Post by devilinthedetails on Jan 23, 2021 0:31:32 GMT 10
I thought it might be interesting to have a thread devoted to discussing the various languages and linguistic diversity of the Tortallan universe and to speculating on languages that might exist but that we haven't yet heard of in the books.
Scanra-Speak Scanran. Many Scanrans also seem capable of communicating in Common.
Galla-Speak Common. It is unknown if Galla has developed any regional languages or languages of its own.
Maren-Speak Common. It is unknown if Maren has developed any regional language or languages of its own, though for a country that vast not have developed any regional languages of its own would seem strange.
Tyra-Speak Common. It is unknown if Tyra has developed any regional language or languages of its own. Given that it is a country built on trade, it's reasonable to assume that its merchants might be fluent in multiple languages and that many languages could be heard spoken in the streets of Tyran cities.
Tusaine-Speak Common. It is unknown if Tusaine has developed any regional language or languages of its own. It is possible that in the hill country bordering modern Tortall, Hurdik was spoken in Beka Cooper's era, although Hurdik might have died out as a language by Alanna's time (or it might not have).
Tortall-Speak Common. In the eastern hill country, Hurdik was spoken as recently as Beka Cooper's time. It is unknown if Hurdik is still an existing language in Alanna's time and beyond. The Bazhir can communicate in Common, but likely have a language or languages of their own.
Sarain-The Lowlanders seem to speak Common. The Highlanders speak K'miri. It is unknown if any other languages are spoken in Sarain.
The Yamani Islands-Speak Yamani with some educated nobles like Shinko and Yuki fluent in Common.
The Copper Isles-Kyprish is spoken both by the luarin and raka. Common is also spoken.
Carthak-Common seems to be spoken at least in northern Carthak. Thak also seems to be a contemporary language, and Old Thak an ancient one. Regional languages likely exist throughout the large empire.
What did you think about languages in the Tortallan universe? Do you wish we had been introduced to more languages or less? Did you like most of the Eastern Lands speaking Common and even places with their own languages still having lots of people who could speak Common so translation didn't really become an obstacle for our traveling heroines? Or would you have preferred if each individual country had their own language and not that many people could speak Common (perhaps it being a language of the educated and not the masses across multiple countries)?
Personally, I would've preferred more languages and linguistic diversity present in the Tortallan universe. I know that Tammy has compared Common to medieval Latin, but Latin was still a language of the educated that facilitated international communication rather than the language that everyone spoke (regular people spoke languages that might have been Romance languages descended from Latin but weren't Latin itself). It would make more sense to me if Tortall and Tusaine had separate languages even if the languages were closely related like Spanish and Italian.
Scanra-Speak Scanran. Many Scanrans also seem capable of communicating in Common.
Galla-Speak Common. It is unknown if Galla has developed any regional languages or languages of its own.
Maren-Speak Common. It is unknown if Maren has developed any regional language or languages of its own, though for a country that vast not have developed any regional languages of its own would seem strange.
Tyra-Speak Common. It is unknown if Tyra has developed any regional language or languages of its own. Given that it is a country built on trade, it's reasonable to assume that its merchants might be fluent in multiple languages and that many languages could be heard spoken in the streets of Tyran cities.
Tusaine-Speak Common. It is unknown if Tusaine has developed any regional language or languages of its own. It is possible that in the hill country bordering modern Tortall, Hurdik was spoken in Beka Cooper's era, although Hurdik might have died out as a language by Alanna's time (or it might not have).
Tortall-Speak Common. In the eastern hill country, Hurdik was spoken as recently as Beka Cooper's time. It is unknown if Hurdik is still an existing language in Alanna's time and beyond. The Bazhir can communicate in Common, but likely have a language or languages of their own.
Sarain-The Lowlanders seem to speak Common. The Highlanders speak K'miri. It is unknown if any other languages are spoken in Sarain.
The Yamani Islands-Speak Yamani with some educated nobles like Shinko and Yuki fluent in Common.
The Copper Isles-Kyprish is spoken both by the luarin and raka. Common is also spoken.
Carthak-Common seems to be spoken at least in northern Carthak. Thak also seems to be a contemporary language, and Old Thak an ancient one. Regional languages likely exist throughout the large empire.
What did you think about languages in the Tortallan universe? Do you wish we had been introduced to more languages or less? Did you like most of the Eastern Lands speaking Common and even places with their own languages still having lots of people who could speak Common so translation didn't really become an obstacle for our traveling heroines? Or would you have preferred if each individual country had their own language and not that many people could speak Common (perhaps it being a language of the educated and not the masses across multiple countries)?
Personally, I would've preferred more languages and linguistic diversity present in the Tortallan universe. I know that Tammy has compared Common to medieval Latin, but Latin was still a language of the educated that facilitated international communication rather than the language that everyone spoke (regular people spoke languages that might have been Romance languages descended from Latin but weren't Latin itself). It would make more sense to me if Tortall and Tusaine had separate languages even if the languages were closely related like Spanish and Italian.
I do like the linguistic diversity we got with the K'miri and the Yamani Islands in particular, but I did wish we had gotten to learn more about Bazhir language and that we got to hear more about Hurdik. I would love to know if Hurdik still survives as a language in the hill country.
I'm eager to hear your thoughts and perspectives on languages and linguistic diversity in the Tortallan universe!