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  • Story sought: language with information in the gaps

    From Ignatios Souvatzis@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 27 16:12:21 2024
    I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

    The Hero is a xenolinguist working in an exploration team on a newly
    discovered planet, trying to find out if the observed species are
    intelligent (because this would forbid human settlement).

    His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
    to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

    (Some intra-human romance involved.)

    Does anybody remember this? I suspect it might be from the 1980s, possibly
    late 1970s.

    (I read this translated to German, I assume it came from the English
    language.)

    Regards
    -is

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  • From Ignatios Souvatzis@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 27 15:31:23 2024
    I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

    The Hero is a xenolinguist working in an exploration team on a newly
    discovered planet, trying to find out if the observed species are
    intelligent (because this would forbid human settlement).

    His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
    to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

    (Some intra-human romance involved.)

    Does anybody remember this? I suspect it might be from the 1980s, possibly
    late 1970s.

    Regards
    -is

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Robert Woodward@21:1/5 to Ignatios Souvatzis on Sat Jan 27 09:55:07 2024
    In article <slrnuraar5.bd.u502sou@eva.bnhb484.de>,
    Ignatios Souvatzis <u502sou@bnhb484.de> wrote:

    I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

    The Hero is a xenolinguist working in an exploration team on a newly discovered planet, trying to find out if the observed species are
    intelligent (because this would forbid human settlement).

    His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
    to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

    (Some intra-human romance involved.)

    Does anybody remember this? I suspect it might be from the 1980s, possibly late 1970s.

    (I read this translated to German, I assume it came from the English
    language.)

    I suspect early 1960s. This might be "Naudsonce" by H. Beam Piper
    (German title was "Naudas"), see <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?55482>

    --
    "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
    Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ‹-----------------------------------------------------
    Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ignatios Souvatzis@21:1/5 to Robert Woodward on Sat Jan 27 18:06:43 2024
    Robert Woodward wrote:
    In article <slrnuraar5.bd.u502sou@eva.bnhb484.de>,
    Ignatios Souvatzis <u502sou@bnhb484.de> wrote:

    I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

    The Hero is a xenolinguist working in an exploration team on a newly
    discovered planet, trying to find out if the observed species are
    intelligent (because this would forbid human settlement).

    His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
    to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

    (Some intra-human romance involved.)

    Does anybody remember this? I suspect it might be from the 1980s, possibly >> late 1970s.

    (I read this translated to German, I assume it came from the English
    language.)

    I suspect early 1960s. This might be "Naudsonce" by H. Beam Piper
    (German title was "Naudas"), see
    <https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?55482>

    Found it on Project Gutenberg... alas, no.

    -is


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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)