Month: July 2022

1 obvious and prevalent theme throughout both Arrival (2016) and the episode “Darmok” is how nuanced language and communication is and how it can serve as a barrier between people. The movie and episode showed significant misunderstandings stemming from inability to communicate. Not understanding a person’s culture can lead to not understanding a language (and vice versa) and not understanding intentions/meaning in words. This doesn’t only apply to people that speak different languages, even when speaking the same language, the words people use have different meanings to different people.

In Arrival (2016) there was a lot going on to try and make sense of. I want to start with the repetition of language as a tool versus language as weapon. When the heptapods were offering something, it was immediately translated as weapon but as Louise points out, languages isn’t that simple (as she demonstrated in a previous scene by stating the different translations for the Sanskrit word for war as either an argument versus a desire for more cows). The “mistaken” definition of weapon versus a tool reinforces the notion throughout the movie of language representing both a weapon and a tool. The words in the preface of her book even states that it is the foundation of civilization and “the first weapon drawn in a conflict” The whole movies demonstrate the way words are weaponized.  The colonel makes Louise have the words she’s teaching them approved, because he worries about teaching them too much and having it used against them. In the end, what they were offering wasn’t a weapon, it was a gift or a tool in teaching their language.

Another prevalent aspect of arrival (probably the most prevalent)  is the way our cognition is shaped by language. The characters discuss The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and how learning a new language can change your cognition/brain and the way you perceive the world (spatial/temporal processing), this hypothesis is explored to the extreme in the movie through learning an alien language that allows her to experience time different, however the movie also highlight more realistic/subtle ways it alters cognition. The best example is the Chinese decision to communicate/connect with the heptapods through a game. Louise explains this is a horrible method because all the words they’re learning every way of communication will be filtered through terms of winning, strategy, victory and defeat – she uses our own conceptual metaphor “when all you’re given is a hammer, everything is a nail” to explain how this will shape cognition and set the framework for all future communication and attitudes between them.

The Star Trek episode “Darmok” is all about a race that’s entire communication uses these conceptual metaphors anchored in their mythology, as explained in the episode, knowing the words isn’t enough. To understand their language a person needs to have knowledge of all of the stories their language is based upon. The episode highlights the detriment of not understanding the meaning behind language. When shown 2 knives, Picard kept thinking he wanted to fight against him rather than fight with him in order to unite them – had Picard acted on that assumption, the effect could have led to war between their civilizations rather than a step closer to understanding each other. Something that interested me that I thought also demonstrated the Sapir-whorf hypothesis was the statement that their race had no sense of ego, they spoke through imagery and metaphors of the stories of their past and interpreted meaning through those stories.  Does having this language that speaks of other people’s story and places such high value lessen each individual’s perception of their own value. The captain of the other ship was knowingly willing to put his life in jeopardy for the advancement of his people and his crewmates while upset, let him go alone and left him there to die, while knowing he was in danger. Is this because the culture values are shaped by their lowered self-identity due to their collective identity through these stories?

Do you constantly have fights with your significant other? Went to Facebook jail or got ratioed on Twitter after saying something that was supposedly well-intentioned? Been accused of misusing a phrase? The reason for this is that most of us fail to recognize that everyone encounters language differently, which is why so many of us fail at communicating effectively.

I’m not the best communicator, but after I watched the 2016 film Arrival and Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s “Darmok”, I’d say that ‘I’m on track to becoming one. What they taught me about language ensured that I will never ever have to say, “Maybe it was lost in translation” again.

