How might a highly intelligent aquatic species (mermaids) communicate underwater?
$begingroup$
I'm trying to create basically realistic mermaids, and working on developing body language and vocalizations. I have most of the vocalizations I can think of (suggestions are still appreciated), but definitely need a lot more body language. Ideas?
Edit: They are a highly social colony species, so it should be somewhat complex, and interactions between colony members would be especially helpful. I'm also trying to avoid overly human interactions such as kissing or holding hands.
fantasy-races communication underwater
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I'm trying to create basically realistic mermaids, and working on developing body language and vocalizations. I have most of the vocalizations I can think of (suggestions are still appreciated), but definitely need a lot more body language. Ideas?
Edit: They are a highly social colony species, so it should be somewhat complex, and interactions between colony members would be especially helpful. I'm also trying to avoid overly human interactions such as kissing or holding hands.
fantasy-races communication underwater
$endgroup$
1
$begingroup$
Divers use hand signals. So a sort of sign language seems realistic. (Putting this a comment because it's not too detailed.)
$endgroup$
– mVitus
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
If you haven't read it yet, I heartily recommend Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant It presents an extremely realistic picture of biologically plausible mermaids, including their communication. (Warning: They like to eat people)
$endgroup$
– Arcanist Lupus
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Don't forget that it's dark down there. "Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet)." - National Ocean Service
$endgroup$
– Jay
47 mins ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I'm trying to create basically realistic mermaids, and working on developing body language and vocalizations. I have most of the vocalizations I can think of (suggestions are still appreciated), but definitely need a lot more body language. Ideas?
Edit: They are a highly social colony species, so it should be somewhat complex, and interactions between colony members would be especially helpful. I'm also trying to avoid overly human interactions such as kissing or holding hands.
fantasy-races communication underwater
$endgroup$
I'm trying to create basically realistic mermaids, and working on developing body language and vocalizations. I have most of the vocalizations I can think of (suggestions are still appreciated), but definitely need a lot more body language. Ideas?
Edit: They are a highly social colony species, so it should be somewhat complex, and interactions between colony members would be especially helpful. I'm also trying to avoid overly human interactions such as kissing or holding hands.
fantasy-races communication underwater
fantasy-races communication underwater
edited 6 hours ago
Guest
asked 6 hours ago
GuestGuest
462
462
1
$begingroup$
Divers use hand signals. So a sort of sign language seems realistic. (Putting this a comment because it's not too detailed.)
$endgroup$
– mVitus
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
If you haven't read it yet, I heartily recommend Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant It presents an extremely realistic picture of biologically plausible mermaids, including their communication. (Warning: They like to eat people)
$endgroup$
– Arcanist Lupus
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Don't forget that it's dark down there. "Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet)." - National Ocean Service
$endgroup$
– Jay
47 mins ago
add a comment |
1
$begingroup$
Divers use hand signals. So a sort of sign language seems realistic. (Putting this a comment because it's not too detailed.)
$endgroup$
– mVitus
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
If you haven't read it yet, I heartily recommend Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant It presents an extremely realistic picture of biologically plausible mermaids, including their communication. (Warning: They like to eat people)
$endgroup$
– Arcanist Lupus
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Don't forget that it's dark down there. "Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet)." - National Ocean Service
$endgroup$
– Jay
47 mins ago
1
1
$begingroup$
Divers use hand signals. So a sort of sign language seems realistic. (Putting this a comment because it's not too detailed.)
$endgroup$
– mVitus
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Divers use hand signals. So a sort of sign language seems realistic. (Putting this a comment because it's not too detailed.)
$endgroup$
– mVitus
5 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
If you haven't read it yet, I heartily recommend Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant It presents an extremely realistic picture of biologically plausible mermaids, including their communication. (Warning: They like to eat people)
$endgroup$
– Arcanist Lupus
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
If you haven't read it yet, I heartily recommend Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant It presents an extremely realistic picture of biologically plausible mermaids, including their communication. (Warning: They like to eat people)
$endgroup$
– Arcanist Lupus
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Don't forget that it's dark down there. "Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet)." - National Ocean Service
$endgroup$
– Jay
47 mins ago
$begingroup$
Don't forget that it's dark down there. "Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet)." - National Ocean Service
$endgroup$
– Jay
47 mins ago
add a comment |
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
They could use clicks and whistles like a dolphin, or they could also communicate through bioluminescence like a bobtail squid. They could also cummunicate through whale song.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The reason we rely on our hands and faces so much when communicating is because they are very good for it. The hands and face have lots of muscles allowing for very precise control. This also means our brains have very good ability to control hands and face. And ability to understand movements of hands and face by others. The two are linked due to mirror neurons.
