#sci fi language

[wandering-alien]

Ok so I've been wanting to ramble a tiny bit about universal translators for a while so here ya go. It's a bit incoherent but hopefully someone will find it interesting.

So of course they're translating a huge range of languages, but even if you compare two relatively similar Earth languages, they bring up some interesting questions. Let's take English and German (and bear in mind I am not a linguist):

In English, we tend to have all the verbs near the start of the sentence/clause, even in past and future tenses i.e. 'I had been sleeping in my bed.' or 'I will go to the restaurant.'

In the German past perfect tense, the auxiliary verb is the second 'idea' or 'part' of the sentence/clause and the past participle is at the end of that sentence/clause i.e. 'Ich habe in meinem Bett geschlafen.' In the future tense, using the verb 'werden' and the infinitive, it's the same: 'Ich werde ins Restaurant gehen.'

This means that, in German, as an English speaker, sometimes you have to read/listen to the whole sentence first, before properly translating it, because one of the verbs is in a completely different place to where it is in English (and vice versa).

Now, a universal translator translates as someone is speaking, but there would be a significant delay, right? Because the sentence structures are different (and we're talking about English and German here, imagine English and Vulcan) there would have to be a reasonably large delay for the translator to get the message across in a normal way to the other person. I mean, it has to wait for basically the time it takes to say a sentence as well as however long it takes to actually translate (but I imagine that would be pretty quick).

I don't really know what all this is meant to mean/says about universal translators, I guess just that it must take longer than it seems on Star Trek and it would still be a pain having people who speak radically different languages working together on a ship (which is a shame).

HOWEVER.

In Doctor Who, the TARDIS' universal translator is psychic. In the words of the 9th Doctor: "a telepathic field that gets inside your brain- translates." So I reckon there doesn't need to be a delay there because the words/idea is in your head so the translator can work with that?

I have no idea how it works in Star Trek, I haven't watched all of the tv shows and films so maybe it gets explained more, but it doesn't seem psychic. Idk, maybe it is, in which case the same applies.

The other thing I find interesting is how it would basically be a massive AI but I think I'll talk about that in another post.

[runawaymarbles]

It's always so disappointing when sci fi and fantasy books call their languages "Basic" or "Common". No language is apolitical or universal: if they're all calling one language Basic, who made it that way? Why is THIS dialect "Common" and all the others are Special/Magical/Incomprehensible??? Show me even a hint of the politics, or give your language a real name

[threepandas]

Bad End: Trust

"Meet your new mates, cargo! Get breeding!"

I didn't understand the bellowed noises at the time. It was just incoherent gibberish. Heaped on top of what was likely a concussion, mixed with what ever drugs they had pumped me with. Thrown into a cell, roughly, and hitting the ground hard. I couldn't have caught myself if I had wanted too. My limbs, unresponsive and dragging meat, that I could barely FEEL.

Please, god, I had thought. Don't let me be paralyzed. Not on top of everything else.

They'll kill me.

Behind and around me, the weeping cries of sorrow and fear rang out. Screams of violence, born of desperation. Countless races, bound together, suffering in this hell. Newly enslaved. I didn't... I couldn't understand. Shaking and struggling to remain conscious, laying on the blood stained floor. The world swayed violently. It was all I could do, to barely keep from passing out.

It was so cold. The air, the floor, the deep and clawing despair, sinking like knives into my gut. Those furry... things, had grabbed me while I was alone, before I could react. W-would anyone notice? Could anyone DO anything? I wanted to get away from the door. Curl up in a corner and... and cry. But I could not move. Like a doll, dropped thoughtlessly on the floor, I could not... could not move.

Tears I likely could not afford, threatened to choke me.

I... I was scared.

Then, deeper in the hovel that was my new home, movement. The heavy clink of chains. Shifting, slow and careful, followed by the drag of metal. A warm hand. Fingers, calloused but careful, checking my neck. My pulse, for injury perhaps, I couldn't tell. But... god, i could have sobbed in relief. They... they felt human.

How terrible of me. That I was GLAD not to be alone. T-That it was relief, to have another person here. Someone who might know what's going on. What to do. To.. to stick with. I... I should wish it was just me, right? That they captured no one else? But... oh god. O-Oh God, I can't! I'm scared. Please. P-please...