1. Viewing foreign languages/people as scary impacts communication.                                   The first thing that I noticed is that in Arrival and Star Trek: The Next Generation’s “Darmok”, foreign languages were either met with fear or hostility. In Arrival, the military is sent to deal with the issue of a possible invasion. At first, when they couldn’t understand what the heptapods were saying, they went with the worst possible scenario: that the heptapods were there to harm them. But, Dr. Banks breaks the language barrier by putting down her own by removing her hazmat suit and abandoning conceptual metaphors in order to understand how the Heptapods’ brains worked. For example, she started to think of herself moving through time rather than time moving towards her, which allowed her mind to travel to the future and decipher the language.
2.   The Importance of Context

Metaphors gave meaning to the Tamarian Language: In Darmok, the Tamarian captain kept repeating the phrase “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”. While the phrase held meaning for the Tamarians, it sounded like gibberish to the humans. Even after they cross-referenced Darmok and Tanagra, they still came to the conclusion that the Tamarians wanted to fight because they didn’t have the full narrative. Had they known Tamarian history, they would’ve realized that ‘Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra’ was a request to join forces.

Dual Meanings of ‘Weapon’: 

In Arrival, there is a moment when Dr. Banks translates a logogram and it comes out as “weapon”. Though Dr. Banks tries to defend the heptapods, the military interprets the word as a threat and starts shooting at the heptapod ship. The men in the military are surrounded by guns, explosives, etc., which they use to attack people hence why ‘weapon’ is associated with violence. On the other hand, the heptapods did not associate weapons with war and division as the humans did. Rather, they saw a weapon as a tool of collaboration. Here, we see that a difference in framing brought about two interpretations. This is similar to Captain Picard and the Tamarian’s time in the woods.

“A shared danger might bring people together”

Captain assumed that when the Tamarian handed him the dagger, he was challenging him to a fight. However, it’s later revealed that the weapon was not meant for fighting each other; it was meant to help each other. In the words of the Captain, the Tamarian hoped they would meet because the story of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra showed him thatThe act of throwing the knife now being regarded as positive is an example of frameshifting. With more information, the alien species was no longer seen as harmful.

This week, we were tasked to watch Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival and Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Season 5, Episode 2 entitled “Darmok”. As a quick side note, I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s texts; Arrival falls right below Interstellar on my “Top 5 Favorite Sci-Fi Movies” list (Interstellar being first and Arrival being a close second) and Star Trek: The Next Generation is my favorite Star Trek show, although Strange New Worlds might knock TNG out of that spot. Anyways both texts show how language is communicated between a human mind and an alien mind. They also shows that our linguistic and conceptual systems are part of the same system.

At the beginning of Arrival, Ian reads a line from the preface of Louise’s novel: “Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people to together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict.” I feel as if the quote holds true to the “foundation” of the film. Louise, along with Ian, is tasked to learn the Heptapods’ language and to teach them how to speak to us. As the film goes along, Louise and the Heptapods form a temporal telepathic connection (along with the Chinese military commander Shang who is of no importance to this analysis but this was just the first viewing where I realized he was telepathically linked with the Heptopods). This connection between Louise and the Heptopods reinforce the meaning of the scene, which starts at 01:01:50, where Ian discusses that “if you immerse yourself into a foreign language […] you can actually rewire your brain.” This is an example of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, which is, Louise explains: “[…] is the theory that the language you speak determines how you think [and everything you see].” In other words, if we change our lamguage, we essentially alter the frames through which we conceptualize things. After this scene and throughout the rest of the movie, we learn that the visions she has been seeing of her with her daughter aren’t memories but are premonitions, so to speak. Through their telepathic link, the Heptapods use their conception of time (which to them is non-linear but simultaneous) to help Louise (who conceptualizes time as linear) understand and learn their langauge. In terms of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, Louise learns their language and has her brain essentially rewired to conceive time how the Heptapods conceive it.

The Star Trek: TNG episode “Darmok” follows the same path as Arrival. The Tamarians speak in metaphors, which at first glance catches the crew of the Enterprise off guard, even Data. It isn’t until Picard and the Tamarian captain are beemed down to the surface of planet where they force themselve to try to understand each other. After the Tamarian captain’s fight against the Beast, him and Picard sit beside a campfire. In this moment, I feel that Picard’s brain has been rewired to understand the Tamarian captains language of metaphors. The Tamarians use stories from mythos to express what they are trying to say and so Picard uses a story to convey that he understands the Tamarian captain. In addition to this, the Tamarian langauge shows that the Tamarians are a unified species in a way. This is due to the fact that they speak collectively rather than just individually. The captains goal was to unite, not just himself with Picard, but the Tamarian species with the Federation.

