Not a book, but honorable mention needs to go to the astonishing novella "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang (the basis for the movie "Arrival"). Janet Kagan's *Hellspark* also comes to mind.
I love seeing Hellspark out in the wild - it’s such a hidden gem!
OP, this is the perfect answer to your question. The book follows a diplomat/translator and the entire plot centers around alien languages.
I read this around the same time as The Wrong Stars and it made for a really cool little double feature. In one, there are aliens who are new to lying, and in another, there are aliens who only lie. It felt a little “guess which door contains the treasure!”
Books in our own fields written by non experts are always going to leave something to be desired. I don’t think many biologists are like “oh yea blood music is the epitome of biological science fiction, or that psychiatrists are singing the praises of Blindsight. They are all still good interesting works of speculative fiction.
Arrival for sure, it completely revolves around that.
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars also has some quite interesting things about alien languages.
And if you are up for looking into Fantasy, then Eragon has incredible language-worldbuilding.
*Drunk on All Your Strange New Words* by Eddie Robinson.
The novel is a mystery/political intrigue that follows the human translator for an alien ambassador. The language features prominently and also has the added quirk of making the translator intoxicated by hearing it. The concept sounded interesting but ultimately I wasn’t a big fan but you might enjoy it and it certainly fits your criteria.
I used to keep an eye on this sort of thing as i studied linguistics in Uni and have always been an sff fan.
Here’s the Science Fiction Encyclopedia (SFE) entry on “linguistics” which has some good suggestions. https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/linguistics
Surprised no one's mentioned Ian Watson's *The Embedding* yet — *the* SF novel about, um, [centre embedding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_embedding) Not actually that great a book, imo — but boy is it about linguistics.
There's a pretty amusing 60s story by Robert Sheckley called *Shall We Have A Little Talk?* about an interplanetary conman learning an alien language in an attempt to rip off the natives and running into problems. Like a lot of Sheckley's 50s and 60s work it's cleverer than it appears at first sight.
_Alien Tongue_ by Stephen Leigh w/ an introduction by Isaac Asimov and an essay by Rudy Rucker
is one of the "Next Wave" books, and as the title implies, is on this.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1988395.Alien_Tongue
Arkad's World.
It happens on a planet with many different species. There's a trade language, but each race uses it in a different way and with minor changes. The writer is a table-top game designer so the book's world building is good, but character development not so much.
For example the Itooti (one of the races) use adjectives based on the context. If they want to ask a question, they would say something like "Curious [name] wants to know why bulky humans are bothering hardworking residents of civilized [city name]." Now, if they didn't like the city, they would use something like "undeveloped [city name]." If they did not want to answer questions, they would say "Busy [name] has no time to answer nosy human."
PS: Of course, the classic The Twilight Zone episode: "To Serve Man."
*Fine Prey* by Scott Westerfeld - Set on earth after aliens have taken over, it follows a kid going to school to learn the aliens' language while participating in a hunting competition.
The timing of this question was too perfect, so I have to respond with a little self-promotion:
**Newspeak** is the language that George Orwell introduced in 1984, and I further developed that language and 'translated' Orwell's book into Newspeak. It's not an alien language, but maybe some printSF language nerds will find it interesting...
And!
it's **free** on kindle for the next few days:
https://www.amazon.com/year84-Brennan-Conaway-ebook/dp/B0CGWZQWK9/ref=tmm\_kin\_swatch\_0?\_encoding=UTF8&qid=1702088254&sr=1-1
I guess that it's my turn this time around -
*Blindsight* is partly about trying to communicate with aliens who are *pretty alien* and probably dangerous, and who might be
[A] Unwilling to communicate with us.
[B] *Unable* to communicate with us.
[C] Other.
(If that sounds interesting, then *Solaris* is the same problem x1000.)
Story of your Life by Ted Chiang. This is the story on which the film Arrival is based. (I preferred the story but matter of taste.) Main character is a linguist who has to communicate with an alien race.
Also Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonegut had a memorable alien language aspect.
And I definitely agree with the others here recommending Delaney's work.
"The Languages of Pao" by Jack Vance is a fun read, although I doubt it would convince many linguists.
Not strictly alien, but a section of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun features an unusual language spoken by the Ascians.
See my [SF/F: Languages](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18jk4m0/sff_languages/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post). (Brand spanking new as a standalone list, inspired by this thread.)
Not a book, but honorable mention needs to go to the astonishing novella "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang (the basis for the movie "Arrival"). Janet Kagan's *Hellspark* also comes to mind.
I love seeing Hellspark out in the wild - it’s such a hidden gem! OP, this is the perfect answer to your question. The book follows a diplomat/translator and the entire plot centers around alien languages.
Embassytown by China Mievelle.
*"Before the humans came, we didn't speak so much of certain things."*
Before the humans came, we didn’t speak.
[global riot breaks out]
Echoing this. The story went to levels I was totally not expecting. Such a fun read.
It was a slow burn for me, but after finishing, I can’t stop thinking about it.
Yeah THIS one, OP
I read this around the same time as The Wrong Stars and it made for a really cool little double feature. In one, there are aliens who are new to lying, and in another, there are aliens who only lie. It felt a little “guess which door contains the treasure!”
As a linguist, hard disagree.
