Mod+ 233. MARY RODWELL WHICH EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN EXPERIENCES MATTER

Interview with the alien encounter researcher Mary Rodwell examines the stigma of extraordinary human experiences, and why science turns away.

http://www.skeptiko.com/233-mary-rodwell-extrodinary-human-experieences-matter/
Interview with the alien encounter researcher Mary Rodwell examines the stigma of extraordinary human experiences, and why science turns away.



http://www.skeptiko.com/233-mary-rodwell-extrodinary-human-experieences-matter/
Totally mind blowing interview!
I’ve made posts in the past along the same lines as Mary regarding the creative capacity of the sub/unconscious mind to create or invoke the perfect scenario for a person to heal past life trauma as well as other areas. As far as needing scientific proof that the scenarios that appear under hypnosis literally occurred in history: Mary’s sentiment of “why does it matter” I think is spot on with a couple of qualifications. The first being that some of them do and that would add weight to the shift of world views in the culture. My main position is that the Hypnotherapy process is enough in itself phenomenalogically as it presents (which you alluded to) to make some major inroads toward an expanded view of the consciousness. There would be no need to claim the images that occur under hypnosis are anything other than metaphors, yet stuff still happens that defy our current understandings in science. This could possibly free research from the new age metaphysical taint and open it up to more main stream exploration.
I’m not so much referring to the alien phenomenon here as to healing trauma in general with Hypnotherapy.
The alien stuff seems to be disturbing to even some of our long term members and is unlikely to be an avenue toward legitimizing hypnosis.
 
I have a friend who described her experience as a child with some beings she called "tichins". She is a now a scientist involved with research into cancer treatments. She told me that when she was young, she would experience these "beings" trying to "get to her" from under her bed and she was very afraid of them. At some point, out of fear, she ran into her parents room, where her father then took her back into her own room and began to spank her. At that point, she saw the"tichins" begin to come to her. Initially she was afraid of them, but she soon realized they were really there to comfort her and that they were her friends. From that point on she said she would love to go to her room to visit them. When her parents told her they had to move, she became distraught, because the "tichins" said they couldn't come with her, that they lived in the walls and had to stay there. Add that to another strange encounter with what we think is "reality".
 
"A child of Eternity:" Look it up on Amazon. Looks like it may be out of print, but I ordered a used copy to read.
Thank you.
This is the book for others who may be interested:
http://www.amazon.com/Child-Eternit...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387525711&sr=1-1

Also, all of Michael Newton's work (and that of Brian Weiss as well) indicates we all choose our parents as well as our disabilities. So I don't find this disturbing or difficult to accept any more.
Yes I am very familiar with both authors.
 
We’re still in a paradigm that is so limited in terms of how we accept extraordinary human experience and this is a dilemma because in psychology and psychiatry everything is seen as some kind of dysfunction primarily.
Nuff said. Give her her awards.
 
This could possibly free research from the new age metaphysical taint and open it up to more main stream exploration.
I’m not so much referring to the alien phenomenon here as to healing trauma in general with Hypnotherapy.
To me, moving beyond the current mainstream is more important than "healing trauma." Much of that trauma is itself an outgrowth of the current mainstream approach.
 
To me, moving beyond the current mainstream is more important than "healing trauma." Much of that trauma is itself an outgrowth of the current mainstream approach.
I don’t see it as an either or.
I guess I wasn’t clear. Working with and healing trauma has lately become a more mainstream focus in clinical psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy has proven to be an effective tool in treating trauma. Hypnotherapy has always been a fringe practice and has gotten very little funding for research and the claims made of hypnosis get very little attention in academic circles. If hypnotherapy, were better established in the mainstream, kind of like Buddhism is now with stress reduction research and meditation, the more “extraordinary human experiences” that often occur with hypnotherapy would be harder for the mainstream to ignore just as with Buddhism and Yoga which has opened up spiritual dimensions to many highly materialistic folks( like Sam Harris for instance).
 
