https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyyjCn1ML3k
In the next essay , Anassa Rhenisch discusses why alien languages will have almost nothing in common with human tongues … and why foreign forms of communication could shun language altogether .
Contrary to Hollywood and the legal age offictional languages , foreign linguistic process are almost sure enough not going to look like human one . They ’re not proceed to have the same sounds , the same word orders , or the same manner of solving problem like time , counseling , and possession . Why ? Because human DNA and acculturation help find out what human speech look like , and stranger will , by definition , not share that background .
That ’s not to say there wo n’t be similarities , though . Because language is a communication system and therefore has to get data expeditiously , there are some facts that wo n’t change .
On Neurobiology
The ability to apply language will be inscribe in the aliens ’ genes . Either the noncitizen develop language and have basic lingual bodily structure in their brains at nativity , or every individual has to independently invent the language from lettuce . With humans , we call thisnativismand it apply to a whole range of genial traits , not just language .
A corollary of have speech hard - wired is that other brain “ structures ” will affect what the language(s ) reckon like , because everything ’s likely using the same neural pathways . Unfortunately , we ’re still try out to figure out precisely where language overlaps with other pathways in man , so I ca n’t give example that are n’t personal surmisal . countenance ’s just say that if an alien fundamentally comprehend the world otherwise , its language is going to chew over that difference .
A second corollary is that appendage of the same coinage can learn any language spoken by that species , because the neuronic pathway will be the same . ( A different species , such as man , could have grand , even insuperable difficultness determine these languages , and the aliens , ours . )
A coinage that has multiple speech , or has had its language evolve importantly , is become to have “ encoded ” more lingual structure in its brain than any one language uses . This means that languages spoken by the same mintage do not have to be similar , and that even related language can have self-aggrandizing differences because a different element of computer code was choose . French , Spanish , Catalan , and Romanian were all Latin two thousand years ago .
On Organization
An alien speech communication will be organized , because without syntax and/or discussion building , there ’s no way of hump who did what to whom where when , stand for that communicating ’s contravene or at least significantly blockade . An effective language is plump to get the point across as simply as possible , and meaning comes across much easier if the order of information is predictable . This means there ’ll be regulation for tidings social club or tidings formation , possibly both . However , those rules may look nothing like even the least common patterns in human voice communication . A sentence transliterated as “ the bite dog man the ” could be perfectly satisfactory .
Ordering strait may or may not hap . Why lodge sounds ? Because some carry over distances well than others , and it ’s easier to pick up sonant - trashy - soft or loud - loud even at close-fitting range than it is to hear soft - gentle or diffused - soft - lenient . It ’s also possible , but not certain , that there will be immensely unlike sounds in the same speech ( b vs. ee vs. sh ) because again , it ’s easier to distinguish run-in when they ’re not all variations of tkktt . This is , of form , feign that aliens will be tender to variations in amplitude and frequency , like humans , and that they ’ll apply sound for communication .
There will likely be ways to combine and recombine “ clauses ” and “ phrases ” to form different patterns with different meanings - reporting speech , for instance , or inactive voice . Again , this is to simplify communicating . Why make an entirely young string of word or sounds when a good one ’s already been lay out ? Does anyone need an entirely new string of sounds for every possible sentence ?
On Culture and Language Change
On Earth , nomenclature modify over time and take issue between areas . The longer a chemical group of speakers is differentiate from another , or the longer they ’re exposed to other lingual influence , the more decided their oral communication will be from other speakers of their language . The changes are somewhat counteracted by socio - political pressing ( upward mobility , government mandates , education , and so on ) , but dialects and new languages do develop . This will in all probability happen on other planet too .
Because spoken language is a way of communication , it ’s not give way to develop in places where people have no need to pass on . only wanderers will not make voice communication . Tribes will .
at long last , and I hump this has be said elsewhere before this : noncitizen will have words for concepts and objects important to them and in their humankind , but not for unfamiliar conception and objects . For those , they will need to fabricate or borrow words .
On deviation
humanity have two kinds of language : spoken nomenclature , which use sound waves , and gestural ( signboard ) language , which use light wave and images . Other species on our satellite communicate through chemicals ( insects , plants , fungi ) , though those systems are n’t nearly complex enough to be called terminology . Aliens also wo n’t be circumscribe to the same systems as we are , because they ’ll come from a different evolutionary path . taste perception , soupcon , and look are as possible , along with systems based on abilities humankind do n’t have , such as telepathy or electric caprice .
Some of these possible systems are n’t going to allow for the same kinds of sectionalization human spoken language enjoy . Trying to describe “ talking to sound ” to a odor - speaker unit or “ word ” to a telepath is going to be hard .
Aliens are n’t going have the same kinds of syntax , the same sort of word structures , or the same kinds of grammatical elements ( -prepositions , cases , gender … ) as humans do . They have a different culture and biologic background and can therefore produce other way of touch on to the world and signal kinship . Perhaps it ’s not localisation that ’s authoritative , but moment in time . There ’s be no word for “ on ” , but there ’d be words or affix for any time relationship you could think of .
Societies influence spoken language . Words , estimation , and means of speaking can become out and be edited out of the language . government activity can use breeding and the law to impose certain form over others . Societies that lack moral codes or have a highly advanced construct of directionare going to have whole sets of run-in , structures , and solution that other companionship wo n’t . Similarly , living in five dimensions is go to alter your worldview .
Summary Caveats
Sentient aliens do n’t need a terminology . Communication , for certain , but not a spoken language . Civilizations will most likely have spoken language , though , because of the distances and degree of communication take .
It ’s entirely potential that an exotic civilization could modernize with alone non - linguistic communication or aproto - language . I ’m too steeped in human philology to see how , but I ca n’t push aside the possibility .
When I use words like “ Holy Writ ” and “ verbalizer ” , I signify the regular definition as well as the parallel meaning for languages not based on well-grounded wave and the human brain .
Because I am taking human languages as my reference degree whether I like it or not , I will have introduced diagonal into this essay establish on what ’s logical and definite to me . An alien ( mayhap another homo ) could translate what I ’ve write and prove me unseasonable .
It ’s my hope that by delineating what man will agnize in alien languages , I ’ll inspire a entirely non - human language . If we ’re not set ourselves to human - similar biology , why stick to human - similar speech ?
Bibliography and data link
Non - human communication :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biocommun …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interspec …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_lan …
Interesting constructed language :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravic
A Scripture :
Jackendoff , Ray . Foundations of Language : Brain , Meaning , Grammar , Evolution . Oxford University Press , 2003 .
This post earlier appear onI Like A Little scientific discipline In My Fiction .
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