This week we learned about Cognitive Linguistics by watching Arrival (2016) and “Darmok” Star Trek: The Next Generation. They were great examples of how important and complex language can be. Being bilingual myself, it made me realize how phrases and jokes are lost through interpretation when trying to translate Spanish to English. Which makes languages that are incredibly different, that much more difficult to interpret and understand even after years of study.

“Darmok” Star Trek: The Next Generation

In the episode Darmok, the Enterprise is arriving on a planet called El-Adrel, a planet in which communication hasn’t been established, and therefore formal relations haven’t either. In order to try to communicate, the Enterprise observes the Tamarians when they are talking, and the same could be said about the Tamarians observing how the Enterprise is communicating. This could be through their tone of voice, their facial expressions, and objects being exchanged or shown. This causes confusion when the Tamarians hold out two knives and Captain Picard interprets it as a means to start a war. Captain Picard mentions how in order to communicate they need to have patience and imagination. Through patience Captain Ricard doesn’t act immediately, but waits for additional information to provide new context; “Darmok and Jalad” changes to “Darmok and Jalad on the ocean.” This clarifies that two individuals are together in a place, and not just naming two individuals. Imagination was needed by putting certain phrases together and their meaning, which happens when Captain Picard realizes that the Tamarians communicate in metaphors. This important aspect of the way they communicate and the experiences they encountered while alone on the island, leads Captain Picard to bond with the Tamarian captain by sharing a similar story about the Gilgamesh. Even though they barely understand each other, they are able to understand some words, and the meaning behind those words ultimately is enough for them to bond.

Arrival (2016)

In Arrival (2016), Dr. Louise Banks is a linguistics professor on a mission to try to translate and communicate with an alien species (heptapods) that have arrived on a spaceship. In the beginning, she states that “It would be impossible to translate from an audio file. I would need to be there to interpret with them.” This shows the importance of being able to observe how others communicate, their tone of voice, their hand movements, and any form of writing. Dr. Banks explains how easy it is to misinterpret a word or phrase because their usage might mean something else in another language/culture, or in this case, a species. Dr. Banks had to study each individual symbol and the way they were formed, as a way to also study the heptapods. Studying their way of communicating would help them figure out how they operate as a species, and what their purpose is. I thought it was interesting how the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was brought up on how the language you speak determines how you think and see everything, even though it influences thought and decisions instead.

Does thinking determine language, or does language determine thinking? When I watch Arrival, I think hundreds of thousands of scripts are written worldwide, but why are most written linearly? Of course, the expression is line by line with the writing method of letters, and even the complex Chinese characters are still written. Why don’t humans tile language into two dimensions like drawing?

Arrival

When the heroine and the alien learn each other’s language, the Sapir-Wolf hypothesis mentioned is the hypothesis of the relationship between language and thinking. All high-level thinking depends on the tongue. Language determines thinking. “The language you speak determines how you think and yeah it affects how you see everything” (1.02.18). People who use different languages, the feelings and experiences of the world are other. This assumption leads to the conclusion that there is no accurate translation at all, and the learner cannot simply learn the language of another area completely unless he abandons his thinking mode and acquires the thinking mode of the other language. I think that many students who are good at learning languages ​​must feel the same way. Those who are good at foreign languages ​​have partially abandoned their original thinking habits. People who know foreign languages, such as Howard Goldblatt, have two thinking systems in their brains, just like the two systems of Windows and Apple installed on the computer. One of the problems with poor foreign language studies is the inability to transform thinking patterns. In the same way, generally speaking, all human languages ​​have a timeline, which shows that human thinking is also trapped in time. It is impossible to transform language and thinking modes, and a breakthrough will take a long time.

