"TAP" is a 1995 novelette by Greg Egan

Greg Egan

Greg Egan is an Australian science fiction author.Egan published his first work in 1983. He specialises in hard science fiction stories with mathematical and quantum ontology themes, including the nature of consciousness...

. It is set in a near-future society in which brain implants allow immersive virtual reality. The implants also allow a new kind of language called TAP, Total Affective Protocol. TAP is essentially a way of making qualia

Qualia

Qualia , singular "quale" , from a Latin word meaning for "what sort" or "what kind," is a term used in philosophy to refer to subjective conscious experiences as 'raw feels'. Examples of qualia are the pain of a headache, the taste of wine, the experience of taking a recreational drug, or the...

into words.
TAP words can be read like English, or invoked to be experienced, like virtual reality.

Plot introduction

TAP is a murder mystery in which religious and cultural groups think that a poet has been killed by a word in an all-encompassing thought-language.