Re: illithid phonetics
| From: | Dan Seriff <microtonal@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Tuesday, April 3, 2001, 19:42 |
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"Tim Judge, Erion Telepalda" wrote:
>
> I am toying with the idea of a language for use in fantasy stories/roleplay.
> It will be spoken by Illithids or Mind Flayers, ot those not familiar with
> them (I didn't just think them up) they are humanoid amphibian like
> creatures with immense psionic (psychic) powers. They feed by sucking out
> the brains of other intelligent creatures. They have a mouth like a
> lamprey's which is surrounded by 4 tentacles I presume they have a tongue
> and vocal cords. I am trying to come up with a unique set of phonemes for
> them considering their peculiar structure. I am considering using the base
> of the tentacles to forma full series of labial sounds and having a large
> number of vowels.
Boy, this is a throwback to my D&D days, some 10-15 years ago! I saw an
interesting idea implemented in a fantasy series I read recently. The
author invented a spieces that had vaguely elephant-like faces, and as
part of their language they used trunk motion as part of the semantic
content of phonological utterances. The language, unfortunately, was
left largely implicit, with only a few words actually written in the
book (it was mostly English translation in italics). I've always
pictured Mindflayers talking with their tentacles, waving them about as
they speak. You might be able to incorporate that motion in a very
systematic way. They have something like 8 tentacles, IIRC, so it could
also make for an incredibly complex system of layered semantics and
grammar. I like the idea of labial sounds, but you could also include a
larger range of sucking and popping sounds that would be articulated
with the base of the tentacles. Although, with all of that stuff, you
wouldn't be able to speak it yourself! I wouldn't invite a Mindflayer
over to demonstrate, they'd probably eat your brain, along with all your
friends' brains!
> Salut! (Français)
> Orelë! (Bírhrhalin [my own language])
> Namárië! (Quenya)
> Farewell! (English)
> Qa'pla'! (tlhingHol)
>
> Tim Judge
> Erion Telepalda
>
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