So unless you want them to be very different from normal humans when it comes to hands and face, which you probably would have mentioned as it is kind of critical, their body language communication would heavily rely on hands and face and work fairly similarly to human body language of hands and face.
Some differences.
If you are floating in water instead of standing on a solid surface large movements will have unintended consequences so body language will avoid large movements and focus on just hands and face. Same applies to physical contact such as holding hands or kissing. I think such would be preserved for private moments when you are entangled and not moving.
Underwater sound carries better and light worse than in air. So there should be clearer distinction between private and close range with hand gestures and facial expressions and with public and extended range without those components.
I think those might be a solid starting point for you. Having, from our point of view, much stronger distinctions between public, private, and intimate modes of communication, possibly to the point where even the vocal language used is noticeably different is good flavour that should be visible in pretty much everything and be fairly simple to highlight without needing boring exposition.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Sonar
They might have a specialized organ much like porpoises do. It could have bandwidth enough to communicate complex states of mind, to a point where it could be considered a limited telepathy (something of the kind happens with the Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire upon the Deep).
Human-like body language has the problem of interfering with swimming. You could render sonar interactions as you wished, though - being to all intents and purposes a sixth sense, mermaids might "hear" it as a voice plus anything else.
Dolphins are social animals and they love to "play" in a variety of ways - some of those appear in David Brin's Uplift cycle, suitably adapted to the uplifted dolphins' increased intelligence.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Since their environment of motion is four dimensional, you could consider a complex dance as a means of communication. The bees do in the hive to indicate pertinents about nectar flowers.
These Merfolk are intelligent and presumably sentient people, so the relatively simple dances of their ancestors -- warning of dangers, locations of food sources, approach of other Merfolk -- will have evolved into a means of telling stories, describing the loot to be found in a shipwreck, courtship and any of ten thousand other things they might to dance about.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "579"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f141707%2fhow-might-a-highly-intelligent-aquatic-species-mermaids-communicate-underwater%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
They could use clicks and whistles like a dolphin, or they could also communicate through bioluminescence like a bobtail squid. They could also cummunicate through whale song.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
They could use clicks and whistles like a dolphin, or they could also communicate through bioluminescence like a bobtail squid. They could also cummunicate through whale song.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
They could use clicks and whistles like a dolphin, or they could also communicate through bioluminescence like a bobtail squid. They could also cummunicate through whale song.
$endgroup$
They could use clicks and whistles like a dolphin, or they could also communicate through bioluminescence like a bobtail squid. They could also cummunicate through whale song.
answered 5 hours ago
SciFiGuySciFiGuy
1,13010
1,13010
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The reason we rely on our hands and faces so much when communicating is because they are very good for it. The hands and face have lots of muscles allowing for very precise control. This also means our brains have very good ability to control hands and face. And ability to understand movements of hands and face by others. The two are linked due to mirror neurons.
So unless you want them to be very different from normal humans when it comes to hands and face, which you probably would have mentioned as it is kind of critical, their body language communication would heavily rely on hands and face and work fairly similarly to human body language of hands and face.
Some differences.
If you are floating in water instead of standing on a solid surface large movements will have unintended consequences so body language will avoid large movements and focus on just hands and face. Same applies to physical contact such as holding hands or kissing. I think such would be preserved for private moments when you are entangled and not moving.
Underwater sound carries better and light worse than in air. So there should be clearer distinction between private and close range with hand gestures and facial expressions and with public and extended range without those components.
