Tumgik
eye-of-tengri · 3 months
Text
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 11 months
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Hasui Kawase (川瀬巴水, 1883 – 1957)
「日本風景選集」より『肥前 加津佐』 Kazusa Village in Hizen Province (Hizen Kazusa), from the series Selected Views of Japan (Nihon fūkei senshū)
1922
478 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Hasui Kawase (川瀬巴水, 1883 – 1957)
「日本風景選集」より『肥前 加津佐』 Kazusa Village in Hizen Province (Hizen Kazusa), from the series Selected Views of Japan (Nihon fūkei senshū)
1922
478 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
Hiroshi Yoshida: Yozakura in Rain, 1935
257 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Text
This is true but the framing sounds sensational & possibly misleading. "Interstellar travel could make language evolve beyond recognition" sounds like space rays will restructure our brains to produce systems our mere mortal ancestors could never hope to comprehend. What they're actually talking about is normal human languages changing into another normal human language. Very interesting anyway (to me), but normal & expected. It's like saying "The collapse of the Roman Empire will cause Latin to mutate beyond recognition! Into Italian!" More interesting are information buried in the article - like the possibility of deaf people being born leading to new sign languages.
Interstellar travel could make human language evolve beyond recognition, study says
https://sciencespies.com/space/interstellar-travel-could-make-human-language-evolve-beyond-recognition-study-says/
Interstellar travel could make human language evolve beyond recognition, study says
It’s a captivating idea: build an interstellar ark, fill it with people, flora, and fauna of every kind, and set your course for a distant star! The concept is not only science fiction gold, its been the subject of many scientific studies and proposals.
By building a ship that can accommodate multiple generations of human beings (aka. a Generation Ship), humans could colonize the known Universe.
But of course, there are downsides to this imaginative proposal. During such a long voyage, multiple generations of people will be born and raised inside a closed environment. This could lead to all kinds of biological issues or mutations that we simply can’t foresee.
But according to a new study by a team of linguistics professors, there’s something else that will be subject to mutation during such a voyage – language itself!
This study, “Language Development During Interstellar Travel“, appeared in the April issue of Acta Futura, the journal of the European Space Agency’s Advanced Concepts Team.
The team consisted of Andrew McKenzie, an associate professor of linguistics at the University of Kansas; and Jeffrey Punske, an assistant professor of linguistics at Southern Illinois University.
In this study, McKenzie and Punske discuss how languages evolve over time whenever communities grow isolated from one another. This would certainly be the case in the event of a long interstellar voyage and/or as a result of interplanetary colonization.
Eventually, this could mean that the language of the colonists would be unintelligible to the people of Earth, should they meet up again later.
For those who took English at the senior or college level, the story of Caxton’s “eggys” ought to be a familiar one.
In the preface to his 1490 translation of Virgil’s Aeneid (Eneydos) into Middle English, he tells a story of a group of merchants who are traveling down the Thames toward Holland. Due to poor winds, they are forced to dock in the county of Kent, just 80 kilometres (50 miles) downriver and look for something to eat:
“And one of them named Sheffield, a merchant, came into a house and asked for meat and, specifically, he asked for eggs (“eggys”). And the good wife answered that she could speak no French. And the merchant got angry for he could not speak French either, but he wanted eggs and she could not understand him. And then at last another person said that he wanted ‘eyren’. Then the good woman said that she understood him well.”
This story illustrates how people in 15th century England could travel within the same country and experience a language barrier. Well, multiply that to 4.25 light-years to the nearest star system and you can begin to see how language could be a major complication when it comes to interstellar travel.
To illustrate, McKenzie and Punske use examples of different language families on Earth and how new languages emerged due to distance and time. They then extrapolated how this same process would occur over the course of 10 generations or more of interstellar/interplanetary travel.
