SF Citations for OED

Full record for xenolinguist n.

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.