993. This week, we cover the strategic use of sign language by the Bene Gesserit in the 'Dune' movies, including its importance in covert communication. Then, we look at the many words for 'father' and their historical and linguistic significance, from early baby talk to more formal terms for adults.
993. This week, we cover the strategic use of sign language by the Bene Gesserit in the 'Dune' movies, including its importance in covert communication. Then, we look at the many words for 'father' and their historical and linguistic significance, from early baby talk to more formal terms for adults.
Dune sign language supercut video: https://youtu.be/P912zjkVSgQ?si=vH8AN3kg_hw7cabq
Stan Freberg "Purfuit of Happineff" video: https://youtu.be/iOOQfGWt8Hc?si=pFF1YwbJWy-tVPwY&t=123
The "Dune" segment was written by Gemma King. Senior Lecturer in French Studies, ARC DECRA Fellow in Screen Studies at the Australian National University. It originally appeared on "The Conversation" and appears here through a Creative Commons license.
The father segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." A version of the piece originally appeared on Psychology Today, and you can find her at valeriefridland.com.
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Grammar Girl here. I’m Mignon Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language. We talk about writing, history, rules, and other cool stuff. Today, we're going to learn about the power of language in the "Dune" movies, including sign language. Then we're going to talk about where we get the many words we use to refer to dad, I have more on the purfuit of happineff, and I have a familect story about cheese. One of my favorite foods.
By Gemma King
In "Dune"’s sand swept colonialist dystopia of the distant future, power is a force best handled – and transferred – surreptitiously. In a world of ultra-wealthy spice barons and interplanetary warfare, the greatest asset in both diplomacy and resistance is an intangible one: language. Nowhere is this clearer than in the films’ portrayal of sign language.
The Bene Gesserit is an all-woman dynasty leading an empire from behind the scenes. Their arsenal of powers include the mastery of dozens of languages. With these, they conduct diplomacy in public for the benefit of the men they pretend to serve. Meanwhile, they enact their true plans in secret, through whispers, telepathy, and the native languages of their conspirators.
Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is a reluctant messiah, whose prophetic ascendancy is spurred on when there are attempts to have his family exterminated. Believed dead, Paul retreats to the desert with his Bene Gesserit mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson). There they find the Fremen, the free Indigenous peoples of the dune planet Arrakis. Paul and Jessica’s knowledge of the Fremen language is crucial to their acceptance by the community. Paul’s initiation into their ranks is also linguistic: the choosing of a Fremen name.
But Jessica and Paul’s use of the Bene Gesserits’ sign language is the most literal and urgent use of language as they survive threats in both "Dune: Part One" (2021) and the new "Dune: Part Two" (2024).
And there's a supercut of hand signals from the "Part One" movie on YouTube that shows how they were used with subtitles, including the lines "Tell no one of this," "Remember your training," "Find the right pitch," and so on, and I'll put a link to that in the show notes.
In the first film, the mother and son are abducted and transported across Arrakis in a helicopter. Feigning resignation, they use sign to plot their escape, unnoticed by the guards who don’t know this language. In "Part Two," as enemies land just over the dune concealing Paul and his mother, they sign to plan an escape route in silence. Later in the film, a Bene Gesserit advisor signs to subtly annotate a verbal exchange with an untrustworthy group.
When "Dune"’s characters sign, it is with their hands by their sides, usually without eye contact, and often in brief sentences or even single signs.
This is very different to how sign languages are used in signing communities. In everyday communication, signers use a “sign space,” an approximate rectangle of space in front of the head and torso, and out to the distance of about the elbows. Eye contact is essential, as are facial expressions and body angle, which not only convey emotion but syntactical markers.
All of these components are part of a complete grammar that make sign languages as complex, emotive, and capable of abstraction as any verbal language.
The signs used in "Dune" are closer to military or maritime hand gestures, used in situations that require communication without sound or across distance. These generally convey basic messages rather than grammatically complete sentences, with little emotional or contextual detail.
Although not a true sign language, the use of sign in "Dune" can still teach us a lesson about the value of sign language.
“Deaf Gain” is an academic principle that considers deaf experience in generative and positive terms: it emphasizes what's gained through deafness and sign access, rather than what is lost through hearing loss.
