#pfeffa

[words-for-cat-bracket]

WFC S2 - ROUND 2 - WEEK 3 - 8 of 8

shat (French) vs pfeffa (Lapine)

info and propawganda under the cut!

shat - no IPA

pronounced wrong

pfeffa - no IPA

Although never stated in the book, it's clearly onomatopoeic, and unlike all human words of similar origin, it's based not on meowing but on hissing. I like that, very cool and makes sense for a prey animal.

[pfeffaroo]

just found your blog, is your username a reference to watership down? i noticed it’s pfeffa (cat)+roo (little) so is it intended to be kitten in Lapine? if so i think that’s really cool :)

Yes, you got it! :)

[the-colours-system]

^ look. Pfeffa (cat). for you

A cat!

Yay I love cats!

[sharkrad08222222]

an engined man thing you Silflay hraka Pfeffa

[apatheticfluorescence]

just saw a vid with a cat crying with tubes in its nose and sad normie music playing and it made me tear up 

[amber-tortoiseshell]

I too am a tortie leafpool believer <3 you're so correct

Thanks, you're very correct too <3

Also check out my favourite tortie leafpool art

[ailuronymy]

Do you any advice for including conlang in a Warriors fanfic? I really like the way books such as Watership Down include conlang, but I don't want to end up going to far and making the fic impenetrable.

Hello there! I do have advice but the difficult part is that there’s a lot of advice to give re: conlangs and how do they so work, and one post is not a lot of space to give it in, so this might get a little crowded. Sorry in advance about that. 

I’ve talked about conlang a lot on this blog already, so I’ll start by linking some of that to you in case any of it is helpful: here, here, here, here. 

It seems to me--and please correct me if I’m wrong--that you’re asking not how to make a conlang, but how to introduce it to your readers in your writing? I personally feel that one way to help you keep your work balanced and not overwhelming is to imagine that you are actually translating your story to your reader, rather than purely writing it. 

What I mean by that is that when you translate a work, your job is twofold: to make the meaning of the text in language 1 clear to the reader of language 2 and, wherever possible, to maintain authenticity (tone and connotations especially) of the original in the new work. That means, wherever a word can be translated without losing crucial meaning, it should be translated from language 1 to language 2, sometimes even when the exact meanings aren’t quite synonymous. 

For example, konnichiwa (Japanese) can be translated as “hello” or “good afternoon” and both would be “correct” translations. The work of the translator in these moments is to figure out which translation (hello or good afternoon) is most true to the intention and/or meaning of the original text.

However, the other side of this practice is untranslatable experiences. These are words that exist only in language 1 and not language 2, usually because they are too specific and often culturally significant to that time and place. Not always, of course! There are always exceptions. But when a word is “untranslatable”, it’s usually because it’s saying something unique about the environment it comes from and therefore translating it to language 2 is either impossible to do or can only be translated in a way that would be misleading or inauthentic. 

To give an example of that, I would say yorishiro (Japanese) is not easily translatable as a single word or concept. It takes sentences to explain what it is in English and there is no English equivalent of this word, because it is conceptually and culturally unfamiliar in many ways. Attempts at substituting English concepts in place of it--i.e., potential spirit house--don’t really capture the full extent of the word’s meaning, and falls a little flat in my personal opinion. 

When writing your stories, I find it can help to keep this in mind and think like a translator. Ask yourself: what parts of your world are untranslatable? Those spots are the places where your conlang needs to be, because you are providing language for what would otherwise be inexpressible in English. 

Conlang can also be used as an excellent world-building technique too--whether to obscure information (use a new term and don’t explain it until later, let your reader wonder and speculate for a while); to implicitly provide details about the world (i.e., in Northern Lights, “experimental theology” is used in place of the word “physics,” which tells you a lot about the setting); or to build the flavour and realism of the world (i.e., homba in Watership Down doesn’t actually tell you anything about the setting itself, because it’s an exact translation for the English word “fox”, but used in conjunction with all the other animal names--hawock, lendri, pfeffa, yona, etc.--and especially the fact they conjugate as plural--pfeffil, yonil--you get a sense of the sounds and rules of Lapine and that helps it comes across as a real, grounded language). 

