The concept of language is very interesting. While one group of people understand words and sentences from a certain language, other groups might not understand the language and it can take us time to work together in order to understand each other. The act of understanding each other is expressed creatively in the movie “The Arrival” and the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Darmok”.
The first thing that I watched was “Arrival”, a film that was released in 2016, and was based on the 1998 novella “Story of Your Life”, and after watching the movie, I have to say that is an appropriate title. This movie was an experience to say the least. When I first started watching the film, I thought this was gonna be a simple alien invasion story, akin to “Independence Day”. But, as the movie continued, I realized that the flashbacks and the current story unfolding are being more interconnected, such as with “The Universal Language” book, and Ian being Louise’s husband.
Also, quick nerd fact before I continue, Ian is played by Jeremy Renner who played Hawkeye in “The Avengers”, and Colonel Weber is played by Forest Whitaker, who played Saw Gerrera from “Rouge One: A Star Wars Story”. I love how I first picked that up when I saw them on screen.
Anyway, back to the point, the film does a good job expressing the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. They even mentioned it by name in the movie. To sum it up, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis is a hypothesis created back in 1929 by Edward Sapir and later endorsed by Benjamin Whorf. It is defined as “language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories”. This is shown well in the movie, especially near the end where Louise has Agent Halpern’s phone and is trying to call General Shang in China. Thanks to the Heptapods, they tell Louise that she has a weapon that can save their people, with that weapon being her and her memories. She used her mind to remember a future moment of her talking to General Shang and telling him his wife’s dying words, stopping him and his army from firing at the Heptapods. Their language determined Louise’s thoughts and actions.
Afterwards, I watched the Star Trek” The Next Generation episode called “Darmok”. After watching the original series episode and the next generation episode, I can see why people have debates on who’s better: Captain Kirk or Captain Picard. In this episode, captain Kirk and a Tamarian captain, who we later learn is named Dathon, and not Darmok like I thought, are stuck on the planet El-Adrel IV. Picard is unable to understand Captain Dathon, because even though he is speaking English, he’s speaking in phrases such as “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” and “Temba, his arms wide”. The one scene I want to focus on is the scene where Picard is speaking to the dying Dathon, finally understanding his language. Dathon and the other Tamarians show the best examples of Conceptual Metaphors. Conceptual Metaphors are defined as “anchored in our physical and cultural experience, which functions as the source domain for the the metaphors”. So, they use metaphors of previous events in their species’ history in order to explain what they want and mean. So, when Dathon states “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”, its basically a metaphor for him and Picard becoming friends by fighting a common enemy, being the invisible monster on El-Adrel IV.
3 thoughts on “Analysis 3: Understanding Language”
Hi Hasan,
You are absolutely right that understanding one another is an incredibly complex and complicated phenomenon—even more complex and complicated than your opening suggests. Understanding is not just about knowing the individual words; the culture and context also play an integral role in how meaning is constructed.
Also, it is worth noting that the strong version of the Saphir-Whorf hypothesis (which argues that our language determines our cognition) has been largely disproven through empirical research. What cognitive linguists argue is that cognition and language are part of the same system. As Louise learns the language of the heptapods, she develops new modes of thinking about and perceiving time.
Also, I agree that Dathlon and Darmok are too similar, and I understand the confusion. What’s interesting in the episode is that Dathlon isn’t speaking English (though the actor who plays him is). Star Trek uses the conceit of the universal translator, so the idea is that though he was speaking Tamarian, we and the crew hear what he is saying in English. But there are aspects of language that are ultimately untranslatable, including the names that serve as the basis for the Tamarian system of metaphor. It brings up an interesting point. If we were to meet an alien race whose bodies were radically different from our (like the hetpapods), would they understand what we mean by phrases like “I’m feeling low today” or “she has her head screwed on straight.” Those phrases are deeply embedded in our cultural conceptual systems and anchored in our bodies, so are they translatable to beings unfamiliar with our culture and without human bodies.
Jessica Hautsch
I thought this film was going to be similar to Independence Day, too! I liked your analysis on the use of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis in the film, I didn’t realize it was mentioned in the film honestly (maybe I was distracted by my note taking during it lol). I particularly enjoyed your analysis of the use of conceptual metaphors. The Star Trek episode provided a great example of this concept.
mkrulder
Hi Hasan,
It was unexpected that we would use the first image simultaneously. 🙂 I think this image fits the theme of our blog this week. I love your use of Edward Sapir’s hypothesis, especially when you mention that the conversation between Louise and General Shang at the end shows that language determines thinking. Very exhilarating! It is worth noting that, while studying the language process of heptapods at Louise, she is also developing a new mindset, which I think is partly contrary to the Edward Sapir hypothesis. Have to say your analysis of Independence Day got my interest. And as you mentioned, the concept of “flashback” and perception of time in the Arrival further highlights the importance of the theory of time-moving metaphor in the film. Finally, your understanding and analysis of conceptual metaphors in this episode of Star Trek are fantastic! People of different languages cannot achieve mutual understanding unless they learn from each other the history and culture behind the language.
yichen8