Anglic (Civilization of the Five Galaxies)

SPOKEN BY

Anglic is spoken by humans, who are only one of 112 races included in The Uplift universe.

DOCUMENTED BY

David Brin (1950– ) chronicles the story of an Earth regarded as primitive by alien races who consider chimpanzees, dolphins, and dogs the most worthwhile species on the planet.

BEHIND THE WORDS

In the Uplift universe, a patron species will help prepare a nonuplifted species to achieve intergalactic travel. These patron species speak one of twelve Standard Galactic Languages and think little of the Anglic spoken on Earth. The story unfolds over six books: Sundiver (1980), Startide Rising (1983), The Uplift War (1987), Brightness Reef (1995), Infinity’s Shore (1996), and Heaven’s Reach (1998).

DERIVATION OF THE LANGUAGE

Anglic is derived from English, Chinese, and Japanese.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE

Anglic is a typical ambiguous and clumsy Earth language.

PHILOLOGICAL FACTS

David Brin has a Bachelor of Science degree in astronomy, a Master of Science degree in applied physics, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in space science. He has written more than twenty novels and collections of short stories as well as presented papers on a variety of philosophical, political, and technical subjects.

The process of “Uplift,” by which a species is genetically modified by another species, “binds” the client species to its patron for up to 100,000 years. Uplift was thought to have been begun by an ancient race known only as the Progenitors. Humans deny that they are a client species and are convinced that they arrived at their present level of sentience through evolution—a belief that most of the rest of the galactic civilizations sneer at. Through this convention, Brin has been able to discuss such issues in the series as evolution, political power, and “species-ism.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Review the works listed above, the resources listed in the bibliography and the web pages: “List of Uplift Universe species” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Uplift_Universe_species) and “Tomorrow Happens” (www.davidbrin.com).

SPEAKING OF LANGUAGES

I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new, one which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare.

—Dwight D. Eisenhower