I don’t see it as an either or.
I guess I wasn’t clear. Working with and healing trauma has lately become a more mainstream focus in clinical psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy has proven to be an effective tool in treating trauma. Hypnotherapy has always been a fringe practice and has gotten very little funding for research and the claims made of hypnosis get very little attention in academic circles. If hypnotherapy, were better established in the mainstream, kind of like Buddhism is now with stress reduction research and meditation, the more “extraordinary human experiences” that often occur with hypnotherapy would be harder for the mainstream to ignore just as with Buddhism and Yoga which has opened up spiritual dimensions to many highly materialistic folks( like Sam Harris for instance).
Okay thanks. That does make it clearer to me. However you still have an emphasis on the mainstream. My interest is on the moving beyond the mainstream. Academic circles and the like will catch up eventually. Seeking their validation is something I see as missing the point.
 
Okay thanks. That does make it clearer to me. However you still have an emphasis on the mainstream. My interest is on the moving beyond the mainstream. Academic circles and the like will catch up eventually. Seeking their validation is something I see as missing the point.
Okay thanks. That does make it clearer to me. However you still have an emphasis on the mainstream. My interest is on the moving beyond the mainstream. Academic circles and the like will catch up eventually. Seeking their validation is something I see as missing the point.
The mainstream is where the paradigm is established that is, where the power and control for the society is centered, whether we like it or not (just consider the funding issue). The Esalens and the Skeptiko’s have an effect but are largely kept at bay. Until we can infiltrate the mainstream (as explained in my previous posts) things are not going to shift very much.

“Academic circles and the like will catch up eventually. Seeking their validation is something I see as missing the point.”

It’s not seeking their validation like wanting your parental approval. It’s more recognizing what needs to happen for the dominate world view to shift in the larger society and having a strategy to effect that change.
 
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Another is verifiability, and one claim she made fascinated me: the one about children being able to read/speak/translate alien script. That strikes me as something that is verifiable and I'd love to see the evidence: are there any videos of children doing this? Have linguists been involved? Does anyone have any info about this? If I could see convincing evidence, that would be a bit of a game changer for me.

First, here are some samples of the scripts and languages Mary Rodwell talks about:

ET Scripts
ET Languages

Linguists have been involved, but so far most of the samples have been too short to be linguistically useful, and translations are nonexistent for all but a few of the samples. Mark Newbrook (bio here), is the principal linguist for the Alien Semiotics Project, a project started by Gary Anthony in 1999 for the purpose of gathering and analyzing samples of alien writing and speech.

Newbrook has written a couple of recent articles on the subject for the Skeptical Humanities blog, and one long article in 2004 for the UFO magazine Magonia. In my view, the articles are must reading to gain a good overview of the subject from a competent linguistic perspective. In addition, they include some interesting case history material, as well as valid criticisms of Mary Rodwell and her treatment of the subject. With that out of the way, here are some relevant excerpts:

Skeptical Humanities: channelled languages and similar phenomena 6
For our part, Anthony and I seek to consult any interested parties (whatever their roles) on the relevant issues. We request samples of as great a length as possible. Frequently, samples of alleged alien speech or writing are not long enough to permit useful linguistic analyses; shorter samples are useful only if translations – preferably ‘literal’ – are available. (See later on the issues surrounding ‘holistic’ understanding of such material.) We have asked for assistance through the ufological literature, seeking:

a) samples of alien scripts and of texts written in these scripts, with statements regarding script-type and ductus (left to right or right to left, top to bottom or bottom to top, starting where on the page) and (for alphabetic or syllabic scripts) identification of word-boundaries;

b) samples of spoken alien language, ideally recorded on tape but, if this is not possible, in the form of transcriptions either into ‘imitated spelling’ (where the sounds are represented using the spelling of English or of the reporter’s own strongest language, with identifications of the reporter’s language and/or accent) or (better) into the International Phonetic Association Alphabet;

c) translations into English (or other human languages.

Responses have been disappointingly limited, but the project remains active.


