star trek tamarian language

Shaka, When the Walls Fell

In one fascinating episode, Star Trek: The Next Generation traced the limits of human communication as we know it—and suggested a new, truer way of talking about the universe.

On stardate 45047.2, Jean-Luc Picard leads the crew of the Enterprise in pursuit of a transmission beacon from the El-Adrel system, where a Tamarian vessel has been broadcasting a mathematical signal for weeks. The aliens, also known as the Children of Tama, are an apparently peaceable and technologically advanced race with which the Federation nevertheless has failed to forge diplomatic relations. The obstacle, as Commander Data puts it: “Communication was not possible.”

Picard exudes optimism as his starship courses through subspace. “In my experience, communication is a matter of patience, imagination,” he beams to his senior staff. “I would like to believe that these are qualities which we have in sufficient measure.” But after hailing the alien ship upon arrival, contact with Children of Tama proves more difficult than Picard imagined:

DATHON, the Tamarian captain: Rai and Jiri at Lungha. Rai of Lowani. Lowani under two moons. Jiri of Umbaya. Umbaya of crossed roads. At Lungha. Lungha, her sky gray. (no response from Enterprise, looks at First Officer in frustration) (slowly, deliberately) Rai and Jiri. At Lungha.

In the Star Trek universe, a “universal translator” automatically interprets between any alien language instantly and fluently. Unlike today’s machine-translation methods, the universal translator requires no previous experience with another language in order to make sense of it. Such is the case with Tamarian, at least on the surface, as the Enterprise crew is able to comprehend the basic syntax and semantics of Tamarian utterances. “The Tamarian seems to be stating the proper names of individuals and locations,” offers Data, stating the obvious. But Picard quickly sums up the problem, “Yes, but what does it all mean?”

Picard’s reply to the Tamarians sounds especially staid to the viewer’s ears after having heard the aliens’ exotic prose: “Would you be prepared to consider the creation of a mutual nonaggression pact between our two peoples? Possibly leading to a trade agreement and cultural interchange. Does this sound like a reasonable course of action to you?” His questions cause the Tamarians as much befuddlement as their litany of names and places does the Federation crew. The Tamarian first officer offers the only honest reaction of the lot, a scornful scoff, but he is quickly silenced by his captain:

FIRST OFFICER (laughing): Kadir beneath Mo Moteh. DATHON: The river Temarc. The officers immediately stop their laughter—as if ordered to. DATHON (continuing; for emphasis): In winter. DATHON: Darmok.             The First Officer looks very concerned—objects. FIRST OFFICER: Darmok? Rai and Jiri at Lungha. DATHON (shrugs): Shaka. When the walls fell … FIRST OFFICER: Zima at Anzo. Zima and Bakor. DATHON (firm) Darkmok at Tanagra. FIRST OFFICER: Shaka! (indicating situation) Mirab, his sails unfurled. DATHON: Darmok.

At this point, the Tamarian ship transports its captain, Dathon, along with Picard down to the surface of El-Adrel IV. Dathon has brought along two Tamarian daggers; the bridge scene suggests they carry some ceremonial significance. The Enterprise attempts to retrieve Picard, but the Tamarians have already created a particle-scattering field in the planet’s ionosphere, making teleportation impossible.

On the surface, Dathon tosses one of the daggers to Picard, who misunderstands, thinking he’s being incited to fight. Meanwhile, First Officer Riker makes the same error up in orbit. He attempts to contact his Tamarian counterpart only to be reminded: “Darmok at Tanagra.” “Your action could be interpreted as an act of war,” enjoins Riker. His counterpart laments to his colleagues, “Kiteo, his eyes closed,” before responding to Riker, “Chenza, at court. The court of silence.” He closes the channel.

As night falls on the surface, Picard fails to make a fire while Dathon lounges comfortably around his roaring blaze. Dathon throws Picard a torch, incanting, “Temba.” After first misunderstanding that Temba might mean fire , Dathon clarifies, “Temba, his arms wide.” And Picard begins to fit the pieces together, “Temba is a person. His arms wide … because he’s … he’s holding them apart. In, in … generosity. In giving. In taking. Thank you.”

As morning breaks, Dathon rouses Picard. “Darmok! Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra,” he entreats, but Picard still doesn’t know what to make of it. An ominous roar is heard from afar, and Picard finally accepts the weapon Dathon had been offering earlier. Picard wants to run (Dathon interprets this gesture with a phrase we’ve already heard, “Mirab, with sails unfurled”) but Dathon shakes his head. “Shaka, when the walls fell.” Picard makes another tentative discovery, “Shaka. You said that before. When I was trying to build a fire. Is that a failure? An inability to do something?”

As the unseen creature nears, Dathon attempts to take control of the situation.

DATHON: Uzani, his army at Lashmir.
 PICARD: At Lashmir? Was it like this at Lashmir? A similar situation to the one we’re facing here? DATHON: Uzani, his army with fists open. PICARD: A strategy? With fists open? DATHON: His army, with fists closed. PICARD: With fists closed. An army, with fists open, to lure the enemy … with fists closed, to attack? That’s how you communicate, isn’t it? By citing example, by metaphor! (demonstrates that he understands) Uzani’s army, with fists open. DATHON: Sokath! His eyes uncovered!

The two proceed with this plan, but just as Picard is about to distract the monster so that Dathon can attack, the Enterprise executes an attempt to retrieve their captain, having found a way to disrupt the ionospheric interference temporarily. Absent Picard’s foil, the strategy fails and the creature pounces upon Dathon, badly injuring him. The transporter effort fails anyway, and Picard rematerializes on the planet’s surface. He runs to Dathon who struggles in pain, “Shaka,” he begins, and this time Picard completes the thought, “when the walls fell.”

While Riker and Laforge attempt to find a way to disrupt the Tamarian polarity coil responsible for the particle beam, Counselor Troi and Commander Data make some progress unpacking Tamarian communications:

RIKER: I’d prefer to find a peaceful solution. If we can talk our way out of this—so much the better. TROI: Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. RIKER: What have you found? TROI: The Tamarian ego structure does not seem to allow what we normally think of as self-identity. Their ability to abstract is highly unusual. They seem to communicate through narrative imagery—by reference to the individuals and places which appear in their mytho-historical accounts. TROI: It’s as if I were to say to you “Juliet. On her balcony.” BEVERLY: An image of romance. TROI: Exactly. Image is everything to the Tamarians.

As their conversation continues, Troi, Crusher, and Data observe that even with this new structural understanding, without a knowledge of the mythical origins of the figures that compose the Tamarian language they have little hope of understanding the sense of their speech. But on the planet’s surface, Picard has the good fortune of a firsthand account that fills in some of the blanks.

PICARD: Our situation is similar to theirs. I understand that. But I need to know more, you must tell me more, about Darmok and Jalad. Tell me, you used the words Temba, his arms wide when you gave me the knife and the fire. Could that mean give ?
 (makes arm motions) Temba ? His arms wide. Darmok. Give me more about Darmok. DATHON: Darmok. On the ocean. PICARD: Darmok on the ocean. A metaphor, for being alone, isolated. Darmok, on the ocean. DATHON: (cries out in pain)
 PICARD: Are you alright? DATHON: (waves him off) Kiazi’s children. Their faces wet. Ughhh. PICARD: Temba, his arms open. Give me more about Darmok on the ocean. DATHON: Tanagra, on the ocean. Darmok at Tanagra. PICARD: At Tanagra. A country? Tanagra on the ocean, an island! Temba, his arms wide. DATHON: Jalad on the ocean. Jalad at Tanagra. PICARD: Jalad at Tanagra. He went to the same island as Darmok. Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra. DATHON: The beast at Tanagra.
 PICARD: The beast? There was a creature at Tanagra? Darmok and Jalad, the beast at Tanagra. They arrive separately, they struggled together against a common foe, the beast at Tanagra, Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. DATHON: Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. PICARD: They left together. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. DATHON: The ocean. (then, in pain as Picard comes closer) Zinda! His face black, his eyes red! (then, shooing Picard away) Kalimash, at Bahar. PICARD: You hoped that something like this would happen, didn’t you? You knew there was a dangerous creature on this planet and you knew, from the Tale of Darmok, that a danger shared, might sometimes bring two people together. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. You and me, here, at El-Adrel.

