| Definition | one who studies alien languages |
| OED requirements | any evidence 1988 |
| Earliest cite | Sheila Finch, 'Berlitz in Outer Space: How Alien Communication Just Might Work' |
| Comment | Irene Grumman submitted a 2002 cite from a reprint of Nancy Kress' 2000 "Probability Moon". Jeff Lassahn submitted a 1996 cite from Sheila Finch's "Reading the Bones". Jeff commented that this one of a series about the "Guild of Xenolinguists", and there there was an earlier story by Finch likely to contain a cite for this word. We then heard from Sheila herself, and she submitted a 1989 cite from her story "A World Waiting": in a later mailing, she submitted her a cite from her 1988 article "Berlitz in Outer Space: How Alien Communication Just Might Work." Douglas Winston submitted a cite from a 2007 reprint of R.M. Meluch's 2005 book, "Wolf Star".
We are also interested in further cites of any date from other authors. |
| Last modified | 6 July, 2008 |
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| 1996 S. Finch Out of Mouths in Mag. Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Dec. 19 | The experiment he'd designed wasn't a new idea; in fact, early theoretical xenolinguists such as Elgin and Watson had discussed it centuries before. Raise a human child with an alien, and she'll have the other's language in her head from birth, as well as her native tongue. |
| 2000 N. Kress Probability Moon 42 | The Anaconda , Martian physicists decided, had had a Schwarzschild radius—defined as the radius below which, if you squeezed the mass, it would become a black hole—larger than the tunnel's capacity to handle. From the disaster, xenolinguists had learned the meaning of the alien marking for ‘disruption.’ |
| 2000 N. Kress Probability Moon 42 | The Anaconda , Martian physicists decided, had had a Schwarzschild radius—defined as the radius below which, if you squeezed the mass, it would become a black hole—larger than the tunnel's capacity to handle. From the disaster, xenolinguists had learned the meaning of the alien marking for ‘disruption’. |
| 19089 S. Finch World Waiting in Mag. Fantasy & Sci. Fiction Aug. 36 | Outside, someone was dragging Oona's battered duffel bag with its faded Xenolinguists' Guild insignia across the compound to the guest quarters. |