I'm so scared.

The person checking me hummed low and soft. Their voice crackling like an old radio that's been left sitting on a shelf too long, unused. How.. how long has it been? Since they last had anyone to talk too? They sounded male, but.. but I didn't want to presume. Could just have a low voice. Throat injury. Might be Trans. I didn't care, couldn't care. I was pretty sure? We were all we had now.

They... no, He, found nothing alarming enough not to move me. Shifting into view as he gently slipped his arms under me. Enough to pick me up and carry me away from the door. He was... is... pretty handsome.

Okay, REALLY handsome.

Horrifically enough? I could see WHY they grabbed him. Athletic as hell, TV ready, really smart. If you were going to ignore ever bit of decency and morality to ever exsist? Might as well go for the best, I guess. Don't know why they grabbed ME, but I guess? They need a stand in or something? Or my predecessor is dead.

(God, I hope she's dead. The alternative...)

Pretty quickly became apparent, though, that one of the main problems (of so, SO many)? Was we don't actually speak the same language. Which... I mean... Well, shit. That's, putting it mildly, "less then ideal". Being unable to communicate with the only other person nominally on "My Side"? Kinda bad! But, I AM learning. And I am teaching him english! So there's that.

We have nothing but time, after all. It helps distract from the suffering just outside. The weeping and screams. The sounds that must be begging, in alien dialects. All the mercies they do not find.

(Is it terrible? That I am glad I can not understand what they are saying? Their cries for help? I can't help them. It hurts. Helpless to even save my self. God, I'm sorry. Please... I'm... I'm so sorry...)

Food gets shoved in. Lights flipped on. Lights shut off. The timer odd, but probably standard for somewhere. It's like being told to go to sleep halfway through the afternoon. Yanked awake before full nights are done. I struggle to adapt, even a little, following my fellow prisoner's lead. Or, well, trying too. There's a lot of charades at first.

Then, practicing our languages. Taking what naps and cuddling for warmth we can. Harsh lights be damned. It's cold, we're tired, but we have to keep our strength up. Right? Throughout it all, I try to ignore the weird smells they pump in. Still not used to getting random scents blasted at my head from above, from the air vents in the walls.

Day in, day out, rinse and repeate. The weird gasses smells like people have had sex, to be honest. I think? But don't quote me. They might be trying to get us to "mate", like animals, so they can sell our kids. Induce some nonexistent human heat cycle or something. I've kinda started to worry, not gonna lie, about what they'll do... you know, once they finally get frustrated. Figure out, we don't work like that.

Or... more relevantly, might not even be? Compatible?

Cause Azenari is DEFINITELY not a human. They fucked uuuup. Cause if he is? There is some probably serious divergent evolution going on. He did NOT get nabbed from Earth. HE got nabbed from his SHIP(as in, yeah, a fuckin Space Ship). Because HIS people are space faring! The man has pointy ears for fucks sake! Some seriously fangy canines. And while, yeah, seriously kinda cool? No idea if our species are related, or... you know...

So yeah, The Fur Covered Slaver Bastards are apparently Humanoid face blind, on TOP of being just generally terrible. Or dumb! Might be dumb, honestly. Wouldn't put it past them. Banality of evil and all that. But recently? There was a... tension. Something was coming. The Bastards seemed twitchy.

"Not long now, beloved. We're two stops from the extraction ambush." Azenari murmured, from where he was tucked loosely around me as I watch the latest patrol pass, one arm cradling me tight. Even as, with the other hand, he sleepily stroked my back. "You'll look lovely in proper robes. You deserve finery, my love."

I couldn't understand most of the sentence. Normally he simplified for me, since I was still learning. He seemed... pleased? Smug? The more tense and twitchy the Bastards got, the more darkly amused he seemed to become. As though he knew exactly why. As though he was laughing inside.

"My magnificent darling, you'll belong to me in everyway that matters. I'll take safer jobs. No more slave ring stings. I promise."

