The film Arrival and the tv episode “Darmok” in Star Trek: The Next Generation acknowledge the idea of linguistics. It exhibits how it affects our cognitive perception, or rather how it is part of our cognitive perception. Language influences how we understand who and what is around us.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
In Module 2, we briefly discussed embedded cognition, which acknowledges our interaction with the environment as a part of our cognition. The context within our physical and social environments are considered an important piece of our cognition. Embedded cognition goes hand in hand with this episode.
In one scene, Dr. Crusher, Data, Riker, and Deanna are seated together. Data and Deanna explain that the Tamarians communicate through imagery, specifically imagery of their mythological history. Deanna mentions how it’s like saying, “Juliet on her balcony”, to which Dr. Crusher adds, “An image of romance.” Riker mentions the possibility of being able to communicate with them with this information. However, it’s not the case. Dr. Crusher says, “If I didn’t know who Juliet was, or what she was doing on that balcony, the image alone wouldn’t have any meaning.” Essentially, if someone didn’t know the story of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, they wouldn’t know the context of “Juliet on her balcony”, and therefore no emotions or ideas would be evoked. This is the issue the crew has with the Tamarians. They have trouble depicting the Tamarians’ imagery because they don’t know their mythological history. Embedded cognition takes on a large role here. Additionally, the discussion of meaning in the VoiceThread is active in this scene. The idea of the meanings we get from language being influenced by interactions and experiences is demonstrated. The Tamarian language would produce more meaning to the crew if they experienced the same history. That is why Picard reads a Greek mythology book at the end of the episode- to connect his personal mythology history with other species’ and produce meaning. This is like Simulation Theory in Module 3, which is when you can simulate others’ feelings in a situation based on your own experiences.
Arrival
This movie reveals how the body, language, and cognition play a role together. There is a scene when Louise writes her name on a whiteboard and points to herself saying, “Louise. I am Lousie.” She was attempting to teach the heptapods her name, but to no avail. She then risks her safety and removes her hazmat suit. She says, “They need to see me.” She touches the screen with her hand, to which a heptapod copies. She says, “Now that’s a proper introduction.” Ian ends up repeating her actions, removing the hazmat suit and saying his name while it’s written on the whiteboard. The heptapods then share their names in their written language. Louise recognizes that she must use her body to fully express herself and connect with the heptapods. According to the VoiceThread, cognitive linguistics see language as “embedded in the… interactions with the world.” Louise and the heptapod placing their hands on the screen allow them to truly connect for the first time through their physical interactions, and therefore allows the heptapod to understand her intentions and what she means. Staying in the hazmat suit creates a disconnect, as it is more of a scientific observation between the humans and heptapods rather than a true connection.
Conclusion
Star Trek: The Next Generation and Arrival both share the importance of bodily experiences and interactions with the environment in order to gain an understanding within language.
5 thoughts on “Do You Understand?”
Hi Sara,
First off the picture you included on the Tamarian was pretty funny, and just goes to show how context can change the meaning of something. I think you brought up a good point about the Romeo and Juliet reference, because even as I was watching as a viewer, I was able to understand the reference because that book is pretty popular within our culture. The callbacks or metaphors discussed in the lecture are so vital to create a clear understanding when there is confusion, but there can only be clarity when you have context to frame the information. I also liked how you pointed out that Louise and the Heptapods weren’t able to connect until she took of the suit and made herself visible. This just highlights how the body does play a role in communication.
Sarah Murphy
Hi Sara,
You make a really important point in the opening to your blog post; we do not have separate cognitive and linguistic systems. They are all part of the same system. And as you note, this system is anchored in our bodies and embedded within a particular culture. We might think of the Juliet on her balcony metaphor in terms of cognitive frames. We need a certain degree of cultural knowledge in order to understand that the metaphor is structured by the romance frame. During his time with Dathlon, in order to make sense of Tamarian speech, Picard has to learn the cognitive frames that structure each metaphor.
I also love your observation about the use of the body to make meaning in Arrival. In fact, in both texts, we can see the importance of nonverbal interactions in communication and the construction of meaning. As you learned in this week’s voicethread, meaning is also anchored in the body. Many of our conceptual metaphors are based in our embodied experience of the world. Do we see something similar with the heptapod’s? Are their conceptual and linguistic systems likewise grounded in the body?
Jessica Hautsch
Hi there Sara!
That picture is actually hilarious and I just took a screenshot of it to send to my boyfriend who is OBSESSED with Star Trek and watched over 700 episodes of the show across different seasons/ different star trek spin offs. We actually watched that episode together and I got infuriated by it. You bringing up Juliet on the balcony is very vital to understanding the impotence these people must have in regards to their language. I gave the example gatsby on the dock, and the numerous ways it could be interpreted. Am I sad and only, pineing after another, hopeful for the future, stuck in the past? Who knows, because we are all individual and we can not say what others around us feel with certain colloquial phrases such as that. Thats why I felt their language was so primative and incomprehensible.
snaraujo
NOT PATRICK STEWARD HOLDING A GUITAR SIMILAR TO 1999’s MICK THOMSON. IM DEAD.
Please, how in the world did you find that picture? I’d totally buy Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra the album, despite this age of streaming and of record companies ripping off their artists.
But yeah, you do make a strong point that it is very important to give a body to the voice. Simply hearing someone over a recording is not enough. After that, you need to have some inkling of information about the other person’s background to truly understand the meaning behind their words.
Your post was compact and had the perfect amount of information. Good job!
Also, if you ever find anything like that picture again, please send me a link to the website. It’s for research purposes…I swear I won’t send them as memes to my friends…
gkhidasheli
Hi Guga,
Yes! The body plays a really important role in communication. There have been a number of studies about the effects of zoom on our social cognition, because it is more difficult to read micro-expressions.
But our bodies are not just important for other people to understand what we are thinking and feeling, we also think with our bodies as we communicate. For example, we still gesture, even if we are talking on the phone and the person we are talking to can’t see us. Research suggests that we do this because gestures are not just important for communicating information to other people, but for us to think through what we are saying. I think it’s pretty neat.
Jessica Hautsch