Communication

[Antoninus Verus]

This is a circumstance question.

You are an explorer and part of a team of scientists going to a small island that has remained un-discovered. Your specialty is language and etymology, you are responsible for communicating with any indigenous people that may be found.

As your team picks its way through the jungle, you come across a village of mud hutts. You slowly make your way into the village and are greeted by groups of strange looking people. Male and female mixed, pale white skin with white body paint in random line configurations. There appears to be no sign of any food stores, tools, fire pits, weapons, decorative art, furniture of any sort.

The people are curious but not agressive, they touch your clothes and face. They imitate basic body movement such as waving and smiling but they dont speak and dont appear to have any written language. How do you work on communicating with the people? Remember that modern equipment such as planes or engines may frighten them and allthough they arent agressive, scaring them probably wont help.

 

[Murmur]

Hmm... Observation, then pantomime at first.

Good question!

 

[dkara]

I'm a visitor. And I'd watch how they communicate. I'd show them respect for their ways. And after a while, I'm sure we'd communicate on some level.

 

[jayem]

They imitate basic body movement such as waving and smiling but they dont speak and dont appear to have any written language.

When you say they don't speak, do you mean that they don't speak to you, or that they don't exhibit any oral communication at all? I would think that a totally non-verbal society is not possible (assuming these people have normal hearing.) I don't know of any human (meaning the species Homo sapiens) society that never developed some spoken language. Verbal communication is the way our brains work. Siblings raised in isolation will have an idiosyncratic language with which they speak to each other.

But you will first have to gain their trust, so you can observe them and how they communicate. If you are a language expert, you should be able to pick up some rudiments of their speech. If this tribe lives on an island, their ancestors probably migrated there from another location. So, as a linguist, you might detect some similarities with an existing language. And they will probably learn some English from you (assuming that is your native tongue.)

 

[Antoninus Verus]

When you say they don't speak, do you mean that they don't speak to you, or that they don't exhibit any oral communication at all? I would think that a totally non-verbal society is not possible (assuming these people have normal hearing.) I don't know of any human (meaning the species Homo sapiens) society that never developed some spoken language. Verbal communication is the way our brains work. Siblings raised in isolation will have an idiosyncratic language with which they speak to each other.

But you will first have to gain their trust, so you can observe them and how they communicate. If you are a language expert, you should be able to pick up some rudiments of their speech. If this tribe lives on an island, their ancestors probably migrated there from another location. So, as a linguist, you might detect some similarities with an existing language. And they will probably learn some English from you (assuming that is your native tongue.)

They dont speak at all, not to you OR eachother.

 

[kedaman]

communication = control
If you want them to do X, then reward them if they do X, otherwise punish them. That's the basis of all communication.

 

[Antoninus Verus]

True, but you run the risk of scaring them if you do that. They may not automatically connect the punishment to the action and believe that you are simply being cruel.

 

[Gracchus]

Perhaps you could use the tried and true method of communication. If they are too stubborn to convert to Christianity, using the excuse that they are too stupid to talk, kill them. The survivors, if there are any, will come around eventually, and will become good, hard working customers for the products of big business.

 

[GreenDragon]

communication = control
If you want them to do X, then reward them if they do X, otherwise punish them. That's the basis of all communication.

Ahh, the old Pavlov's Dog routine. They do eventually learn, and turn into robots/zombies. It's actually called conditioning.

Perhaps you could use the tried and true method of communication. If they are too stubborn to convert to Christianity, using the excuse that they are too stupid to talk, kill them. The survivors, if there are any, will come around eventually, and will become good, hard working customers for the products of big business

I hope you're kidding...

 

[Antoninus Verus]

I hope you're kidding...

That makes two of us

 

[Doppelganger]

-Antoninus Verus

I would probably use simple hand signals to designate stuff like food and drink, and draw simple pictographs in the sand to recount how we got there.


-Gracchus

Funny, in a dark-humor way.

 

[Phred]

How do you work on communicating with the people?

This is obvious. I take the largest members of my group, arm them, then we storm the village. We take two or three young children hostage. Being young they should be able to learn our language rather quickly. Then I take several of the tribe and burn them alive just to show the others I mean business. I allow the rest of my group to force the women of the tribe to have sex. When the people of the tribe start to die I attribute these deaths not to the disease we've brought with us, but to God's wrath upon them for not being saved.

Within a year those who aren't Christian will be dead. Who cares how they communicate?

.
​

 

[kedaman]

robotism is a transcendental illusion, so is free will.

 

[GreenDragon]

This is obvious. I take the largest members of my group, arm them, then we storm the village. We take two or three young children hostage. Being young they should be able to learn our language rather quickly. Then I take several of the tribe and burn them alive just to show the others I mean business. I allow the rest of my group to force the women of the tribe to have sex. When the people of the tribe start to die I attribute these deaths not to the disease we've brought with us, but to God's wrath upon them for not being saved.

Within a year those who aren't Christian will be dead. Who cares how they communicate?

I really hope your kidding...

 

[Gracchus]

In response to Gracchus:

I hope you're kidding...

In response to Phred:

I really hope your kidding...

Why would we kid you?



It works, and it is hard to argue with success.

 

[Antoninus Verus]

It works, and it is hard to argue with success.

I REALLY hope thats sarcasm....because I havent seen any success of such tactics for a protracted period of time

 

[Dimithriceas]

2 possible situations could come from this.

One: I would go with what someone previously said and use simple hand signals to try and convey my message initially. I would stay for a while and try to figuire out their method of communication without opening my mouth heh. If they arent using hand signals I would watch their facial expressions, and body language in order to try and gain perspective on their method of communication. Much in the same way you watch any humans body language, but this time putting more emphasis on it.

Two: If I knew sign language (which I would like to learn) I would do nearly all the same I did above, but eventually start teaching them in order to gain better communication with them.

 

[HouseApe]

It is an impossible scenario. Humans can't live without vocal communication.

 

[Antoninus Verus]

It is an impossible scenario. Humans can't live without vocal communication.

How would you explain that to someone who is mute?

 

[GreenDragon]

It works, and it is hard to argue with success.

Yep, forcing a religion on natives and slaughtering everybody who doesn't follow your every whim works. It's also wrong.