An Alien Language 外星人的语言

The blockbuster film Avatar has been a smash hit at the box office in the UK and around the world, becoming the fastest film ever to earn $1bn (7bn yuan) in ticket sales.

But as well as being an entertaining feast for the eyes, the sci-fi epic also introduces movie-goers to a brand new language invented especially for the film.

The movie is set on an alien planet called Pandora which is inhabited by many strange species. The most humanoid of the planet's inhabitants are the Na'vi, and it is the struggle between the Na'vi and human interlopers that forms the core narrative of the film.

In order to add authenticity to his vision of an alien race the film's director James Cameron asked a professor of linguistics from the University of Southern California to invent a language for the Na'vi.

Professor Paul Frommer worked with James Cameron for four years to build upon the original 30 words or so that the director had already come up with for the language.

According to Professor Frommer, the most important aspect of the Na'vi language was that it could be articulated.

"This is an alien language but obviously it has to be spoken by human actors," Professor Frommer told the BBC, "it has to be sounds that human beings are comfortable producing."

The language currently has a lexicon of around 1000 words but Professor Frommer hopes to expand it in possible sequels to the film and in video games.

The professor hopes that one day his creation will become as sophisticated as the Klingon alien language from the Star Trek films.

"There's a translation of Hamlet into Klingon," says Professor Frommer.

"If anything happened like this with Na'vi I'd be delighted."

• planet [´plænit]   n.行星   (初中英语单词)
• vision [´viʒən]   n.视觉；想象力；幻影   (初中英语单词)
• director [di´rektə]   n.指导者；....长；导演   (初中英语单词)
• california [,kæli´fɔ:njə]   n.加利福尼亚   (初中英语单词)
• invent [in´vent]   vt.发明；捏造   (初中英语单词)
• aspect [´æspekt]   n.面貌；神色；方向   (初中英语单词)
• obviously [´ɔbviəsli]   ad.明显地；显而易见地   (初中英语单词)
• spoken [´spəukən]   speak的过去分词   (初中英语单词)
• creation [kri´eiʃən]   n.创作；作品；创造   (初中英语单词)
• species [´spi:ʃi:z]   n.(生物的)种，类   (高中英语单词)
• narrative [´nærətiv]   a.叙述的 n.记事   (高中英语单词)
• linguistics [liŋ´gwistiks]   n.语言学   (高中英语单词)
• expand [ik´spænd]   vt.张开；膨胀；扩大   (高中英语单词)
• translation [træns´leiʃən, trænz-]   n.翻译；译文；译本   (高中英语单词)
• hamlet [´hæmlit]   n.村庄   (高中英语单词)
• pandora [pæn´dɔ:rə]   n.潘朵拉   (英语六级单词)