bill@milford.UUCP (bill) (04/25/85)
This might be old -- the book has a date of August 1984. Sorry if it was discussed before. _Native_Tongue_'s author has a doctorate in Linguistics and the story seems to reflect much current Language Theory. The main area of action, however, is the war between the sexes - an imagined 25th amendment to the Constitution is given as "No female citizen of the United States shall be allowed to serve, to participate in any capacity in the scholarly or scientific professions, to hold employment ... The natural limitations of women being a clear and present danger ...." Within this world of religious fanaticism and sexual oppression, the earth has somehow made contact with various alien races and there is a need to make linguistic contact and understanding with these races. One solution is to "interface" infants (male and female) to the "aliens in residence (AIRIES)", to have the infants absorb the aliens' languages and cultures. New concepts foreign to the normal earthly-thought-forms can arise and provide for widening of the earth's perspective. The mainstream of the plot is that the women linguists (those who had been interfaced as infants to AIRIES) develop their own language "Laadan" and become 'alien' to their male oppressors. I noted (or imagined -- my own background is Math and Comp Sci) a number of tie-ins to Chomsky and (French) Structuralism: that the human mind is structured toward particular grammars and 'reality' is structured to accord with these grammars. What would happen when humans encounter aliens whose minds are structured differently? Could communication occur? Would there be changes (permanent?) in the Weltanschauung of both sides? Would humans who could communicate become 'alien'? These questions are raised as side thoughts in _Native_Tongue_ and are indeed quite thought provoking. Another side-idea presented but not explicitly followed up is: what is the perception of the alien who is maintained so to impress its language upon an infant -- would it perceive itself as a captive or a teacher? would it feel itself under duress in exposing its language? Would it 'sabotage' the infants' minds to protect its language and culture? In a round-about way these subthemes are tied into the main story and perhaps are used to indicate how alien men and women are to each other. There's only a few complaints -- the 'battle between the sexes' theme seems rather too black-white (but then isn't a +/- bifurcation central to structuralism? (:-)). Also there are the usual science-fiction misinterpretations of Goedel's Theorem and uncomputability results. One last thing, "an early grammar and dictionary of Laadan are available ... write to Laadan, Route 4, Box 192-E, Huntsville AR 72740 ... enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope". Disclaimer: I have no idea if this might be a put on.
ariels@orca.UUCP (Ariel Shattan) (04/27/85)
> One last thing, "an early grammar and dictionary of Laadan are > available ... write to Laadan, Route 4, Box 192-E, Huntsville AR > 72740 ... enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope". > Disclaimer: I have no idea if this might be a put on. This is no put-on. I've seen the grammer/dictionary book. It costs a bit ($8.95, I think), so you really have to be interested to get it. Suzzette Hayden Elgin, the author, put a lot of work into Laadan. There was a panel on Laadan and women's language in general at the last NorWesCon (Seattle in March). Some interesting thoughts were discussed. Ariel Shattan