Skeptical Humanities: channelled languages and similar phenomena 8
One especially prominent advocate of the reality of extraterrestrial languages of a more ‘orthodox’ nature is Mary Rodwell (Perth, Western Australia). Rodwell organises support groups for ‘experiencers’ (most of them ‘abductees’) and produces books, videos etc. on the subject, with samples of the written and spoken forms of alien languages as well as alien-inspired artwork. Rodwell promotes the view that these experiences represent actual physical happenings. Her ideas are discussed at length in the ‘Alien Semiotics Project’ papers mentioned earlier. The spoken and written material cited by Rodwell is produced by ‘experiencers’ rather than directly by aliens; the forms and sequences are outlined in largely self-reported case studies, notably that of the repeat-experiencer Tracey Taylor. The written material has the appearance of text written ‘grass-stroke’ style in a range of large alphabets, syllabaries or (parts of) logographies. There is too little material in each sample to be more confident, especially in the absence of useful translations. In fact, the translations offered for both the spoken and the written material are typically holistic only; they represent entire messages rather than individual words or phrases. Morpheme-by-morpheme translations are not available, and this point is actually emphasised by Rodwell. This conveniently excuses Taylor and others from being asked to assist linguists seeking to analyse the languages in the normal way by breaking utterances down into meaningful units and analyses using substitution and other such exercises.


Magonia: The Aliens Speak – and Write: Examining Alien Languages
CONCLUSION
As we have repeatedly observed, these shortcomings are widely shared by writers in this area. Their presentations are one-sided, and most crucially, they lack linguistic expertise. Advocates of the reality of alien languages and of communications from aliens in human languages will need to provide much better evidence a including evidence arising from such analysis as Anthony and I might conduct, if we are given access to reporters before the balance of probability renders their case sufficiently interesting to warrant further focused attention. Nevertheless, Anthony and I stand ready to engage with any suitable material. In the meantime, we continue to scour the archives for other material which is at least amenable to linguistic analysis.


Doug
 
The mainstream is where the paradigm is established that is, where the power and control for the society is centered, whether we like it or not (just consider the funding issue). The Esalens and the Skeptiko’s have an effect but are largely kept at bay. Until we can infiltrate the mainstream (as explained in my previous posts) things are not going to shift very much.

“Academic circles and the like will catch up eventually. Seeking their validation is something I see as missing the point.”

It’s not seeking their validation like wanting your parental approval. It’s more recognizing what needs to happen for the dominate world view to shift in the larger society and having a strategy to effect that change.

The paradigm is established there because you continue to play to it. Even here what you speak of is all centered around "they." Your take on what shifts the "dominant worldview" is rooted in those mainstream assumptions of how things manifest in the world. That's not my viewpoint. I'm not overly concerned with what "they" do. What I'm focused on shifting is me.
 
The paradigm is established there because you continue to play to it. Even here what you speak of is all centered around "they." Your take on what shifts the "dominant worldview" is rooted in those mainstream assumptions of how things manifest in the world. That's not my viewpoint. I'm not overly concerned with what "they" do. What I'm focused on shifting is me.
They aren't mutually exclusive. I think of it as two parallel tracks. I never meant to implying that we have to wait for the larger society to come around before we can actuallize our spiritual depth.
 
The mainstream is where the paradigm is established that is, where the power and control for the society is centered, whether we like it or not (just consider the funding issue). The Esalens and the Skeptiko’s have an effect but are largely kept at bay. Until we can infiltrate the mainstream (as explained in my previous posts) things are not going to shift very much.

“Academic circles and the like will catch up eventually. Seeking their validation is something I see as missing the point.”

It’s not seeking their validation like wanting your parental approval. It’s more recognizing what needs to happen for the dominate world view to shift in the larger society and having a strategy to effect that change.

