The Big Peat's thread on hybrid cultures ventured into the topic of language and it got me thinking....
As I work on my current fantasy novel, I find myself in the strange position of avoiding words with obvious Greek or Latin origins. It is clearly impossible to avoid all such words but the story features several highly educated scholars whose vocabulary needs to reflect their station. And yet, to me, words with Greek and Latin roots that fit so well with academic styles sound strange in a fantasy setting with no historical Greece or Rome.
I have allowed a couple of exceptions, which I use for specific purposes in the story. I'm also certain that readers who are attentive to language will find loads of examples that, for one reason or another, didn't worry me as I was writing. And to wallow further in my own hypocrisy (note my choice of word there ), I happily scattered a few fairly modern terms throughout the book.
I assume that many of you who write fantasy or historical fiction try to avoid obviously modern terminology. But are there other ways in which you alter your use of language? And how about for all of you sci-fi writers, what issues have you encountered with language, vocabulary and style?
As I work on my current fantasy novel, I find myself in the strange position of avoiding words with obvious Greek or Latin origins. It is clearly impossible to avoid all such words but the story features several highly educated scholars whose vocabulary needs to reflect their station. And yet, to me, words with Greek and Latin roots that fit so well with academic styles sound strange in a fantasy setting with no historical Greece or Rome.
I have allowed a couple of exceptions, which I use for specific purposes in the story. I'm also certain that readers who are attentive to language will find loads of examples that, for one reason or another, didn't worry me as I was writing. And to wallow further in my own hypocrisy (note my choice of word there ), I happily scattered a few fairly modern terms throughout the book.
I assume that many of you who write fantasy or historical fiction try to avoid obviously modern terminology. But are there other ways in which you alter your use of language? And how about for all of you sci-fi writers, what issues have you encountered with language, vocabulary and style?