Native Tongue (Elgin novel)

Native Tongue, published in 1984, is the first novel in a feminist science fiction trilogy by American author Suzette Haden Elgin. The story takes place in a future dystopian United States where the 19th Amendment was overturned in 1991, leaving women without civil rights. The protagonist, Nazareth, is a gifted linguist in the 22nd century, part of a global network of translators bred to facilitate communication with alien species. She anticipates retiring to the Barren House, a facility where women past childbearing age wait to die, but instead learns that the women there are secretly developing a new language—Láadan—as a form of resistance against male dominance. Elgin herself created Láadan and made instructional materials available.

The novel received mixed reactions. In 1984, Bill Muir of *The Hamilton Spectator* called it a highly controversial book likely to stir strong emotions. Kelvin Johnston, writing for *The Observer* in 1985, compared it to Doris Lessing’s science fiction but found it less ponderous and overintellectualized. Barry Seddon of the *Manchester Evening News* described it as a "didactic bore" in 1986. Elgin later explained that *Native Tongue* was a ten-year thought experiment: she hypothesized that women would either embrace Láadan or reject it and create their own women’s language. Neither happened; Láadan received little attention, even after its grammar and dictionary were published and a cassette tape released. No feminist or women’s magazine inquired about it. Elgin contrasted this with the popularity of the Klingon language, which she called as masculine as possible, and concluded that literate women in English, French, German, and Spanish did not find human languages inadequate for communication. The book is occasionally cited for its theoretical contributions to feminist thought, particularly feminist separatism.

*Native Tongue* was nominated for the 1985 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and the 1985 Ditmar Award for International Fiction. As of 2019, Until Media had acquired the rights to the trilogy and was planning a screen adaptation.