https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09 Language and the 'alien' in Lingua Franca and 'Story of Your Life'. en-us 2021-11-16 20:35:39 UTC 2026-01-13 14:35:21 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f47e.png aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895163017 In the story "Lingua Franca" there are a variety of social displays of class status, which are explored as the narrator is forced to come to terms with a world that is changing to exclude her. One of the ways that they showed class status which was interesting to me was that the wealthy had servants to carry their belongings so that their hands would be free to sign language. The story shows this in the following quote: "But the dictionary filled the bag and only a small space remained. Mist was not about to be seen walking through the town square carrying something in her hand, like those women one couldn't converse with in the streets because they had no servants to carry their ling-carts on shopping days" (McDonnell 203) That idea is interesting because it's such a succinct way of showing privilege. The poor don't have a 'voice', they carry their weight and the weight of the wealthy. ]]> 2021-11-16 20:44:37 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895163017 aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895163815 2021-11-16 20:45:09 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895163815 aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895165093 2021-11-16 20:45:58 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895165093 aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895170930 I first watched Arrival for a linguistics class for a lesson on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which refers to the idea that the language you speak affects your perception of the world around you. In "Story of Your Life", the idea of perception being affected by language is accomplished from the beginning, from the shape of the heptapods. This is evident in the line: "...at no point did it ever turn around. Eerie, but logical; with eyes on all sides, any direction might as well be 'forward'" (Chiang 96). It's not even just that language affects cognition, it's that body structure affects language which affects perception. I also found the idea of different written and spoken languages interesting. The idea of a "wasted" second channel of language makes so much sense that it makes the way we communicate seem alien. ]]> 2021-11-16 20:49:38 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895170930 aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895173348 2021-11-16 20:51:08 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895173348 aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895175315 2021-11-16 20:52:24 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895175315 aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895191225 2021-11-16 21:02:45 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895191225 aruiz1991 https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895196235 2021-11-16 21:06:24 UTC https://padlet.com/aruiz1991/72vz2fqoa1e1ix09/wish/1895196235