As Dathon succumbs to his injuries, Picard returns the favor by recounting the earthly tale of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, doing his best to frame their similar tale in Tamarian syntax, “Gilgamesh and Enkidu. At Uruk.” As Dathon breathes his last, the Enterprise crew finally retrieves Picard, although they had to attack the Tamarian ship to do so, which has retaliated in force. As red alert sounds, Picard enters the bridge and consummates his new linguistic expertise. It’s a scene no fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation will soon forget.

PICARD (as he moves): Hail the Tamarian vessel. WORF (touches controls): Aye, Captain. TAMARIAN FIRST OFFICER: Zinda! His face black. His eyes red— PICARD: —Temarc! The river Temarc. In winter. FIRST OFFICER: Darmok? PICARD: … and Jalad. At Tanagra. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. FIRST OFFICER (to others, amazed): Sokath! His eyes open! PICARD (continuing): The beast of Tanagra. Uzani. His army. (shaking his head) Shaka, when the walls fell.             The aliens again face Picard. Picard takes the small             book—the Tamarian captain’s “diary”—and holds             it out in his hand.             The Tamarian First Officer glances at one of his             officers, who touches a console. The book is             immediately DEMATERIALIZED, MATERIALIZING next to the             alien First Officer. He picks it up, showing it to             Picard. FIRST OFFICER: Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel. FIRST OFFICER: Mirab. With sails unfurled.             Picard extends the Tamarian dagger toward the First             Officer, offering it back to him. PICARD: Temba. His arms open. FIRST OFFICER: Temba at rest. PICARD (almost to himself): Thank you …

Shaka, when the walls fell is a likeness of failure for the Children of Tama. It’s also not a bad alternative title for the “Darmok” episode, for the Federation never really grasps Tamarian communication, despite their declared success in making contact with the race and forging a path to future relations.

Picard calls it metaphor , and Troi calls it image . For the Federation crew, the Tamarians cite examples that guide their understanding of and approach to the various problems they encounter on a day-to-day basis: as Picard puts it, by citing “a situation similar to this one.” Science fiction often plays with alternate methods of linguistic understanding, and this is familiar territory: The alien is incomprehensible, but in a way that can be overcome through reason and technology.

But there’s a problem: Metaphor and image are not accurate descriptions of the Tamarian language’s logic. A metaphor takes one thing as a symbol for something else: Juliet’s balcony acts as a figure for romance, Darmok and Jalad as a figure for communion through shared struggle. Even though Troi means image as a synonym for metaphor when she says “Image is everything for the Tamarians,” she also implies vanity in Tamarian speech. From the perspective of her declarative speech, the Tamarians are putting on pretenses, covering over a fundamental thing with a decorative one.

The Federation’s desire to see Tamarian speech as a process of copying one form into another is a uniquely earthly one, even when sieved through Star Trek ’s historical futurism. As Troi and her crewmates see it, Tamarian verbalisms depict the world through images and figures, which distort their “real” referents. Troi and Picard can’t help but interpret Tamarian through their (and our) cultural obsession with mimicry: Metaphorical language operates not by signification, but as poetry, by transforming the real in a symbolic mirror.

But for the Tamarians, something far weirder is going on, precisely because their language is not a curiosity for them as it is for the Federation (and for us television viewers). Calling Tamarian language “metaphor” preserves our familiar denotative speech methods and sets the more curious Tamarian moves off against them. But if we take the show’s science-fictional aspirations seriously and to their logical conclusion, then the Children of Tama possess no method of denotative communication whatsoever. Their language simply prevents them from distinguishing between an object or event and what we would call its figurative representation.

Allegory might have been a better term for explaining Tamarian. While metaphor represents one subject as similar to another object, allegory replaces one with another entirely. Allegory’s veiled language is powerful, because allegories effectively freeze time, making a historical or fictional scenario immortal. Allegory is what makes it possible for us to continue to derive lessons from the Old and New Testaments, week after week, homily after homily.

The 20th-century literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin lamented this property of Baroque allegory in particular, suggesting that it swaps out historical myth for present-day concerns. As Benjamin puts it, “Evil as such exists only in allegory … and means something other than it is. It means in fact precisely the nonexistence of what it presents. The absolute vices, as exemplified by tyrants and intriguers are allegories. They are not real.” When we talk about evil in the allegorical sense—the serpent of the Garden of Eden, or Sauron’s eye in Mordor—we do so as a replacement for addressing the more ambiguous, palpable instances of evildoing in the present. For Benjamin, the allegorist rejects the world in order to embrace allegory, and in so doing it strips art of politics.

But the Tamarians’ version of allegory, if that’s indeed the right name for it, cuts both ways. On the one hand, it fetishizes myth in the manner of allegory, but on the other hand it musters that myth in the interest of serious sociopolitical action, as evidenced by Dathon’s willingness literally to die in the name of myth. So Benjamin’s concerns about the abandonment of the present don’t seem to apply to the Tamarian situation, offering further doubt that allegory is the best way to describe their communication process.

Despite the episode’s popularity, the Star Trek fan community (being a science-fiction fan community, after all) has issued numerous gripes about “Darmok.” The most interesting of these is a general disbelief in the technological prowess of the Tamarians. How could a race that thinks in allegory ever accomplish faster-than-light space travel? Just imagine the day-to-day work of designing, constructing, or maintaining a complicated machine like a starship. The Tamarians seem to be incapable of saying something like, “Hey Bob, can you hand me the three-quarter-inch socket wrench.” Given this inability to discourse pragmatically, why should we suspend disbelief in the first place?

Yet, if we take the episode at its word, not only is the Tamarians’ technology on parity with that of the Federation, but it might even be more advanced. The Tamarians were able to scramble transport signals across El-Adrel IV’s ionosphere, and their ship was clearly capable of destroying the Enterprise at the end of the episode had Picard not restored diplomatic relations just in time.

But what if the Tamarians abstract worldview is precisely what facilitates advanced technological and social practice, rather than limiting it? Watching the episode carefully, the “Darmok” approach appears to be an afterthought, a new idea that strikes Dathon as he realizes the planned diplomatic approach, Rai and Jiri at Lungha, would gain no purchase with the Federation. Likewise, the first officer’s objections to Darmok are both earnest and unrehearsed—he knows exactly what Dathon is talking about, and he doesn’t like it. But once the captain has asserted his authority (“The river Temarc, in winter”), no further instruction was necessary. The crew transports the two captains to the surface, erects the particle field in the planet’s ionosphere, and fends off the eventual Enterprise retaliation.

The skeptic might point out that these omissions in the teleplay are necessary given the compressed structure of the 45-minute television episode, and that just because we don’t see further instructions take place doesn’t mean they haven’t done. It’s equally possible that the Tamarians had already gone over the Darmok approach during their weeks-long orbit above El-Adrel IV, and that the first officer’s objections are rehearsals of an earlier argument that goes unseen during the action depicted on screen.

Given an absence of evidence either way, why not choose the more aggressive interpretation: Everything that takes place on the bridge of the Tamarian vessel during the episode is encapsulated into the single move, “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.” So dense and rich is Tamarian speech that these five words are sufficient to direct a whole crew to carry out an entire stratagem over two days’ time, and not by following a script, but by embracing it as a guiding abstraction.