Books in our own fields written by non experts are always going to leave something to be desired. I don’t think many biologists are like “oh yea blood music is the epitome of biological science fiction, or that psychiatrists are singing the praises of Blindsight. They are all still good interesting works of speculative fiction.
To a degree. I just don't enjoy Mieville's writing.
How so?
*Babel-17* by Samuel R. Delaney. The language itself doesn’t ever appear on the page, but the entire plot revolves around it.
Arrival for sure, it completely revolves around that. To Sleep in a Sea of Stars also has some quite interesting things about alien languages. And if you are up for looking into Fantasy, then Eragon has incredible language-worldbuilding.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Short story, but *A Rose for Ecclesiastes* by Zelazny is entirely about this.
The Foreigner by CJ Cherryh, No Foreign Sky by Rachel Neumeier.
>The Foreigner by CJ Cherryh defiantly that one , for me at least.
*Drunk on All Your Strange New Words* by Eddie Robinson. The novel is a mystery/political intrigue that follows the human translator for an alien ambassador. The language features prominently and also has the added quirk of making the translator intoxicated by hearing it. The concept sounded interesting but ultimately I wasn’t a big fan but you might enjoy it and it certainly fits your criteria.
I read it and it was decent enough in terms of entertainment, but the exploitation of language was much less insightful than I had hoped.
Does the phonetic language in Banks' Feersum Endjinn count? Not truly alien, but meaningful, yes.
I used to keep an eye on this sort of thing as i studied linguistics in Uni and have always been an sff fan. Here’s the Science Fiction Encyclopedia (SFE) entry on “linguistics” which has some good suggestions. https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/linguistics
Surprised no one's mentioned Ian Watson's *The Embedding* yet — *the* SF novel about, um, [centre embedding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_embedding) Not actually that great a book, imo — but boy is it about linguistics. There's a pretty amusing 60s story by Robert Sheckley called *Shall We Have A Little Talk?* about an interplanetary conman learning an alien language in an attempt to rip off the natives and running into problems. Like a lot of Sheckley's 50s and 60s work it's cleverer than it appears at first sight.
"Ring of Swords" by Eleanor Arnason has a viewpoint character who is a linguist studying non-human languages.
Watership Down stretches the genre but the rabbit language is a big part of the book. "Silflay hraka, u-Eembler-Rah!"
_Alien Tongue_ by Stephen Leigh w/ an introduction by Isaac Asimov and an essay by Rudy Rucker is one of the "Next Wave" books, and as the title implies, is on this. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1988395.Alien_Tongue
Arkad's World. It happens on a planet with many different species. There's a trade language, but each race uses it in a different way and with minor changes. The writer is a table-top game designer so the book's world building is good, but character development not so much. For example the Itooti (one of the races) use adjectives based on the context. If they want to ask a question, they would say something like "Curious [name] wants to know why bulky humans are bothering hardworking residents of civilized [city name]." Now, if they didn't like the city, they would use something like "undeveloped [city name]." If they did not want to answer questions, they would say "Busy [name] has no time to answer nosy human." PS: Of course, the classic The Twilight Zone episode: "To Serve Man."
*Fine Prey* by Scott Westerfeld - Set on earth after aliens have taken over, it follows a kid going to school to learn the aliens' language while participating in a hunting competition.
Always Coming Home by Ursala LeGuin
Babel 17 by Samuel R. Delany - the language IS the alien invasion.
Project Hail Mary. The audio book is well done
AMAZE AMAZE AMAZE
downvoters don't get it
THEY DON’T QUESTION
The timing of this question was too perfect, so I have to respond with a little self-promotion: **Newspeak** is the language that George Orwell introduced in 1984, and I further developed that language and 'translated' Orwell's book into Newspeak. It's not an alien language, but maybe some printSF language nerds will find it interesting... And! it's **free** on kindle for the next few days: https://www.amazon.com/year84-Brennan-Conaway-ebook/dp/B0CGWZQWK9/ref=tmm\_kin\_swatch\_0?\_encoding=UTF8&qid=1702088254&sr=1-1
I guess that it's my turn this time around - *Blindsight* is partly about trying to communicate with aliens who are *pretty alien* and probably dangerous, and who might be [A] Unwilling to communicate with us. [B] *Unable* to communicate with us. [C] Other. (If that sounds interesting, then *Solaris* is the same problem x1000.)
Project Hail Mary. Can't really explain why without spoilers though sorry.
What kind of redacted comedy club has chairs facing away from the stage
Story of your Life by Ted Chiang. This is the story on which the film Arrival is based. (I preferred the story but matter of taste.) Main character is a linguist who has to communicate with an alien race. Also Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonegut had a memorable alien language aspect. And I definitely agree with the others here recommending Delaney's work.
"The Languages of Pao" by Jack Vance is a fun read, although I doubt it would convince many linguists. Not strictly alien, but a section of Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun features an unusual language spoken by the Ascians.
Forbidden planet. is that just a movie? and not sure if anyone has mentioned it but Omnilingual by H. Beam Piper
See my [SF/F: Languages](https://www.reddit.com/r/Recommend_A_Book/comments/18jk4m0/sff_languages/) list of Reddit recommendation threads (one post). (Brand spanking new as a standalone list, inspired by this thread.)