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Re: Heyas all!

From:Trace Erin Kern <tracefox@...>
Date:Sunday, March 28, 1999, 7:49
On Sat, 27 Mar 1999 14:47:24 -0300 FFlores <fflores@...> writes:
>Trace Erin Kern <tracefox@...> wrote: >[snip] >> My mistake. I misquoted his advice. He was giving that advice not in >the >> construction of their language, but rather their names. That a >> militaristic society would likely have shorter, rank driven names. >While >> a more relaxed species might have softer, perhaps longer names. > >I think that is a good approximation, but not totally convincing. >Indeed, orders and commands are likely to be short, so that they >can be shouted and understood quickly :) But you could also have >people talk fast. Look at Japanese... Japanese words (especially >verbs) tend to be long, names are often three or four syllables long, >but the Japanese presumably manage to communicate at the same speed >as English speakers do (using a lot of monosyllabic words). Japanese, >with long long words spoken at a terrible speed, could be a good >model for a "militaristic" language -- yet slow Japanese is rather >"sweet" judging from what I've been able to hear.
True. But for sake of argument and simplicity, I offered the above.
>> >> But again, biology plays a big part in what a species can and >cannot >> pronounce. I've often gotten sick at reading otherwise very fine >> sci-fi/fantasy, but the aliens ability to speak perfect Terran >allways >> nixed me. Yes they may be using translator technology, but with >some >> species, they won't be *capable* of reproducing the same sounds a >human >> could. > >Yeah, I agree on that. In fact, I don't like humanoid aliens (who >of course can perfectly speak human languages) unless there's a >reason why they are humanoid. Evolution can't produce them by >chance. For my stories I usually resort to the Hainish-type ancient >species whose members sowed different planets with >proto-hominid colonies...
Some biological reasons for the evolution into a 'humanoid' form: Greater height from the ground, enabling greater visual range to avoid predators and spot prey. Hand make the use of tools much easier. Beyond this, I don't know why a species would evolve into a humanoid form. For simian species, it's semi-natural. For a species that was descended from say canines, most likely they might evolve to semi-upright to allow the development of handpaws, making the use of tools possible. This is the basic evolutonary path of my Wolven species. (Named as such until I can think of something more origonal.) Trace Erin Kern: Shapeshifting Kitsune - TraceFox@juno.com ~Hah'Rooqh Tah'Khrine, Eayl Noh'Tahl~ ~May you go in peace, all your journey~ ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]