Communicating through different languages is a very interesting concept. There’s always a word or two that can connect us to understanding each other. For example, bien in French also means the same thing as bien in Spanish. If two people communicating in two different languages, there’s always a word or two to connect them to the possibility of understanding each other. Sometimes actions even help with miscommunication.
In the Star Trek episode, Darmok, is about how the captain and is trapped on another planet with an alien captain. They have trouble communicating due to the fact the alien captain speaks a different language. In one scene of the episode, the alien captain throws a knife at Captain Picard and keeps repeating, “Darmok and Jalad”. Picard keeps assuming that the alien wants to fight and the miscommunication gets them both frustrated. Later in the episode when a creature approaches, Picard realizes that the alien captain did not want to fight but wanted Picard to have protection. He also realizes that the aliens communicate by metaphor. The alien captain even utters a phrase making it sound like he is relieved to finally be understood. The Conceptual Metaphors connects with this episode because we learned that these types of metaphors influence how we talk about the world and how we perceive and experience it. The alien captain used these type of metaphors to explain his feelings to Picard and his knowledge of the beast on that planet. It took a while to understand, but once Picard figured out his phrases, they were able to work together.
In the movie, Arrival, Linguist Louise Banks is needed to help communicate with these aliens that have appeared on earth in 12 ships. She makes contact with them and starts to study their complex language. Their language seems to consist of palindromic phrases and circular symbols. She establishes enough of their “vocabulary” to ask why they have come to earth. They respond in their language which ends up being translated as “offer weapon”. This movie would go with the Frame Shifting concept we learned this week because frame shifting occurs when additional information provides a new context which requires a reanalysis. This is what Banks did as she studied the symbols and tried to interpret what the aliens were trying to tell them.
3 thoughts on “Do Aliens Speak French?”
I think it’s interesting that you mention once Picard figured out his phrases. Picard picks up a lot nonverbal cues as well, which helps with communication. I think this goes along with the embodied theory of cognition because of the important role the body plays in both language and communication in general. The captain extends his fire towards Picard and Picard understands that he is being offered something and can then associate the offering with “Temba his arms wide.” This reminded me of the movie when Louise told the colonel that she needs to see the aliens to translate for them, because so much of communication can be nonverbal and it matters how they use their body and how that body plays into their communication and culture.
nperalta
Hi Brianna,
As you note, we do see connections against different languages. Part of that has to do with the fact that many languages share a common ancestor—the proto-Indo-European language from which many, many languages originated. However, we have other commonalities, like sharing a body that is more similar than dissimilar and which grounds communication. The Tamarians are humanoid, so we can see similarities in their language. (The use of the phrase “His eyes uncovered” seems to be related to our UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR.)
In your discussion of the Star Trek episode, you note that Picard has difficulty understanding Dathon because they do not speak the same language. It is actually, I think, more interesting than that. It is not that their language is different—the crew has use of a universal translator that resolves any language discrepancies—but that their communication is grounded in a different set of conceptual metaphors.
It is really interesting that you connect Louise’s learning the alien’s language to frame shifting. Can you say a bit more about how that is working in the film? How is “offer weapon” an example of frame-shifting?
Jessica Hautsch
I thihnk its so interesting that the direct translation of what the heptapods said was “offer weapon.” The lack of context in any conversation can lead to misunderstanding between groups, let alone people who speak in entirely different languages. It made me think of the deifferent words that could be used for one thing.
arbuonaiuto