Oh. I think I got it. Azenari though of me as family! Yeah, that tracked. Trauma bonding and all. I did too. Couldn't help but smile, hugging him back, much to his clear delight. Yeah. We were in this together.

I'm glad I had someone I could trust. The universe was big and I would be pretty much alone without him. All but thrown at his feet and told I was his, Azenari had every chance to hurt me. But he didn't. He was a good man. Solid and stable when everything when frightening, warm and there when I needed to hide.

Really, it was only a matter of time before we would be chatting like old friends!

"You are NEVER going to escape me, beloved."

"I Love You."

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Words for the Universe

kind (late Old English–1600) - Nature in the abstract or viewed collectively.

world (c.1175–) - The material universe; the cosmos; (also rarely) a system of celestial objects. Also figurative. Chiefly with the.

frame (a.1325–) - The universe, the heavens, the earth, or any part of it, regarded as a structure. Now archaic.

creature (c.1384–1611) - The created universe; creation. Obsolete.

university (c.1450–1642) - The whole world; the universe. Obsolete.

engine (?1510–1741) - The universe, or a particular division of it, considered as a working system. Frequently in engine of the world. Obsolete.

universal (1569–1628) - The universe. Obsolete.

universality (1577–1603) - The whole world; the universe. Obsolete.

mass (1587–1697) - The created universe; the earth. Obsolete.

universe (1589–) - All existing matter, space, time, energy, etc., regarded collectively.

all (1598–) - The universe, the macrocosm; the whole of nature or existence.

cosmosie (1600) - Cosmos.

macrocosm (1602–) - The universe (opposed to microcosm); the world of all nature.

existence (1610–) - concrete. All that exists; the aggregate of being.

system (1610–1816) - The whole scheme of created things, the universe. Obsolete.

megacosm (1617–1851) - macrocosm.

cosmos (1650–) - The world or universe as an ordered and harmonious system.

materialism (1817) - concrete. The system of material things; the material universe. Obsolete. rare. world-all (1847–) - The world considered as a unit; the universe.

panarchy (1848–) - A universal realm.

multiverse (1895–) - The universe considered as lacking order or a single ruling and guiding power.

metaverse (1994–) - Meta-universe; cosmology: the hypothetical combination of all co-existing or sequentially existing universes.

SPECIFIC TERMS

static universe (1871–) - A universe which does not move or change.

block universe (1881–) - The universe conceived as resembling an unchanging block.

plenum (1887–) - A space completely filled with matter; spec. the whole of space regarded as being so filled. Contrasted with vacuum.

expanding universe (1931–) - The universe regarded as continually expanding, so that the galaxies are steadily receding from one another.

steady state (1948–) - An unvarying condition in a physical process, especially as in the theory that the universe is eternal and maintained by constant creation of matter.

bubble universe (1982–) - In some inflationary models of cosmology: any of an infinite number of universes formed as expanding regions within a space.

Source ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs ⚜ Word List: Star More: Word Lists ⚜ References ⚜ Historical Thesaurus

[ill-kidnap-all-the-stars]

Kirk, Le Soleil

[ image description: a digital drawing of an art nouveau-inspired card. In the centre is a profile drawing of Captain Kirk from the shoulders up. He is a white man with curly blond hair and brown eyes, and is wearing a flower crown of white edelweiss and green oak leaves. He is surrounded by a green circle, with gold stars on the sides and a gold sun above his head. There is orange honeysuckle to the left and red camellias to the right. The whole thing is surrounded by gold vines entwining a quote from Queen's “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy”: ‘I'd line for you and I to go romancing / say the word, your wish is my command’ ]

prints ✨ commissions

I initially wanted this to be more like a classic sci-fi movie poster, but I ended up falling on my classic art nouveau influences - with a lot of Victorian floriography: honeysuckle means devotion and affection; camellia means ‘longing for you’; edelweiss means courage and daring; and oak means bravery.

His other half

[vegalocity]

Time for 'Vega rambling about spider demons' again

The concept: Syntax thinks he's much closer with Huntsman than Huntsman thinks.

