TNG Darmok

[Fianna]

Here's a thought: do we know that any members of this alien species besides the ones the Enterprise encounters talk like this?


'Cause I've got this theory that, if members of this species are very long lived, on the order of centuries, a bunch of them may have piled into a starship a few hundred years ago and taken off to explore the galaxy. And after spending so long with just each other for company, they all know each other so well that a lot of the things that we need language to communicate (how do you like your coffee? what tool should I use to fix this machine?) don't need to be said, and when they do need to speak to each other, they've developed so many inside references that they've forgotten how to communicate using anything else.

[BunBun299]

Mind you, I think really Darmok is off-kilter with Star Trek laws. i.e that everyone can understand each other very easily within seconds using the UT. Rather than RL rules where language with all of its references, implications, and so on make language an intensely personal thing.

I consider it one of Star Trek's better episodes in terms of pure sci-fi because it's an intense situation brought about by pure misunderstanding--both literal and figurative. Both sides are peaceful but cultural issues as much as language are standing in the way.

Mind you, I actually have a headcanon about the UT that it's not actually as magical as the average crewmember things but works on a "great chain of relationships." There's a team of a million Hoshis back on Earth, Vulcan, and Andoria constantly updating the thing. Usually, someone speaks the language of a "new" race encountered (because the Ferengi were met by people the Federation knew if not the Federation itself) or they monitor its transmissions or its similar to something else that dummy AI can figure it out by context. It's moments like Darmok that remind people just how much effort goes into it.

My headcanon for that is that 99% of all species out there, knowing the value of proper communication, have all programmed their UTs to communicate with each other. They'll compare basic concepts like mathematics, physics, and start working out translations of all languages they both know, so that by the time the meat bags using them open their mouths to speak, the simple AIs have already deciphered the alien language for them. So most of the time, no one has any time to notice.

Darmok is one of the rare exceptions where this just doesn't work. The UTs are able to translate some basic words, but their sentence structure is so odd, it just can't completely compensate. A lot of what they say are proper nouns, and so just gets presented as such.

[Deledrius]

Here's a thought: do we know that any members of this alien species besides the ones the Enterprise encounters talk like this?


'Cause I've got this theory that, if members of this species are very long lived, on the order of centuries, a bunch of them may have piled into a starship a few hundred years ago and taken off to explore the galaxy. And after spending so long with just each other for company, they all know each other so well that a lot of the things that we need language to communicate (how do you like your coffee? what tool should I use to fix this machine?) don't need to be said, and when they do need to speak to each other, they've developed so many inside references that they've forgotten how to communicate using anything else.

So they've basically become an isolated internet forum.