I think those might be a solid starting point for you. Having, from our point of view, much stronger distinctions between public, private, and intimate modes of communication, possibly to the point where even the vocal language used is noticeably different is good flavour that should be visible in pretty much everything and be fairly simple to highlight without needing boring exposition.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The reason we rely on our hands and faces so much when communicating is because they are very good for it. The hands and face have lots of muscles allowing for very precise control. This also means our brains have very good ability to control hands and face. And ability to understand movements of hands and face by others. The two are linked due to mirror neurons.
So unless you want them to be very different from normal humans when it comes to hands and face, which you probably would have mentioned as it is kind of critical, their body language communication would heavily rely on hands and face and work fairly similarly to human body language of hands and face.
Some differences.
If you are floating in water instead of standing on a solid surface large movements will have unintended consequences so body language will avoid large movements and focus on just hands and face. Same applies to physical contact such as holding hands or kissing. I think such would be preserved for private moments when you are entangled and not moving.
Underwater sound carries better and light worse than in air. So there should be clearer distinction between private and close range with hand gestures and facial expressions and with public and extended range without those components.
I think those might be a solid starting point for you. Having, from our point of view, much stronger distinctions between public, private, and intimate modes of communication, possibly to the point where even the vocal language used is noticeably different is good flavour that should be visible in pretty much everything and be fairly simple to highlight without needing boring exposition.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
The reason we rely on our hands and faces so much when communicating is because they are very good for it. The hands and face have lots of muscles allowing for very precise control. This also means our brains have very good ability to control hands and face. And ability to understand movements of hands and face by others. The two are linked due to mirror neurons.
So unless you want them to be very different from normal humans when it comes to hands and face, which you probably would have mentioned as it is kind of critical, their body language communication would heavily rely on hands and face and work fairly similarly to human body language of hands and face.
Some differences.
If you are floating in water instead of standing on a solid surface large movements will have unintended consequences so body language will avoid large movements and focus on just hands and face. Same applies to physical contact such as holding hands or kissing. I think such would be preserved for private moments when you are entangled and not moving.
Underwater sound carries better and light worse than in air. So there should be clearer distinction between private and close range with hand gestures and facial expressions and with public and extended range without those components.
I think those might be a solid starting point for you. Having, from our point of view, much stronger distinctions between public, private, and intimate modes of communication, possibly to the point where even the vocal language used is noticeably different is good flavour that should be visible in pretty much everything and be fairly simple to highlight without needing boring exposition.
$endgroup$
The reason we rely on our hands and faces so much when communicating is because they are very good for it. The hands and face have lots of muscles allowing for very precise control. This also means our brains have very good ability to control hands and face. And ability to understand movements of hands and face by others. The two are linked due to mirror neurons.
So unless you want them to be very different from normal humans when it comes to hands and face, which you probably would have mentioned as it is kind of critical, their body language communication would heavily rely on hands and face and work fairly similarly to human body language of hands and face.
Some differences.
If you are floating in water instead of standing on a solid surface large movements will have unintended consequences so body language will avoid large movements and focus on just hands and face. Same applies to physical contact such as holding hands or kissing. I think such would be preserved for private moments when you are entangled and not moving.
Underwater sound carries better and light worse than in air. So there should be clearer distinction between private and close range with hand gestures and facial expressions and with public and extended range without those components.
I think those might be a solid starting point for you. Having, from our point of view, much stronger distinctions between public, private, and intimate modes of communication, possibly to the point where even the vocal language used is noticeably different is good flavour that should be visible in pretty much everything and be fairly simple to highlight without needing boring exposition.
answered 1 hour ago
Ville NiemiVille Niemi
34.2k260119
34.2k260119
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Sonar
They might have a specialized organ much like porpoises do. It could have bandwidth enough to communicate complex states of mind, to a point where it could be considered a limited telepathy (something of the kind happens with the Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire upon the Deep).
Human-like body language has the problem of interfering with swimming. You could render sonar interactions as you wished, though - being to all intents and purposes a sixth sense, mermaids might "hear" it as a voice plus anything else.
Dolphins are social animals and they love to "play" in a variety of ways - some of those appear in David Brin's Uplift cycle, suitably adapted to the uplifted dolphins' increased intelligence.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Sonar
They might have a specialized organ much like porpoises do. It could have bandwidth enough to communicate complex states of mind, to a point where it could be considered a limited telepathy (something of the kind happens with the Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire upon the Deep).