Metaphor is the most significant metaphor in this film and is closely related to language. If we regard language as a belief with a mystical solid color, like the Sapir-Worf hypothesis, a linguistic theory that appears in the film, then All language-related behavior directly affects the changes in the world. Therefore, the film quickly establishes various causal models. For instance, the last words of the Shang’s wife, which is the passcode, are deeply symbolic – the life of the entire earth depends on a personal death that has already occurred. To understand the film or the original novel, one must start with the metaphorical language of poetry and learn how the metaphor and the parasitic imagery are close to the truth. The words of the “heptapods “are inevitably presented in the form of ink circles. This state most intuitively illustrates what imagery language thinking is. The metaphor of time moving. So, in this case, we are stationary, and time is moving towards us. For example, Louise’s future in the movie shows that she is still while time moves toward her, and she sees herself, her daughter, and her husband in the future, as well as divorce and death.

It is also a pity that Dr.Brank and her collaborators’ interpretation of the ink language in the film still cannot escape the Western thinking of technological analysis. It may be a self-irony of the movie. At the last minute, Heptapod can’t wait and adopts a direct way to teach the opportunity, just like the Zen of Buddhism. The universe is a palindrome, but it has no words. Also as mentioned in Voicethread, conceptual metaphors are based on culture and experience, and metaphors in different cultures are not the same. For example, the name Hannah ‘Hannah’ is also a circle. It mirrors the film’s theme in a non-linear timeline, where the past is the future, and the future is the past. Louise knows the new language has mastered, giving her the same way of thinking as the heptapod. She can see both the “past” and the “future.” Simultaneously, now that the ending is known will it change the future?

In the film Dr. Brank and China, Russian experts almost simultaneously translated an alien language that could destroy the world: offer weapons, nearly a world war. It also shows that a lack of communication can create many unnecessary problems. In the end, we understand that the language of the heptapods is precisely the weapon (gift/technology/tool, gift to humanity) because once the language is truly mastered, it is possible to sense time and even turn it on. Language does affect our perception and understanding of the world. On the other hand, the process of Heptapod and Louise learning languages ​​also deepens their understanding of each other’s world, showing the concept of frame switching. Dr. Banks and Ian used their own body and body language to connect with heptapods, the body-brain connection we learned earlier about embodied cognition.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

In the episode “Darmok” of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Picard, and the Tamarian are teleported to a planet and stranded. The language barrier is the problem they need to solve the most; otherwise, they can’t understand each other. So “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra,” Picard could not understand the meaning of this sentence as he tried to understand the definition of each word to understand the sentence. As a result, it is conceivable that he could not understand the meaning of each word. As mentioned in Voicethread, we need to understand these words in a specific context. The Tamarian said, “Tamba, his arms are wide,” and threw the fire. Picard can guess from his body language that the Tamarian fires him in good faith, even without knowing the sentence’s meaning. Judging from Picard and Captain Tamaria’s initial reaction and request for the second knife, he knew of the danger on the planet that he had tried to warn Captain Picard about. As they confront this enemy, Captain Picard realizes that the Tamaris speak metaphorically. Moreover, Picard could turn their conceptual metaphors into his own based on his interactions. “Give me more about Darmok. Darmok on the ocean. A meraphor for being alone. Isolation? … He went the same island as Darmok….” Judging from the conversation between Picard and Captain Tamarind, he was in Speak with metaphors of self-moving rather than time-moving metaphors. In addition, the relationship between mind, language, and body is embodied in the theory of conceptual metaphor, which is the basis of people’s experience, cognition, thinking, language, and behavior; it is the top and fundamental way of human existence. For example, the Tamarian and the way they communicate. The Tamarians use visualizations and situations from their culture and history to share what is happening in the present. In addition, after Captain Picard, and the Tamarian fought off the enemy together, even if they did not fully understand each other’s meaning, in constant communication, through some phrases, context, and body language, they also showed the theory of empathy and frame-shifting theory. So we learn that metaphor is one of the main ways we understand the world. These metaphors are rooted in our material and cultural experiences. Because each language has many metaphors, such as Chinese and English, our thinking about their understanding is entirely different not just because the conceptual systems in language and patterns are fixed in the body, but more importantly, because the body is an essential part of how we understand and physically comprehend language.