As Troi explained, the Tamarians’ possess a sophisticated aptitude for abstraction. This capacity responds to fans’ skepticism at the Tamarian’s technological prowess. The Children of Tama would not be delayed by their inability to speak directly because they seem to have no need whatsoever for explicit, low-level discourse like instructions and requests. They’d just not bother talking about the socket wrench, instead proceeding to the actual work of building or maintaining the vessel.

By contrast, consider how the Enterprise engineering crew attempts to overcome the Tamarian particle interference field in their attempt to retrieve Picard from the surface of El-Adrel IV:

GEORDI: Matrix levels. LEFLER: Annular convergence holding at four three nine point two oh five. Confinement resolution at point five two seven. GEORDI: That isn’t gonna do it. Increase thermal input coefficient to 150 percent. LEFLER (working console): Increasing now … … GEORDI: Shunt the overload to the phase transition sequencers in transporter one. LEFLER: Yes, sir.

While the episode doesn’t provide a Tamarian mythical equivalent, we can speculate on how the Tamarians would handle a similar situation. While I suppose the explicit directive to adjust thermal input by a specified amount might be rendered allegorically (some Tamarian speech is narrower than others), it’s equally likely that the entire exchange would be unnecessary, subsumed into some larger operation, say, “Baby Jessica, in her well.” The rest is just details.

While his declaration that they speak and think in metaphor is most memorable, Picard offers another account of Tamarian during his encounter on the surface. Before encountering the beast, Dathon makes the recommendation, “Uzani. His army. With fist open.” Picard reacts, “A strategy? With fist open …”

“Strategy” is perhaps the best metaphor of all for the Tamarian phenomenon the Federation misnames metaphor. A strategy is a plan of action, an approach or even, at the most abstract, a logic. Such a name reveals what’s lacking in both metaphor and allegory alike as accounts for Tamarian culture. To be truly allegorical, Tamarian speech would have to represent something other than what it says. But for the Children of Tama, there is nothing left over in each speech act. The logic of Darmok or Shaka or Uzani is not depicted as image , but invoked or instantiated as logic in specific situations. In some cases, apparently, this invocation takes place with limited transformation, such as in the application of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra depicted in the episode’s main plotline. In other cases, those logics are used in situations with more play, as when Dathon reassures Picard after the former’s injury, “Kiazi’s children. Their faces wet.”

Here we might distinguish between the invocation of a particular logic and the simulation of a creature, thing, or idea by replicating its image. The simulation of life in art often concerns the reproduction of surfaces: in painting, the appearance of form, perspective, or the rendition of light; in literature the appearance of character or event; in photography and cinema the rendition of the world as it appears through optical element and upon emulsion or sensor; in theater the rendition of the behavior of a character or situation.

While all these examples “simulate” to various extents, they do so by a process of rendering . For example, the writer might simulate a convincing verbal intercourse by producing a credibility that allows the reader to take it as reality. Likewise, the actor might render a visible behavior or intonation that is suggestive of a particular emotion, event, or history that the theatrical or cinematic viewer takes as evidence for some unseen motivation.

A logic is also a behavior, but it is a behavior unlike the behavior of the literary or theatrical character, for whom behaving involves producing an outward sign of some deeper but abstracted motivation, understanding, or desire. By contrast logics are pure behaviors. They are abstract and intangible and yet also real.

If we pretend that “Shaka, when the walls fell” is a signifier, then its signified is not the fictional mythological character Shaka, nor the myth that contains whatever calamity caused the walls to fall, but the logic by which the situation itself came about. Tamarian language isn’t really language at all, but machinery.

Because we don’t know very much about Tamarian history and culture, it’s hard to say much about how their conceptual machinery works. But we do have an earthly metaphor by which we might understand it: computation .

When we think about the kind of representation that computers enact, we typically commit our own Shaka, when the walls fell error. Computational media are generally seen as an extension or acceleration of existing mimetic methods. Take computer graphics as an example. We see computer images as extensions of photographic or filmic representation. In both Hollywood digital video effects (which are offline rendered to achieve high resolution and detail) and in computer games (which are real-time rendered to facilitate player interaction), a variety of algorithms produce two-dimensional depictions of three-dimensional scenes that, at their best, reach a level of credibility that can be mistaken for reality.

This take on computational representation sees the computer as a new method for producing appearances , the images that fascinate the Enterprise crew in “Darmok,” and that fascinate us by means of their broadcast as television. But we err in taking visual appearance as a primary replacement for reality.

In CG films, we don’t notice this problem—computer images just become yet more frames of film. But in computer games, realism is always more than just a visual affair. In a 3-D game, movement through a real-time rendered world can produce a sense of place, not just an image. Yet, the thoughtful player will quickly find an enormous chasm between visual realism and other sorts of realism in computer games. For example, the appearance and sensation of being in Grand Theft Auto ’s Liberty City initially suggests enormous verisimilitude, until the player attempts to enter a building that turns out just to be a Potemkin stand-up, or to interact with a non-player character whose verbal and physical actions amount to a few repeatable lines of stock dialog and a pathfinding algorithm that helps steer her around the player’s avatar.

So, while we think that computer graphics represent the world “as it appears,” instead they mimic the logics of visual verisimilitude themselves more than they do the logics of the real world. The method of producing 3-D computer graphics known as ray tracing works by carrying out linear perspective painting in reverse, rendering light from back to front and hiding areas where that light will not meet the position of the virtual camera due to obstacles. Ray-tracing algorithms produce the rationale of Renaissance perspective, to exact mathematical specification. Computation doesn’t represent the world so much as logics from the world, just like the Tamarian language doesn’t reproduce the figures so much as the processes of its cultural history.

Take SimCity as a parallel example. There have been many editions of this city-construction-and-management-simulation game, but all of them share the same features: tools to zone and construct infrastructure in a physical environment, including roads and rail; housing, commercial, and industrial sectors; electrical and other infrastructure; and services like police and fire, along with taxation, advising, and management tools to run the city on an ongoing basis. Playing the game involves a combination of construction and operation, a dynamic that led its creator Will Wright to compare the experience to gardening.

What city does SimCity represent? Not New York or London or Valenciennes or Albany, for re-creating particular cities proves difficult in the game. Nor does the game simulate the role of mayor (even if its interfaces and paratexts sometimes refer to the player as a mayor), because no mayor has the arbitrary power to create and destroy as the SimCity player does. Nor is it the Platonic ideal of a “city,” because some types of cities are more and less feasible within the SimCity simulation. New urbanist mixed development is impossible, social welfare-style taxation policy is impossible, and rail-based mass transit always leads to faster growth than road-and-freeway automobile transit. In this sense, even though large SimCity cities may “look like” credible urban environments, they don’t bear much resemblance to any actual city. Dense, modernist cities demand mixed-use development and increased infrastructure and services; sprawling middle-American metroplexes rely on slow, historical growth in suburbs that draw commercial activity away from and then back to city centers; neither type of city is possible in the game.

If it mimics anything, SimCity characterizes a particular logic of urban planning, one that most closely resembles the urban dynamics model of Jay Forrester, an inspiration Wright has himself acknowledged. Urban dynamics emerged out of Forrester’s post-war research at MIT in system dynamics, an approach to the interactions between industrial systems and social systems in large organizations. Originally a project integrating management and engineering, by the late 1960s Forrester had the accident of sharing an office with former Boston mayor John Collins.

As a result of this encounter, in 1969 Forrester published Urban Dynamics , a controversial account of urban policy that took the form of a model that Forrester and his students also implemented in computational form. (One example of its controversy: While low-income housing might seem to offer succor to the poor, Forrester’s model suggests that such development creates a poverty trap that stagnates an urban district, forcing it deeper into poverty rather than leading it toward prosperity.) While Forrester’s computational design goals entailed prediction intended to drive policy, Wright’s adaptation of Forrester’s urban dynamics was mostly a matter of convenience: It offered a formal logic for urban behavior that could be abstracted and implemented in the form of a creative work.

