jasima - Tumblr blog

[jasima]

This topic deserves so much more attention than it gets honestly.

Avatar Universe Language Theory

Something that has often been ignored or not discussed much is language within the Avatar Universe. Today, @xaibaugrove and I would like to discuss this in depth and share our theories and opinions on the matter.

There’s a construct of universal language within television and movie media, this means that all of the characters understand one another through a specific language, English in this case. This obviously is the case due to Avatar being an American animated series. But if we truly broke this down, English would not be the canonical universal language in the Avatar Universe. So what would be?

To tackle this question, we need to first figure out what languages would be spoken in specific nations and areas. So let’s do that.

There are some easy assumptions, such as Japanese for the Fire Nation and Tibetan for the Air Nomads. For the Southern Water Tribe, they would both be speaking a form of Inuktitut. Within each of these nations, there would be dialects and unique subsets of languages depending on the area they’re from.

The area that would have the most diverse language differences within their own nation would be the Earth Kingdom. Due to its size and diverse subsets of people, we believe there would be a large variety of dialects/languages within, but all would be forms of Chinese. In Ba Sing Se the predominant language would be Mandarin. For the large majority of the other areas, the language would be Cantonese. But then we have to break down that other areas such as the Si Wong Desert and Foggy Swamp would also have their own language/dialect. Something that is interesting and present in real world China is that there are over 200 different dialects/languages and it’s not just Chinese and/or Mandarin/Cantonese as many would assume. So we can easily apply this same idea and concept to the Earth Kingdom.

So this brings us back to our original question, what would the Universal Language in the Avatar Universe be? We believe that it would be a form of Chinese, mainly leaning towards spoken Mandarin due to the superiority and monarchy of Ba Sing Se. The next most predominant language would be Japanese due to the colonization during the Hundred Year War. People may ask, then why isn’t Japanese the most predominant? And the answer is this, the war was only 100 years. It would have taken much longer to spread their language to the extent that Chinese has already been spread due to the size of the Earth Kingdom. On top of this, Chinese is the language that is most seen canonically in writing. But we also have to break down that even within the series we see the Fire Nation making posters with Chinese, but again, this show is an American animated series, so it was easiest to have all of the writing done in Chinese.

The thing that supports different languages the most within the Avatar Universe is naming. We can look at the names of each character and where they are from and from this we can see patterns related to language. Names stem from specific languages, thus being more supporting evidence for the specific languages for each nation.

So technically every character within Republic City (from TLOK) and throughout the majority of the Earth Kingdom would be speaking Mandarin Chinese. But on top of this, many characters would be bilingual. Korra’s native language would be Inuktitut. Asami’s native language would be Japanese. Tenzin’s native language would be Tibetan. And an interesting case would be Mako and Bolin only knowing one language, Mandarin Chinese and not Japanese due to their parents being killed at an early age.

Due to the array of languages, the Avatar, master of all four elements, would also need to be a master of languages. This means that as the Avatar their training would include language classes. This also means that Aang actually would have struggled to communicate with Sokka and Katara, honestly everyone that he met due to having a short period of formal language training. This could even be seen when Aang would use certain terms such as “Flameo Hotman” and Sokka/Fire Nation People being confused by this outdated term.

In the case of Korra, she would be able to speak fluently in at least Inuktitut and Mandarin. Korra could also have a cute accent when speaking Mandarin. But we also assume that she would know the basics of multiple other languages. It’s fun to imagine that Korra would go back to her roots when highly agitated or when extremely happy due to not being able to express herself properly in a second language. This is even more interesting when you break down the issues of communication between her and Mako. Mako would have been monolingual and not completely understand the nuances of being multilingual, which could then lead to even more misunderstanding and frustration. In the case of Asami, the idea of going in and out of two or more languages would be more easily understandable.

From a viewer standpoint, the idea of multiple languages tied to each nation adds depth to the Avatar Universe. It also brings together the overall influence and inspiration of the surroundings/environment that the creators had put together. It adds nuance to character relationships and the society that they live in. Finally, it’s a different perspective that widens the lens of viewers that Chinese would be the universal language along with their native languages and it’s just been translated to English so that WE can understand what is occurring.

