Languages in the Universe

[TiJiL]

Language in the Twassecc Universe:

Obviously, with so many individually developing cultures in such radically different conditions, each race has one or more language. Most also have many different written languages.


Twasseccs – The twasseccs themselves have been for most of their existence a species that excels at unity. Even before they expanded into space, when they lived on Twassure, the entire species basically spoke the same language. (This is mostly due to their great ability to communicate over the entire planet. Along with that, they never separated into different ‘countries’, as some more territorial species do.) Basically, most twasseccs speak (and have spoken for many years) Surish. Surish is the dominant language in the universe, spoken by most races since their involvement in the war. The language originates from Twassure, hundreds of years before the war’s beginning. The language changed some with the influence from the Kittek, but has largely remained the same. Surish is a very orderly, almost mathematical language. It lacks potential for poetry or any such art with words, but is very easy to understand and orderly. It does have a written counterpart, in which the characters are written from left to write. Characters themselves are very orderly.

Surish is too complex and poetic still for many twasseccs. Twassecc engineers, scientists, and pilots are often fluent in Plex, a hybrid computer language. Plex (named after its inventor), makes a language basically out of numbers and math. Very few species are capable of deciphering it, lacking the mathematical minds necessary to find it useful. twasseccs, however, find it rather simple to learn. The ability to read and speak this language greatly aids all twasseccs that must use computers extensively.

Twasseccs are very intelligent and thus are capable of learning and speaking most other languages. They cannot, however, speak Eese, Skrit, Graakk, or Kaden, simply for lack of the physiology to annunciate the words. They can learn to interpret these languages, but they cannot speak them.

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Ure – The Ure, too, use Surish as their primary language. They have shared in this language since they befriended the twasseccs. They do make their own changes to fit their racial differences, but the language is largely the same. Most of the changes involve adding words relating to their psychic prowess and removing many unneeded twassecc words. Along with that, there are many additional words and interesting nuances in their speaking, allowing for more poetic and artistic language. This variant of Surish is spoken by almost all ure and while is still considered (and named) Surish, is often unofficially shortened to ‘Urish’.

It should be noted, however, that the ure can also speak through their minds. This is done rather simply (for them) by inserting the desired thought or idea into another creature’s head. It is easiest, of course, to speak to someone who normally speaks the same language as the ure. However, most of the more talented ure can ensure that their message is translated into the creature’s correct language. Obviously no other species can speak in this manner.

Ure, too, are rather intelligent, and (more importantly) can simply assimilate the information they need to speak languages. They are, however, limited vocally, and cannot speak Eese, Skrit, Graakk, or Kaden. They simply do not understand Plex, being radically different thinkers than the Twasseccs.

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Hurks – Hurk language is difficult for most races to speak. While they don’t have a name for it themselves, the Twasseccs (and most other races) call the language Kaden. The language is fairly simple and has many, many different dialects attributed to different regions of hurks. The difficulty associated with speaking it is in its volume and array of sounds. Kaden sounds like bellows, roars, and deep, throaty belches. To the untrained ear, it simply sounds like wild animal noises. (The hurks can often use this to their advantage in the military, able to shout messages around enemies that do not recognize the language as that of the hurks.) Kaden is somewhat difficult to understand, though the language itself is not complex. The sounds, however, are odd enough to most creatures that they can be difficult to differentiate between. They do not sound like clearly annunciated syllables, but like rumbles of different pitches. It is interesting to note that volume is actually part of the Kaden language. This provides another problem with other species speaking it, as few can roar quite so loud as a hurk. (In fact, only one species is louder, and even then, only when bellowing as loud as possible.)

Kaden has no written counterpart. Hurks do, however, often know a ‘written’ language. Dubbed ‘trail speak’ by the hurks, this is a surprisingly complex language involving different signs. A hurk traveling through the forest can leave a message for other trail speakers with specific footprints, torn tree bark, and all manner of subtle tracking signs. This form of language is very very difficult for other creatures to utilize, as it often involves a hurk’s excellent senses. (No other race (barring graakks) has a better sense of smell).

Hurks are, admittedly, rather dim compared to other creatures. They cannot speak Skrit due to vocal limitations. They cannot grasp the point of the more poetic languages (Plex, Urish, Ekan) and generally refuse to even pursue learning them. They almost all know Surish to some extent, feeling obligated to learn it for the twasseccs’ sake.

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Norkids- Norkid speech, dubbed Skrit, is a highly artistic and poetic language, but is losing most of its influence. Norkids are the only race capable of speaking Skrit due to their two sets of vocal cords, but many Twassecc engineers are attempting to use it as a military code. Indeed, most of Skrit occurs in octaves either too high or too low for most ears to hear it. While Hurks and Cheoroeds can learn to understand portions of this language that fall within their hearing spectrum, most species simply cannot achieve this. Because of the species limitations, Norkids are adopting Surish as their primary language, leaving Skrit to the historians. Due to the amazing complexity of Skrit, Norkids find learning and speaking other languages extremely easy. It is difficult to find a living Norkid who doesn’t speak at least three languages.

Skrit, in written form, consists of highly complex symbols written in a vertical pattern. Many ‘cultural’ restaurants in the twassecc commercial environment use Skrit as a gimmick of sorts, because it is difficult to read, looks artistic and fancy, and is read from bottom to top (a very rare thing among written language).

Norkids are very intelligent, and as previously stated, have an affinity for languages. The only language Norkids have not yet been able to learn is Ssinech, but even that language is slowly being deciphered by dedicated scholars. Many Norkids have trouble speaking Kaden due to the volume limitations, but they can understand it very easily. If given a microphone and amplifier, they can speak Kaden fluently, however.

