Alien Languages May Not Be Entirely Alien to Us

[Martin68]

21. I bow to your experience, education ad skill set. While I don't have a degree in language, I

taught English as a second language in Japan for 21 years, and did a quite a bit of research on linguistics and the acquisition of language in children. While Chomsky is highly respected, there are other views that I think answer questions that Chomsky's don't. Being immersed in the field as you are often requires coming down on one or another particular theory. I don't think it is quite as settled as you suggest. I agree that there must be a genetic, "innate" component of language in the brain, but exactly how it functions and what actual parts of the brain perform which functions of that innate ability is not known.

I think we too often fall into the trap of assuming that because things are the way they are, there could not be any other way for them to be. Language wouldn't necessarily have to be verbal in an alien species. It could be based on frequencies of light, or something chemical like smell and taste. Would the deep structure of such a language have to resemble ours? At any rate, I don't claim to have any answers, I just try to keep my mind open to new possibilities because I don't think we've fully plumbed the depths of language and the forms that life can take.