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.

This week, we watched Arrival and “Darmok” from Star Trek: The Next Generation: media that focuses heavily on cognitive linguistics, which views language as not separate from our way of thinking, but deeply embedded in our overall cognitive capabilities. I was really intrigued and entertained by watching these concepts play out; it made me think about how English approaches language compared to other languages.

I first watched Arrival, directed by Dennis Villeneuve and based off of the short story “The Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang. This story follows Louise, a linguist, who is sourced by the government to help translate the language of aliens who had landed on Earth. I read this novella earlier this month and am a big fan of Dennis Villeneuve’s work on Dune, so I was super excited going into this movie.

After watching, my thoughts are…that I really liked it! Though it differed considerably from the novella, the story is just as chilling and compelling. Both the soundtrack and visuals were beautiful and haunting – as I would expect from Villeneuve.

This story is a great way to explain cognitive linguistics, as I knew little about them before reading the novella, but came out understanding the concept fairly well. As Louise learns the language of the heptopods – her name for the aliens – she begins to experience time non-linearly as they do. This means that she begins to see flashes of the future, seeing her daughter who hasn’t been born yet, her husband, and her teaching a room of people the heptopod writing system. This illustrates the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, which states that the language you speaks influences the way you think. This hypothesis is even mentioned by name in the movie to help explain to the viewer Louise’s ability to see the future. In one scene, Louise explains that the heptopods can write complex sentences in one logogram – the symbols they use for writing – which would require them to know everything they have to communicate all at once. Comparing this to human speech, where one word comes after another and sentences can be changed in the middle of speaking them, heptopod writing requires a knowledge of the future. This begs the question – were the heptopods able to tell the future before they invented their method of writing, or did the writing give them this sense over time?

The next media I watched was the episode “Darmok” from the show Star Trek: The Next Generation. Though I have never seen any of the Star Trek shows before, I was excited to finally take a look at one of them, as I know they handle some really interesting sci-fi concepts.

This episode follows the Enterprise as they attempt to communicate with the Tamarians, a race of people whom nobody has been able to understand. After unsuccessfully trying to speak to the Tamarians, Captain Picard is teleported to the surface of the nearest planet – El-Adrel – along with the Tamarian Captain of their ship. At first, they are still unable to understand each other. The Tamarians speak in cryptic and repetitive clips of sentences, such as “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” and “Shaka, when the walls fell”. After spending time with the Tamarian Captain, Picard learns that these phrases refer to stories from Tamarian mythohistory that reflect their current situation – in other words, they use metaphors to explain what is happening. Because Picard does not have the cognitive frame of knowing what these stories are, he doesn’t understand what the Captain is trying to say. I really like the scene where Picard and the mortally wounded Tamarian Captain are sitting by the fire explaining their stories to each other. Though they cannot fully understand each other still, Picard has begun speaking in the same metaphors and even attempts to tell the story of Gilgamesh in this way. It was really heartwarming to see them finally begin to understand each other and made it even more devastating when the Tamarian Captain dies, Picard knowing that he sacrificed himself so that his race could finally be understood by others.

In both pieces that we watched, alien species come into contact with human civilization. The Heptapods and Tamarians use their own language majority of each film is spent trying to dissect and interpret their language that can be made sense from our perspective.