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Thelsic- Ssinech is a language that is nearly impossible to comprehend. It has not yet been completely deciphered by any race, and the Thelsic have no desire or motivation to teach it. The language itself sounds like gurgling and spitting, similar to the way Kaden sounds like grunting and bellowing, but it is also ridiculously complex. Indeed, Thelsic have been reported to say that it is easier for them all to learn to speak Surish than to attempt to teach Ssinech to even one translator. When questioned at UTD, they usually mention that it has to be taught underwater in addition to being extremely awkward. The biggest factor in Ssinech is the huge number of if/then conditions. A slight pitch added at the end of a sentence almost always completely changes the original meaning. This does, however, make negotiations with Thelsic much easier; because of this fact of their language, they are very patient listeners and will always hear you out before responding.

Ssinech has no written counterpart; Instead, the Thelsic use a computer language and a system of rudimentary characters. It would be impossible to pronounce anything written in this language (by any species), but with practice Thelsic can quite simply translate the meaning into their own words (Some may argue that even this is unpronounceable).

Thelsic appear to be quite intelligent, and have more than once pulled scams that would impress Tobar. They are capable of learning and speaking most languages, but quite often have difficulty with the simpler ones such as Plex and Kaden. Thelsic are one of the few races that can achieve the volume (Not quite up to Hurk standards, but comprehendible) to speak Kaden; strangely, the simplicity baffles them, and they often have a lot of trouble with it.

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Sigwar – The sigwar are very artistic, and their languages show it. Most sigwar have now adopted Surish as their main means of communication, but they do have two other means of speech. Their language of Dulshayya, in its pure form, is all but extinct now. It was the sigwar version of Surish, their day-to-day, orderly speech. It is fairly logical, yet much, much more poetic and wordy than Surish. Fifty years ago, almost all sigwar spoke this language. It was not used for religious uses, but rather as a simple means of communication. When the twasseccs allied with the sigwar, the sigwar slowly began to meld their own language with Surish. They readily adopted the twassecc language, seeing it as not only very logical and useful for practical means, but also was by far the most used language in the universe. However, though they slowly melded the languages together, they never truly dropped Dulshayya. Many of the words they used to use are mixed in with the Surish dictionary. They find it important to their culture not to completely drop their ancient language. Many sigwar will, as they speak, meander from Surish to Dulshayya inadvertently. This can make them very difficult to understand, but luckily, Dulshayya is so similar to Surish that it is easy for a Surish speaker to learn.

The other language of the sigwar is Old Ekan. While there are many variants of it to fit different regions of their planet, the Eka Flats sigwar (the religious capitol of the planet, not to mention also the region that twassecc scientists believe the sigwar to have originated) seem to have used it first. Old Ekan is extremely long winded, containing many, many different words. Twasseccs and similar species have difficulty differentiating between the various words for, say, happiness. (They feel only one is necessary). Old Ekan is generally not used lightly. It is reserved for serious religious matters, and is regarded as the ‘language of the gods’.

Both Old Ekan and Dulshayya use the same written characters, though Dulshayya is more often than not translated into Surish characters. Traditional sigwar font, though, consists of different arrangements of two dots and three lines. There are hundreds of different characters to accommodate the many nuances of Old Ekan.

Sigwar are quite intelligent, and are generally able to speak even very complex languages. As with most races, however, they cannot speak Kaden nor Skrit, though they are particularly adept with Skrit writing. Sigwar are absolutely disgusted by Plex, thinking that it is a sacrilege of words. Though they are often mathematically capable enough to speak at least a bit of Plex, they refuse to try.

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Nogan- Lar’sett is the tongue favored by Nogan farmers. It is a very simple language, as they go, for it is used to express very simple things. It is difficult to convey complex thoughts or emotions in Lar’sett, because the vocabulary is extremely limited. Farmers, however, do not talk much. This language is used in the field or when a simple idea needs to be conveyed with as few words as possible. For example, ‘Ell’tettin Cuya’ is a one-word way of saying “My Cuya crops are producing a high yield this year due to my family’s hard labor”. Obviously, Cuya could be replaced with any other crop. The tongue of the village is known as Tis’nin. This language is overly complicated and very poetic, but is used to convey the more advanced things on Noga. Storytellers speak in Tis’nin, in particular. Nogan all learn this language because they do not wish to be deprived of the stories. However, many Nogan don’t learn it for years, due to their constant labor and lack of free time. Tis’nin is a vibrant and colorful language, with multiple nouns and adjectives for almost everything. Finally, Surish is spoken commonly by the Nogan. They have been exposed to this language for a long time and are adopting it as a more practical language than Tis’nin but more complicated than Lar’sett. A visitor to this planet would be advised to speak Lar’sett, however; it is not yet common practice on Noga to speak Surish. Lar’sett, fortunately, is easy to learn, and most species can get by without learning the more complex form of Tis’nin.

Lar’sett has a written form, but Tis’nin does not. Lar’sett’s written form appears as simple characters scrawled quickly, and is used for keeping logs of things that are not easily remembered. Tis’nin is an oral language only, and thus information given in it must be remembered or translated by the receiver.

Nogan are dimmer than many species, but they are by no means stupid. They are very patient and willing to learn, so they can in time comprehend and speak most other languages. Most Nogan are unwilling to create the noise it requires to speak Kaden, however, and thus will at best only understand it. Their affinity with animals and peculiar ears allow them to learn graakk, in time. They are still unable to speak it, for they lack the structure, but many envy the ability to understand this reptilian race.