Tenctonese - Conlang Profile	Advanced
Language Name Tenctonese Language Author Johnson, Kenneth; Johnson, Juliet; Ling, Van; Mislan, Scott Year Began 1988 Site Tenctonese Broken Link No Site Language English Language Type professional fictional language Uniqueness It's a rather unsophisticated alien language, including English words spelled backwards, in jokes and featuring English grammar. Van Ling developed it for the 1988 movie, then Kenneth Johnson and his daughter Juliet expanded it and redid it for the TV series. Scott Mislan took over the language duties for the last 19 episodes of the short lived series. Language Sources Russian, English, and possibly Chinese, German and Samoan. Most Tenctonese words are either Russian words with minor changes ("Gift": Dadarok (T), Padarok (R)) or backslang (backward-spoken) English (the theme song's "lyrics" are simply the backwards sounds of Kenneth Johnson's wife's maiden name, "Susan Appleton", sung to Tenctonese music). Juliet Johnson, the producer's daughter, was reportedly a Russian language and literature major. (Source: TV Guide, early 1990s.) Design Principles The language was designed to be easy for actors and extras to pronounce while conveying some verisimilitude. Practical usage was more important than theoretical purity. Interest Of Others Fans of the Alien Nation movie and TV series are interested in the language. Dictionary Yes Etymologies No Grammar Yes Sample Texts No Unique Script Yes Primer No Babel Text No Lexicon Size 1,500 Submitted By Jeffrey Henning Date Submitted Thursday, March 28, 2002 Date Edited Thursday, December 23, 2004 Date To Headline Sunday, January 09, 2005 < Telyana  Tenctonese  Teonaht >
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