Good point, Larry. The fact that people like Sam Harris have had what most people think of as spiritual experiences (though Harris denies that's what they are) elevates certain phenomena into the realm of acceptance, even by materialists. The issue then becomes their interpretation rather than their existence. In my book, that's a step forward. No one is denying they exist, or even that they are experienced in certain ways. It's not like, for example, schizophrenic hallucinations that only schizophrenics can have; anyone can have unusual experiences through certain practices or use of entheogens.
 
An utterly fantastic post, Doug. I've given it "best" in thread. Thanks a lot. I will be investigating and may post more when Ive done that. :):):)

Thanks Michael. I'd originally planned to write a more comprehensive summary of Newbrook's articles, but I have to struggle really hard with my writing, and doing so exhausts me. In the end I decided to let Newbrook speak for himself in my excerpts. As you'll see by reading the full articles, I could have quoted a lot more relevant material. It's depressing that people like Mary Rodwell don't mention Newbrook's expert opinions on the subject.

Doug
 
Thanks Michael. I'd originally planned to write a more comprehensive summary of Newbrook's articles, but I have to struggle really hard with my writing, and doing so exhausts me. In the end I decided to let Newbrook speak for himself in my excerpts. As you'll see by reading the full articles, I could have quoted a lot more relevant material. It's depressing that people like Mary Rodwell don't mention Newbrook's expert opinions on the subject.

Doug

I'm following up your links and plan to post more links to relevant information, thus enlarging on your post, so between us we may get closer to what you would have liked. I wouldn't have been able to do this without your initial research.
 
Carrying Doug's research further #1:

The series of linguistics articles by Mark Newbrook is very interesting. Below, I give extracts from each article in the order written. Asterisked (***) ones, Doug has already mentioned. They're well worth reading, covering not only ET script, but what are probably related phenomena. Should take easily less than an hour to read them all in full.

So far, the evidence I've found is that claims that there's alien script that has been linguistically analysed are unsubstantiated, which is different than saying that there isn't some underlying phenomenon that's worth investigating.

Newbrook strikes me as a sceptic, but a well-qualified and fair one.
http://skepticalhumanities.com/2012...omena-1-non-historical-fringe-linguistics-10/


The best known phenomenon of this kind is glossolalia, that is, speaking, or occasionally writing, in what appear to be unexpected and usually unfamiliar languages, mainly but not solely in the context of fervent Pentecostal Christian worship...

Morton Kelsey in particular is concerned to treat glossolalia as of divine origin and not merely a type of xenoglossia (see below), even though the latter is of course itself controversial and, if genuine, mysterious. In contrast, the consensus of linguists who have examined the phenomenon is that most if not all glossolalia is phonetic but not linguistic. The utterances are typically analysed as consisting of haphazard sequences of sounds, syllables and other sound-sequences which occur or at least are phonologically possible in languages known to the speaker, with more repetition of syllables and of some individual sounds than is usual in genuinely linguistic material, with very little evidence of morphological structure and often with no specific meanings; at most, there is a general interpretation supporting the relevant community’s belief system...

Some neurological studies have determined that during glossolalic performances activity in the language centres of the brain decreases, while activity in the emotional centres increases.
http://skepticalhumanities.com/2012...omena-2-non-historical-fringe-linguistics-11/

Oral channelling is regarded by ‘believers’ as generated by spirits or other paraphysical entities rather than by the physical channeller or medium, who is often in a trance-like state at the time of production. These phenomena may involve languages known to the channeller (not of especial relevance here; the main point of skeptical interest in such cases involves information to which the channeller supposedly had no other access), identifiable languages (modern or other) not known to the channeller (again, very interesting, if genuine) or unidentified languages or ‘languages’ (as in glossolalia). Channellers often claim no understanding of the material produced where it is not in a language with which they themselves are familiar. For example, I met an Australian man who channelled large amounts of material in a ‘language’ which he himself could not interpret (and which – following information supposedly obtained from a ‘spirit guide’ – he wrongly identified as Seneca). In a few cases (see later on Flournoy for an example), unknown scripts are provided to accompany the oral material (see also below on written channelling and automatic writing)...

