Unfallen Language: a beginner's guide

Tagma

Pixel Scout

7 years ago

Nov 30, 2017, 1:29:51 AM

Eohr limnasko hroë am kol-lla...

I greet you in the name of the heart and of harmony!

Unfallen speech is one of the least-studied languages in the galaxy. After all, why bother learning their language when the Unfallen already possess such a talent for learning the speech of other races!

Indeed, many students are hesitant to tackle “tree-speak,” fearing a tangle of syntax as dense and daunting as the forests of Koyasil. The Unfallen speech is, however, a surprisingly simple language, which excels in expressing complex, intertwined concepts.

BASIC NAMES

Probably the best place to start is by learning Unfallen place and personal names. These are mini sentences, composed of two simple nouns joined by a linking word.

The first word is always the beginning or root word; the final word is the end-product or leaf word; and everything in between (the trunk) serves to show how the last word derives from, or is connected to, the first word. There are scores of trunk or “linking” words expressing a range of subtle inter-relationships.

e.g., the explorer-hero Thustrellen. Thus is “rest”, len is “knowledge”- and trel is a trunk/linking word showing that the two linked ideas are in competition, like tangled roots draining the one source of water, or leaves crowding for one patch of sunlight. Thustrellen’s heart, then, is a battleground between the thirst for new knowledge and a desire for simple rest.

e.g., the researcher-hero Baramaxa. Bar is “fruit,” axa is “fire;” and am is a linking word showing that the first word has its origins in the second word. “No pain no gain” might be a reasonable human translation-!

Lastly consider Koyasil, the name of the Unfallen homeworld.

The root word Ko means “beginnings” (specifically, the moment a seed first splits open) while the leaf word Sil refers to endings-- the moment a tree trunk falls over. In the middle we have the linking/trunk word Ya, which indicates that the two linked words exist in a state of shifting, organic balance. To speak the name Koyasil- “birth-and-death-in-dynamic-balance”- is to express much about the Unfallen way of looking at the word.

A VERY INCOMPLETE LIST OF LINKING WORDS

Ya [x is balanced with y]

Trel [x competes with y]

Cal [x unified into y]

Fo [x ensures, upholds y]

Ess [x carries y]

Am [x comes from, or is rooted in, y]

As [x liberates or allows y]

Gor [x, through the process of destruction, creates y]

Na [x, unexpectedly, does not bring y]

Many Unfallen verbs are linking words with a pair of nouns- to greet is limnasko, “words that permit a beginning”; to fire a weapon is the slightly sardonic axagorlu, “flames that by destruction create sleep....”

SHORT LIST OF NOUNS

ashes: Xe

Beginning : Ko

Building: thë

components, elements: eb

Ending : Sil

Fire : axa

Fruit : bar

Grief : aux

Harmony : lla

Heart : Kol

I : Eorh

Joy : arb

Knowledge : len

Leader: zar

Liberty : as

Light : ar

Metal : ox

Mind : ch

Rest : thus

shadow: th

ship: iner

sleep : lu

star: tar

word : limn

you : hroë

CASE

Finally, we come to the means by which “a ship” is distinguished from “this ship,” “those ships” or “all ships.” These are defined by, basically, “tree noises” uttered as part of the word being spoken. So:

singlular general (a ship) : exhalation sound

singular specific (the ship) : grinding, knocking sound

plural general (ships) rumbling sound

plural specific (these ships) rumbling sound, with a creaking noise at the end

Note also that the pitch or tone of these “tree noises” can be varied to define whether the thing being spoken of is alive or not.

Living things/things from the earth/sentient things are given a level tone

Inanimate things/things from the sky, such as wind, light or rain are given a descending tone

Fire, uniquely, is always given a rising tone

And objects that fall outside harmony and the natural order of things- particularly hated enemies, for instance!!- are given a distinctive cracking, snapping, grinding tone. This should be familiar to anyone who has made enemies of the Unfallen.

The Unfallen, then, depending on their views, may refer to a troublesome Imperial diplomat with the level tone (because they are alive), a descending tone (because they are of the sky and alien) or even a rising or grinding tone if things have gotten particularly bad...!

I hope this short guide has been helpful to you. Additions from other contributors are welcome. For further information, go hug a tree.

Arbamlen – joy has its roots in knowledge!

Updated 7 years ago.

DEVFrogsquadron

Broken

Frogsquadron / François (\franswa\) "I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas."

DEVFrogsquadron

Broken

52 300g2g pts

7 years ago

Dec 6, 2017, 4:56:49 PM

What is this, the Treelmarillion?

Tagma

Pixel Scout

Tagma

Pixel Scout

7 years ago

Dec 7, 2017, 4:53:09 AM

I hope so!

I had a look at writing up languages for the other factions, but Sophon names are unpronouncable, Vodyani names are unspellable, and Cravers apparently communicate through punching things.

