Languages

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

How would you picture the different languages and their forms? In other words, Sirihish is English, so to speak. If Sirihish is English, then what is Mirrikum, Allundean, and so forth? I am curious what you folks think on this. I always picture Mirrikum as harsh and guttural, like Klingon, perhaps. Allundean is more...Asian, in nature?

*shrug* Share your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

I always hear Allundean in my head as sounding really smooth.  Like if Antonio Banderas was trying to charm the pants off of me.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

Allundean is more...Asian, in nature?

You're just saying that because they both have slanted eyes!  :twisted:

Anyways... Any thoughts on this will be pure speculation, but I think jumping to the conclusion that just because dwarves seem simple-minded and blunt doesn't mean their language would be unnappealing and guttural. Dwarves were once a slave race, and were (I'd imagine) even more oppressed than other people at the time. This could have (perhaps) caused their spoken language to develop greatly, as they needed some way to pass on rituals, beliefs, life lessons, etc. (like the dwarven focus... of course, you could claim that a dwarf's focus is partially or wholly genetic, which would be another topic all together...)

Same thing with the gith. Typically people envision them as two-dimensional, gallumphing goblin type NPCs, charging stupidly into combat for some obscure religion or perhaps because they just like smashing shit. All the while shouting nonsense like "Grog rip you to pieces!" just to add to the 'stupid savage' image. I, however, have always pictured the gith's language to be highly sophisicated, almost certainly complicated, and maybe even beautiful. The rest of their culture is probably no wasteland either. I'm sure they have interesting dances, folk tales, and rituals, too... With all their brethren dropping like flies, the gith need some way of passing on their beliefs... A bunch of crazy rain dances might be right up their alley!

If any language would be 'guttural' or 'simple', I always thought it'd be allundean. I know, I know... Everyone wants to say 'but elves are wise and crafty!' And to that I say, 'leave your Tolkienesque ideas at the door, kanfucker.' Elves (desert elves espicially) have a highly tribal culture, but without the ludicrous mortality rate that the giths have to cope with. Add this to the fierce, sometimes obsessive loyalty and understanding an elf would share with his tribe, and it wouldn't suprise me if the elven tongue wasn't all that developed. It'd be interesting to see that allundean was nothing more than maybe half the number of words sirihish has, augmented with a bunch of subtle movements, accents, and facial expressions to display mood, tense, etc. What's the matter, roundear? Don't get it? Well, that's because you're not with my tribe. Deal with it.

I always pictured sirihish as pretty much like English, maybe with a bit of an arabian feel thrown in for good measure. Kentu I have no clue on, but I think I heard some where that it's very different from sirihish. Mantises (forget what their language is called, and too lazy to dig through a help file to find it) don't have any real language it seems... I figure they'd communicate with a series of whizzes, pops, clicks, and signals. And maybe some phermones for good measure... Wouldn't that be nifty?

I figure Cavilish, Bendune, and other humanoid languages like that would be a mix of allundean, sirihish, mirukkim, and heshrak... Maybe all four, while each having their own distinct conjugations and rules for possessive adjectives or whatever. And I base that on absolutely nothing, heh.

I always envisioned Tatlum as being something like Old English (editor's note: Shakespeare did not write in Old English. Old English, when spoken outloud, resembles dutch, in my opinion, and is a completely different language from the English we know today). I also figure Tatlum would be immensely confusing, each word having several different meanings and such. Why? Because both Northern templars and Southern templars speak it, and the North don't talk to the South. There are bound to be some discrepancies, disagreements, and double-meanings.  :wink:

Just my personal thoughts. Feel free to beat the crap out of them.

[crymerci]

The different languages are actually "scrambled" differently to non-speakers, so you can sort of get an idea of what they are supposed to sound like.

Tatlum is spoken in both north and south because it's the oldest human language.  Think of it like Old English, or perhaps Latin. Its the sort of thing only a scholar is fluent in.

[Gar]

I'd think sirihish is like English, of course.  But I see mirukkim as german.  And Allundean more like spanish.  The others I don't hear much but I'd say Tatlum = latin, cavilish = arabic or portuguese, bendune = an arabic dialect, anyar = some kind of indian language.  I don't know about the rest.