In some cases involving deceased individuals from remote time-periods, and indeed in most cases involving languages not known to the channeller (contemporary or ancient), appropriate usage is not attempted. The channeller uses a contemporary form of her own first language; this is arguably both anomalous and ‘convenient’ (for channellers unschooled in language matters), but some such channellers adduce arguably specious reasons for this, such as the spirit’s desire to assist current listeners. One such case is that of the ‘Starseed Transmissions’; the channeller Ken Carey reports that these messages were transmitted in non-verbal form as ‘waves’ linking his ‘biogravitational field’ and neurology with those of the extraterrestrial/angelic communicators. Approximately synonymous English expressions were then ‘assigned’ to these ‘waves’ (apparently by the communicators).

In cases involving languages altogether unknown to mainstream scholarship, such as ‘Atlantean’, it is of course impossible to demonstrate whether or not the usage presented is accurate. However, it is more difficult than most non-linguists imagine to invent a language (as opposed to an unstructured set of vocabulary items) in such a way that a linguist will be convinced, and even unknown ‘languages’ can be assessed for plausibility (this also applies to alleged extraterrestrial languages).

http://skepticalhumanities.com/2012...omena-3-non-historical-fringe-linguistics-12/

Analogously to oral channelling, written channelling or ‘automatic writing’ (also known as ‘inspired writing’, ‘trance writing’, ‘spirit writing’, ‘autonography’, etc.) is regarded by ‘believers’ as generated by spirits or other paraphysical entities rather than by the physical writer, who is often in a trance-like state at the time of production. Automatic writers (or typists) typically claim to receive communication from the spirit world by way of involuntary handwriting or typing, allegedly guided by spirits of the deceased. Again, these phenomena may involve languages known to the writer, identifiable languages (modern or other) not known to the writer (again, very interesting, if genuine) or unidentified languages or ‘languages’. Writers often claim no understanding of the material produced where it is not in a language which they themselves know. Some such cases are again interpreted by believers as communication with deceased persons, including long-dead individuals as well as now-dead acquaintances; but there are also cases involving ‘spirit guides’ (who sometimes are quoted as wrongly identifying the language in question)...
 
Carrying Doug's research further #2:

http://skepticalhumanities.com/2012...omena-4-non-historical-fringe-linguistics-13/

The most spectacular case of alleged channelling is an older case involving the Elizabethan mystic John Dee. A supposedly angelic language and an otherwise unknown script, both labelled ‘Enochian’, were allegedly channelled to an associate of Dee and were recorded in writing (in roman script). Don Laycock (who died tragically young) investigated this case in partnership with Stephen Skinner, and it is reported in one of the few ‘classics’ of skeptical linguistics (Donald C. Laycock (2nd edn completed by Stephen Skinner with two prefaces), The Complete Enochian Dictionary (London, 1978 and York Beach, ME, 1994)). Laycock was a brilliant Australian linguist, skeptic and polymath and remains a model for genuine ‘skeptical linguists’...

Laycock and Skinner discuss earlier interpretive works from 1662 (when the texts were re-discovered) and after (up to the twentieth century), each influenced by contemporary ideas. They are highly critical, but are also open minded despite the nature of the material; they are inclined to consider Enochian largely non-paranormal (although Skinner is obviously convinced of the reality of Dee’s angels, at least). Laycock and Skinner concluded that ‘Enochian’, unusually in this context, patterns rather like a genuine but altogether unknown language, albeit with some most uncommon features including unprecedently heavy, wide-ranging suppletion (unrelated stems) in the verb-tense paradigms...

The grammar manifests considerable detail. Sentence/clause and phrase-level word order is again suspiciously close to that of English; but there are often several Enochian words in sequence corresponding with one English word, with no analysis offered. Some of the variation in noun terminations suggests inconsistent systems of inflection as in Latin (‘declensions’), but there is too little data to be confident. Verbs show inflectional systems, but, very strikingly, there are anomalously high levels of suppletion (totally unrelated forms in different tenses of the same verb, as in English go/went). There is also some unusual ‘polyallomorphy;’ for instance, there are multiple items for negation. The rest of the grammar does not emerge fully but (again suspiciously) displays nothing highly non-Indo-European in character and is often close to English idiom...

