ABSTRACT
Xenolinguistics brings together biologists, anthropologists, linguists, and other experts specializing in language and communication to explore what non-human, non-Earthbound language might look like. The 18 chapters examine what is known about human language and animal communication systems to provide reasonable hypotheses about what we may find if we encounter non-Earth intelligence.
Showcasing an interdisciplinary dialogue between a set of highly established scholars, this volume:
- Clarifies what is and is not known about human language and animal communication systems
- Presents speculative arguments as a philosophical exercise to help define the boundaries of what our current science can tell us about non-speculative areas of investigation
- Provides readers with a clearer sense of how our knowledge about language is better informed through a cross-disciplinary investigation
- Offers a better understanding of future avenues of research on language
This rich interdisciplinary collection, with chapter authors including Noam Chomsky, Derek Ball, Denise Herzing, and Irene Pepperberg, will be of interest to researchers and students studying non-human communication, astrobiology, and language invention.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter 2|12 pages
Many Ways to Say Things
What the Diversity of Animal Communication on Earth Can Tell Us About the Likely Nature of Alien Language
chapter 4|6 pages
Getting out of our skin
What Decoding Interspecies Communication and Nonhuman Intelligence Can Tell Us About Deciphering Alien Languages
chapter 5|12 pages
Communicative Resources beyond the Verbal tier
A View on Xenolinguistics From Interactional Linguistics
chapter 8|13 pages
Interstellar Competence
Applications of Linguistics and Communicative and Cultural Competencies to Extraterrestrial Communication
chapter 12|15 pages
A Linguistic Perspective on the Drake Equation
Knowns and Unknowns for Human Languages and Extraterrestrial Communication
chapter 16|12 pages
Where does Universal Grammar Fit in the Universe?
Human Cognition and the Strong Minimalist Thesis
chapter 18|16 pages
Writing Systems and METI
Off-the-Shelf Encoding of Human Physiology, Language, Cognition, and Culture
