How to invent a realistic language for fictional speakers

The distant moon Pandora from James Cameron’s Avatar films is a feast of sci-fi world-building. Dragonlike creatures prowl the skies. Supersmart whalelike beasts write poetry under the sea. And a splendid variety of jungle plants glows multicolor in the dark.

Cameronʼs famously stunning visual effects can make these ecosystems appear vivid enough to touch.