Game of tongues Creator of languages for HBO hit series visits Pierce

ANDREW FORTIN-CALDERA Sports Editor @afortincaldera

Language reflects the culture of those who speak it, even if they live in the fictional lands of Essos or the post-apocalyptic world of “The 100.”

The Anthropology Society hosted language creator David J. Peterson to share his professional experiences in a presentation titled “The Art of Language invention” on Monday, Nov. 6, in the Great Hall.

Stephanie Stone, president of the Anthropology Society, said that Peterson was invited to speak at Pierce to highlight the relevance of the culture present in linguistics.

“It’s the one subset of anthropology that’s sorely underserved, so people aren’t getting the correct exposure to it. It’s understandable; ‘linguistic anthropology’ isn’t a sexy term,” Stone said. “This is a way of getting people more interested in the subject, and because ‘Game of Thrones’ is so popular, this is a way of making it culturally relevant.”

Peterson has worked professionally in television creating language since 2011. Included in his body of work are the Dothraki and High Valyrian languages of “Game of Thrones,” the Orcish language of “Warhammer: The Beginning” and the Verbis Diablo dialect spoken in “Penny Dreadful.”

Peterson’s interest in language, both fictional and nonfictional, was sparked during his time as a student at University of California, Berkeley.

“As a freshman, I came in as an English major, but I was really, really fascinated by language,” Peterson said. “I started taking a

[Tailgate,

Lopez said athletes also benefit from tailgates because it gives them the boost to perform well.

“If they have moral support from Pierce and they see that these events are done for them because they’ve done a great job, it give them a great mindset when they go out and play their games,” Lopez said.

Head Coach Nabil Mardini said the last tailgate event for the volleyball team was a success and that the team is excited for the turnout.

“It had a good crowd. We’ve never done anything like it and I think it’s a great idea,” Mardini said. “The women’s team is excited to see the turnout.”

Mardini said tailgates are about getting the student body to hang out and watch the game and show their support for the team.

He also said that most of the student body is not involved in campus sports, but community tailgate events bring attention to sports teams on campus.

“They should come and feel the connection between them and their college instead of just coming to class and leaving afterwards. A lot of times, you are sitting in class and chances are you in class with at least one athlete in the room or more,” Mardini said.

Titus Littlejohn / Roundup

David J. Peterson, writer and language creator for TV and cinema, speaks to students during 'The Art of Language Invention' on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017 in the Great Hall at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., in partnership with the LA Pierce College Anthropology Society. Peterson's credits include: Thor: The Dark World, Penny Dreadful and Game of Thrones. He has created languages such as 'Dothraki' and 'Valyrian.' whole bunch of language courses, like Arabic and Russian. I even had a chance to take Middle Egyptian hieroglyphics.”

Peterson explained that his fascination with created language began with his studies of Esperanto—a language developed in the 19th century with the intention of improving worldwide communication. He said that he was blown away by the concept of someone creating their own language and became inspired to take a course in linguistics.

“It was a class with no papers and no books to read, but with a lot of homework that were basically language puzzles. It sounded like the most fun thing in the world to me and it blew my mind that you got a grade for it,” Peterson said.

According to Peterson, he was inspired to try his hand at creating his own language during the very first linguistics class he took.

His first constructed language, or conlang, was an amalgamation of Arabic and Esperanto, which he named Megdevi after his girlfriend. However, he described his language as “a really, really complicated way of speaking English.” He realized that it was mostly a fictional translation of the English language with no distinct culture.

Peterson said that, in the early 2000’s, he connected with other language creators over the internet and that they learned better ways to create fictional language from each other. Through these interactions, he learned that it is important to actively reflect a culture when developing a fictional language.

“If you’re not thinking about how the language you’re creating reflects some culture, whether it’s one that you or someone else created, you’re going to unconsciously borrow things directly from your own culture,” Peterson said.

He elaborated on this point by bringing up the Dothraki people, a nomadic group of warriors from “Game of Thrones.” the full story visit theroundupnews.com]

Student Engagement Coordinator and Counselor Lara Conrady Wong said that the event will have ASO senators and officers available to answer any questions students may have about the event or ASO.

“ASO hosts several tailgates, something they started in spring of 2016 as a tradition to support student athletes and Pierce athletics and to promote student engagement at campus events,” Conrady Wong said.

Conrady Wong said that they support the women’s volleyball team and that they are leaders as well.