Unlike a painting or an actor’s performance, the game does not re-create outward appearances (crime, high rises, property values, and so forth), but the logics that then produce those appearances. Rather than translating logics into descriptions or depictions, computational representation like that of SimCity translates logics into logics . It embodies a particular take on how cities work through a computer program that makes them work that way. In my book Persuasive Games I call this technique “procedural rhetoric”—the use of computational processes to depict worldly processes.

“Darmok” gives us one vision of a future in which procedural rhetoric takes precedence over verbal and visual rhetoric, indeed in which the logic of logics subsume the logics of description, appearances, and even of narrative—that preeminent form that even Troi mistakes as paramount to the Children of Tama. The Tamarian’s media ecosystem is the opposite of ours, one in which behaviors are taken as primary, and descriptions as secondary, almost incidental. The Children of Tama are less interesting as aliens than they are as counterfactual versions of us, if we preferred logic over image or description.

At the end of “Darmok,” Riker finds Captain Picard sitting in his ready room, reading from an ancient book rather than off a tablet. “Greek, sir?” Riker asks. “The Homeric Hymns,” Picard responds, one of the root metaphors of our own culture. “For the next time we encounter the Tamarians …” suggests the first officer. To which his captain replies, “More familiarity with our own mythology might help us relate to theirs.” A charming sentiment, and a move that always works for Star Trek —the juxtaposition of classical antiquity and science-fictional futurism. But Picard gets it wrong one last time. To represent the world as systems of interdependent logics we need not elevate those logics to the level of myth, nor focus on the logics of our myths. Instead, we would have to meditate on the logics in everything , to see the world as one built of weird, rusty machines whose gears squeal as they grind against one another, rather than as stories into which we might write ourselves as possible characters.

It’s an understandable mistake, but one that rings louder when heard from the vantage point of the 24th century. For even then, stories and images take center stage, and logics and processes wait in the wings as curiosities, accessories. Perhaps one day we will learn this lesson of the Tamarians: that understanding how the world works is a more promising approach to intervention within it than mere description or depiction. Until then, well: Shaka, when the walls fell.

Tamarian language

The following is a list of names and terms used in the Tamarian language .

All items (44)

• Kamata (Tamarian)
• Kira (Tamarian)

A Beginner's Guide to Speaking Tamarian

“ Phrubub, when he knows the cheese ” ~ André Breton

Have you been rejected by the Über-nerds at Star Trek Conventions? Don't worry!

Too stupid to learn Klingon ? Relax!

Why? Because absolutely anyone can learn Tamarian!

In fact, the less intellectual and more pop-culture obsessed you are, the easier it is!

Tamarian is the language spoken by Dathon of the Children of Tamar , and first heard in the episode "Darmok" [1] from the fifth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Unlike traditional earth speech, it relies on metaphor and allegory to communicate meaning.

This confounded Starfleet for years, despite the long existence of the Universal Translator , which can somehow resolve all sorts of obscure clicks and bloobs into recognizable English speech , yet was somehow unable to cross-reference the completely obvious proper nouns with the names stored in its own cultural databases .

Now, for the first time, you too can learn to speak an alien tongue by expressing earth allegories using Tamarian syntax. Just review the Tamarian phrases given as examples, then create your own phrases using Earth references.

Tamarian [ edit | edit source ]

North american english [ edit | edit source ], examples in everyday conversation [ edit | edit source ].

Tips for Success [ edit | edit source ]

Tamarian is a thriving language. While Klingon is crawling at a Gagh's pace, and normal English is adding a few bits of slang per year, Anglicized Tamarian vocabulary is growing as fast as the media can report it. To stay abreast:

• Stay immersed in the current literature ( People , OK! ), television journalism ( TMZ , E! ), and online resources ( Stupid Celebrities , etc.) to keep your cultural knowledge current .
• Take at a Tamarian language course at a respected uni- ... at a university that offers a course in the subject.
• And remember, Tamarians love classic methaphors, but even they hate used-up memes. For best results, make reference to well-known celebrities and their notable behaviours and activities, but avoid overutilized references like O.J. Simpson , ' Michael Jackson or (most importantly) Chuck Norris . Failure to do so may result in the listener breaking off the conversation and leaving ( "Kiteo, his eyes closed." ) or attacking you unexpectedly ( "Uzani, his army at Lashmir." }

Reference [ edit | edit source ]

• ↑ Darmok and Gilgamesh - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukMNfTnI5M8

See Also [ edit | edit source ]

• André Bretonizms
• Things That Make You Go Hmmm

Navigation menu

• Races of the Milky Way Galaxy
• 1991 Debuts
• Live Action Species
• Animated Species

The Tamarians , a.k.a. Children of Tama , are a sapient, spacefaring humanoid species originating from planet Sigma Tama IV in the Milky Way Galaxy. Tamarians are most well-known for their language, which is entirely structured around metaphors and cultural references used to convey meaning by means of comparison.

• 2.1 Language
• 2.2 Technology
• 4 Appearances

Biology [ ]

Tamarians are hairless humanoid bipeds about the same size as a Human . They can be distinguished by their light-brown skin, cranial ridges and elongated slit-like nostrils. Their hands are also human-like, with the exception of the thumb, which is longer than a human's and ends in a sucker tip.

Since their thought processes work differently from those of other species, it's reasonable to assume that they also have a different brain structure, which reflects on their language and self-identity.

Culture and society [ ]

Tamarians are a mostly benign race, willing to attempt diplomacy even after several consecutive failures. They seek to establish a friendly relationship with other species and have been shown to favor non-lethal attacks during conflicts.

However, their technology makes them a respectable military power, enough for Worf to consider them a potential threat before communication was possible. Like most species, they are also quick to retaliate if attacked.

Language [ ]

The most notable aspect of the Tamarians is the unique way their language is structured. Because their thought processes do not allow for self-identity in the same way Humans understand it, the Tamarians communicate by referring to individuals, places and incidents from their mythical and historical records. For example, the phrase "Shaka, when the walls fell" means basically the same as "defeat" and can also be used to convey "failure" or even "death".

One advantage of this language seems to be that it can be used to convey highly complex ideas in extraordinary simple terms. For instance, the concept of forging friendship with someone by means of cooperation and overcoming an obstacle can be expressed by the phrase "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra", which in turn might even be shortened to just "Darmok". The reason for this is that Darmok was a great hunter and the story of how he and Jalad learned to cooperate and overcome an inimical Beast while stranded in the island of Tanagra on the planet Shantil III is well-known.

The great disadvantage, though, is how this language can't be properly understood by other races, as the universal translator can only translate the words themselves, but the context that explains what these historical images refer to is not translatable. Since the Tamarians think differently from Humans, they cannot communicate in any other way and haven't developed a proper vocabulary that doesn't rely on narrative imagery. The translator might easily understand that a Tamarian is talking about "Shaka[, when the walls fell]", but has no means to know that this is the metaphor for "defeat", because that requires context which comes only with a familiarity with the story itself. It's reasonable to assume that Tamarian children either learn about these stories by reenactments, or have some form of inherited memories.

Some other examples of Tamarian phrases and the meanings they appear to convey:

• "Temba, his arms wide" = a gift or request for one to share something. Might be shortened to just "Temba" if the context is clear. Might be answered with "Temba, at rest" if the person politely declines the gift.
• "Mirab, with sails unfurled" = departure. Might be shortened to "Mirab" if the context is clear.
• "Sokath, his eyes uncovered" = comprehension of something previously not comprehended.
• "The river Temarc in winter" = silence, possibly calm (as a request for someone to calm down).
• "Zinda, his face black, his eyes red" = anger or pain, possibly incoming death.
• "Uzani, his army at Lashmir" = attack. Might be shortened to "Uzani, his army". A variation: "Uzani, his army with fist open" appears to mean to lure the enemy, and "with fist closed" to attack after doing so.
• "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" = a new phrase, either created as a near-synonym for "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" or to mean successful communication with an alien culture.

