How to Talk to Aliens in Eight Questions
INTERVIEW - In his book How to Speak to an Alien , Frédéric Landragin, research director at the CNRS and specialist in linguistics, explores science fiction works that depict “first contact”. The objective: to popularize the different linguistic theories in the light of the idioms imagined by the writers.
That's it! The day that the greatest dreamers, scientists and artists have imagined so many times has arrived. Extraterrestrials have given us the honor of visiting planet Earth. Think about it! Are they little green men? Shapeless creatures? Do they come in peace? And if so, how do you know?
To do this, we would have to understand them and therefore talk to them. But how? In his book How to Talk to an Alien? (Bélial'), Frédéric Landragin, research director at the CNRS and specialist in linguistics, explores science fiction works that depict “first contact”. The objective: to popularize the different linguistic theories in the light of the idioms imagined by the writers.
ET The Extra-Terrestrial, by Steven Spielberg with Henry Thomas, 1982. © Rue des Archives/DILTZLE FIGARO. - Does science fiction shed light on the
science of linguistics?
Frédéric LANDRAGIN. - What is certain is that science fiction is a kind of laboratory in which we test things. There are no precautions to take or ethical questions to ask. We can go all the way with an experiment and explore different principles. This is the case of the film First Contact which explores the Sapir-Whorf theory which explains that our language determines the way in which we perceive our reality. In this film, linguist Louise Banks attempts to communicate with two heptapod aliens (a sort of octopus with seven tentacles) whose idiom is completely different from ours. This begs the question: what would happen if we humans ever discovered an extraterrestrial language?
“To designate is to name”
So let's imagine! If we ever encounter an alien, what linguistic methodology should we follow?
That's the big question! Of course, this is unlikely to happen. But imagining it encourages us to do an interesting linguistic exercise. First, the aliens would have to have a body that somewhat resembles us. And that doesn't go without saying! Their biology should not be equivalent to that of ants, bees or even dolphins. These are species that have a language and with which we are nevertheless incapable of communicating. We can rub shoulders with them, that's all.
So, if the bodies of extraterrestrials resemble ours, this means that they are beings capable of making gestures. It is essential when you want to learn an unknown language, the pointing gesture. Consider this example: I point my finger at a chair and say the word "chair." By making this gesture and associating a sound with it at the same time, I give meaning. I name this object. This is exactly what the linguist does in First Contact . She writes “human” on a sign, pronounces it and refers to herself.
Is this what field linguists do when they encounter populations with unknown languages?
It is exactly this methodology that they adopt when they arrive among a tribe. They establish a base, thanks to the pointing gesture, which allows them to communicate. To designate is to name. What comes next is “yes” and “no”.
Let's return to the example of the "chair". We see it in the short story “The Story of Your Life” written by Ted Chiang and from which the feature film First Contact is based . Once the heptapods point and learn the words, you have to make sure that it is “table” or “chair” that is indicated by the word. This is a principle that a philosopher of language, Willard Van Orman Quine, described under the term “gavagai”.
“The most credible first contact is found in stories where things don’t go well”
Which science fiction work best imagined “first contact”?
If we study the films made on this subject, we can cite Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg which is not the most credible but which remains an interesting example: it is the music which establishes the link between scientists and extraterrestrials . But ultimately, we observe that music does not allow us to express what we want to say. It is more an intention to communicate than a real exchange.
As for novels, the most credible first contact is found in stories where things don't go well. That is to say those where we cannot communicate with an extraterrestrial entity. Let's take Stanislas Lem's Solaris in which humans arrive on a planet and there is an ocean that takes on strange shapes. It is suspected to be an intelligent entity. But despite multiple attempts, humans are unable to communicate with it. However, they have developed dictionaries, complete encyclopedias which describe “solaristic” science. In vain. The whole novel describes to what extent humans like to categorize things, to describe a system to talk about it among themselves without ever dialoguing with the other from whom the language emanates.
Has this mania for categorization ever prevented us from deciphering a language?
Yes, temporarily with the Rosetta Stone and the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. We remember that it was Champollion who decoded everything but there were a multitude of attempts before him. Let's take the case of Thomas Young, an English doctor and physicist, who started from a false postulate, believing that hieroglyphs form an alphabetical writing. To characterize it, he made this hypothesis: such a character is equivalent to an ancient Greek term. Result: it failed to decode the system. It happened because of the confidence that Man has in a functioning that he knows too well.
“You have to know the culture of others to understand their language”
What linguistic theory has science fiction yet to explore?
Let's take the "good-enough" theory which says that when we listen to a sentence, we do not necessarily understand everything but that does not prevent us from continuing to listen and understand the overall content of what is said. A classic linguist, on the contrary, will look at all the words, all the bits of words and take a very fine-grained approach. The “good-enough” theory amounts to saying that our human brains are not capable of deciphering everything but developed enough to allow dialogue.
You talk about the importance of a starting point for understanding a language: myths, dictionaries... In 1977, the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes flew into space to meet distant planets . On board, there is a disk containing images, music and human voices. Is this an effective starting point for the alien to understand us?
No. Imagine that you want to learn Chinese and the only thing you have is a whole stock of web pages written in Chinese. How to do it? You have no dictionary or interpreter. The only thing you can do is dig into this data, try to see where there are repetitions, find patterns, regularities... In short, you can only make conjectures about the data that you have. No, what is needed is a starting point where there is consensus on both sides. We need archives, myths, poems which express the culture of a people. Without this, we cannot ask questions.
You have to know the other's culture to understand their language, it's essential. This is what takes a long time. Let's take the example of a Native American or island people in Australia. They have never had contact with the Western world. If we want to understand their language, we must immerse ourselves in their lifestyles which reflect their culture. And science fiction shows this.
Comment?
There is a science fiction novel called In a Strange Land by Heinlein. Let's summarize: a group of humans is sent to Mars. Everyone dies except one baby who is raised by an alien. Eventually, a rescue mission allows its extraction. But once on Earth, he is lost. He has a human brain but a Martian culture. And even if he manages to communicate with humans, he has his own words. In this case, the verb “gnoquer” which means “to fully understand” and “to become one with the object of one’s reflection”. It's typically a word that comes from Martian culture that humans don't understand. And yet, the child cannot not say that term. It is a pillar of its culture.