The sci-fi film Arrival recently opened, and because its main character is a linguist, Brice Russ at Science Magazine decided to get some linguists' perspectives on the film. Follow the link below to hear from David Adger (Queen Mary University of London), Nicholas Subtirelu (Georgetown) and me.
For linguists, the new sci-fi film Arrival can't come soon enough
Is it a cinéma vérité portrayal of how linguists work in the field? No. Does the language learning (on both the human and alien sides) happen improbably fast? Yes. But I really enjoyed this movie nonetheless!