Alexander Piperski Gets Russian Academy of Sciences Medal

Alexander Piperski, Lecturer at the HSE School of Philology, has received an award for Russian young literature and languages researchers for his book Constructing Languages: From Esperanto to Dothraki.

In late January, the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Presidium announced its decision on medals and awards for Russian young researchers and university students, following their 2017 research project and research paper competition.

The book about the world of artificial languages by Alexander Piperski, Research Fellow at the HSE Laboratory of Linguistic Conflict Resolution Studies and Contemporary Communicative Practices, was published by Alpina Non-Fiction together with PostNauka in 2017. It proposes that people invent languages, be they Esperanto, Klingon, Dothraki, or Blissymbolics, for various purposes: in order to achieve a logical ideal, to better understand each other, or just for the aesthetic enjoyment of the creator and others. Interesting personalities and dramatic stories of success and failure lie behind each of the artificial languages.

According to the author’s introduction, the main part of the book consists of stories about artificial languages – a total about 30 of them – and their creators. Each chapter starts from a theoretical discussion of each type of artificial language in the context of the linguistic theory, followed by case studies.

In December 2017, Alexander Pipersky received the Prosvetitel (‘Enlightener’) award for this book.