It should be noted that all of these meanings are approximations taken from what can be understood of them while Picard is learning to communicate with the Tamarians. For example, Picard assumes that "Uzani, his army with fist open" means a strategy to lure the enemy, but from the context it could also mean something like "wait for the enemy" or "prepare for combat".

Technology [ ]

Technologically, Tamarians appear to be on par with the Federation, as of the 24th century. Their ships are equipped with warp drive, phasers and transporters. They also have developed means to release a particle scattering field into the atmosphere of a planet, which serves to impede transport to and from that planet while still allowing sensors to pick up information.

History [ ]

Prior to the Enterprise incident of 2368, the Tamarians were considered an enigmatic race. For the whole previous century, only seven occurrences of contact have been documented, all of which happened without incident, suggesting a non-hostile species. However, in each occasion, the Federation was unable to establish diplomatic relations with the Tamarians due to failure to communicate. Captain Silvestri of the SS Shiku Maru referred to them as "incomprehensible", and others seemed to agree. Commander William T. Riker mentioned that he has heard rumors about the mysterious Tamarians for years.

In that year, a deep space Tamarian cruiser in the El-Adrel system emitted a subspace signal containing a simple mathematical progression. This was picked up by the USS Enterprise -D, whose crew correctly assumed the Tamarians were attempting to communicate. Once again, however, all further attempts failed, as the nature of the Tamarian language resulted in them trying to convey ideas solely by referencing individuals, places and events, all of which the Enterprise crew was entirely unfamiliar with.

Frustrated, the Tamarians decided to attempt a different kind of diplomacy and abducted the Enterprise captain, Jean-Luc Picard. Both Picard and the Tamarian Captain Dathon were instantly beamed down to the planet El-Adrel IV, inhabited only by a dangerous invisible monster . They also used a particle scattering field to prevent the Enterprise from recovering Picard, and even went as far as to non-lethally disable an Enterprise shuttlecraft intended to rescue him.

Although the Tamarians appeared to be acting with hostility, Commander Riker realized that they seemed to have something else in mind and kept monitoring the signals from the planet which indicated that Picard and Dathon were not fighting each other, but appeared to be cooperating in fighting off the invisible creature. In truth, this was the Tamarians' intention as they hoped that friendship could be achieved between two people who overcame obstacles on a hostile place and fought against a common enemy. This situation is easily comparable to the story of Darmok and Jalad at the island of Tanagra, which is part of the Tamarians' cultural heritage. Eventually, while stranded on the planet with Dathon, Picard realizes the nature of the language and manages to learn some phrases. Sadly, Dathon ends up being killed by the creature.

Meanwhile, at this point, the Enterprise had managed to shoot and damage the Tamarian vessel just enough to lift up the field-generator and beam up Picard, who promptly uses his newly-acquired knowledge of the language to explain to the Tamarians what happened. The Tamarian first officer allows Picard to keep Dathon's dagger and coins a new phrase: "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel", indicating that this incident would from then on become part of their cultural heritage as well. After the Tamarians depart, Picard muses to Riker that it's too early to tell whether they can be considered "new friends", but that at least he can be sure that they aren't "new enemies".

Appearances [ ]

• Star Trek: The Next Generation , s05e02, "Darmok" (1991)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020 - )
• 2 Asteromorph
• 3 Star Person (All Tomorrows)

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki

A friendly reminder regarding spoilers ! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the continuations of Discovery and Prodigy , the advent of new eras in gaming with the Star Trek Adventures RPG , Star Trek: Infinite and Star Trek Online , as well as other post-57th Anniversary publications such as the ongoing IDW Star Trek comic and spin-off Star Trek: Defiant . Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{ spoiler }}, {{ spoilers }} OR {{ majorspoiler }} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old (even if it is minor info). Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. THANK YOU

• Memory Beta articles sourced from novels
• Memory Beta articles sourced from eBooks
• Memory Beta articles sourced from short stories
• Memory Beta stubs (people)
• Humanoid species
• Races and cultures
• Alpha Quadrant races and cultures

The Tamarians (or Children of Tama/Tamar ) are a humanoid race first encountered by the Federation in the 23rd century . They are native to the planet Sigma Tama IV .

• 2 Known individuals
• 3.1 Known examples
• 4.1 References
• 4.2 Connections

History [ ]

Tamarians became warp-capable in 2050 . ( ST reference : Star Charts )

The Federation encountered the Tamarians seven times prior to 2368 , but were never able to break the language barrier. In that year , Tamarian Captain Dathon beamed himself and Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise -D to the surface of planet El-Adrel IV , in hopes that a shared conflict would lead to mutual understanding and friendship. During this encounter, it was determined that the Tamarians communicated exclusively through cultural metaphors. Though Dathon was killed on the planet, the contact marked the opening of communication between the two cultures. ( TNG episode : " Darmok ")

The progress made in relations with the Tamarians following this breakthrough was considered one of the noteworthy accomplishments of Federation President Jaresh-Inyo and his administration. ( ST novel : Articles of the Federation )

Roxana Novac was a linguist assigned to the Federation's Tamarian liaison office, and did much work in understanding the Tamarians' language. ( SCE eBook : War Stories, Book 1 )

It was later learned that the Tamarians have a second language, used for conveying precise engineering concepts such as numbers, equations and instructions, thus explaining how Tamarians can effectively operate starships. This second language is very musical and sounds almost like singing. ( TNG short story : " Friends With the Sparrows ")

In 2381 , the Tamarian Doctor Sharak was assigned to the USS Voyager as chief medical officer for its return mission to the Delta Quadrant . Kayshon became the first Tamarian to join to Starfleet and was assigned as the USS Cerritos ' chief of security. ( VOY novel : Unworthy ; LD episode : " Kayshon, His Eyes Open ")

Known individuals [ ]

Tamarian language [ ].

The Tamarian language made use of references about people surrounding the mythology and history of the Tamarians. The Tamarians would speak entirely by allegory. Despite difficulty in translating their language, Captain Picard was able to figure out how to communicate with the Tamarians. Eventually, the Federation's universal translator would be able to translate the Tamarian language, though it would still have trouble in the 2380s . ( TNG episode : " Darmok "; LD episode : " Kayshon, His Eyes Open ")

Known examples [ ]