As McKenzie explained in a UK press release:
“If you’re on this vessel for 10 generations, new concepts will emerge, new social issues will come up, and people will create ways of talking about them, and these will become the vocabulary particular to the ship. People on Earth might never know about these words, unless there’s a reason to tell them.
“And the further away you get, the less you’re going to talk to people back home. Generations pass, and there’s no one really back home to talk to. And there’s not much you want to tell them, because they’ll only find out years later, and then you’ll hear back from them years after that.”
An example they use is the case of Polynesian sailors who populated the South Pacific islands between 3,000 and 1,000 BCE.
Though the roots of these sailors are traced to Taiwan (ca. 6000 BCE) this process of expansion led to the development of entirely new cultures by the 1st millennium BCE. The Polynesian languages that emerged bore little resemblance to the ancient Austronesia language (aka. “Formosan”) of their ancestors.
Similarly, the authors cite language changes that take place within the same language community over time, using the example of “uptalk.” Also known as “High Rising Terminal,” this phenomenon involves statements ending with a rise in intonation.
While it is often mistaken for a question by those who are unfamiliar with it, the convention is actually intended to indicate politeness or inclusion.
As the authors note, “uptalk” has only been observed in the English language within the past 40 years and its origins are unclear. Nevertheless, the spread of it has been noted, particularly by members of the Baby Boomer generation that use it today, but did not in their youth.
Another issue they identify is sign language, which will require adaptation from the crew since some crewmembers will be born hearing impaired.
Without someone keeping track of changes and trying to maintain grammatical standards, linguistic divergence will be inevitable. But as they note, that might be irrelevant, since language on Earth is going to change during that same time.
“So they may well be communicating like we’d be using Latin – communicating with this version of the language nobody uses,” said McKenzie.
Last, but not least, they address what will happen when subsequent ships from Earth reach the colonized planets and meet the locals. Without some means of preparation (like communication with the colony before they reach it), new waves of immigrants will encounter a language barrier and could find themselves being discriminated against.
Because of this, they recommend that any future interplanetary or interstellar missions include linguists or people who are trained in what to expect – translation software ain’t gonna’ cut it!
They further recommend that additional studies of likely language changes aboard interstellar spacecraft be conducted, so people know what to expect in advance. Or as they conclude in their study:
“Given the certainty that these issues will arise in scenarios such as these, and the uncertainty of exactly how they will progress, we strongly suggest that any crew exhibit strong levels of metalinguistic training in addition to simply knowing the required languages. There will be need for an informed linguistic policy on board that can be maintained without referring back to Earth-based regulations.”
Just for fun, let’s see what kinds of linguistic changes could take place.
For starters, let’s assume that a generation ship does take a full ten generations to reach its destination – in this case, Proxima b. Ten more generations pass before the next ship arrives, bringing people from Earth who still speak modern English.
Using the language evolution-simulator Onset, and an English-IPA translator, we can get a small taste of how a simple English-language greeting, and a common request (if you’re in a 50s sci-fi B movie), would change over twenty generations:
“Helluhuh fret, goot tu’uh be’yat yu. Took be’ye to’o u’ul ley’eru, pley’yaz.”
As you can see “Hello friend, good to meet you. Take me to your leader, please” comes out a little different after twenty generations of separation.
How about something more complicated, but no less familiar? Here’s a famous speech that fans of space exploration and history should recognize. After twenty years of interstellar travel, here’s how that speech would sound:
“Wu’eh cho’oz to’o go to’o too Bo’od! Wu’eh cho’oz to’o go to’o too Bood id teez dey’ich udh do’oh tey’e de uttur teedgz, dot biga’ozz tey’e ar ey’ery’eh, boot biga’ozz tey’e ar hard; biga’ozz tat goal wool surve to’o olgoodiez uhd bez’hur too bezt oov uhur eluree’iaz uhd skeelz, uhd biga’ozz tat chaludi iz wuhd tat wu’e ahr wooleet to’oh igsept, wuhd wu’e ahr udu’illid to’o postbode, ohd wuhd wu’e iddet to’o wud.”