Mithrill

Timer Lord

Mithrill

Timer Lord

32 700g2g pts

7 years ago

Dec 7, 2017, 6:03:00 PM

What about the Riftborn?

To the point, impressive piece of work. I know that creating a language from scratch is a thing (I am trying to do the same - no results). Are you planning to develop it further?

Tagma

Pixel Scout

Tagma

Pixel Scout

7 years ago

Dec 8, 2017, 5:16:44 AM

Thanks!

Yeah, it might be worth including more on how verbs work, or at the very least adding more basic words. I'm also thinking of working out a written form based on the runes scratched in bark on the Guardian splash screen. Also I always assumed that the Riftborn language was simply mathematics...

May I ask how your own invented language is going? ES2 races are a great place to start, in that each faction's names have their own very distinct "sounds" and can be mined for common syllables that will serve as basic word elements. It's way easier than making something from scratch. (Plus you can handwave any gramatical errors with "um, they're aliens and don't really "do" past and present tense.")

Ptah

Newcomer Addict

When in doubt, reach for the stars. That way you'll never come up short.

Ptah

Newcomer Addict

4 300g2g pts

7 years ago

Dec 8, 2017, 10:44:34 AM

May I ask, if this is totally invented or are some translations of words are hidden in the game play. I am just curious and relativly new to the game.

lilyophelia

Shadow Lord

"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." -H. L. Mencken

lilyophelia

Shadow Lord

14 000g2g pts

7 years ago

Dec 8, 2017, 11:16:13 AM

This is a very cool resource! Thank you for being so creative!

Tagma

Pixel Scout

Tagma

Pixel Scout

7 years ago

Dec 9, 2017, 1:32:24 AM

Nope, none of the translations are in the game or "canon." They just seem to fit!

Anyway, a few more translations:

The remaining in-game names:

Arasch, light liberates the mind

Anaxagoras, Fire through destruction creates freedom

Lunabarxes, sleep (unexpectedly) brings not fruit, but ashes

Unfallen names for the other empires:

Vodyani: Thessiner, shadow-ships

United Empire: Axaamtar, fire from the stars

Sophons: Lenalla, knowledge (unexpectedly) not bringing harmony...

Lumeris: Limtrellimn: words words words words-!!

Cravers: H’tirr: termites

Horatio, Ebamzar: the Many from the One

And as a challenge for myself- the names/titles of posters in this thread......

Shadow lord: Zarasfoth

Mithrill: Oxamtar

Frogsquadron: Calrana

Ptah (god of builders I think??) Zarfothë

Ptah

Newcomer Addict

When in doubt, reach for the stars. That way you'll never come up short.

Ptah

Newcomer Addict

4 300g2g pts

7 years ago

Dec 9, 2017, 12:17:30 PM

Ptah (god of builders I think??) Zarfothë

Oh thank you, I am flattered.

Actually I choose the name, when I was playing the MMO Skyforge. Ptah as the god of words and city god of Memphis and Amun/on as city god of Thebes and called the hidden one seemed just nice back then :)

Mithrill

Timer Lord

Mithrill

Timer Lord

32 700g2g pts

7 years ago

Dec 29, 2017, 1:09:25 PM

Tagma wrote:
Also I always assumed that the Riftborn language was simply mathematics...

Interesting point of view...

And interesting translation, sounds pretty well both in text and in meaning.

My language... Now it's only a basic word-formation for nouns, verbs, adjectives/adverbs and numerals, plus some random gramatic staff. I am creating it for literary purpose. To be more precise, it's a language of one of the races for my fantasy universe I hope to describe in some stories.

The first thing I created was the word formation. Each word is composed of "meaning core" that carries the meaning (for example "alag" is linked with evil, "menel" is linked with power and ruling), gramatic core" that indicates the part of speech ("ei" creates a verb, "ai" creates a noun and "oi" creates an adjective/adverb) and suffixes for context (for example "un" indicates something being person and "en" not being person). Thus, for example, "alagaiun" means "an evil man" and "menelei" means "to rule". Numerals are created with pattern "n*order+k", for example "inlemaie'lein" is 16 ("in" - 1, "lemai" - 10, "lein" - 6, "e' " is a link, everything together is 1*10+6=16). I have also designed a way of creating compound sentences. But don't ask me to say anything in this language, I do still have lots of work in terms of dependent clauses, conditionals, verb declination etc. etc.

Side note: I think most of grammar is going to be based on Polish, as that is my first language and it's enough difficult and complex to serve as base for a different race's language ;)

Tagma

Pixel Scout

Tagma

Pixel Scout

7 years ago

Jan 5, 2018, 9:29:20 PM

Interesting! I like this idea of additions to word cores. And there are so many directions that a written form for the language could take- symbols for word segments, or syllables, or sounds...

horngeek

Enthusiast Newcomer