Dipartimento di Filosofia e Scienze dell'Educazione

Ancient and Artificial Languages in Today's Culture
Turin, 8-9 June 2018
Sala Principi d'Acaja
Palazzo del Rettorato
via Verdi, 8
Torino

Unknown, lost or dead languages - as well as new, invented ones - do not lose meaning because of the lack of speakers. On the contrary, their very opacity confers on them a rich set of semiotic connotations, including a flavour of mystery, magical powers, issues of social, political, and cultural identity, initiation, and belonging, as well as a singular aesthetic character, for example connecting an ancient language to a peculiar writing code and iconography. The symposium aims at exploring the rich semiotic features of ancient and artificial languages and their role in today's culture. It will tackle, for instance, the following issues: today's religions and ancient languages; Ancient languages in complex aesthetic systems; new media, invented languages, identity building and secrecy; invented and ancient languages and fictional world-building; the never-ending search for the perfect language.