• "Arnock at the race of Natara" – running
• "Bazminti when he pulled back the veil" - an undercover operation
• "The beast at Tanagra" – a problem to be overcome
• "Children of Tama" – Tamarian
• "Chenza at court, the court of silence" – not listening
• "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" – cooperation
• "Darmok and Jalad on the ocean" – new friendship and understanding gained through a shared challenge
• "Darmok on the ocean" – Loneliness, isolation
• "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" – successful first contact between two alien cultures, or to work toward a common goal
• "Kadir beneath Mo Moteh" [1] – failure or inability to communicate or understand; derisive in connotation
• "Kailash, when it rises" – a necessary loss or sacrifice
• "Karno in the forest with Mira" – overeating or weight gain
• "Kiazi's children, their faces wet" – downplaying the severity of a perceived injury
• "Kimarnt, her head cloudy?" – offering an intoxicating beverage
• "Kira at Bashi" – to tell a story
• "Kiteo, his eyes closed" – refusal to understand
• "Mirab, with sails unfurled" – signifying departure/engines to full/fleeing; depending on tone, could mean "Prepare to withdraw" or "We have to get out of here!"
• "Rai and Jiri at Lungha. Rai of Lowani. Lowani under two moons. Jiri of Ubaya. Ubaya of crossroads, at Lungha. Lungha, her sky gray" – greeting between two different cultures/races
• "Rapunki, when he joined the Seven" – greeting, expressing honor at joining a new group
• "The river Temarc in winter" – to cease an action, especially speaking; often used as an imperative
• "Shaka, when the walls fell" – failure
• "Sokath, his eyes uncovered/opened" – understanding/realization
• "Temba, at rest" – declining a gift. A gracious response signifying that the gift is unnecessary, or should rightfully be kept by the other person.
• "Temba, his arms wide/open" – signifying a gift
• "Unzak and Vhila as children?" – meaning unknown, perhaps related to language learning or making a connection with other cultures
• "Uzani, his army with fists closed" – to close rank and attack after luring the enemy
• "Uzani, his army with fists open" – to lure the enemy towards you by spreading your forces
• "Zima at Anzo" "Zima and Bakor" – danger/hostility arising from miscommunication/misunderstanding.
• "Zinda, his face black, his eyes red" – anger or conflict, also can indicate pain, possible indication of inability to survive (either self, or other party)
• "Zinda, his eyes red" [1] – expressing pain or dismay

Appendices [ ]

References [ ].

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 LD video game : The Badgey Directive .

Connections [ ]

• Tamarian article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• Tamarian (language) article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
• 1 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition
• 2 Odyssey class
• 3 Resurgence

Ekostories by Isaac Yuen

Nature | culture | self, of myths and metaphors: star trek tng’s darmok.

S everal weeks past, I attended a workshop on the use of storytelling for effective social engagement. Sitting at my table was a doctoral student interested in better ways to communicate concepts of  ecological economics  to the public. As we chatted about the various metaphors embedded within conventional economics, particularly around growth and development, I started thinking about stories that focus on the challenge of communication and the power of metaphor. Searching my mind for examples, I found myself returning once more to the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation  for inspiration, this time to an episode titled Darmok .

The Enterprise, captained by Jean Luc Picard , encounters an alien race called the Tamarians in orbit around the planet El-Adrel. Unfortunately, the two crews find each other’s languages incomprehensible. Frustrated at the impasse, Dathon, the Tamarian captain, kidnaps Picard, transports them both to the planet surface, and orders his crew to prevent the Enterprise from interfering.

Once on El-Adrel, Dathon repeats the phrase “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” to Picard and tosses him a dagger. Picard refuses the weapon, believing the gesture to be an invitation to duel. As night falls and the two make camp, Dathon shares his fire with a frustrated Picard while saying, “Temba, his arms wide.”

The following morning, a hostile creature approaches their camp. Dathon tries once more to speak with Picard.  Picard finally realizes that the Tamarians communicate by citing examples and metaphors. They stand together against the beast, but due to some unfortunate timing, Dathon is mortally wounded in the ensuing fight.

Back on board the Enteprise, the crew struggles to decipher the Tamarian language, but without much success. They come to a similar conclusion as Picard, deducing that the Tamarians speak via metaphors derived from mythology and folklore, but without knowing the context with which to ground these metaphors, the chance for successful communication is slim.

A second night falls on the planet. As Picard tends to a dying Dathon, he pieces together the meaning behind “Darmok and Jaled at Tanagra”, a tale in which two lone warriors arrived on an island as strangers, but through shared adversity against a common foe, left as comrades. Picard realizes that Dathon had hoped to recreate the event on El Adrel as an attempt to open relations between their two people. Moved by his actions, Picard shares a story from Earth, part of the Epic of Gilgamesh. While listening to the tale, Dathon succumbs to his wounds.

Picard has little time to mourn the loss of Dathon the following morning before the hostile lifeform returns. The Enterprise crew resorts to force in order to disable the Tamarian ship and rescue Picard, but the hostile act triggers a full-on firing match between the two vessels. With the Enterprise about to be destroyed, Picard successfully establishes communications with the Tamarian first officer,  demonstrating that Dathon’s mission had succeeded.

The Tamarian crew is saddened by the loss of their captain, recording the story of successful first contact as “Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel” before departing in peace.  In the coda, Picard quietly honours Dathon’s sacrifice to open the door between their two people.  

Myth and Storytelling  

“My turn? No, I’m not much of a storyteller.” – Jean-Luc Picard: Big fat liar.

Darmok’s quiet campfire scene ranks as one of my favourites in the entire series. Picard’s telling of Gilgamesh was my first exposure to the ancient Mesopotamian tale, and complemented by the background music, it left a lasting impression on me.   Patrick Stewart  puts on a masterful performance, but equally excellent is the venerable Paul Winfield , expertly playing one who only has a vague notion of what is being said, but is nevertheless captivated.  The scene reinforces the notion that the telling is often more important than what is being told.

I love that Picard chose to tell the Epic of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Narratively, it is a fitting tale to tell, for Enkidu was eventually struck down by the gods, leaving Gilgamesh to mourn the loss of a dear companion. But beyond that, this ancient tale, one of the earliest known stories in human history, also depicts conflict between the forces of nature and culture. Enkidu, the massive man-beast of the wild, fights Gilgamesh, the god-king from the city of Uruk,  yet out of this tumultuous struggle emerges a sense of mutual respect and a profound friendship that renders both more human and humane. Gilgamesh discovers a worthy equal and ceases to torment his subjects, while Enkidu sheds some of his feral nature to adopt the ways of civilization.

At the episode’s conclusion, Picard comments that “more understanding with our own history and mythology makes us more capable of understanding and communicating with others.” The statement serves as a reminder that past knowledge can help us foster more durable relationships with ourselves and with others. This links me back to a comment made by a fellow WordPress blogger I keep coming back to about the value of mythic stories:

“All over the world great mythic stories were told to people of all ages, stories that had violence, humor, sex, slap-stick, philosophical questions, and ethical dilemmas built into them. As you grew older, you would realize new depths to the stories, picking up on themes and ideas within the tale as your own maturity grew and your mind asked new questions… We injure ourselves by simplifying the world.” – Earthknight

• What are your favourite mythic stories? What elements make them memorable?

Sokath, His Eyes Uncovered!

 “Their ability to abstract is highly unusual. They seem to communicate through narrative imagery by reference to the individuals and places which appear in their mytho-historical accounts.” – Data, describing the Tamarians

Over the course of the story, Picard slowly works out the main but by no means complete meanings behind the phrases uttered by his Tamarian counterpart:

• “Shaka when the walls fell!” denotes failure
• “Mirab, with sails unfurled.” means departure
• “Kiazi’s children, their faces wet.” signifies unavoidable death (?)
• “Sokath with his eyes uncovered!” conveys revelation or understanding

I won’t go into the feasibility of a language constructed entirely upon metaphor. I am not a linguist, and far more knowledgeable people have written extensively about this issue. ( See here for an essay on Tamarian grammar ) As I rewatch the episode, I instead find myself thinking about our own use of metaphors in everyday life, that we often communicate through narrative imagery. Why are metaphors so evocative? Why are we so drawn to them?

This is personal speculation, but perhaps the power of metaphor stems from its inherently cooperative and participatory nature. In a successful metaphor, the teller compresses and transmits the entirety of their experience as code, while the receiver uses their understanding of the world and the other party to decipher its meaning. The teller must trust that the receiver is capable of understanding the essence of their experience, while the recipient has to be fully engaged in the process of figuring it out .

Perhaps this active and inclusive process, compared to one party stating instructions or ideas at another, is what makes metaphors so powerful. Visiting a concept discussed in The Science of Narrative , communicating in metaphor, like communicating in stories, may lead to greater “neural coupling” in which both teller and receiver become more attuned with each other.