Like, Huntsman is fully 'this is my rival/enemy we work together for the queen's sake but i hate him and he hates me and we're always arguing and competing with eachother and i'll put a knife in his back when he stops being useful'

and Syntax is fully 'this guy starts arguments for fun and has a combative personality, so it means probably that him constantly singling me out that he wants to be my friend so naturally the best response is to answer in kind so he knows i understand and appreciate his form of communication'

[cyborgized]

"She's got a way with words"

[linguisticdiscovery]

Morpheme map of Heptapod B

Morpheme map of Heptapod B, the alien language in the movie Arrival (credit: @‌LanguageCrawler on Twitter)

[tdp-official]

The Dòrok language. All of the written script you may have been seeing in concept art thus far have been real Dòrok words; They’re not random scribbles but a functional language. Ancient Dòrok is what modern Dòrok evolved from. An interesting bit of lore pertaining to modern Dòrok script is that it wasn’t recorded as a written language for a while; even after it had become the common spoken language. This was due to how in the old era of Dòrok, reading and writing was something only the upper class, and individuals tied to a church carried out. The rich and influential even opted to continue to keep their texts in ancient Dòrok to further the divide between commoner and noble. To put it into perspective, this is like if all books in Italy were written in Latin as opposed to Italian just to add another block to keep commoners from becoming literate. It wasn’t until the first Shussar, Yarojin, took power that modern Dòrok was put to a script. Shussar Yarojin wanted to bring literacy to the public, having been a peasant his whole life, he then reformed education to be made accessible to everyone.

Modern Dòrok was specifically designed to be intuitive and not complicated, it’s a sound based alphabet, so every word is always spelled exactly how it sounds. This makes modern Dòrok extremely easy to learn.

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Black Box

Odin

Cold Case

Loki

Person of Interest

Thor

Conspiracy to Commit Treason

Sigyn

White Noise

Losing Track

Expert Testimony

Red Signal

Ragnarok I: Runaway

Ragnarok II: The Calling

Ragnarok III: Strange Meeting

Ragnarok IV: Jormungandr

Ragnarok V: End of the Line

Terminus

Spotify | Bandcamp | YouTube

[physalian]

The Fantasy Language Translation Matrix

Whether you intend to write your own full-blown lexicon with different verb tenses and formal vs informal language, need unique words for spellwork, or just need new names for all your foreign places, behold… the Physalian patented Fantasy Language Translation Matrix.

(I kid. I have no idea if I’m the first to come up with this)

**Disclaimer!** After rolling out your fresh new vocab off the word assembly line, make sure you google it and that it doesn’t already exist and mean something you don’t intend.

Step 1: Pick your Derivative

You can make it sound completely foreign and like total gibberish, but I find it easier for you and other people to read if they have some real-world reference to compare it to, and so they have a clue for which pronunciation rules to rely on. For example: I did not know who René Descartes was my freshman year of high school. His last name was in my algebra book, and I, thinking he was Greek like so many other ancient mathematicians, pronounced his name as if he were Greek “Des-kart-ees.” I got made fun of.

Spare your readers the humiliation.

So say I want a vaguely… Russian/Latin/Italian influence. As opposed to French. Cool. That’s my starting point.

Step 2: Reorder the most common letters from English to your new language

In English, the average use of the standard alphabet by letter in order is this:

Ignore your vowels for a second. I don’t use charts like this on the regular, I use the Wheel of Fortune method and focus on RSTLNE, then go from there. I also want to make sure this isn’t a complete 1:1 ratio so it’s not super obvious I’m just juggling letters around, so I’ll knock out some “duplicate” letters and swap out singular letters for specific sounds.

The goal of this isn’t to stare at two existing language matrices and perfectly match them up, it’s to take the most common sounds and letters in English and make them new, common sounds in your new language, to sound more uniform and like you have a real etymology.

And I end up with this:

This might look a little confusing on how I got from A to Z so the basics:

All my vowels remain in the same place, they just get juggled around so I don’t end up with 8 consonants next to each other and word garbage

My “duplicate” letters are combined so I have more room for the new sounds, like c/k, f/ph/gh, h/wh, s/z. The new sounds then get the spare letters I had left over

Common english suffixes get reduced down so the pattern isn’t as obvious

If you want to include accent marks, this is your chance

I wanted to really emphasize the long “e” and long “i” sounds, so those got extra attention

Step 3: Translating

Oftentimes this is not perfect, or you end up with a word that just doesn’t fit the rest of your new vocabulary, because English is the bastard lovechild of German, Latin, Danish, and French.

