I’m just curious what books are out there where a linguist is the main character and somehow this is part of the ‘story. It’s a random thing I haven’t seen much of before. Thank you for any suggestions.
“Story of your life” (a novella in the book *Story of your life and others*) by Ted Chiang.
Aliens visit Earth, and a linguist needs to figure out how to communicate with them. This is the story the movie *Arrival* was based on.
Hatherence on
I second the recommendation of Story of Your Life! There’s also:
* Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
* The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
wineANDpretzel on
[Greek Lessons](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61686012) by Han Kang has a female character who has lost the ability to speak due the loss of her mother and custody of her son so she takes Greek lessons to regain her ability to speak. The novel goes in depth about language although I don’t think anyone is a linguist.
Caleb_Trask19 on
The Colony has competing outsiders of an English painter and a French linguist coming to an isolated Irish island.
dear-mycologistical on
Deaf Sentence by David Lodge
Gryptype_Thynne123 on
Double Negative by David Carkeet. Linguist studying language development in toddlers finds that one of his test subjects has witnessed a murder.
UnreliableAmanda on
C.S. Lewis’s *Out of the Silent Planet* features a philologist. So, close enough? The sequel also has the same main character although it doesn’t really tread any new thematic ground linguistically speaking.
9 Comments
“Story of your life” (a novella in the book *Story of your life and others*) by Ted Chiang.
Aliens visit Earth, and a linguist needs to figure out how to communicate with them. This is the story the movie *Arrival* was based on.
I second the recommendation of Story of Your Life! There’s also:
* Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
* The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
[Greek Lessons](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61686012) by Han Kang has a female character who has lost the ability to speak due the loss of her mother and custody of her son so she takes Greek lessons to regain her ability to speak. The novel goes in depth about language although I don’t think anyone is a linguist.
The Colony has competing outsiders of an English painter and a French linguist coming to an isolated Irish island.
Deaf Sentence by David Lodge
Double Negative by David Carkeet. Linguist studying language development in toddlers finds that one of his test subjects has witnessed a murder.
C.S. Lewis’s *Out of the Silent Planet* features a philologist. So, close enough? The sequel also has the same main character although it doesn’t really tread any new thematic ground linguistically speaking.
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O
As a start, see my [SF/F: Languages](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18jk4m0/sff_languages/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post).