“Meaning is not a deposit in a concept-container. It is alive and active, dynamic and distributed, constructed for local purposes of knowing and acting” (Mark Turner). We learned this week that the meaning of different words in languages are completely subjective. They are words that are created through social interactions, physical environments, and all the problems and solutions that follow each specific one. “Arrival” and Star Trek The Next Generation’s “Darmok” realize that language is not something that can be immediately understood by an outsider. There are many different factors that go into the creation and understanding of words in a new language.
The crew in Start Trek find themselves at a loss when trying to communicate with an alien race known as The Children of Tama. After failing to communicate as a group, the alien race would transport Picard and their captain to the planet’s surface in order to talk face to face. After continuously failing, Picard becomes cold after trying to start a fire for himself. Knowing that he would not sleep if Picard was cold, the alien takes a lit branch from his own fire and throws it at Picard while saying “Temba, his arms wide”. Even though Picard had no idea what the alien said, he knew that with his tone and politeness that the alien was only trying to help and become friends with him.
“Arrival” was a very interesting movie to watch for the first time. An alien race has landed in multiple different countries across the world and no one on Earth has the means to communicate with them. Top scientists and linguists from around the world are being summoned in order to understand why the aliens are on Earth and what their end goal is. After speaking in shrills and moans, linguist Louise Banks realizes that the best way for us to communicate with them is through written language. Showing the word “Human” to the aliens allowed them to realize that we were trying to communicate and they responded accordingly. When linguistics fail, simply touching or being in close proximity of another person displays trust and a want to be friendly. This is seen by Louise taking off her hazmat suit and placing her hand on the divider between her and the aliens. She wanted to show the aliens who they were really communicating with and that they only desired to learn about them. 
One thought on “Analysis Blog Post #3”
Hi Jeremy,
I love that quote from Turner, so I am so glad that you started your blog post with it. It also feels incredibly relevant to our texts for this week.
The scene that you are focusing on from Star Trek is really interesting because of the layers of meaning making that your comments about it allude to. For example, you note the importance of non-verbal aspect of meaning construction—like body language and tone. Can you connect that to what we learned last week about embodied cognition. In addition, this week you learned that context is an integral part of how we make meaning. How do we see that at work here? How does context determine the cognitive frame through which Picard’s understanding of the interaction is structured?
Similarly, in Arrival, what role do we see context playing there? For example, how does Louise removing her hazmat suit create a new context through which meaning is constructed? Why is the touch against the glass an important moment in the film?
Jessica Hautsch