avatar’s Na’vi’

A blue Na'vi humanoid alien from Avatar closes her eyes as she sings in front of a gathered crowd of Na'vi sitting on the ground behind her

Na’vi, the fictional people of the Avatar movies, speak a constructed language, or conlang. It’s one of many fictional languages that have been made for TV shows, movies, books and more.

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By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘How to invent a language — like that of Avatar’s Na’vi’

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

  1. In your own words, come up with a one-sentence definition for the word language.
  2. List four foreign languages. In Google Translate, type in the sentence “I like learning about science.” Listen to this sentence spoken in each of the four languages you listed. Choose one that sounds very different from your native language. Write one or two sentences describing what you notice about the sound of this language and what makes it distinctive from your own. For example, does it use sounds that are not common or present in your native language? Does it sound faster, slower or about the same pace as your native language?

During Reading:

  1. What is a conlang? How does it differ from a typical world language?
  2. Give one example of a “voiceless” consonant. What is a “voiced” version of this consonant?
  3. Who created the conlang for the 2018 film Alpha?
  4. What are proto-languages? How are they developed?
  5. English words typically do not start with “ng”. But some other languages do. Give one example of a language that includes words beginning with this sound.
  6. English includes singular and plural versions of nouns. Arabic includes one other version. What third version of nouns, besides singular and plural, does Arabic include?
  7. Give two examples of English adpositions.
  8. What does it mean for a language to be endangered?
  9. Give three examples of conlangs used in Saima Malik-Moraleda’s language study.
  10. What two things do Jessie and David Peterson say are key to becoming a good conlanger?

After Reading:

  1. Work with a partner. Together, take one small step in creating a new conlang. Start with the following sentence: “The girl gave her brother an apple.” Create enough of a conlang to express the same idea. Your conlang should include at least one aspect that differs from your native language. (Look to this story for ideas of what this aspect might be. For example, your conlang could include a sound that does not occur in your native language. Or, the pattern of words could differ from your native language.) Create a written version of this sentence in your conlang, but also practice sounding it out. Next, join up with another pair who’ve created a conlang version of the same sentence. Explain and pronounce your conlangs to each other. Identify one aspect of the other group’s conlang that differs from your native language.
  2. How might the study of conlangs help save endangered languages? If an endangered language is lost, how might that affect people in the future? Do you think saving endangered languages is very important, fairly important or unimportant? Explain your answer.