[jasima]

Did they know???

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT Y DDRAIG TRAWS!

Certainly! I'm more than happy to oblige.

First though I'm gonna need to tldr: the history of Y Ddraig Goch before we get onto the (accidentally) canonically trans part.

A brief history of Y Ddraig Goch:

(The modern Welsh flag)

Y Ddraig Goch first appears in the tales of the Mabinogi (Charlotte Guest version) in the tale of Lludd and Llefelys where it is fighting a white dragon. The fight is also described/expanded upon in the c. 829 AD text Historia Brittonum (attributed to Nennius) - where the red dragon represents Wales and the white dragon represents the Anglo-Saxons. In the story the red dragon triumphs over the white. Of course, Geoffrey of Monmouth also covers the story c. 1136 in Historia Regnum Brittaniae in which he introduces the concept of the red dragon heralding the arrival of King Arthur.

Geoffrey of Monmouth claims Arthur used a banner featuring a golden dragon. But we also know the accuracy of Monmouth can be questionable at times. Owain Glyndŵr did use a banner with a golden dragon called Y Ddraig Aur - raised in 1401 at Caernarfon - Glyndŵr chose this banner as a nod to the supposed banner of Arthur and his father.

Later on the Tudor monarchs (being a Welsh family) adopted a red dragon on a white and green background in their heraldry. Eventually Y Ddraig Goch on a white and green background became the official badge of Wales in 1800. The design became the official flag of Wales in 1959.

Y Ddraig Traws:

Now for the thing you're all here for -

So, as outlined, the history of the dragon as a national symbol of Wales goes back a long way. If we're just talking post-1959, there's some interesting implications for Y Ddraig Goch's depiction.

This is what the Welsh flag (and Y Ddraig Goch) looked like in 1959 when it was officially adopted as the flag of Wales. It looks broadly the same as the first flag and has some common features - such as not having a penis (or, as in the correct heraldic terminology - a pizzle). Meanwhile, in the arms of the Tudors (specifically Henry VII)

(Tudor dragon with pizzle) vs (dragon on the flag of Cardiff - pizzleless)

the penis is almost always included. So much to the point that the present royal family still includes the penis. While pretty much 0 depictions of the dragon in Wales include a penis. So you could interpret this as the dragon is seen as male only by the British royal family and as female everywhere else (which kinda implies that at some point the Tudor dragon had an mtf transition in Wales and she keeps getting misgendered by the royal family every time she is depicted in (mostly) England).

So much to the point that in 1995 this pound coin was made by the Royal Mint featuring the pizzle on the dragon with all four feet touching the ground as opposed to standing up (passant rather than rampant).

But in Wales you'd be hard pressed to see a pizzled dragon anywhere. Ergo, we can only conclude Y Ddraig Goch is trans and she transitioned in Wales and keeps getting misgendered in England.

[note: This is mostly tongue in cheek - but I do think it's fun to extrapolate that the Welsh dragon is trans because of the differences in depiction between Wales and England. Like many things Welsh, it is misrepresented by England and the idea of the Welsh dragon being misgendered only in England is, I think, a good metaphor for a whole lot of English treatment of Wales.]

Unrelatedly, there is a gay Welsh flag held at the National Museum of Wales which has a very wonky dragon which I find very endearing.

(cleaned up version I made)

So much so I made it an emoji in my Welsh bilingual LGBTQIA+ Discord (requirements for joining are - be 16+, either speak or are learning Welsh and identify as LGBTQIA+ in some way. Dm for link!).

(triaist ti 'you tried' emoji)

~ Completely unrelatedly ~ never forget the time someone was trying to homophobic to me by suggesting that I was disrespecting all the soldiers who died 'for the Welsh flag' by making it rainbow colours and not red - arguing that any change of colour of the dragon was disrespectful. Reader, my bus pass at the time for Mid Wales Travel had a purple dragon on it.

[jasima]

It should be noted that while there have been kings of Wales, often times the title of prince was meant in the Latin sense of "princeps" or "primary person", a title which was given to Roman Emperors. And the Welsh term of "tywysog" likewise means leader/chief. In fact the Welsh for 'king' is "brenin" and 'tywysog' is listed as a synonym for it.