Anyar I believe would be more like an African language. I want to say Swahili, but I believe that's too tonal.

I have to agree with Allundean being Spanish. And while I hate to think of a dwarf speaking german, that's just how they come off. Dwarves always seem Northern european.

[Marc]

For starters, most of the demi-human languages have the same root: Kenessesh.  As far as I can tell, this language pre-dates even the Empire of Man.  Early Mirukkim probably came first as it resembles Kenessesh closely, followed by Early Tatlum.  Early Tatlum turned into Late Tatlum as the Empire of Man developed and the tribes around the Gol Krathu started to unify, producing Bendune. Then the Dragon came.  BOOM!

Mirukkim was fragmented as its speakers scattered.  Allundean first started to be spoken among the now tribal elves.  Sirihish reared its head as the humans turned tribal all over, pulling bits from the now fragmented Tatlum, mirukkim, allundean etc etc.

Cavilish came into being as the dune traders grew into a real force, directly descending from the bendune speakers.

Heshrak branched from Allundean when the two races seperated.

And everything evolved to where it is today.

Anyar doesn't seem to fit in anywhere. Neither does Kentu, which is the most advanced and diverse tongue of them all.  Nrizkt probably predates Old Tatlum and Kenessesh, but has nothing to do with any other language.

[spawnloser]

Marc, I think they were talking about what languages sound like...not how they're related.  The help files tell us most all of that.

As far as how the languages sound, I'll agree with and submit the following as my thoughts...

Sirihish=English
Mirukkim=German
Allundean=Spanish
Anyar=Swahili
Heshrak=Klingon
Cavilish=Latin
Bendune=Romanian
Kentu=Navajo
Tatlum=Old English

At least, that's how they sound in my head.

[Marc]

Spawnloser> Nog, I know, just giving some background since what languages sound like depend on their roots.  The different languages are not going to sound so radically different.

And Anyar would sound like !Kung

[Carnage]

I always thought of Allundean like French, actually.

[zanthalandreams]

This might sound a bit smart-assed, but to me allundean sounds like elvish.  But I mean Tolkien elvish as breathily uttered on the big-screen or your extended edition DVD disk.  (Is it December YET?!)

Bendune looks to my eyes too much like the word Beduin, so I automatically think of that sounding arabic.

Anyar because it is described as clicks and whistles, I think african bushmen.

Mirukkim, because I see dwarves as being no nonesense and to the point, has a craggy German feel to it.  Hard sounds, little use for vowels.

Sirihish, due to my own Amero-centric view is kind of like mid-western English.  I don't necessarily "hear" the Delta-south accents or some kind of Bostonian flavor when I see "northern-accented" "southern-accented."  I guess I don't have a sound in mind with those yet.  Maybe, okay... I'll admit it.   Tuluki northern accents are Aussie to me.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

So far, everyone agrees on these two things:

Sirihish = English (no particular dialect base, since accents are involved)

Mirrikum = German (Thick, thin, medium)

Keep them coming. I am interested in everyone's opinion, and in the IMMs' as well. A base reason for my interest is because emotes often contain inflections on the way the words sound, and it would perhaps be a nifty and convienient document which could be whipped up to illustrate the norm for each language.

[bob]

I always hear Allundean in my head as sounding really smooth.  Like if Antonio Banderas was trying to charm the pants off of me.

I think of it like middle-earth elvish

[mansa]

I always hear Allundean in my head as sounding really smooth.  Like if Antonio Banderas was trying to charm the pants off of me.

I think of it like middle-earth elvish

Bob, I have to totally disagree with you.
High Elvish is a fairy language, whereas the elves in Zalanthas are anything but faires.

Allundean, for me, is a thieves cant'.

[Ix Machina]

Always saw allundean as french.

Elves == Frenchies.

[creeper386]

Theive's Cant isn't a spoken language for the most part... And the spoken form of it can be in any language.... Most of it's sign.

So shut up.

Meh!

Creeper