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Schreyer, Christine

In the summer of 2011, I conducted a survey with speakers of the Na’vi language (created for the movie Avatar, which was released in 2009). Recent analysis of the results has shown that many Na’vi speakers aren’t speakers at all, but rather readers and writers of Na’vi who do not yet feel comfortable speaking the language, and yet they still identify as members of this speech community. Since the Na’vi community is a virtual community where written communication still predominates, the ability to read and write can be seen as a form of social capital. As one respondent stated, “Given the overwhelmingly written nature of the Internet as a communication medium, it is inevitable that many people will learn written Na'vi before spoken [Na’vi]” (Schreyer 2011a). In fact, many community members will spend a length of time reading Na’vi before attempting to write or speak the language. This paper will provide discussion on how community members think writing indexes their identity, it will also describe how writing as the primary means of socialization has impacted the community and the language itself including: accent development, standardization of speech, the development of informal and formal genres, and the development of written and audio acquisition tools and methods. Finally, this paper addresses the theoretical implications of privileging the term “speaker” in the context of the digital age and the development of more virtual communities where spoken words may no longer be the first, or primary, means of communication. [Paper Presented at the American Anthropological Association’s meeting "More than Words' panel in San Francisco, California on November 16th, 2012.]

Text

2024-11-13

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89664

Reviewed

Christine Schreyer

DSpace