The history (afaik) was that it was an attempt to show that Wales is a descending state of Rome via Macsen Wledig / Magnus Maximus - and hold it over other Kingdoms that we have a Princeps rather than a petty king.

Its definitely an insult to have English Royalty as the Welsh prince - and even more so for him to be promoted to King and leave the title behind. But 'prince' as a title is not the insult they think it is.

its just fucking offensive tbh

annibyniaeth cymru

[jasima]

Yn ymladd gogification - soldiwr brave iawn ydych chi! 🫡🫡🫡🫡

fi yn y brifysgol fighting for my goddamn life bob dydd i gadw f'acen a fy nhafodiaith hwntw, ac yn ymladd erbyn gogification gan fy nhiwtoriaid sy'n siarad cymraeg gog

[jasima]

Not only is this not a "lack of education, or a misunderstanding of grammar" its language evolution in progress!

Something like this done once can be an error. It can also be a miscommunication if its not understood. But when it is understood repeated - it becomes part of language. There are so so many phrases you do not realise come from things like this. Arguably the whole of the language you are using right now does.

I cannot tell you how many frustrated conversations I have had with fellow linguists and linguistics students over the fact that people will talk down to people who are doing something that is perfectly normal and a part of the human language experience as if they are superior for knowing grammar and not even know an ounce of linguistics or how anything works outside of their own dialect of their own language.

Here's a random article that lists words who's meanings have evolved by "errors", misunderstandings, new associations, novel usages and general language drift;

Awful

Naughty

Nice

Cheat

Artificial

Clue

Pretty

I promise you this is only scratching the surface.

I know those are all individual words but it applies to phrases, spellings, grammatical constructs and every facet of language.

Saw/shared a post that mentioned 'youtube grammar' yesterday and I checked the tag and

Its basically the thing where people mishear words or phrases and then say it wrong. Some examples are

'manner of fact' instead of 'matter of fact', 'eck cetera' instead of 'et cetera' 'I could care less' v 'I couldn't care less'

And the poster blamed this on lowered education standards, lack of education, and basically people not learning grammar rules and not being able to break down what language a word is from to figure out pronounciation. Im not saying thats wrong, I dont know.

But I also have a running joke/recognition with friends who are bilingual or speak multiple languages, about how sounds get mixed up your head, and sometimes you'll even think of the right word but your muscle memory will write or type another. The example that started the conversation in earnest was me spelling the word 'pneumonic' instead of 'mnemonic'. (If you're going ooh this is his tumblr, hi! :D).

In a comment I was just writing, I wrote think instead of thing. I knew the word I wanted was thing, its the word I thought, its not the word I typed.

Also today I wrote 'mood' instead 'move'.

Its not a lack of education, or a misunderstanding of grammar, or mislearing a phrase. My fingers just mess it up sometimes, because somehow the link between thought and typing has to do with the sounds, not the root or the spelling or possibly even the language. Because, pneumonic.

I dont know if this holds the same with the spoken word, I dont know what those pathways are, and to begin with Im neither a linguist nor neurologist. Im just noticing patterns with myself and my friends.

If anyone does know facts or science about this, please do chime in!

[jasima]

This!

I have always been hard of hearing. If I go deaf then I will be happy in some ways because it will be an end to audio over-stimulattion for me. The prospect has its ups and downs for me.

But the amount of stuff that's just so negative - when I know so many happy Deaf people who are out, loud and proud - just feels like its saying "you are broken and should hate yourself >:^) - here are all the ways you suffer - and here is how you can learn to dance to others' tunes that you can't hear". Barely ever does it advise "make friends who are deaf", "learn sign because that's fully accessible" or "welcome to the deaf community".

Disabled mental health is so much more than just depression because of disability. It is very possible to be disabled and happy.

