Giving AVATAR Its Voice: Creating the Na'vi Language

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Date/Time:Thursday, 03 Feb 2011 at 8:00 pm
Location:Great Hall, Memorial Union
Cost:Free
Contact:
Phone:515-294-9934
Channel:Lecture Series
Categories:Lectures
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Linguist Paul Frommer found himself on an unexpected Hollywood adventure when he was hired to create the language spoken by aliens on the distant moon of Pandora. Frommer developed the Na'vi language for Avatar, including its grammar, syntax and vocabulary. He worked with the actors to perfect Na'vi pronunciation and handled all translations. The Quentin Johnson Lecture in Linguistics and part of the National Affairs Series on...

Frommer has an eclectic background that includes teaching in Malaysia with the Peace Corps, working as a strategic planner and business writer in the corporate world and, more recently, as a professor in the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, where he was director of the Center for Management Communication. Frommer earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from USC, with a dissertation on aspects of Persian syntax. He also created the Martian language for the Disney film John Carter of Mars.

Go to Paul Frommer's personal blog about all aspects of Na'vi: naviteri.org