Examples of deaf gain include language skills and cultural belonging, as well as physical skills such as enhanced vision or perception of vibrations. Not to mention the benefit of being able to switch off a hearing aid or take off a cochlear implant in the presence of distracting or painful sounds.
Deaf gain is becoming increasingly present on contemporary screens.
For example, in the horror franchise "A Quiet Place," in which the world is overrun by blind, super-hearing murderous aliens, the family of a Deaf girl uses American Sign Language to communicate, and even to thrive, without attracting the monsters’ attention.
In "Avatar: The Way of Water," the characters use the Na’vi sign language (invented for the film by Deaf actor CJ Jones) to communicate under water, considering those who cannot sign to be underdeveloped.
But this isn't just a contemporary concept. As far back as 1959, in the Marilyn Monroe comedy "Some Like It Hot" a mob boss switches his hearing aid off just before he gives the order to gun down a group in an enclosed space.
While not deaf themselves, "Dune"’s characters show us deaf gain through deft manipulation of their environment, from the stealth of their signs to their attunement to the vibrations they make in the sand, which they use to attract or repel the giant beasts below.
These films show us how we can be in our bodies differently; how to navigate the world in different physical, linguistic and sensory ways.
And in fact, the director of "Dune," Denis Villeneuve, has a history of making films that understand the subtle power of linguistic control.
"Blade Runner 2049" (2017) depicts another multilingual society in a similarly gold-hued, environmentally destroyed dust bowl, in which knowledge of different languages provides access to closed spaces and protection from surveillance.
In his sci-fi drama "Arrival" (2016), extraterrestrial vessels visit Earth to global awe and creeping panic. Military and political forces can't determine the aliens’ purpose, and interplanetary war inches closer. It is only a linguist who is able to decipher the aliens’ goal: to gift Earthlings their remarkable language. This language is an inky, visual code – much closer to a sign language than a verbal one – which rewires the brains of those who master it, so they can see through time.
In the "Dune" films, as in "Arrival," language is not only a means through which we can come to know something. It is something which can transform the limits and nature of knowledge itself. As Paul and Jessica understand, sign language can be both a hiding place and a tool – for survival, and for empowerment.
That segment was by Gemma King. Senior Lecturer in French Studies, ARC DECRA Fellow in Screen Studies at the Australian National University. It originally appeared on "The Conversation" and appears here through a Creative Commons license.
And if you enjoyed that segment, get ready because Thursday I have an upcoming interview with Scott Brick, the narrator of the "Dune" audiobooks, and Kevin J. Anderson, the co-author of many, many "Dune" novels. It's already recorded, and it's a great one. I just know you're going to love it!
By Valerie Fridland
On Father’s Day, it's a good time to reflect on not just the man, but the linguistics behind what we call the man—and why we need more than one word to reflect on our evolving relationship with him.
Starting literally at the beginning, one of the earliest ways we have of referring to our dad is through our baby babble. When linguists study the relationship of such so-called nursery words to the vocalizations infants make, they find that "dada" is one of the earliest syllables babies can pronounce. Likewise, "mama" is made up of sounds common in infant’s speech. Parents then mimic these back, attaching meaning to the words.
Whether these babbling babies themselves have any clue what they are saying is hotly debated. It could be, at least early on, babies are just practicing with their newly emerging talking skills and parents are the ones who make presumptions. By echoing this babble back to babies, with meanings attached, we help babies understand their first words for mom and dad.
The label "dad," first appeared in English in the 1500s. It was likely a shortened form of a baby’s "dada" and was primarily only used by children. But, in the last several decades, "dad" has been growing in currency with the set that wears shoes (and knows how to tie them), suggesting adults find appealing the close childlike connection it represents.
In fact, "father" and "dad" take top billing in written corpus mentions over the last 40 years.
Next is papa. Although sometimes heard in baby babble and taken as a word for "dad," the history of adults saying "papa" in English is actually fairly recent. It is first cited in the Oxford English Dictionary to have been put to use as a courtly borrowing, along with "mama," from French.
Popular in the 1600 and 1700s, it was used as a polite term for father, especially when stressed on the second, rather than the first syllable ("puh-pa" versus "pa-pa"). By the 19th century, it became a term used more by children, probably because of its resemblance to babytalk, with "dad" and "father" remaining more fashionable for adults.
