History Main / ReLex

So you have an alien species or a fantasy nation in your work of SpeculativeFiction. For some reason you need to invent a language for them, for names or some ritual phrases if for nothing else. You realize that it makes no sense if they [[AliensSpeakingEnglish just spoke English]], so you make up some words for the language you are inventing, and then just take an English phrase and substitute your made-up words for the English ones. Voilà! Here you have a phrase in your very own ConLang! Right?

Well, it may indeed be considered a ConLang, but only the most primitive kind, called a "relexification", or a "relex" for short, and hardly any more realistic than if your fictional people [[AliensSpeakingEnglish just spoke English]]. What you just created is a simple cipher for English. Substitute English words back for your made-up words, and again you have an English phrase that makes perfect sense. In the real world, that wouldn't always be possible even for very closely related languages.

IndoEuropeanAlienLanguage is a step above this, when the author actually invents a language with its own unique grammar, but which still follows the typical patterns of Indo-European languages. Truly original creations fall under StarfishLanguage.

ConvenientlyPreciseTranslation is a direct result of this trope (or, at least, implies it). CypherLanguage is when this happens to the language's writing system.

Remember though, ''TropesAreNotBad''. The easier a language is to translate, the more fun can be had with hidden messages and wordplay.
----
!!Examples
%% Empty folders commented out. Delete the percent signs to bring them back.

%%[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
%%[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Comic Books]]
%%[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Film]]
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'', the fairy language, including its writing system, amounts to a direct cipher of English, despite the fact that it's out right stated that the (very different from English) ancient Egyptians derived their language from the fairy language.
* The ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has an example of this, with a language for each species, although the human one is never specified with any differing words, presumably TranslationConvention. The most well-developed language is the Ancient Language, based on a combination of English (grammar-wise) and old Norse (some grammar and vocabulary). The English relexification shows in a few places, most notably in the plot point differentiating between "shielded" versus "shield" (the verb). There is no language in the world that forms the transitive past by adding the past tense morpheme to the noun form of the verb--however in English, the present transitive and the verbal noun look the same, which is where the confusion arises.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Live Action TV]]
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The Dragon language in ''TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' is basically a ReLex of English; the script for this language, however, was invented from scratch.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Web Original]]
%%[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Western Animation]]
%%[[/folder]]

----

Well, it may indeed be considered a ConLang, but only the most primitive kind, called a "relexification", or a "relex" for short, and hardly any more realistic than if your fictional people [[AliensSpeakingEnglish just spoke English]]. What you just created is a simple cipher for English. Substitute English words back for your made-up words, and again you have an English phrase that makes perfect sense. In the real world, that wouldn't be possible even for very closely related languages.

* In ''ArtemisFowl'', the fairy language, including its writing system, amounts to a direct cipher of English, despite the fact that it's out right stated that the (very different from English) ancient Egyptians derived their language from the fairy language.

* The ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has a partial example, with a language for each species, although the human one is never specified with any differing words, presumably TranslationConvention. The most well-developed language is the Ancient Language, based on a combination of English (grammar-wise) and old Norse (some grammar, and vocabulary).

Remember though, ''TropesAreNotBad'', the easier a language is to translate, the more fun can be had with hidden messages and wordplay.

* The ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has a language for each species. The most well-developed one, elven, is a RelEx of English with vocabulary borrowed from closely related languages. The whole "shield" (the noun) vs. "shield" (the verb) debacle that motivated much of the plot in the second book is a prime example--in English, the two forms just ''happen'' to look and sound the same, while in many (if not most) languages, they do not.

* The Dragon language in ''TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' is basically a RelEx of English; the script for this language, however, was invented from scratch.

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC: {{Comic Book}}s]]

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

* The ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has a language for each species. The most well-developed one, elven, is a RelEx of English with vocabulary borrowed from closely related languages. The whole "shield" (the noun) vs. "shield" (the book) debacle that motivated much of the plot in the second book is a prime example--in English, the two forms just ''happen'' to look and sound the same, while in many (if not most) languages, they do not.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]

[[AC: {{Video Game}}s]]

[[AC: WebOriginal]]

ConvenientlyPreciseTranslation is a direct result of this trope (or, at least, implies it).

ConvenientlyPreciseTranslation is a direct result of this trope (or, at least, implies it).

IndoEuropeanAlienLanguage is a step above this, when the author actually invents a language with its own unique grammar, but which still follows the typical patterns of Indo-European languages. Truly original creations fall under StarfishLanguage.

[[redirect:IndoEuropeanAlienLanguage]]