Sad...

i want to like. re-cope with apparently significantly less hearing than i had pre-sepsis but i don't want to touch "how to deal with being HEARING IMPAIRED" resources with a ten foot pole especially when they're geared towards the idea that being deaf is a bad thing.

i am fine with being deaf. i have basically always been fine with being deaf in fact. i literally do not know anything else. what i DON'T know is what to do with a sudden sharp drop in usable hearing

[jasima]

There's been a lot of discussion lately and so to my ND folks who feel excluded from cripplepunk:

The creator of this movement hated able-bodied NDs talking over physically disabled people and explicitly did not want you in here.

Make your own movement or join preexisting political movements for mental illness and neurodiversity.

Get over yourselves soon. ❤️

[jasima]

𓂸

phallus

[jasima]

Which path should he choose?

The path of the warrior, the path of the scholar, or the path of the artist?

[jasima]

some people make me want to completely disengage with literally everything and everyone

[jasima]

People who don't fill their homes with plants and flowers are dull and boring and too pretentious.

[jasima]

There needs to be more awareness of AAC! AAC representation in media, not just high tech devices but all sort of AAC, with users of all ages and disabilities! AAC being included when educating about disabilities and tools that help. Medical professionals especially shouldnt need an explanation for AAC, they should be educated on what it is!

[jasima]

the thing about living in the world as it is is that sometimes people will walk past you with an unsteady gait or a limp or a hand steadied against the wall. sometimes people will look at you with unfocused eyes or faces that do not emote. you will meet people who cannot hear you when you call their name the first time or see you when you wave from a distance. people who simply cannot read as fast as you or at all. people whose hands don't close all the way, or their fingers don't move separately. who cannot control their volume or when they move or vocalize.

not everyone you meet will fit under a label of 'disabled' or 'abled'. many of them will not want to. there will be people who can pass as able-bodied or minded until they move or speak or are spoken to. it's not your job to put them into categories.

human bodies are not linear, they are not on a binary scale of 'functional' or 'dysfunctional'. most of us exist inbetween, in some way or another and that's okay

[jasima]

Rwy'n meddwl bod Cymraeg yw'r gyntaf... reit?

Association/Consociation vs. Dissociation

Association/consociation means that the elements in a word family are derived from the same root/stem. They are formally (and visibly) related. German is a language with a lot of association/consociation. 

Dissociation means that the elements in a word family are NOT derived from the same root/stem and are thus formally not related (i.e. one word is derived from a Germanic language, one from a Romance language). English is a language with many dissociative word families.

Examples: 

Mund - mündlich -> association/consociation

mouth - oral -> dissociation

Nahrung - nahrhaft -> association/consociation

food - nutritious, nourishing -> dissociation 

heilig - Heiliger -> association/consociation

holy - saint -> dissociation

Zahn - Zahnarzt -> association/consociation

tooth - dentist -> dissociation

Kirche - kirchlich -> association/consociation

church - ecclesiastical -> dissociation

[jasima]

I love the ASL Deaf emoji. I really wanna see a BSL version of the same thing - which is the same / very similar with two fingers (often-times it just stays on the ear too).

Fun fact in BSL (and related languages) the sign🧏🏼‍♀️ means hearing.

deaf sign and blind symbol emojis! requested by anon (link)!

please correct me if there are better symbols to use! thank you!!

feel free to use in your servers but do credit me!

[jasima]

You should care about disabled people because you should care about people.

[jasima]

NEUROPUNK

What is neuropunk? Neuropunk is a community for neurodivergent people (autism, adhd, epilepsy, dyspraxia and so many more) with a flair of punk politics and subculture. This means not giving a fuck what others think, radically accepting your situation and unapologetically being yourself.

What might you post in the neuropunk tag?

Posts looking for community and solidarity and to connect with one another

People sharing their experiences

People sharing their aids such as headphones, earplugs, tinted glasses that help with dyslexia, sunglasses, stim toys, compression vests, gloves, soft clothing and more

Brand recommendations for sensory safe clothing and aids

Tips for apps that can help us

Crowdfunding efforts and mutual aid

Unfortunately, the neuropunk tag is currently just people arguing over cpunk. Come on guys, we can do better than that! Let’s work on making this community work for us instead of invading established spaces.

For mentally ill folk, check out madpunk and for an autistic specific tag, check out autipunk.