Next, like "dad," "pop" is probably a derivative form, this time from "papa." But, unlike "papa," "pop" is mainly used as a colloquial term in American English. It also doesn’t appear until later, as the Oxford English Dictionary does not find it used in print until 1840, with other dictionaries locating an earlier 1838 mention. The ‘s’ in "pops" just seems to be just a diminutive ending marking cuteness or intimacy—as in "adorbs" for "adorable."
The word "father" has been a main way to call out a dad for pretty much as long as we have chatted about them in English. Linguists believe that "father" actually developed from babbled "pa" being combined with a suffix in a much earlier period of human language development, a time before written records. While it might sound more formal and adult, like the other terms for "dad," it is still thought to be inspired by baby babble taking on a larger meaning.
So, in the end, it seems that baby talk and children’s speech played a large role in the development of the language we have to talk about fathers. This might make saying "dada" the earliest and longest-lasting Father’s Day present around.
That segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." A version of the piece originally appeared on Psychology Today, and you can find her at valeriefridland.com.
Next, last week, I played you a segment from the TV show "Cheers" that had a funny bit about the old S's that look like F's — the medial S — in the Constitution, and since that's a very old document, it makes sense that the "Cheers" writers weren't the first comedians to make that joke. Here's a listener named Paul:
Hi. Mignon. This is Paul from Joplin, and I wanted to add a little more information about the "purfuit of happineff" joke. That actually came from Stan Freberg in a 1961 album many decades before it was used on "Cheers." The album is called 'Stan Freberg, Presents the United States of America," and it's either the greatest comedy album in history or maybe the greatest history album in comedy, I'm not quite sure, but you can find it on YouTube, and it's in a sketch called "The Declaration of Independence." I thought your listeners might enjoy hearing that. Thank you, bye.
Thanks for the call Paul, and thanks for making it so easy for me to find the clip. It is indeed on YouTube, and I'll put a link to the whole thing in the show notes:
What are you so surly about today?
Surly to bed and surly to rise …
All right, all right, let's knock off the one-line jokes and sign the petition. Whadaya say? Huh, fella?
Well, let me skim down here. When in the course of human events … so, so, so … that among these are life, liberty, and the purfuit of happineff.
That's pursuit of happiness.
Well, all your S's look like F's.
It's stylish. It's in. It's very in.
Oh, well, if it's in …
That's great. And I remember listening to comedy albums with my parents when I was very young. That brought back great memories. Thanks again for the call.
And finally, I have a familect story from Greta.
Hello, Mignon. This is Greta from Salt Lake City. I just wanted to follow up on a familect from a gentleman who called in a few days ago who said his baby sister used the term "clo" as a singular for "clothes." And this is something that my sister and I did for many years mostly in jazz. I'm not sure how it started, but it did hang on for fun. And not dissimilar, as a toddler, my elder son said "chee" as a singular for "cheese," which we still say 25 years later, as in, "May I have another piece of chee," along with "goose driver" for "screw driver," because just too cute to leave behind. Thanks for your good work.
Thanks so much Greta. How fun. I had a chee as a snack before lunch today just for you!
If you want to share your familect, a word or phrase your family and only your family uses, call the voicemail line at 83-321-4-GIRL. Call from a nice quiet place, and be sure to tell me the whole story because that's always the best part.
And if you're a Grammarpalooza subscriber, you can also send a voice memo. I send text messages with fun facts a couple of times a week. It's a great way to support the show and the first two weeks are free. To sign up, visit https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.
Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to Davina Tomlin in marketing; Morgan Christianson in advertising; Nathan Semes, in audio; Brannan Goetschius, director of podcasts, and Holly Hutchings in digital operations, who is hooked on "Love is Blind " and can't wait for the next season.
And I’m Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl.
That's all. Thanks for listening.
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The following references for the father segment did not appear in the audio but are included here for completeness.
"dad, n.1". OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/46813?rskey=cDMbMR&resu… (accessed June 07, 2022).
"father, n.". OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/68498 (accessed June 06, 2022).
"papa, n.2". OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/137082 (accessed June 01, 2022).
"pop, n.4". OED Online. March 2022. Oxford University Press. https://www-oed-com.unr.idm.oclc.org/view/Entry/147787?rskey=cOXBKa&res… (accessed June 07, 2022).
Jakobson, R. (1962). Why 'mama' and 'papa'? In Roman Jakobson: selected writings vol. I.