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An Alien Language 外星人的语言

The blockbuster film Avatar has been a smash hit at the box office in the UK and around the world, becoming the fastest film ever to earn $1bn (7bn yuan) in ticket sales.

But as well as being an entertaining feast for the eyes, the sci-fi epic also introduces movie-goers to a brand new language invented especially for the film.

The movie is set on an alien planet called Pandora which is inhabited by many strange species. The most humanoid of the planet's inhabitants are the Na'vi, and it is the struggle between the Na'vi and human interlopers that forms the core narrative of the film.

In order to add authenticity to his vision of an alien race the film’s director James Cameron asked a professor of linguistics from the University of Southern California to invent a language for the Na'vi.

Professor Paul Frommer worked with James Cameron for four years to build upon the original 30 words or so that the director had already come up with for the language.

According to Professor Frommer, the most important aspect of the Na'vi language was that it could be articulated.

"This is an alien language but obviously it has to be spoken by human actors," Professor Frommer told the BBC, "it has to be sounds that human beings are comfortable producing."

The language currently has a lexicon of around 1000 words but Professor Frommer hopes to expand it in possible sequels to the film and in video games.

The professor hopes that one day his creation will become as sophisticated as the Klingon alien language from the Star Trek films.

"There's a translation of Hamlet into Klingon," says Professor Frommer.

"If anything happened like this with Na'vi I'd be delighted."

Glossary 词汇表

blockbuster 热门电影 

smash hit 非常受欢迎的 

feast for the eyes 视觉大餐 

sci-fi epic 科幻史诗 

inhabited 居住 

species 种类，种族 

humanoid 具有人类特点的 

interlopers 入侵者 

core narrative 主要故事 

add authenticity 增加真实性 

alien race 外星人 

linguistics 语言学 

come up with 想出 

articulated 发音 

lexicon 词汇 

sequels 续集 

sophisticated 高水平的 

Klingon 克林贡帝国 （星际迷航中虚构的一个好战外星种族） 

Star Trek 星际大战 

Hamlet 哈姆雷特