Darmok also illustrates how metaphors are able to tap into vast multidimensional experiences. Packed into the five word phrase of “Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel” is a sea of emotion and meaning that Picard becomes intensely aware of: First contact, shared danger, cultural exchange, death and sacrifice, personal courage, and all the specifics those elements entail. Maybe this is why as narrative devices or standalone expressions, metaphors can evoke such deep resonance within us: They can instantly deliver and provide context to a web of elements that cannot be easily summarized by ordinary means of communication.

• What are examples of powerful metaphors that have stayed with you?

The Courage to Convey, The Willingness to Listen

 “The Tamarian was willing to risk all of us just for the hope of communication, connection. Now the door is open between our people. That commitment meant more to him than his own life.” – Picard, in the coda

What resonates with me most in Darmok is how Picard’s curiosity of the other and his willingness to listen helps avert a disastrous conflict. Dathon, despite his commitment and sacrifice, could not have achieved his goal without Picard’s help. Darmok highlights the fact that it always takes two (or more) for successful communication, especially across disparate worldviews.

We often celebrate the courage of the conveyor, the one who initiates the exchange, extends the first gesture. What is less often praised is the listener, the one who is receptive and perceptive enough to create the space for fruitful dialogue. Both are absolutely crucial for meaningful communication. Having two speakers can quickly degenerate into one talking over the other, while having two listeners mean no bridges will ever be built.  Successful communication seems to be an exercise in complementary partnership, and as I write this sentence, I realize that this also holds true in reverse: enduring partnerships rely on complementary communication styles.

• Are you a conveyor or a listener?

While not as accessible as The Inner Light , I found Darmok to be an extraordinary hour of television, embodying one of core mantra of Star Trek “to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations.” As with most aliens in science-fiction, the Tamarians serve as mirrors for ourselves, reminding us of the importance of myths, metaphors, and storytelling in our lives while demonstrating how ingenuity, determination, and receptiveness can help defuse conflict, bridge gaps, further understanding across different worldviews.

Related Ekostories

• Zelda’s Twisted Tale: Majora’s Mask
• Star Trek’s Finest Hour: The Inner Light
• Changing Planes: The Nna Mmoy Language

  Star Trek: The Next Generation is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures. All images are © Paramount Pictures and are utilized under the the guidelines of Fair Use; no copyright infringement is intended.

17 Comments

• November 14, 2013

This is one of my very favorite Next Generation episodes, and certainly among the most moving. Thank you for posting the clip.

Going back to the title of your post, I think myth and metaphor are very tightly entwined, and the most powerful metaphors I know of are myths. Watching Bill Moyers’ interviews with Joseph Campbell was a powerful experience, and as a Christian, I call to mind C.S. Lewis’s comment that he saw Christianity as a “true myth.” (I think that’s the correct quote. Haven’t double checked.) Recognizing that religion is rooted in symbol, metaphor, and myth as its primal language should keep those of us who subscribe to organized religions humble and help to avoid the hubris that comes from literalist readings that attempt to force the reader’s opinion on everyone else.

The most powerful literature draws on myths, too, for example The Lord of the Rings, which is rooted in Tolkien’s deep religious beliefs, which he uses to create something at once old and new. One of the things that moves me most in Tolkiens’ work is his obvious reverence for the earth and its creatures, as embodied in Treebeard and the Ents. Another of my favorite writers, Robertson Davies, talks about this kind of mythic intertwining of life in many of his novels, most notably in The Deptford Triology and “Rebel Angels.”

Thanks for reminding me of a beloved ST episode and for making me think!

• November 15, 2013

Glad you connected to the episode and the subject of myth and metaphor.

There’s a section of Campbell’s “Thou Art That” that I am fascinated by. I’ll post the link to it here, because it’s a little too long to quote, but it’s full of really intriguing ideas:

http://www.dailyom.com/library/000/000/000000578.html

Temba, his arms wide!

This was one of my favourite episodes!!!

And the Inner Light was my all-time favourite! An excellent post and discussion of universal themes.

Haha I don’t mean to highlight Patrick Stewart and Star Trek episodes, but it seems that they’re too good to avoid 🙂

• November 16, 2013

They are, indeed! There were so many universal themes that foreshadowed what has come to pass. I enjoy your discussions – insightful and detailed.

• November 17, 2013

Fun post Isaac and thanks for reminding me of that particular episode. I think it’s interesting to think how language and communication have changed and continue to do so in the present moment. On more than one occasion, I have felt that people are losing their ability to recognize or relate to traditional metaphors and symbols. Perhaps the world trending towards the secular has had an impact here? This just underscores our need to create new stories or find ways to update the more universal ones. When I look at how my own children communicate with their friends through social media and text messaging, I’m struck by the brevity of words and the renewed importance of actual images.

I think language and communication is always changing and evolving, but perhaps it is the rate and the changing of forms in present times that is a little disorienting. I think the lack of resonance of particular stories lies very much in the way of telling and that is a generational problem. If kids don’t want to read long books anymore, is it our responsibility to push them to read them or should we engage them on their own medium and tell stories on tweets and texts? Is there a way to meet half way, to engage in some form of compromise that works for both parties? Bit of a rambling train of thought.

As an aside, I would actually contest the claim that as a whole the world is trending towards the secular 🙂 There’s a fantastic series on Ideas, a Canadian radio show, titled the Myth of the Secular. It’s a lengthy series, but well worth it, if you are interested:

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2012/10/22/the-myth-of-the-secular-part-1/

I don’t recall this particular Star Trek episode, but it sounds very thought-provoking. Specifically, one question that comes to my mind about a language based on metaphors: would said metaphors eventually come to receive so much use, they devolve to the level of cliche, wherein everyone knows instinctually what the words mean, but they fail to resonate on an emotional level or stimulate new emotions and perspectives the way a new metaphor comparing previously unassociated ideas does?

Netflix Joanne! Check it out 🙂

What an intriguing question, and one I’m not sure the episode addresses at all – how metaphors evolve with use. After all, language is so organic and open to change, how will they “wear” over time? Do they invent new ones? I’m sure like our language, there would be dead metaphors that become irrelevant, and ones that enter into such ubiquitous use that they become as ingrained as common verbs are for English. Maybe they build metaphors upon metaphors, or mix them together to create weak and strong versions.

My mind is blown!

• November 18, 2013

Wonderful post. Yet another reason why Star Trek: The Next Generation was one of the best TV shows ever. The Epic of Gilgamesh was very fitting as you mentioned. Such a great story. My favorites, however, are Beowulf, The Iliad, and The Odyssey. Stories are such a powerful way to build bridges from one culture to the next, if only we take the time to listen.

It’s definitely got some very good standout episodes, that’s for sure!

I’m actually ashamed to admit I’m quite illiterate when it comes to the Western classical epics, being more familiar with Chinese mythology. That being said, I’m currently working on a piece related to The Aeneid, so stay tuned!

• November 19, 2013

Good. Glad to hear it. I’ll look forward to that post.

• December 12, 2013

This has always been one of, if not my favorite episode (I am watching it now, which made me look for discussions of it on the internet). Watching it makes me wonder what happens in our modern age when, due to information overload, there is no root metaphor to unite a culture, no story that is common to all Can this be a single uniteda culture? In past centuries the Bible served as a source of metaphors that tended to unite a culture. What story serves as a metaphor for ours? I hate to think that it is only whatever video on Youtube has the most hits week.

Hello John,

Religion certainly served and will continue to serve as a major source for metaphors. What else? Economic doctrine is can be a pretty rich mine for metaphors, and war is full of narratives that both bind and divide. Perhaps there are powerful stories out there that both unites and acknowledges diversity, but maybe human unity requires we strive against something, the Other. I’m pondering this myself.

