I guess this means there’s nothing new under the sun (or moon for that matter).
For those you who have not seen Avatar (small numbers, I would bet), Na’vi is the official language of the fictional moon Pandora, and while the moon is fabricated, the language is not. Na’vi is the creation of linguist Paul Frommer who took four years to develop this highly structured and linguistically correct method of communication.
Interestingly, it has spawned a subculture of Na’vi speaking humans—people from different countries and continents who have come together via the internet and social media circles to cultivate and practice this manner of expression.
But the idea isn’t new. In 1887, Dr. L.L. Zamenhof proposed a universal language called Esperanto. It never quite caught on, but the premise is similar. Not intended to replace our native tongue, it simply creates common words.
All of this seems very natural to me – that we, as people, would seek ways to share ideas without the “small world” barrier of local language. Of course, there was the Tower of Babble; there is the United Nations; there’s sign language, and far before 3-D blue aliens, there were petroglyphs and hieroglyphs and cuneiform that used pictures and shapes instead of written words.
Years ago I had an opportunity to visit Newspaper Rock which sits in a corner of Utah. Displaying one of the most prolific collections of petroglyphs, I used to think of it as a graffiti wall – people passing by and leaving their mark. Now I think of it more as a chat room – just one that required a significantly longer response time. Imagine, “I was on a big hunt and killed 3 antelope.” Six months later: “That is so cool; I caught 3 fish in the mountain lake.”
The extremely remarkable thing to me about the Na’vi phenomena is that this quest for universal communication was not mandated, not forced. It seems inherent in human nature. That’s why words, unto themselves, are just a collection of letters or symbols or pictures or shapes. It’s the meaning and subtle inferences that give words their value… the context, the intonation.
So, come (or in Na’vi, “za’u”) let’s take a moment to appreciate the one thing that unites us all…the ever changing and oh-so-humble word, “li’u.”
Tags: Avatar, common ground, communication, Na'vi, Newspaper Rock, petroglyphs
Categories: Language, Reflection