Captain’s Log, Stardate 641342.0107
Darmok
The
Enterprise is dispatched to an uninhabited planet in order to meet with an
alien race known as the Tamarians, whose communication had previously been
declared incomprehensible. After a brief “conversation” in which neither party
is able to understand the other, the Tamarians beam both Captain Picard and
their own captain to the surface of the planet. The crew of the Enterprise
attempt to determine the intentions of the Tamarians while Picard and Dathon,
the Tamarian Captain, struggle not only to survive on a hostile world, but also
to come to a mutual linguistic understanding.
Eventually,
Picard comes to understand that the Tamarian language is based on allusion to
folklore and other metaphors. The titular “Darmok” legend is revealed to be
analogous to the situation in which Picard and Dathon find themselves, showing
that Dathon instigated the situation to provide a powerful example of the
syntax of their language.
Two themes
are addressed by the episode. First and foremost is the idea of a language
barrier, which is relevant even to human society. As Counselor Troi notes, when
two negotiating parties do not understand each other, it is very easy to a
simple misunderstanding to escalate into tragedy. In human history, there
exists a (possibly apocryphal) example of a diplomatic translator who provided
a poor explanation of a French request which caused other parties offense until
the mistake could be cleared up. Darmok
accordingly promotes the importance of mutual understanding not only in
politics, but also in individual relationships.
Another
theme is the idea of individual sacrifice. Dathon valued giving the Federation
and his people a chance at tolerance and understanding over the life of any
individual, as he deliberately placed himself and Picard in danger in order to
create the shared experience which would be necessary to form an understanding.
Whether he acted ethically is up for debate—in one sense, the sacrifice of
individuals on behalf of the many seems noble, but it is worth noting that
Picard’s involvement was nonconsensual, so one could argue that Dathon violated
his individual rights by forcing him into a life-threatening situation. Perhaps
the Tamarians do not have the same sense of rights as humans do—indeed, Troi
also notes that their concepts of individuality are not as strong as those of
humanity. This reiterates the difficulty that different cultures frequently
have in coming to an understanding when language and values are so different.
One of the main questions I contemplated while watching this episode is if the Tamarians once had a base language like the humans, does that mean they are more advanced than humans linguistically? In the episode, the Enterprise and the Tamarian ship are at almost the same level of technological advancement, so therefore both civilizations must be somewhat at the same age. However, the Tamarians are able to fire with pinpoint accuracy in the episode, so their civilization must be further ahead in its development than humankind, including in its linguistics. Is the use of metaphors and folklore in everyday expression of emotion the future of human language?
ReplyDeleteI wonder why the Tamarians abandoned their base language, which for all we know might have been much simpler than quoting passages and moments from their folklore. Also if they once had a base language for all of their stories was there once multiple languages that were spoken by the Tamarians, and if so did they all switch to one language before they started speaking in quotes from their folklore or were they all forced to convert to their current language by the rulers of their home planet?
ReplyDeleteI didn't think that deeply about this episode at first, but the comments made me think deeper. I was intrigued by the monster.
ReplyDeleteI was also quite interested about the monster. It went unexplained throughout the episode, and I hoped to know more about its nature. Most notably why it flickers in and out of existence.
ReplyDeleteThe central message of understanding in this episode really touched my area of the brain capable of feeling happiness. I now have a new favorite episode.
I thought the language was super interesting because it would require a base language's development before the language structured on metaphors could be developed. I've made the assumption that this was possible due to a great love of literature among the Tamarians that caused them to structure communication entirely on imagery, metaphor, and allusion. Learning about their early history would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how easily Picard understood the Tamarian's metaphors in such a short span of time. If I was in his situation I would have had a lot of trouble understanding the metaphors, especially if I was focused on trying to survive with an unknown beast in the near vicinity.
ReplyDeleteTo answer to Ben Silvernale's question, I don't think this is the future of human language. I feel as though speaking in metaphor could be a more affective way of conveying complex emotion in a concise way, but it is also very limiting for day-to-day conversation. Imagine trying to ask a friend to pick up spinach at the store. Would you need to use a tale of a hero going to go find something? How would you say spinach? The language system we have now is much more concise, but I also think it lacks the ability to convey complex emotion that the Tumarian's language has. I don't think we will ever change to that system of language.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was very neat how the writers made the aliens language different in the way they did that it relied on folklore and legends. There are so many different paths the language could have taken.
ReplyDeletegenetic mutation was a fun topic even though my view was different from other peoples.
ReplyDeletethe language difficulty between picard and the other captain really relates how humans would communicate with an alien species that came to earth.
ReplyDeleteThe language is very difficult when both of them don't know anything about other's language. I'm interesting on how the first people from other place using different language can talk together.
ReplyDelete