In the chapter of this extremely interesting book entitled “Stylistic and Synonymity,” we encounter the very funny-enigmatic figure of Humpty Dumpty from “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll. One of Humpty Dumpty’s sentences, related to the three hundred and sixty-four days in which Alice could get her un-birthday present, says, “There is glory for you.”

About that word, “glory,” intended by Humpty Dumpty’s utterance rather as “a glorious argument” than “glory” itself, the author, Eric Donald Hirsch Jr., starts a very erudite digression that, through the explanation of the real meanings of synonymity and authenticity (I will come to this subject in a later content), brings us to the idea that language might influence our way of thinking.

The theory is not new, and, rightly, Mr. Hirsch names it the so-called “Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,” debunked in its strong form but considered possible in the weak form (linguistic determinism vs. linguistic relativism). In short, the theory claims that a person’s way of thinking is shaped by the language he (or she) speaks. Thus, cultural differences among populations are not only caused by tradition and behavioral background but also by the very structure of the language they speak.

This brings us to one of the best science fiction movies of the last few years (based on Ted Chiang’s short story “Stories of Your Life”): “Arrival,” by Denis Villeneuve, starring Amy Adams (one of my favorite actresses) and Jeremy Renner.

No spoilers here, but finally a sci-fi movie in which the main theme is not confrontation but communication. The aliens’ “circular thinking” (beautifully expressed in images of their language) is the key to – as is often the case in sci-fi movies – saving the world, but, more than that, to a personal introspection of the movie’s central figure, the linguistic professor and expert Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams), which leads her to accept and embrace her life.