"Mem'ry These Augurin's Well": "Cloud Atlas" and the Future of English

Abstract

David Mitchell's 2004 novel Cloud Atlas is impressive in many ways. What might be the most interesting aspect of the book for linguists, though, is Mitchell's use of language throughout the chapter that is set in a post-apocalyptic future. In order to create a reading experience that is that much more immersive and realistic, he went to great lengths to alter the English language and thereby acknowledged the existence of language change, something few writers would bother doing. However, none of the changes he made were random; instead, he paid careful attention to the language around him to end up with three different sources of inspiration: current language change in English, characteristics of English dialects and features unique to spoken English. This paper will examine some of Mitchell's futurognostics to see whether the manifestations of his inspirations inside the chapter are in any way realistic by comparing them to real-world examples of language change, which will help provide more insight into the potential future of English and the transferability of language changes across languages.