dialect, chronolect

Ken MacLeod’s novel The Sky Road is set at least a few centuries in the future. I once argued that there’s a limit to how far it can be, because the protagonist plays some voice-recordings from our time without mentioning the strangeness of the language. But now it hits me: Maybe English won’t sound any stranger a thousand years from now than the Queen sounds in Glasgow (where part of The Sky Road is set) today.

Speaking of books, does the Mafia in Snow Crash engage in any gainful trade other than pizza?

This entry was posted in futures, language. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *