Satire in Swift’s Own Words: Considerations on Glossopoesis in Gulliver’s Travels

Abstract

Jonathan Swift’s satire Gulliver’s Travels has always been subject of extensive research. However, some points are deserving of more discussion. The present essay aims to exploit those points, namely the languages invented by the author, tracing their possible origins and explaining their glosses as accurately as achievable, by researching the most relevant  references available like Ehrenpreis (1948), Asimov (1980), Clark (1972) and  Pons (1972), and investigating the relevant matters in his writing, hence providing a more specific study on Swift’s memorable glossopoeias, which, in turn, will also corroborate to a wider understanding of the writer’s satiric view, otherwise hidden in the author’s neologisms. While this paper does not claim to have deciphered every and any ‘artificial’ word Swift coined, it has certainly contributed an enhanced comprehension of the glossopoeias found in the texts.