• How do aliens in the story language and communication style different from the human language (oral, pictographic, phonetic, etc.)?

First, in regard to their oral and written language. Their (the aliens’) oral language sounds like a staggered current sound, and because they need to use sound to express the meaning, so using oral language takes much longer time than the written one. They prefer to use written language which is much more effective to them. 

This is totally different from human language habits. It’s convenient for us to speak, and writing usually takes us more time.

Second, their written language is a kind of non-linear arrangement of text. They know what will happen in the future, so they don’t use the letters to form words and sentences. They make the whole “text” into a picture and output the “text” at the same time. 

Our human language all consists of different letters, words, and sentences. We use different small parts to form the whole meaning, while they just use an entire visual text.

To sum up, the aliens’ written language is spatial which transcends the concept of time, and ours’ is linear language which is limited compared to theirs.

• How does the physical structure of our body inform the way we communicate? How about the aliens?

The structure of the human body gives us the ability to speak which is the main way we communicate, and also we apply a more formal way to communicate which is writing. Speaking can give quick and direct information to others and writing can keep the information for a longer time which makes remote communication possible for us. Mainly, for the written language, we write on the paper or type due to the physical structure of our body.

For the aliens, because it looks like a barrel suspended at the intersection of seven limbs, which is radially symmetric, and any of its limbs could serve as an arm or a leg. They use four legs to walk and there are three non-adjacent arms at their sides. They have more body parts than us, and this equips them to use more ways to communicate. And that also could be a reason for why they use written language more frequently.