Martin Crim wrote:
>Darktongue: The trolls speak a language adapted for subterranean
>living, using repetition and many sounds in the high registers
>(which carry better).
At one point, I'd thought of trying to work out Darktongue structure
by looking at the words Greg had provided. (I was pretty bored).
Not enough of them, though, it turns out, and no grammatical
usage. I'm also not sure that words produced by the man who coined
"Corflu" and "Laca" are a sound basis for a language... ; )
>Since coming to Komor, the surface world, the
>trolls have found that the high sounds are inaudible to humans,
>which has tended to shift the language even higher.
Yeah, though I think the Darksense pulses are getting worked into
this, too. The same trollish word can have different meanings with
sub or supersonics that the trolls can hear, but humans can't.
Which means that there's a limit to how much humans can understand --
I think that *part* of almost every word is audible, but there are
registers that extend beyond.
In any case, one way of getting around the fact that syllables that appear in certain words (ky"Ger" "Kor"asting "Gor"akiki are usually used in Mothers) sometimes appear in others (say, in "Gore") is that the human transcription just doesn't reflect the full register.
>The symbols can be carved in surfaces or punched
>through hides or cloth.
Rich trolls, though, will probably use lead plates bound into books,
since the lead is malleable enough. And, for important books, you can
enchant them into hardness.
Plus, trolls can make readable Darktongue tattoos with scarification. So cruel trolls can write books on trollkin...
>Carving is preferred, because some nuances
>are conveyed with texture.
Yeah -- I'm not sure trolls have a finite distinction between
"carving/scultpure" and "written language." They have both, but it's
possible to make them meet in the middle, since really ornate script
tends to flow into minimal sculpture...
James Frusetta
jnf990_at_st.aubg.bg
New Bulgarian word or phrase of the moment:
"Ne! Uzvikax, plamnal v ogan. Tozi grak e tvojto sbogom!
Chyj! Idi si ti otnovo v cherniya Plytonov xor!
He ostavyaj snak za spomen tyk ot teb, o verolomen!
Ostavi me sam, bezdomen! Maxaj se ot moya vzor!
Chyj! Iztragvaj ot sartse mi svoya klyon i svoya vzor!
Toi prograkna: "Nevermore."
-- Poe, "Garvanat"
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End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #131
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