In “The Arrival“, the government along with Banks and Donnelly are attempting to understand the language of the heptapods. We see that they use frame shifting to and what they understand from the human language to transfer it over to the language of the aliens. Even before contact, this occurs between human like in the beginning when Banks is first shown the tape recording. She listens and asks, “How many?”. To this Colonial Weber asks “How many what?”. I think this can be viewed as frame shifting because within conversation there is a certain frame that it settles in. With continuing dialogue new pieces of information are usually given and in this sense we can see that Weber tries to piece together what Banks is asking, which is a form of frame shifting. This happens once more when the scientists are discussing how oxygen runs out rather quickly in the pod and it takes hours to regenerate. Donnelly responds with “Atmosphere”. We see the frame of the conversation shifting as Donnelly is introduced within and with the new information that is presented, they try to make sense of what he means by atmosphere. In the scene of initial contact, shifting of framework is once again seen when Banks holds up a white board that reads “human” on it towards the aliens. They respond with their own symbol of what is interpreted as humans. Another day, she goes in writing her own name on the board. The heptapods respond with a similar symbol, but it has a curve at the end. This puzzles Banks and her team and they start questioning what it could be. This is frameshifting as Banks assumes, “It might be a question based on the curve at the end”.

Frame shifting is seen once more in “Darmok” as the Enterprise makes contact with the Tamarians. The difference between conveying of the languages between the Enterprise crew and Tamarians show multiple frame shifting. They take new information from each other to try to fit in slots from their own perspective; one that makes sense to their own experience. The Tamarians form of conversation which is more allusions clash with the direct language of English. While our language is full of metaphors, their language is metaphors turned to reality as it can be literally seen and interpreted. This  highlights the different meanings which can be prone to be lost in translation. At the end, the Tamarians mark the whole experience with a new allusion that they keep as history, which sets a new frame and forms a new phrase.

Honestly this week really showed that lack of communication really causes so many unnecessary problems. I mean really misinterpret on thing and its all out war on humans.

Obviously this is precisely what happens in the film Arrival. One misinterpretation of a the actual meaning of a word leads into a full out declaration of war among. But should it really have lead to that? I feel like conclusions were jumped because of the skeptical nature of these extraterrestrial beings. You can definitely see that in the film because Dr. Banks goes out of her way to really try and figure out what they actually meant whereas all the nations are freaking out and prepare for some kind of war. It really does show how language can be shaped and molded by our environment and interactions. Dr. Banks had more interactions with the heptapods compared to everyone else which is why she couldn’t accept that this is actually what they meant which shows this concept of frame-shifting.

In this scene in particular Dr. Banks was able to really connect to the heptapods and from there slowly bring down their language barriers. It really shows how the body can connect us when our mind doesn’t. It shows an importance in the role of the body when it comes to understanding things. Something so simple can be a catalyst for greater knowledge which Dr. Banks and Ian were able to access because they connected using their bodies first. Which is also why they were able to shift their frames away from being skeptical and always on alert with the heptapods to really understanding the gift they were trying to bring.

Now for Star Trek…

I would just like to put it out there, I am not a huge Star Trek fan at all. So really after watching that really great movies this was kind of a let down. BUT IT’S OKAY!

Literally this was me the whole time. I won’t lie the episode was hard for me to really grasp but I know it really had to do with the fact that there was a huge language barrier the crew faced with the Tamarians. Picard does believe they can get past this but it will take patience and a little imagination. 

In this scene we really see Picard putting that to use. As he has spent more time with the Tamarian he begins to start to put things together until finally in this scene he realize what he is saying. “Temba, his arms wide” and throws the fire. Picard is able to put together that he is giving him this fire out of generosity. Picard essentially was able to to adapt their conceptual metaphor into his own based on his interaction with him. I mean it really just shows how our interactions and experiences and really mold and adapt our language and understanding of other languages. But again as Picard said it best it takes patience and imagination to get there.

I really did find it incredible how our body and interactions can really push us to understand when our minds can’t.