Can you guess what speech that is? Keep in mind, this is just a basic simulation of how the English language might change for a group of colonists, never mind people here on Earth.
And when you take time to consider all of the spoken language and dialects spoke today, and that any combination of these will be brought with the colonists to the stars, you can see how confounding it all could be!
There is a reason why the myth of the Tower of Babel remains embedded in our collective unconscious. Language barriers have always been a hurdle for human interaction, especially where long stretches of time and space are concerned.
So if humanity plans to “go interstellar” (or interplanetary), we’ll be taking that hurdle to a whole new level!
In the meantime, you can check out several other articles we’ve done on the subject of generations ships, how big they would have to be, and the minimum number of crew they would need.
This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.
#Space
6 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
Grey Musa 茶色い武佐岳 #Hokkaido #hokkaidonature #hokkaidolove #shibetsutown #nakashibetsu #shiretokonationalpark (at 標津町) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqAkoN2pCqQ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
2 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Mt Oakan watches the road at night
Oakan is a mountain in Hokkaido, Japan. Overlooking Lake Akan, which has a well-known onsen (hot spring) and village of Ainu woodcarvers (the inhabitants of Hokkaido before the Japanese came). Oakan is visible along the road between Akan and Teshikaga. Oakan is considered "male" and makes a pair with the female volcano Meakan on the other side of Akan.
1 note · View note
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Snow bunting / ユキホオジロ (Plectrophenax nivalis)
The snow bunting lives in the Arctic in summer & migrates south in the winter. In January & February it can be seen at Notsuke Peninsula in Hokkaido
1 note · View note
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Bear Elephant is a new hotel in Rausu, Hokkaido, near Shiretoko National Park
1 note · View note
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
Making buuz for Tsagaan Sar
https://eye-of-tengri.deviantart.com/art/Mongolian-New-Year-Making-Buuz-730294226
13 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media
Not much of a drawing, unfortunately I didn’t have time to draw a nice picture Happy Mongolian Lunar New Year everyone! Сайхан шинэлээрэй!
8 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
Image from Mongolian poem Дөрвөн улирал ("Four Seasons") by Д. Нямсүрэн
Цэнхэр зэрэглээ сүүмэлзэх нь сайхан
Цэнхэр дээл чамд зохих нь сайхан
It's nice how the blue mirage shimmers
It's nice how the blue robe suits you
Tumblr media
4 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Text
Tumblr media
My new art exhibit in Nakashibetsu, Hokkaido, starting one month from today
2 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
1. Eagle and sunrise at Notsuke Peninsula 2. "Exchange": white-tailed eagle and bald eagle in Hokkkaido 3. Image from Mongolian poem Дөрвөн улирал by Д. Нямсүрэн ("Цэнхэр зэрэглээ сүүмэлзэх нь сайхан /Цэнхэр дээл чамд зохих нь сайхан")
2 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 1 year
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I think I'm getting the hang of watercolor painting
Rock and driftwood - Cambria, California
Palm tree - Washingtonia species - this genus is seen all over southern California
4 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 2 years
Text
Day at the Zoo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
3 notes · View notes
eye-of-tengri · 2 years
Text
Thunderstorms
Tumblr media
Groups of thunderstorms seen from an airplane over the Great Plains of Nebraska & Wyoming. A group of small clouds comes in front of the storm clouds. The Plains were entirely cloudless before this. These clouds are the first sign of a storm
Tumblr media
Wall of stormclouds as the plane flies around them. The flat top of the clouds happens when they reach a certain level of the atmosphere fan out. The little nubs above that are “overshooting tops.” Overshooting tops mean the storm has enough energy for the updraft to punch into the next level of the atmosphere, which suggests severe thunderstorms. I counted about 6 overshooting tops.
Tumblr media
After the stormwall. One thundercloud straggles behind the group
Tumblr media
2 notes · View notes