Science Fiction using Languages or Linguistics as a Plot Device

Novels where the worldview is highly affected by a SF-created language, where linguistics and/or language factors are major plot devices, or where authors, writing in English, manage to construct worlds where derivational thinking, basic to English, does not function.
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3.77 avg rating — 15,600 ratings
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4.11 avg rating — 70,671 ratings
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4.20 avg rating — 99,853 ratings
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3.92 avg rating — 10,314 ratings
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,324 ratings
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9

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3.91 avg rating — 37,076 ratings
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10

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4.02 avg rating — 249,104 ratings
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11

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4.18 avg rating — 92,995 ratings
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12

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4.27 avg rating — 817 ratings
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12

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4.14 avg rating — 69,435 ratings
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14

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4.17 avg rating — 4,506 ratings
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15

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3.79 avg rating — 1,231 ratings
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16

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3.67 avg rating — 30,017 ratings
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17

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3.86 avg rating — 643 ratings
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18

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4.08 avg rating — 4,369 ratings
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19

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4.01 avg rating — 31,346 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 1,976 ratings
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21

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4.03 avg rating — 3,157 ratings
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22

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3.36 avg rating — 421 ratings
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23

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4.40 avg rating — 832 ratings
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23

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3.43 avg rating — 649 ratings
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23

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3.54 avg rating — 61,068 ratings
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26

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3.90 avg rating — 186 ratings
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26

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3.79 avg rating — 2,899 ratings
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28

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3.83 avg rating — 2,197 ratings
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28

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3.99 avg rating — 643,985 ratings
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30

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3.85 avg rating — 11,522 ratings
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31

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3.97 avg rating — 91,363 ratings
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32

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3.98 avg rating — 2,152 ratings
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33

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4.16 avg rating — 1,152 ratings
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34

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3.95 avg rating — 3,013 ratings
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35

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3.43 avg rating — 46 ratings
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35

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3.58 avg rating — 107 ratings
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35

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3.94 avg rating — 161 ratings
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35

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3.34 avg rating — 3,924 ratings
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35

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3.67 avg rating — 414 ratings
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35

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3.87 avg rating — 275 ratings
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35

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3.79 avg rating — 366 ratings
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35

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4.14 avg rating — 9,697 ratings
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35

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3.73 avg rating — 1,240 ratings
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44

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3.54 avg rating — 139 ratings
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44

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3.50 avg rating — 167 ratings
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44

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3.83 avg rating — 77,503 ratings
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44

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4.47 avg rating — 500 ratings
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48

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3.83 avg rating — 12 ratings
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48

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3.87 avg rating — 2,593 ratings
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48

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4.13 avg rating — 1,969,917 ratings
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48

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3.79 avg rating — 140 ratings
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48

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3.87 avg rating — 1,627 ratings
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48

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3.81 avg rating — 618 ratings
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54

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3.68 avg rating — 57 ratings
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54

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4.23 avg rating — 13 ratings
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56

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3.87 avg rating — 1,046 ratings
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57

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4.27 avg rating — 2,498 ratings
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58

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4.07 avg rating — 233,046 ratings
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58

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3.88 avg rating — 274 ratings
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60

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3.83 avg rating — 552 ratings
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60

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4.42 avg rating — 126 ratings
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62

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3.63 avg rating — 138,873 ratings
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62 books · 100 voters · list created July 12th, 2012 by Carolyn (votes) .
133 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Carolyn 7743 books
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Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

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message 1: by Johnny (new)

Johnny Blindsight by Peter Watts!


message 2: by Ed (new)

Ed Erwin This article should be food for thought: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...


message 3: by Derek (new)

Derek Lexicon and Lexicon probably don't both need to be on the list!

@Johnny: you can add books to the list. I've added Blindsight, because I think it belongs here more than some of the others that I've read.

I'd disagree about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. If you have a babel-fish, or any kind of universal translator, it takes language right out of the plot, because everybody is, in essence, speaking the same language.


message 4: by Carolyn (new)

Carolyn Agree with your assessment of HGthG, and removed it for that reason.


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