Editing Koalang

{{short description|Fictional language}}
'''Koalang''' is a fictional language in [[Janusz A. Zajdel]]'s 1984 novel ''[[Paradyzja]]''.<ref>[http://wyborcza.pl/1,75248,2459055.html "Sztuczne języki przeżywają renesans"], ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]''</ref> The novel is set on a [[space station]] where activity is tracked by automatic cameras and analysed, mostly, by computers. To avoid surveillance, the station's inhabitants adopt an [[Aesopian language]] which is full of [[metaphor]]s that are impossible for computers to grasp. The meaning of every sentence depended on the context. For example, "I dreamt about blue angels last night" means "I was visited by the police last night."

The software that analyzes sentences is [[machine learning|self-learning]]. Thus, a phrase that is used to describe something metaphorically should not be used again in the same context.

The ''ko-al'' in ''koalang'' derives from the Polish words ''kojarzeniowo-aluzyjny'' ("associative-allusive").<ref name=nk>[http://www.mbp.lublin.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1138&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=9 "Noc Kultury 2009"]</ref> Zajdel paid tribute to [[George Orwell]]'s [[Newspeak]] and to [[Aldous Huxley]] by naming one of the main characters ''Nikor Orley Huxwell''.

In the 1980s, the youth magazine ''[[Na Przełaj]]'' ("Short Cut") printed [[rock music|rock]] lyrics in a column titled ''KOALANG'', hinting that the songs' texts contained content camouflaged from [[censorship]].<ref name=nk/>

==See also==
*[[Algospeak]]
*[[Darmok]]
*[[Metaphorical language]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Fictional languages]]
[[Category:Polish science fiction]]
[[Category:Janusz Zajdel]]
[[Category:1984 neologisms]]
[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1984]]


{{lang-stub}}