Linguistic Determinism in Fiction

Ayn Rand's novel Anthem (1938) presents a collectivist dystopia where the word "I" is
banned, and any that use it are put to death.
In Jorge Luis Borges's Tln, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius (1940) the author discovers references
in books to a universe of idealistic individuals whose language lacks the concept of nouns
and has other peculiarities that shapes their idealism. As the story progresses the books
become more and better known to the world at large, their philosophy starts influencing
the real world, and Earth becomes the ideal world described in the books.
George Orwell's classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) is a striking example of
linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity in fiction, in which a language known as
Newspeak has trimmed and supplanted Modern English. In this case, Orwell says that if
humans cannot form the words to express the ideas underlying a revolution, then they
cannot revolt. All of the theory of Newspeak is aimed at eliminating such words. For
example, bad has been replaced by ungood, and the concept of freedom has been
eliminated over time. According to Nineteen Eighty-Four's appendix on Newspeak, the
result of the adoption of the language would be that "a heretical thought ... should be
literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words."
In Robert A. Heinlein's novella Gulf (1949), the characters are taught an artificial language
which allows them to think logically and concisely by removing the "false to fact" linguistic
constructs of existing languages.
Jack Vance's science fiction novel The Languages of Pao (1958) centers on an
experiment in modeling a civilization by tweaking its language. The masterbrain behind
this experiment, Lord Palafor, says in chapter 9: "We must alter the mental framework of
the Paonese people, which is most easily achieved by altering the language." His son,
Finisterle, says in chapter 11 to a class of linguists in training: "every language impresses
a certain world-view upon the mind."
In Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land (1961), Valentine Michael Smith is able
to do things that most other humans can't do, and is unable to explain any of this in
English. However, once others learn Martian, they start to be able to do these things;
those concepts could only be explained in Martian.
In Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea series (beginning with "The Word of Unbinding," 1964, and
A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968), an ancient language (known as the Old Speech) exists in
which every object has one and only one true name. In the mythology of the world, this is
the language in which the world was spoken into existence; it is still spoken by magicians
and dragons. Aside from the special case of dragons, it is not possible to lie in this
language.
A similar language system is used in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance trilogy (2002), in
which a language exists known only as "the ancient language", spoken mainly by elves
and magic-users. It is impossible to directly lie in this language (though it is possible to tell
misleading truths, or in some cases use metaphor). While most characters in the novels
believe that magic is only possible through speaking this language (and thus, can only
cast spells which perform actions they can express), it is revealed in Eldest that the
language is spoken only to keep spells under control, and magic can be used through
thought, though this requires a great deal of focus to achieve the desired effect.
In Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune (1965) and its sequels, the Principle of
Linguistic Relativity first appears when Lady Jessica (who has extensive linguistic training)
encounters the Fremen, the native people of Dune. She is shocked by the "violence" of
their language, as she believes their word choices and language structure reflect a culture
of enormous violence. Similarly, earlier in the novel, her late husband, Duke Leto, muses
on how the nature of Imperial society is betrayed by "the precise delineations for
treacherous death" in its language, the use of highly specific terms to describe different
methods for delivering poison.
Samuel R. Delany's novel Babel-17 (1966) is centered on a fictional language that denies
its speakers independent thought, forcing them to think purely logical thoughts. This
language is used as a weapon of war, because it is supposed to convert everyone who
learns it to a traitor. In the novel, the language Babel-17 is likened to computer
programming languages that do not allow errors or imprecise statements.
Robert Silverberg's novel A Time of Changes (1971) describes a society where the first
person singular is considered an obscenity.
Ursula K. Le Guin's novel The Dispossessed (1974) takes place partly on a world with an
anarcho-communist society whose constructed language contains little means for
expressing possessive relationships, among other features.
Gene Wolfe's novel The Citadel of the Autarch (1983, part of The Book of the New Sun)
presents a counter-example to the SWH: one of the characters (an Ascian) speaks
entirely in slogans, but is able to express deep and subtle meanings via context. The
narrator, Severian, after hearing the Ascian speak, remarks that "The Ascian seemed to
speak only in sentences he had learned by rote, though until he used each for the first
time we had never heard them . . . Second, I learned how difficult it is to eliminate the urge
for expression. The people of Ascia were reduced to speaking only with their masters'
voice; but they had made of it a new tongue, and I had no doubt, after hearing the Ascian,
that by it he could express whatever thought he wished.
Linguist Suzette Haden Elgin's science fiction novel Native Tongue (1984) describes a
patriarchal society in which the overriding priority of the oppressed women is the secret
development of a "feminist" language, Ladan, to aid them in throwing off their shackles.
Elgin has written extensively in defense of the "weak" form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
(which she prefers to call the "linguistic relativity hypothesis"), including a book titled The
Language Imperative.
Iain M. Banks's science fiction series, the Culture (1987 onward) has a shared language,
Marain. The Culture believes (or perhaps has proved, or else actively made true) the
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis that language affects society, and Marain was designed to exploit
this effect. A related comment is made by the narrator in The Player of Games regarding
gender-specific pronouns in English. Marain is also regarded as an aesthetically pleasing
language.
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Darmok" (1991), the story hangs on the
universal translator's inability to deal with "The Children of Tamar"'s metaphorical
language.
Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash (1992) revolves around the notion that the
Sumerian language was a programming language for the human brain. According to
characters in the book, the goddess Asherah is the personification of a linguistic virus
similar to a computer virus. The god Enki created a counter program which he calls a
nam-shub that caused all of humanity to speak different tongues as a protection against
Asherah.