artwork: Zişan Ada Çayır
When Dreams Speak by Ekin Akova
Dreams have always been a mysterious and fascinating part of human experience, offering glimpses into our subconscious minds, but could they also become a medium for communication? The startup Remspace recently claimed to have developed technology that allows people to interact in real-time within their dreams. While this might sound like science fiction, it raises some interesting questions from a linguistic and discourse analysis perspective.
Can Dreams Be a New Discourse Area?
In linguistics, discourse is usually studied in settings like conversations, speeches, or written texts. Dreams, however, are the opposite—chaotic, fragmented, and deeply personal. If Remspace’s claims are true, dreams could transform into a new form of interactive discourse. For instance, think of a dream where two people are debating the meaning of a song they both love. This could serve as an ideal setting to analyse the Gricean maxims, where the principles of quantity (how much information is shared), quality (how truthful it is), and relevance (how related it is to the topic) could be tested in a world where logic and time do not follow conventional rules.
Imagine sharing ideas, debating meanings, or solving problems within a dream. This challenges traditional concepts in pragmatics, such as: How would Grice’s Cooperative Principle (quality, quantity, relevance, and manner) function in a dream context? Or can conversations in dreams maintain coherence, or would they remain a patchwork of disjointed thoughts?
Linguistic Challenges in Dream Communication
Semantic Ambiguity
Language in dreams is often fragmented and nonsensical (DeLuca, Rothman, & Pliatsikas, 2019). How would Remspace’s system process and standardize this communication? Would it rely on natural language processing (NLP) or create a symbolic system unique to everyone’s subconscious?
Multilingual Communication
Dreams go beyond the cultural and linguistic boundaries. Could people from different linguistic backgrounds communicate seamlessly in a dream? This could shed light on universal grammar and shared linguistic principles. In some cases, people have reported talking in languages they do not speak normally, suggesting that the dream state might offer a way to explore how language and understanding work on a deeper level (Foulkes, 1999).
Identity and Power Dynamics
Who controls the narrative in a shared dream? Discourse analysis often examines power dynamics in communication, and dreams could introduce new dimensions to this idea. For instance, if one person can influence the dream’s direction, what does this say about control in communication? If dreams were a place for real-time communication, would the more dominant dreamer control the conversation, or could they collaborate in a shared meaning-making process. In dreams, power is fluid, you might shift between observer and central participant, experiencing authority one moment and submission the next. This raises another question: Do dreams reflect our waking-life power structures, or do they dismantle them entirely? If dream communication ever becomes a reality, it could challenge our understanding of linguistic power, influence, and agency, revealing whether power in language is an innate structure or a socially constructed illusion.
A New Horizon for Linguistics
If Remspace’s technology becomes real, it could open a new field of study within linguistics. From discourse analysis to cognitive linguistics, dream communication could challenge existing theories and inspire new ones. It could even lead to fresh insights into how we construct meaning and negotiate identity through language. For instance, if a dreamer discusses their childhood memories with someone else in their dream, it might reveal how memories and meanings are constructed not just by the conscious mind, but also by the dream state.
What do you think? Could dreams become a meaningful tool for human connection, or should they remain a personal, untouchable space?
Sources:
DeLuca, V., Rothman, J., & Pliatsikas, C. (2019). Linguistic immersion and structural effects on the bilingual brain: A longitudinal study. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 22(5), 1160–1175. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000883
Foulkes, D. (1999). Children’s Dreaming and the Development of Consciousness. Harvard University Press.)
Cite this article as:
Akova, E. (2025, Februrary 23). When Dreams Speak: The Linguistics Behind Remspace’s Bold Claim. The Hacettepe University Linguistics Community. https://hulinguistics.com/when-dreams-speak-the-linguistics-behind-remspaces-bold-claim/
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