Tenser, Said The Tensor (reference uncomprehended EDIT: see comments for reference gloss) has put up a rather thorough and thoroughly entertaining linguistic analysis of an old Star Trek: The Next Generation episode: “Darmok”. This is why no one ever called linguistics the dismal science.
I do always love the practice of performing scientific analysis on works of fiction; thoroughly constructed universes like Star Trek provide particularly fertile ground for it. It’s interesting because of the act of discernment one needs to perform, deciding—usually on the basis of what will be the most interesting—which elements of the story to accept as simply given, a fictional but axiomatic hypothetical truth (in this case a Universal Translator gets a free pass), and which elements to submit as worthy of rigorous analysis.
Via Language Hat.
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“Tenser, Said The Tensor” is a commercial jingle from the science fiction novel The Demolished Man. The homicidal protagonist uses its insane catchiness as mental camouflage against telepathic police officers.
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