[2674] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: Universals and Aliens
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Jan 20 22:25:21 1994
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Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
From: angghal@aol.com
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 94 19:44:24 EST
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Commenting on my earlier post, Will remarks:
> Facing humans, we can always point to a tree and say "tree"
> and they will give us their word for it. We can point to
> ourselves and say our names and they point to themselves
> and say their names. Bingo. You have the beginning handhold
> on translating between the languages.
Actually, this doesn't always work. There's the wonderful tale of the
American anthropologist doing a field study among some natives of central
Mexico. Trying to learn their names for things he points to a bird on a tree
branch. His informant grunts a word and the anthropologist writes it in his
notebook. Then he points to a rock at his foot and the informant gives him a
funny look and says what sounds like the same word as for bird. The
anthropologist assumes there's a subtle sound difference that he's not
learned to detect yet, and makes a note next to the entry in his notebook so
he'll come back to it. Then he points to the mountains on the distant
horizon and his informant once again says the same word. Turns out, the word
in all three cases is the word for "finger," the thing which the strange man
is waving around in the air. This group of people happens to point with
their chins, not with their fingers, and the informant comes away from the
whole encounter amazed at the anthropologist, who obviously speaks a language
where the word for finger changes depending on whether the finger is aimed
up, or down, or out.
The moral of the story, don't assume anything. The tree you're pointing too
when you say "OAK" might cause your alien visitor to nod and reply with his
own word for "thing-we-will-hang-you-from" all the while smiling kindly.
Lawrence
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Dr Lawrence M Schoen, Director ::
:: The Klingon Language Institute ::
:: POB 634, Flourtown, PA 19031 USA ::
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