The Argonian Native Language

[Catlemur]

What the Hist Dimention would be like?

[Deeza]

Check this thread:

New WS Progress: The Hist Dimension

[Ibsen's Ghost]

This is an excerpt from a point I made in a discussion carried forward from elsewhere. I pasted it in here because it is relevant to this thread:

"The Paatru would definitely be a good choice to use the native language since they are a very isolated and secretive people. And the Naga are just not the type to learn a second language. Sarpa are rare. But I'm not so sure about Argonians although some of the tribes might well be unintelligible at first. If a suitable 'sound randomiser' was used to create the sounds then, provided there was enough variety, a generic 'marsh-language' could be created for any suitable NPCs."

[Xae]

Using sound to morph speech is an unnecessarily complicated way of creating a new language for this purpose. Simply writing a few lines in a made-up language is more efficient and effective. It may be a lore-specific issue but other than that it's a better option.

Realistically, the natives aren't going to greet you in an infinite number of ways. Most likely it'll be something dismissive, like: "You shouldn't be here, outlander". Now, say we translate this (literally) into Lizardman speech, to something like: "Raash viá'na liékno, álana".

Worth noting here is that for a language to be effective it requires a certain range of sounds. A language made up of nothing but hisses and slithers would be largely ineffective, not to mention wildly impractical. If the natives have really developed their own language, then it'd at least have enough complexity to convey an exponential amount of words, like the many languages of today.

Also, since Argonians are well capable of speaking English they'd require developed vocal cords and it would thus be statistically ridiculous that they wouldn't have evolved an intricate language by now. If we need to add a phonetic layer of foreign-ism to the tongue, I'm sure the ghost of Ibsen can utilise one of the very many natural ways of speaking strangely, such as this. If need be, I can also come in with some subtle morphing and maybe even synthetic voice-layering to ensure that the result is sufficiently strange.

So, with a certain number of lines spoken in several different voices, there'd be a language barrier. Without the magical Know-Language 2000™ the player wouldn't be able to initiate a conversation with any natives. Instead, they'd simply reply in any one of our lines in the fake language and move right along. Once the player has the Eye of Knowing Language, he'll be able to speak in their tongue, magically of course, and communicate with the natives.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Hmm, odd! Sort of a mix of dialects. What program is that?

Anyway, yes. I'd already planned out a tongue for the Sarpa when TheModaxJago offered us his model. The Naga would be much easier by comparison. The more inhuman tongues do tend to be easier.

[Xae]

The video clip is from Battlestar Galactica.