Dee later allegedly received still other messages, including some words hardly pronounceable at all, such as alhctga. Skinner has published further analyses of Enochian. This altogether fascinating case obviously remains open.
http://skepticalhumanities.com/2012...omena-5-non-historical-fringe-linguistics-14/

A further phenomenon of the same general type as channelling involves ‘Electronic Voice Phenomenon’: electronically generated noises which resemble speech in known or unknown languages but are not the result of intentional voice recordings or renderings...

Most of these advocates of EVP claim that it is of paranormal origin. Explanations include living humans imprinting thoughts directly on an electronic medium through psychokinesis, and communication by spirits, beings from other dimensions or extraterrestrials. The recent work by Anabela Cardoso examines the extraterrestrial hypothesis but concludes that EVP emanates from deceased persons. Steve Mizrach suggests that paranormal entities with the capacity for speech may actually be brought into being by the use of the relevant technology...

Another important relevant alleged phenomenon in this general area is xenoglossia: cases of humans speaking and/or understanding languages which they have never learned – not in a trance, as if channelling or experiencing glossolalia, but as a second personality which emerges in everyday situations (and usually does not appear to command the language used by the speaker’s main personality). The material apparently emanates from ‘another part’ of the speaker’s own mind. In some reports of xenoglossia the command of the relevant ‘other’ language is reported as only passive (or largely so), but in others active command is reported. See earlier on parallels and links involving xenoglossia on the one hand and glossolalia or channelling on the other.

The psychologist Ian Stevenson claimed several cases of this kind as evidence of reincarnation; the second language is one which was acquired by normal means in a previous lifetime and has somehow been transmitted into the mind of the new incarnation. Of course, this is a possible explanation only if reincarnation itself is a genuine phenomenon; it is rejected both by the Judaeo-Christian-Muslim religion complex (according to these religions, people live in this world only once) and by contemporary (largely ‘materialistic’) science (according to most scientists, death is the end of a person’s existence). Belief in reincarnation is associated with Hinduism and Buddhism and their offshoot religions. If reincarnation is indeed the explanation for xenoglossia, this has major consequences for world-views...

There are a few cases involving linguistic material and time travel. The best known case of linguistic information allegedly arising out of time travel or at least the viewing of past events involves the ‘Chronovisor’, a supposed mid-twentieth-century invention by one Father Marcello Pellegrino Ernetti which allowed observation of past events (but not participation). An important piece of evidence concerns a lengthy, previously unrecorded passage in Latin, around 10% of a play which is known to have existed but which is largely lost (Thyestes, by Quintus Ennius). However, there are anachronisms in the text, and in addition the clustering in this passage of a high proportion of the surviving minor fragments is suspicious. If the text is a hoax, as must surely be judged probable, someone who was proficient in Latin went to a great deal of trouble in the course of faking it.
 
Carrying Doug's research further #3:

*** http://skepticalhumanities.com/2012...omena-6-non-historical-fringe-linguistics-15/

A particularly modern manifestation of channelling and related/similar phenomena involves languages (spoken, written, etc.) reported as used in the context of alleged contact with extraterrestrial entities. As a matter of policy, I don’t assume here, by way of background, either that any such entities have ever interacted with human beings or that this has never occurred...

Such cases are in fact very numerous and varied. Linguistically-informed comments on this material are few, but Christian Macé provides a comparative account of various claims of this kind. Macé examines possible links with other (allegedly) mysterious linguistic material; for instance, he relates characters reported by Adamski to those described in a very different context (alleged ancient South American inscriptions) by Marcel Homet. Assessment of such claims would be of more interest if at least one out of two or more allegedly related sets of texts could be established as undeniably alien in origin; but of course this has never been accomplished...

