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Correspondence between real and fantasy languages
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<blockquote data-quote="prosfilaes" data-source="post: 3293655" data-attributes="member: 40166"><p>I'd keep in mind the real-life relations of the languages. Most of the European languages, except for Basque, Finnish and Hungarian and possibly a couple other minor languages here and there, are historically closely related. Most of them can be broken down into three groups--Romance, Germanic and Slavic. All Romance languages descend from Latin, and hence should be closely related in the game world, and descend from any language that is closely related to Latin. Germanic languages, likewise, should be closely related. English has basically a heart of Germanic with a huge amount of adopted French and Latin.</p><p></p><p>To me, making the elves speak French says a lot about the relation of the elves to the humans. Making the dwarves speak German again says a lot about the relation of the dwarves to the humans. Making the elves speak Gaelic, especially if the dwarves speak German, says that the elves aren't a big cultural source for Common. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Draconic being Latin is a nice touch. It means that there's been quite a bit of borrowing, especially from the academic/intellectual sector, from Draconic into English, which is quite likely if Draconic is used as a magical language.</p><p></p><p>Having the gnomes speak Yiddish seems like a bad choice for most people, though. Yiddish is written in the Hebrew alphabet, which isn't easy to pick up. (The Russian and Greek alphabets are a lot easier to casually pick up.) Yiddish isn't that far from German, which makes sense if the dwarves or someone else speaks German, but if no one does, and you don't speak Yiddish, you might as well go with German.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Is there are a connection between Gnomish and Draconic?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Giving the Half-Elves their own language definitely says things about the setting. Especially one completely unrelated to Elvish. How did the Orcs end up with a language with heavy smatterings of Dwarvish?</p><p></p><p>Gutenberg is a nice source for some stuff. There's books on <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15672" target="_blank">Chinook jargon</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5762" target="_blank">Lau (a Polynesian language)</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16358" target="_blank">Gypsie</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18978" target="_blank">Australian languages</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14419" target="_blank">Heve (an Indian language)</a>, <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19807" target="_blank">Chippewa</a>, Mutsun (in Spanish), Latin, and a number of other things, many of which are good for really alien languages.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="prosfilaes, post: 3293655, member: 40166"] I'd keep in mind the real-life relations of the languages. Most of the European languages, except for Basque, Finnish and Hungarian and possibly a couple other minor languages here and there, are historically closely related. Most of them can be broken down into three groups--Romance, Germanic and Slavic. All Romance languages descend from Latin, and hence should be closely related in the game world, and descend from any language that is closely related to Latin. Germanic languages, likewise, should be closely related. English has basically a heart of Germanic with a huge amount of adopted French and Latin. To me, making the elves speak French says a lot about the relation of the elves to the humans. Making the dwarves speak German again says a lot about the relation of the dwarves to the humans. Making the elves speak Gaelic, especially if the dwarves speak German, says that the elves aren't a big cultural source for Common. Draconic being Latin is a nice touch. It means that there's been quite a bit of borrowing, especially from the academic/intellectual sector, from Draconic into English, which is quite likely if Draconic is used as a magical language. Having the gnomes speak Yiddish seems like a bad choice for most people, though. Yiddish is written in the Hebrew alphabet, which isn't easy to pick up. (The Russian and Greek alphabets are a lot easier to casually pick up.) Yiddish isn't that far from German, which makes sense if the dwarves or someone else speaks German, but if no one does, and you don't speak Yiddish, you might as well go with German. Is there are a connection between Gnomish and Draconic? Giving the Half-Elves their own language definitely says things about the setting. Especially one completely unrelated to Elvish. How did the Orcs end up with a language with heavy smatterings of Dwarvish? Gutenberg is a nice source for some stuff. There's books on [url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/15672]Chinook jargon[/url], [url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/5762]Lau (a Polynesian language)[/url], [url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16358]Gypsie[/url], [url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/18978]Australian languages[/url], [url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14419]Heve (an Indian language)[/url], [url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19807]Chippewa[/url], Mutsun (in Spanish), Latin, and a number of other things, many of which are good for really alien languages. [/QUOTE]
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