Essay: Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang and the movie Arrival

Adapted from the 1998 novel “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, the movie Arrival (2016) as the name suggests, is the story of an extraterrestrial invasion on earth. The movie follows a linguistics professor, a physicist and a team of US soldiers whose main goal is to find the reason for the aliens’ presence on earth while keeping worldwide allies from declaring war against said aliens. Even though the scientific elements of this movie make it interesting, it is not the main focus for viewers; the movie sparks conversation in the linguistic community with the application and depiction of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as defined by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (n.d.) is a theory in which one’s language determines one’s conception of the world. This analysis will discuss 3 main psycholinguistic elements present in the movie Arrival which are language acquisition and the two divisions of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis; linguistic determinism and linguistic relativism.
Firstly, is the concept of language acquisition which can be explained in two sub-points which are innateness and through comprehensible input. These two concepts are different but will be explained shortly in this paragraph. Innateness is a word used by Chomsky to describe the way that grammatical rules are hardwired into the brain of humans. This hypothesis is challenged in the movie by the fact that the Heptapods were able to obtain the language of humans in the same span of time it takes the linguist to learn the language of the heptapods. Secondly, is the way that the heptapods gained knowledge of the English language through signs instead of spoken words which can be related to the input hypothesis by Krashen.  This is important because it is said that the spoken language of humans would be hard for Heptapods to learn and vice versa because the two species do not have the phonetic articulators.
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is one which relates the language spoken, to the state of mind of the speaker. This hypothesis is broken down into two parts; the first being linguistic determinism which is a stronger version of the hypothesis. Linguistic determinism is a concept whereby the language that a person speaks automatically determines how a person thinks. In the movie, the concept of relative determinism is represented through the use of the word weapon the heptapods in China used. This is because when the Chinese attempted communication, they used the game Mahjong which is strategic and the gameplay which results in winning and losing results a concept that can be categorised as hostile by other life forms. A research done by Whorf (1974) as summarised by Van Troyer (1994) States that the Hopi Indian language is one that perceives time differently due to the fact that in their language, there is no specific distinction of time, therefore, time is like a flowing river while English speakers perceive time like a rigid clock. The outcome and analysis of Whorf in this experiment has been continuously questioned as the reasons given were extremely weak and agreed more to the concept of linguistic relativism. One part of the movie which is related to the research done by Whorf is when Louise Banks gains the power to look into the future after understanding the written or symbolic language of the heptapods. The reason for this is because the language that humans speak is linear therefore time is perceived in a linear way while the language heptapods used is one that is circular with no ending or beginning hence, their sense of time is different. This indicates that relative determinism supports the fact that speaking a specific language will totally alter or rewire a person’s mind. The concept of linguistic determinism is one not accepted in the linguistic community as it is impossible for a language to determine completely how a person thinks.
Relating to the fact that linguistic determinism is quite impossible in the real world, linguists have opted to use the theory of linguistic relativism which as stated by Lucy (1997) is the fact that language affects the person’s perspective on reality. This particular theory is proved through a study by Hoffman, Lau and Johnson, in which bilingual Chinese- English speakers were told to describe a person after reading a description of the person. The result was an English stereotype for speakers speaking in English and a Chinese stereotype for the ones Speaking in Chinese. This point is represented in the movie when Louise Banks instead of altering her future, embraces it even though it ends in heartbreak. It is the aspect that her acceptance of the future is a result of the language she speaks. Another example of linguistic relativism is Ian Donnelly who leaves Louise in the future after he finds out about their daughter’s sickness. The understanding of the world that Louise has is affected by the language she speaks and the way Ian perceives the world is more restricted.
To end this analysis, the movie Arrival has many psycholinguistics aspects which are not stated above. The use of linguistics most importantly the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has once again opened the conversation between about the relationship of language and thought. To recap, this movie while mainly focusing on the two aspects of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis also represents the concept of innateness and comprehensible input.