Since 1999 Gary Anthony, latterly in partnership with me, has been developing the ‘Alien Semiotics Project’, an endeavour to question and cooperate with abductees, witnesses and researchers, to explore the UFO abduction narratives and literature, and to involve unbiased qualified experts in the relevant fields so as to give alleged alien languages and symbols a fair appraisal using scientific methodology...

For our part, Anthony and I seek to consult any interested parties (whatever their roles) on the relevant issues. We request samples of as great a length as possible. Frequently, samples of alleged alien speech or writing are not long enough to permit useful linguistic analyses; shorter samples are useful only if translations – preferably ‘literal’ – are available. (See later on the issues surrounding ‘holistic’ understanding of such material.) We have asked for assistance through the ufological literature, seeking:

a) samples of alien scripts and of texts written in these scripts, with statements regarding script-type and ductus (left to right or right to left, top to bottom or bottom to top, starting where on the page) and (for alphabetic or syllabic scripts) identification of word-boundaries;

b) samples of spoken alien language, ideally recorded on tape but, if this is not possible, in the form of transcriptions either into ‘imitated spelling’ (where the sounds are represented using the spelling of English or of the reporter’s own strongest language, with identifications of the reporter’s language and/or accent) or (better) into the International Phonetic Association Alphabet;

c) translations into English (or other human languages.

Responses have been disappointingly limited, but the project remains active...

These issues are obviously highly relevant to the possible fraudulent invention of languages of this kind. It is more difficult than most non-linguists imagine to invent, convincingly, even a novel human language (as opposed to an unstructured set of vocabulary items); and this applies also to more exotic ‘languages’ such as those in question here (even though it is somewhat more difficult to be confident about matters of plausibility where alleged non-human languages are at issue). Expertise in linguistics is needed in such acts of invention if the languages are to appear possibly genuine to an examining linguist
http://skepticalhumanities.com/2012...omena-7-non-historical-fringe-linguistics-16/

A short blog this time, presenting ‘theoretical’ aspects of claims regarding languages reported as used in the context of alleged contact with extraterrestrial entities.

Last time I discussed this issue as it applies to reports of (relatively) humanoid aliens. If the alien users of the alleged extraterrestrial languages were instead markedly NON-humanoid – and this might be considered more plausible, given their wholly exotic planetary and evolutionary origin – the languages themselves would very probably be even more dramatically different from known human languages. They would be such as would fit the alien physiology, psychology, home planetary environment etc.; partly for that reason, they would be very likely to infringe some of the main typological patterns which prevail across the range of human languages and indeed some human-language universals. They would also, in all probability, display some unfamiliar phonetics, including sounds not found in any human language or indeed sounds which were unpronounceable for humans.

One of the basic distinguishing features of human language (not found in the communication systems of any other known species) is its ‘double articulation’ into a) individually meaningless phonemes and b) meaningful morphemes/words made up of sequences of these phonemes. This is what enables language to express very many word-meanings with such a limited inventory of individual sounds. Another general linguistic universal is the existence and indeed the dominance of syntax (syntactic structure), by means of which words and morphemes are organised into phrases, clauses and sentences; while human languages vary typologically in respect of syntax, it is hardly possible to imagine a human language WITHOUT syntax. It is plausible for features as basic as these to be absent only in cases where UTTERLY non-humanoid beings are described.

In such extreme cases, non-human languages might not be similar to human languages even in more general/superficial terms. For instance, they might not be uttered with remotely similar speech organs, if the alien users’ overall physiology were as different as might be expected. Even if such beings used the auditory-acoustic channel of communication, as with human speech, they might have vastly different vocal apparatus, auditory acuity and frequency range, etc.

In fact, the vocal apparatuses and acuities/hearing ranges of some physically possible types of alien would allow (for example) the avoidance of double articulation, by permitting a language to have thousands of distinguishable phonemes and hence thousands of single-phoneme morphemes without thereby displaying excessive amounts of homophony and ambiguity. But without linguistic expertise the invention of such an utterly alien system, would be EXTREMELY difficult...
 
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