This module discusses cognitive linguistics and the link/relationship language has to the mind, body, and communication. Language is not only verbal but can be communicated and understood through the body, such as sign language, communicating with the hands, or behavioral and emotional cues shown with the whole body like tenseness if uncomfortable, tears if sad, or doubled over if in pain. Communication and language can also be understood from text like words in a book or braille; for the visually impaired. We learn how language is spoken and understood through two science fiction works, the movie Arrival and the television show Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Darmok.”

In the movie Arrival, a linguist professor, Louise Banks, is in the process of teaching a class when the news about the 12 objects that arrived on earth is reported. These objects, it turns out, are spaceships that carry alien beings. The professor is drafted by the army to learn to communicate with the beings to prevent destruction and war. These 12 unidentified flying objects are placed sporadically throughout the world, yet, different cultures with different languages all cognitively understand the significance of these appearances, and everyone is fearful or worried. The aliens in this movie do not speak any verbal earthly or alien language and cannot or will not assimilate into any sort. However, Louise decides they might understand better if she wrote the language rather than spoke it, and she has success. Louise writes humans and aliens respond with a few circle symbols, giving us the understanding they understand. Unlike humans, these beings seem semiotic because they process information in isolation to make sense of the written word. This process is to find a relation between their language and the human language, so they (aliens) can respond. Context cognitive linguistics is how we understand or have shared meaning; however, for these creatures, that is not the case. These aliens imitate Ian and Louise’s bodily actions to connect with them through bodily communication rather than verbal communication. However, they have no meaningful connection or understanding of the action. According to Ian, the alien’s symbols and meaning do not correlate in the movie. Ian also says that, unlike written human language, the symbols convey meaning but do not convey sound. This statement would lead one to believe that the way they might communicate with one another may also lack context cognition and maybe even empathy and emotion.

                                                        “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”

“In my experience, communication is a matter of patience and imagination; I would like to believe we have these qualities in sufficient measure.” – Captain Picard.

In the Star Trek: The Next Generation, episode “Darmok,” Captain Picard and the Tamarian captain have been beamed down and stranded on a planet. Neither crew can rescue their respective captains, and like in previous encounters with the Tamarians and other federation ships, there is a communication barrier with no one understanding the other. Unfortunately, the language barrier creates some static between the captains. Still, as the night turns to the day, they begin to pick up physical clues from each other as both captains realize they have an enemy they must fight together. However, from the Tamarian captain’s initial response and the demand for a second knife, he knew of the danger on this planet, a danger he tried to warn Captain Picard about. As they stand against this enemy, Captain Picard realizes that the Tamarians speak in metaphor. In this module, we learn that metaphor is one of the primary ways we understand the world. These metaphors are anchored in our physical and cultural experiences, like the Tamarians and how they communicate. The Tamarians use visualization and situations from their culture and history to communicate what is occurring in the present. From the conversation between Picard and the Tamarian captain, it seems he is speaking in ego-moving metaphors rather than time-moving metaphors.

Both of these works were very entertaining and embodied (see what I did there) the point and lesson of this module. They proved that two people or two beings do not have to speak the same language to understand each other. Language can be conveyed through bodily context, metaphors, or symbols. Other ways of commuting do not include verbal linguistics or even the standard ways of verbally communicating.

Before I end, I want to say that Arrival, the movie reminds me of Independence Day because UFOs appeared in many locations worldwide without warning. In the scene where Captain Hiller (Will Smith) takes the alien that he knocked out to area 51, the scientist’s body is inhabited. The alien tells the president and those around cognitively through the scientist that they did not want peace, only destruction, and then this alien enters the president’s mind, and the president sees the destruction that takes place from planet to planet, with earth being next. This example is not really about this module it is more along the line with module 2 and the embedded cognition, but the aliens did not verbally communicate with one another they communicated telepathically and through signals; however, to communicate directly with the president, he used the cognitive linguistics of another human being.