[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-136178-en":3,"doc-seo-136178-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":11,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},136178,549758146520,"Patrick","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/80002397d8c0411e94?_k=1775819394049821470",2,"Literature","Novel Linguistics - Portraits of the Field and Practitioners in English Long Fiction","Folk linguistics extends beyond everyday ideas about language to include public beliefs about what linguistics is, what linguists do, and which linguistic questions matter. Using a corpus of roughly 100 English-language novels from the last century, the study examines recurring portrayals of linguistics topics and linguists. Depictions trace growing visibility of linguistics in fiction, spanning signed-language and deafness narratives, animal language, xenolinguistics and alien languages, lexicography, and language disorders. Shifts across decades mirror societal interests from Cold War politics and inter-species communication to today’s social-media and AI-driven concerns about control and truth values.","Novel linguistics: Portraits of the field and practitioners in English long fiction  \nMary Ann Walter *  \nAbstract. Folk linguistics properly encompasses not only popular ideas about  \nlanguage itself, but also opinions about the nature of linguistics itself and what a linguist does. In this study, I investigate portrayals of linguistics, linguistic topics, and linguists in ~100 English-language novels published over the last ~100 years.  \nThese depictions offer a window into the public’s understanding of the field, while also shedding light on which linguistic topics capture the interest and imagination of writers and readers. The corpus reveals an overall increase in the number of  \nlinguistics-relevant works, which fall into the main categories of those involving  \nsigned languages and deafness, having a linguist protagonist, animal language, xenolinguistics and alien languages, lexicography, and language disorders. Observed changes within the categories track societal trends, starting from Cold War era  \ninterests in political control plus Space Race-driven interest in inter-species  \ncommunication, and shifting in our current age of social media and AI hype to  \nlanguage commodification, control, and truth values.  \nKeywords. fiction; folk linguistics; literature  \n1. Introduction. For outreach reasons, among others, it behooves the linguistics community tobe aware of our fictional image. In other words, a full approach to folk linguistics (Niedzielski & Preston 2000) extends to what people believe about us and our work, as well as about language in general. What aspects of linguistics and being a linguist come to mind for authors, editors, publishers, and members of the reading public? How accurate are these fictional depictions? How could this reflect and inform our attempts at science communication and promoting the field, in addition to providing reliable information to the public?  \nThis study cannot hope to fully answer these questions. However, it is an attempt make addressing them possible, based on assembling a corpus of English-language novels featuring linguists and linguistics.  \nThe corpus was assembled on an opportunistic basis, beginning with my own personal reading as well as works mentioned in prominent linguistics-oriented social media accounts, blogs, podcasts, and so on. Keyword searches were also conducted within web browsers as well as online sites such as goodreads ([https://www.goodreads.com](https://www.goodreads.com/)[/](https://www.goodreads.com/)). Memoirs and non-fiction works are excluded, and only works which have appeared in English were included. A small number were written in another language, after which an English translation was published.1 Self-published works were not included, with one exception.2 When a work is part ofa series, it is counted only once, and its publication date in the figures below is based on that of the first book in the series. Short stories and theatrical works are not included, which means that certain wellknown examples such as Ted Chiang’s “Story of your life”(1998; the basis of the Hollywood  \n* I would like to thank audience members at the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (New Orleans, LA) for their interest, thoughtful comments, and additions to the list of novels discussed here. In addition, heartfelt thanks to all the novelists cited, who saw fit to include a bit of linguistics in their artistic endeavors, to whatever extent. Author: Mary Ann Walter, University of the Virgin Islands ([mary.walter@uvi.edu](mary.walter@uvi.edu)).  \n1 There were seven such works.  \n2 Vyvyan Evans’ novel The babel apocalypse (2023) was included despite being self-published, due to the author’s status as a linguistics degree-holder and instructor.  \nfilm Arrival) and Shaw’s Pygmalion (1916; the basis of the musical/film My fair lady) are not included.3 Graphic novels are included, although possibly more likely to be overlooked due tomy own reading habi","cbCaikAWwfSyiOsJ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikAWwfSyiOsJ","pdf",300184,1,15,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Corpus construction and inclusion criteria\n## Scope boundaries and exclusions\n## Observed trends by decade","[{\"question\":\"What does folk linguistics include in this study?\",\"answer\":\"It encompasses not only popular ideas about language itself, but also public opinions about linguistics as a field and about what linguists do.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the novel corpus assembled and what were the main inclusion rules?\",\"answer\":\"The study compiled English-language novels using personal reading and recommendations from linguistics-oriented social media, plus keyword searches on web sources such as Goodreads. Memoirs and non-fiction are excluded, and only works appearing in English are included, with limited exceptions.\"},{\"question\":\"Which categories of linguistics-relevant topics appear most often in the novels?\",\"answer\":\"The main categories include works involving signed languages and deafness, novels with a linguist protagonist, animal language, xenolinguistics and alien languages, lexicography, and depictions of language disorders.\"}]","Novel Linguistics - Portraits of the Field and Practitioners in English Long Fiction | PDF",1787355336,23,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"novel-linguistics-portraits-of-the-field-and-practitioners-in-english-long-fiction","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/novel-linguistics-portraits-of-the-field-and-practitioners-in-english-long-fiction/136178/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-04","2026-08-21",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":11},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What does folk linguistics include in this study?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"It encompasses not only popular ideas about language itself, but also public opinions about linguistics as a field and about what linguists do.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How was the novel corpus assembled and what were the main inclusion rules?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"The study compiled English-language novels using personal reading and recommendations from linguistics-oriented social media, plus keyword searches on web sources such as Goodreads. Memoirs and non-fiction are excluded, and only works appearing in English are included, with limited exceptions.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"Which categories of linguistics-relevant topics appear most often in the novels?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The main categories include works involving signed languages and deafness, novels with a linguist protagonist, animal language, xenolinguistics and alien languages, lexicography, and depictions of language disorders.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,100,104,109,114,119,124,129,132,136],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]