Human-like body language has the problem of interfering with swimming. You could render sonar interactions as you wished, though - being to all intents and purposes a sixth sense, mermaids might "hear" it as a voice plus anything else.
Dolphins are social animals and they love to "play" in a variety of ways - some of those appear in David Brin's Uplift cycle, suitably adapted to the uplifted dolphins' increased intelligence.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Sonar
They might have a specialized organ much like porpoises do. It could have bandwidth enough to communicate complex states of mind, to a point where it could be considered a limited telepathy (something of the kind happens with the Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire upon the Deep).
Human-like body language has the problem of interfering with swimming. You could render sonar interactions as you wished, though - being to all intents and purposes a sixth sense, mermaids might "hear" it as a voice plus anything else.
Dolphins are social animals and they love to "play" in a variety of ways - some of those appear in David Brin's Uplift cycle, suitably adapted to the uplifted dolphins' increased intelligence.
$endgroup$
Sonar
They might have a specialized organ much like porpoises do. It could have bandwidth enough to communicate complex states of mind, to a point where it could be considered a limited telepathy (something of the kind happens with the Tines in Vernor Vinge's A Fire upon the Deep).
Human-like body language has the problem of interfering with swimming. You could render sonar interactions as you wished, though - being to all intents and purposes a sixth sense, mermaids might "hear" it as a voice plus anything else.
Dolphins are social animals and they love to "play" in a variety of ways - some of those appear in David Brin's Uplift cycle, suitably adapted to the uplifted dolphins' increased intelligence.
answered 6 hours ago
LSerniLSerni
28.3k24990
28.3k24990
add a comment |
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Since their environment of motion is four dimensional, you could consider a complex dance as a means of communication. The bees do in the hive to indicate pertinents about nectar flowers.
These Merfolk are intelligent and presumably sentient people, so the relatively simple dances of their ancestors -- warning of dangers, locations of food sources, approach of other Merfolk -- will have evolved into a means of telling stories, describing the loot to be found in a shipwreck, courtship and any of ten thousand other things they might to dance about.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Since their environment of motion is four dimensional, you could consider a complex dance as a means of communication. The bees do in the hive to indicate pertinents about nectar flowers.
These Merfolk are intelligent and presumably sentient people, so the relatively simple dances of their ancestors -- warning of dangers, locations of food sources, approach of other Merfolk -- will have evolved into a means of telling stories, describing the loot to be found in a shipwreck, courtship and any of ten thousand other things they might to dance about.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Since their environment of motion is four dimensional, you could consider a complex dance as a means of communication. The bees do in the hive to indicate pertinents about nectar flowers.
These Merfolk are intelligent and presumably sentient people, so the relatively simple dances of their ancestors -- warning of dangers, locations of food sources, approach of other Merfolk -- will have evolved into a means of telling stories, describing the loot to be found in a shipwreck, courtship and any of ten thousand other things they might to dance about.
$endgroup$
Since their environment of motion is four dimensional, you could consider a complex dance as a means of communication. The bees do in the hive to indicate pertinents about nectar flowers.
These Merfolk are intelligent and presumably sentient people, so the relatively simple dances of their ancestors -- warning of dangers, locations of food sources, approach of other Merfolk -- will have evolved into a means of telling stories, describing the loot to be found in a shipwreck, courtship and any of ten thousand other things they might to dance about.
answered 4 hours ago
elemtilaselemtilas
14.1k22962
14.1k22962
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Worldbuilding Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworldbuilding.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f141707%2fhow-might-a-highly-intelligent-aquatic-species-mermaids-communicate-underwater%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
1
$begingroup$
Divers use hand signals. So a sort of sign language seems realistic. (Putting this a comment because it's not too detailed.)
$endgroup$
– mVitus
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
If you haven't read it yet, I heartily recommend Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant It presents an extremely realistic picture of biologically plausible mermaids, including their communication. (Warning: They like to eat people)
$endgroup$
– Arcanist Lupus
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Don't forget that it's dark down there. "Sunlight entering the water may travel about 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) into the ocean under the right conditions, but there is rarely any significant light beyond 200 meters (656 feet)." - National Ocean Service
$endgroup$
– Jay
47 mins ago