How to invent a language — like that of Avatar’s Na’vi

alien: (in astronomy) Life on or from a distant world.

ancestor: A predecessor. It could be a family forebear, such as a parent, grandparent or great-great-great grandparent. Or it could be a species, genus, family or other order of organisms from which some later one evolved. For instance, ancient dinosaurs are the ancestors of today’s birds. (antonym: descendant)

anthropologist: A social scientist who studies humankind, often by focusing on its societies and cultures.

audio: Having to do with sound.

blog: Short for web log, these internet posts can take the form of news reports, topical discussions, opinionated rants, diaries or photo galleries.

census: An official count or survey of a population.

code: (in computing) To use special language to write or revise a program that makes a computer do something. (n.) Code also refers to each of the particular parts of that programming that instructs a computer’s operations.

cognitive: A term that relates to mental activities, such as thinking, learning, remembering and solving puzzles.

colleague: Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.

common ancestor: Also known as shared ancestor. It’s an ancestor that two or more descendants have in common. Two siblings share a parent as a common ancestor. This also applies on the level of species and groups of organisms. Two or more species can share a common ancestor at the genus level. Two or more genera can share a common ancestor at the family level, and so on. Tigers and lions have a common ancestor, as do humans and Neandertals.

dialect: A form of language or pattern of communication that is distinct to a specific place or a social group.

encode: (adj. encoded) To use some code to mask a message.

endangered: An adjective used to describe species at risk of going extinct.

fiction: (adj. fictional) An idea or a story that is made-up, not a depiction of real events.

generation: A group of individuals (in any species) born at about the same time or that are regarded as a single group. Your parents belong to one generation of your family, for example, and your grandparents to another. Similarly, you and everyone within a few years of your age across the planet are referred to as belonging to a particular generation of humans. The term also is sometimes extended to year classes of other animals or to types of inanimate objects (such as electronics or automobiles).

indigenous: Native to some region. (in anthropology) An adjective (and capitalized) for people that have lived for eons in some region, developing a culture that reflects the resources, climate and ecosystems of that place.

information: (as opposed to data) Facts provided or trends learned about something or someone, often as a result of studying data.

inquiry: The act of exploring, or seeking, information by questioning; an interrogation.

insight: The ability to gain an accurate and deep understanding of a situation just by thinking about it, instead of working out a solution through experimentation.

light-year: The distance light travels in one year, about 9.46 trillion kilometers (almost 6 trillion miles). To get some idea of this length, imagine a rope long enough to wrap around the Earth. It would be a little over 40,000 kilometers (24,900 miles) long. Lay it out straight. Now lay another 236 million more that are the same length, end-to-end, right after the first. The total distance they now span would equal one light-year.

linguistics: The scientific study of language.

media: A term for the ways information is delivered and shared within a society. It encompasses not only the traditional media — newspapers, magazines, radio and television — but also digital outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp. The newer, digital media are sometimes referred to as social media. The singular form of this term is medium.

native: Associated with a particular location; native plants and animals have been found in a particular location since recorded history began. These species also tend to have developed within a region, occurring there naturally (not because they were planted or moved there by people). Most are particularly well adapted to their environment.

neuroscientist: Someone who studies the structure or function of the brain and other parts of the nervous system.

online: (n.) On the internet. (adj.) A term for what can be found or accessed on the internet.

planet: A large celestial object that orbits a star but unlike a star does not generate any visible light.

recall: To remember.

sea: An ocean (or region that is part of an ocean). Unlike lakes and streams, seawater — or ocean water — is salty.

Siberia: A region in northern Asia, almost all of which falls within Russia. This land takes its name from the language of the Tatar people, where Siber means sleeping land. This region is vast. It has become famous for its long, harsh winters, where temperatures can fall to −68° Celsius (−90° Fahrenheit).

strategy: A thoughtful and clever plan for achieving some difficult or challenging goal.

system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.

theoretical: An adjective for an analysis or assessment of something that based on pre-existing knowledge of how things behave. It is not based on experimental trials. Theoretical research tends to use math — usually performed by computers — to predict how or what will occur for some specified series of conditions. Experimental testing or observations of natural systems will then be needed to confirm what had been predicted.

tool: An object that a person or other animal makes or obtains and then uses to carry out some purpose such as reaching food, defending itself or grooming.