Namesake

Day 192: Over the course of some 50-plus years, I have learned to say four "words" in Crow-speak. It's hard enough learning to speak a human foreign language; learning how to communicate in the language of another species requires first understanding the mode of communication. Let's take it to an extreme. We'll assume for the moment that when extraterrestrials land on Earth, they will have a vocal language. We cannot expect to be able to translate it word-for-word; we can't even do that reliably with our own languages, e.g., "Ich bin ganz voll" translates literally from German as "I am completely full," something you might say after dinner. In fact, it means something quite different: "I'm pregnant." Once you understand the context, the literal translation makes sense, but the origins of other euphemisms are not as easily connected. However, in communicating with another species, we have a broader gap to bridge: what factors make up the base of their system?

Scientists have identified over 200 different vocalizations among ravens, distinguishable by analysis of their respective sonograms. They know that each one signifies something, but what? These quorks and caws do not represent words as we know them. They cannot be strung together to make sentences in the way human words are. Rather, they convey a specific concept, as if in human speech the sentence "I'm eating a sandwich in the back yard under the maple tree" were to be compacted to the single idea, "wgnrmy." Crows have a language similar to that of ravens in that they speak in this conceptual form. The human throat probably isn't capable of producing the subtleties of sound which would show up in a sonogram of Crow-speak, but accented or not, I have learned how to tell my friends my identity and location (one word), that food is safe to take, that food is dangerous to approach, and lastly, that there is danger in the area. They trust me to tell them the truth. On one occasion many years ago, I inadvertently misinformed the Breakfast Bunch by telling them that the food was safe to approach. What I didn't know was that my neighbour had just gotten in his truck and was preparing to leave for work. As soon as he started the engine, every crow fled in haste and I could not get them to come back to the board for a week. Honesty is apparently valued quite highly in the world of corvids, and therefore I have never used that "word" again.