Arika Okrent

Last month the Icelandic band Sigur Ros released a live album called Inni which contains songs in a language they call “Hopelandic.” It’s not English, it’s not Icelandic – it’s completely invented. And they’re not the only ones to pass over the world’s 6500 or so languages in favor of one of their own making. Slate contributor William Weir joins us along with the linguist Arika Okrent (who has a first level certification in Klingon) to discuss the origins and meanings of constructed languages in song.

Somehow the new Star Trek movie is managing to burn up the box office without a peep of Klingon -- the made-up language of villainous space warriors. The linguist Arika Okrent is a certified Klingon speaker. In her new book In the Land of Invented ...