Protolang 2

Today we announced the results of our short story competition Language Evolves. Over the last year we’ve worked with over 70 sci-fi authors to help them write stories inspired by our research into the evolution of language. The competition was judged by Mary Doria Russell and Gwyneth Lewis, and the winning stories are published today in the New Welsh Review. Find out more about the project at the Language Evolves website.

Aroma Therapy by Sue Dawes is the winner of the English Language competition! An alien visitor attempts to comprehend human life through their highly evolved sense of smell. Read it in the new issue of the New Welsh Review. https://newwelshreview.com/new-welsh-reader

Runner up: The Precious Space by Tim Byrne Inspired by the work of Vinicius Macuch Silva, Yasamin Motamedi and others, a mysterious cave offers two researchers a golden opportunity to create a new way to communicate. Read it at https://newwelshreview.com/new-welsh-reader

Runner up: Artifact of the Anti-Verbal Era by Iulia Teodorescu. Future anthropologists find scraps of evidence from a long forgotten past where talking was prohibited. Read it online here.

Runner up: A Star on the Tongue by Rayn Epremian. Visitors to a hostile world try to communicate with an alien species, and get more than they bargained for. Read it soon in @FusionFragment magazine.

The Winner of our Welsh Language competition is Rhyngwyneb by Ian Richards. A brain-interface programmer gets the chance to change the destiny of her language forever. Read it in Y Stamp.

We’re delighted with our winners and with all the stories we received. It’s been a very exciting project, and we hope to run another competition within the next two years!

In the meantime: Are you a sci-fi author who would like to write about the evolution of language? Check out our Language Evolves website for a crash-course in language evolution, video resources and ways to get in touch with us about your ideas.