I start with English, usually, but if the English word is too short or too long, I translate it first into another language, like Spanish, and go from there. Like “bus” vs “autobus”.

Using your matrix, go one by one. Let’s use a word like “letter”.

English: L-E-T-T-E-R

New: T-A-C-C-A-Z

Step 4: Polishing

So now I have my new word: “Taccaz”

Which is serviceable. I can throw an accent on either A or fiddle with the Z. I can start with “carta” instead and end up with “kizci”. The matrix is just a starting point. It’s designed to streamline the process when I’m otherwise feeling uncreative and in a rush, and it moves very quickly when I need to come up with full phrases and sentences that someone would actually say.

Step 5: Full sentences

This is only if you’re really digging deep and not coming up with the occasional fantasy curse word or new name for your fantasy land/realm/noun etc.

For this you’re going to need lots of tables. I based mine off romance languages because I know Spanish and romance languages make sense. This is where you decide how many pronouns, if any, you’re going to use, how the infinitive changes based on past, present, or future tense, how many nouns the word references, etc.

This is… a lot. Way more than you’d ever need for your manuscript. Ever. But I did it just for my own sake. Does it get long? Yes. Does it get tedious? Yes. The point here is to have little pre-manufactured word bytes you can plug and play with, with as little mental effort as possible so you can save it for the rest of your work.

I also came up with very common words already conjugated, like “to be” so I can just glance and type without having to remember to take “is” and go through the process over and over again.

Which means that I can take an entire sentence and translate it to my new language in about two minutes.

English: The payoff is worth it, this is so satisfying. New, roughly: Nu kioyb ela fyzip ne, iski ela valo nicenbalaev.

Of course, you can keep tinkering until you get something that’s easier on the eyes (I’ve been working with this language for years so I can read it pretty well), but not all languages are smooth and pretty and simple.

To be frank: Most readers will just gloss over this stuff anyway, but it shows that you put in the effort and it enhances the lore and the immersion when you do this. At least in the written medium. You can’t ignore it if this is meant to be in a screenplay.

Is this what a language professor would do or recommend? Probably not, I have no idea. Does it work? Yes. I have a fully functioning grammatical system where any input can give me a legible output.

To make this yourself, just change the order of the letters around, adjust your shortcuts, and come up with your own common sounds for those last two rows. The conjugation matrix is where you can really make it distinct, assuming you are basing yours off a romance language, which you don't have to.

—

And there you have it!

Don’t forget to vote in the dialogue poll before it closes!

[evilhorse]

We are Tiger Men

(Buck Rogers 2430 A.D. Sunday strip)

[ill-kidnap-all-the-stars]

They belong together

[ image description:

1/ a digital drawing of an art nouveau-inspired card in which gold vines intertwine everything. Spock is drawn in profile at the centre, looking to the right and wearing a flower crown with purple clematis and ivy leaves. The phases of the moon, as well as several stars, surround him. There is orange honeysuckle to the left and red camellia to the right. There is a quote from the Queen song “I Want To Break Free” in the vines: “I’ve fallen in love for the first time / and this time I know it's for real”

2/ a very similar digital drawing, however Kirk is drawn in the centre, in profile again but looking to the left. The moon phases around him have been replaced with a gold sun and he is wearing a flower crown of white edelweiss and oak leaves. The quotes are replaced with lyrics from a different Queen song, “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy”: “I'd like for you and I to go romancing / say the word, your wish is my command”

end description ]

prints ✨ commissions

My Spock and Kirk cards were designed to go together (two halves of one whole and all that), so I thought I'd post them together. I had so much fun designing these cards to mirror in some ways and complement in others: the patterns of the stars are mirror images but the vines are exact replicas; the honeysuckle and camellias stay the same, but their flower crowns are different; they're both in profile but they're looking at each other. And, of course, one is the sun and the other is the moon. Idk man, I just love these silly little space dudes