• July 8, 2014

I really enjoyed your post, and I really liked the linked article about the language. I always thought this language was impossible – just a fun idea for star trek that conveyed the importance of culutral understanding. I live in Korea, an English teacher, and I’m pretty patient, but 1) I get a bit flustered when I’m with a really good English as a second language student and they don’t get a metaphore or 2) when I’m using Korean, and I though out a Chinese 4 letter proverb, most young people don’t get it (although I admit, sometimes this is due to my pronounciation:p)

Anyway, I think it IS possible for a language to be like this, as when I read chinese characters I often don’t think or can’t remember their korean reading(sound), but just think oh, that’s fire(instead of reading “bul” in my head), or that’s independence or solitutude (instead of “dok” in my head). So its possible if their written language is iconographic ~ OR, like another poster said about our children and texting, its pretty time saving and easy enough nowadays to just send an image of where we are to our friends instead of typing. It’s not hard to conceive a race 400 years in the future would have an even easier time perhaps even transmitting video recordings or reenactments of these myths to one another through… who knows, blue tooth brain implants? (They’re aliens too, so if they are mildly telepathic, that would explain a lot as well).

Just my two cents! Just found your page, and it’s awesome, keep posting!

• July 9, 2014

Hi Stephen, thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts on the possibility of a language like this.

I’m Chinese, and I always marvel at the terseness of the language in communicating complex ideas in a few succinct words. Poetry comes closest to thought, as they say. I remember as a child, my parents would cite a proverb (many times grounded in a historical event or a story) and then proceed to tell me what it means in normal Chinese. So the question is: How do you communicate entirely in metaphor without that step of explanation in a base language? Can the same ideas in the proper context be precisely conveyed to an entire society? For me, that’s one of the many very interesting aspects about Darmok.

What do you think? Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series)

Darmok (1991).

• User Reviews

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

• User Ratings
• External Reviews
• Metacritic Reviews
• Full Cast and Crew
• Release Dates
• Official Sites
• Company Credits
• Filming & Production
• Technical Specs
• Plot Summary
• Plot Keywords
• Parents Guide

Did You Know?

• Crazy Credits
• Alternate Versions
• Connections
• Soundtracks

Photo & Video

• Photo Gallery
• Trailers and Videos

Related Items

• External Sites

Related lists from IMDb users

Recently Viewed

Ana Krajinović

• Academic publications
• Contact/Social
• Search for: Search

Language without syntax? Lessons from Star Trek

In Star Trek: The New Generation there is an interesting linguistic episode in Season 5 called Darmok. In this episode, our heroes come across a language spoken by the alien race of Tamarians, in which everything is expressed through idioms, and these are in turn based on Tamarian stories and myths. For instance, when they want to express that something didn’t go well, they invoke the reference of the hero called Shaka and the story in which the walls of his city fell. In the episode we even get a comparison to human languages: something like “Juliet on her balcony” would express an idea of romance. An illustration of what goes on in the episode is nicely captured by the two videos below (have a look if you haven’t watched this episode). Besides the pure fiction and some original creativity of the screenwriters, what I find especially interesting in the context of linguistics is trying to pin down the differences between such a language and actual human languages. And most importantly, by comparing them, we can also explain why such a language could probably never exist, at least not among humans, given the characteristics we associate with Homo Sapiens .

The most important difference between the Tamarian language and human languages is the fact that human languages all have syntax. In all languages of the world, smaller units, such as words and morphemes, can be combined into larger unites and these can form even larger units, for example sentences. In the Tamarian language, only idiom-type phrases exist, such as “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” and “Shaka, when the walls fell”. One obvious contradiction here is that, if they already have some verbs and prepositions to form these idioms, how come those cannot be combined to form other expressions? But following the intention of the screenwriters, let’s assume these smaller elements can only appear in other idioms, while not being productive on their own. So, in contrast to the Tamarian language, human languages have a generative power of creating any number of sentences from other smaller parts, and this is the core of what syntax is. The grammar rules of our languages are productive because they can equally well be applied to any new words that might come into the language, and they are also flexible, as they can change to accommodate to possible new requirements within the language. The Tamarian language, on the other hand, is the exact opposite, with a finite number of idioms that each express a part of some mythological story. In other words, their language is bound to the ideas and events of those stories. The assumption of this episode is also that Tamarians cannot even imagine a world outside of what is described in those stories. As Data explains in the second video, their identity is defined by this shared mythological knowledge. And even in this area, we can see why human language is productive in comparison. We constantly acquire new knowledge, and we need to have the means to communicate it to others, who do not yet possess the same knowledge. This is probably the most important factor that led to the success of our species, working together and specializing in different areas, while sharing the outcomes of our work. If sharing the same knowledge was a prerequisite for language, just like with the Tamarians, then our languages could have been as simple as theirs.

Another interesting point of departure here could be to think whether from a perspective of a (purely fictional) alien species more developed than us, our planet and our environment could be equally limiting to our experience as the mythology is to Tamarians. Could there be even more productive and more syntaxy languages out there in the universe?

I used the Darmok episode recently in my class to discuss with my students the nature of syntax in human language. I think it’s a great example of how grammatical structure is productive, and it easily leads to deeper discussions about the nature of language. Do you know of any other examples like this in fiction? Let me know!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Search forums

Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.

Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.

• Star Trek Series | 2364 - 2378
• Star Trek: The Next Generation

Expand the Tamarian Language

• Thread starter Balok's Decoy
• Start date Aug 18, 2016

Balok's Decoy

• Aug 18, 2016

I watched "Darmok" last night and I really love the Tamarian language. But I wish there was more than just the phrases we hear in the episode. Since it doesn't seem like there are any other sources of Tamarian out there, how about we come up with some new phrases? Could even make this a game: one person posts a "new" Tamarian phrase and then another person guesses its meaning? Can be a phrase rooted in Trek or not. Any takers?  

Mutai Sho-Rin

Crusty old bastard.

Geordi, when the words fail. (As the forum mod, I'll only do this once but it should be fun.)  

Mutai Sho-Rin said: Geordi, when the words fail. (As the forum mod, I'll only do this once but it should be fun.) Click to expand...

Timelord Victorious

Vice admiral.

Troi, when she feels pain, so much pain.  

2takesfrakes

Rear admiral.

• Aug 19, 2016

Riker with horn, on Risa  

I'll do one Trek and one non-Trek: Reliant leader, with the new visage; and: Fool in orange, when the votes count.  

"Uhura, hailing frequencies."  

Non Trek: Snowden, when the whistles blow  

CorporalCaptain

Barclay, on the holodeck.  

Laura Cynthia Chambers

• Aug 23, 2016

Guinan with tennis elbow. Faking something as an excuse to help someone. ("Suspicions")  

Jedi_Master

Red Shirt, on an alien planet . A person heading to certain doom.  

Fleet Captain

Worf, with his ass kicked. (A blindly obvious outcome has occurred.) LaForge, when the doors fell. (Run away...in as dramatic a fashon as possible) Picard, with jacket straightened. (complex mixture of confidence, smugness, and annoyance) O'brien, on the late shift. (a computer can do my job and I'm bored) Troi, at the helm. (We are all. Going to die.) Paris, when it sizzles. (not sure...sounds right tho)  

at Quark's

Sisko and Q, in the boxing ring! ("You may be more powerful than I am, but I refuse to let that intimidate me")  

• General Trek Discussion
• Star Trek: Enterprise
• Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek: Discovery
• Star Trek: Picard
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
• Star Trek: Lower Decks
• Star Trek: Prodigy
• Star Trek Movies I-X
• Star Trek Movies: Kelvin Universe
• Future of Trek
• Trek Gaming
• Trek Literature
• Fan Fiction
• Fan Productions
• CSI (at Talk CSI)
• Science and Technology
• Sports and Fitness
• Web Sites/Design
• Miscellaneous
• Site Forums