Loanwords

In collaboration with Michal Shoshan.

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A loanword is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient language). Experts estimate that around 80% of words in the English language are loanwords. This project produces new loanwords that are remixes of preexisting loanwords whose letters are then converted into symbols that represent the sound they make in multiple languages. Each petri dish displays one new loanword at a time.

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We utilized a probability model to generate new words off of a list of loanwords in the English language. Each word’s letters are then displayed by order of appearance. Each letter has a symbol representing it, that is essentially a mix of the typographic symbols that represent the sound that letter makes in various languages. Every symbol has its own unique simulated physical properties that are a direct result of its shape. Thus each behavior is derived from the form itself, allowing for unique interplay between the different letters of each word. A new word is being generated every 30 seconds.

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