If you’re ever really stuck with it, I can recommend thinking about it from a craft perspective--i.e., ask yourself “what it this detail doing? why am I using this here?” Be critical about the work as a work that you’re intentionally constructing to get a particular reaction or create a certain experience. If you can justify the choice you’ve made with each bit of conlang you’ve added, then you’ve probably made a good choice! 

I hope some of this is helpful for you! A lot of figuring out what works with conlang in your story is going to come from just playing around with it and deciding what you like--and also what’s friendly and interesting to your readers, so when in doubt, I can recommend looking for a beta reader or two! Asking them about their experiences of reading your work can help you hone your story to what you want it to be. Good luck with it, and if there’s any other questions you’ve got, shoot them my way and I’ll do my best to answer! 

Also, final note: a lot of my thoughts around translation and language come from Umberto Eco’s theories, so please take a look at Experiences in Translation if this topic is interesting to you!

[lepurcinus]

Honestly true. I like the concept of conlangs and languages but over time I realized how annoying it can be when this is abused.

Tailchaser song for example is too abusive with the use of language and it becomes tiresome and confusing.

It also annoys me a bit because they tend to be too uncreative with the names usually making the animals talk like cavemen using overly simple compound words for things that should be familiar.

Like a wolf calling the deer "twig head" and the rabbit "long ears"? That's pretty dumb. If it's not important that they have a proper name use the normal name and that's it.

Watership Down did something and that is that they are UNIQUE WORDS and besides they are for things that rabbits have to have a name for.

Badger is Lendri and Fox is Homba, they are not “striped face” and “red fur”. It makes sense that they have names because they are the wild animals that prey on rabbits the most (in the UK at least). The cat is called Pfeffa however that name is rarely used and mostly it is cat, domestic cats are also animals that prey on rabbits often but their familiarity is not as close. Hedgehog is Yona because it is also a familiar animal.

Then there are the terms for things that are relevant to rabbits. Going outside to eat? Silflay?

The feces that rabbits produce after their nutrient reingestion? Hraka (sounds silly but considering that rabbits are practically eating all the time it makes sense that they have a name for it)

The unpleasant scent of the fox related also to bad smells in general? Embleer

You can even form sentences and understand a bit of the language by combining these words, and you understand it without having to look up a glossary.

Silflay and flayrah talk about food and both have "flay" in them, you know it means food.

Same for names, not all rabbits have Lapine names and the ones that do usually mean something relevant that you could memorize.

Hrair-roo mixes the Hrair which explained that they don't count more than 4 and you have Roo which is a suffix for something small.

Pipkin is called Hlao-roo and you know it is also in reference to it being small and a hole.

Thlayli for Bigwig's hair and is complemented by Hyzenthlay which also references her hair.

And the motor objects that the rabbits don't understand are called "Hruduru" because it is the onomatopoeia of the noise they make. It's not "Big running stone" or something like that

Things like that then make phrases like Bigwig's insult to Wounwort make sense and have an effect.

The Lapine isn't just an embellishment of the world IT COMPLEMENTS IT. It adds more familiarity to the viewer about the world of rabbits.

Most xf who try to copy this don't get it and think it's just giving silly, over-explaining animal terms to any nonsense for no reason.

One thing that I have mixed feelings on in xenofiction is when the characters have unique terminology for certain things within their world, because sometimes they make sense and sometimes they don't.

In The Land Before Time, it makes perfect sense for them to use common names like "Sharptooth" and "Threehorn" because they obviously wouldn't be using latin/greek based scientific names invented by mammals that won't exist for another 66+ million years. But, words like "treestar" and "The Great Circle" feel a bit more forced. Why not just say "leaf" and "sun"?

Same goes for Warriors. I think "thunderpath" and "monster" make sense because they're very unnatural things, and their actual purpose is unknown to the cats. But it bugs me when they don't just use "spring/summer/autumn/winter" for the seasons.

And "twoleg" seems unnecessary also. It's not uncommon for xenofiction to allude to humans through pseudonyms, but I don't really know why... I would think humans would be ubiquitous enough for feral cats to just call them that. Even Wings of Fire does this, which is odd because "scavenger" is the only unique term for a real-world creature Wings of Fire has. And Guardians of Ga'Hoole... well I don't remember if they had a name for humans, but they would have an actual excuse because humans are extinct in that world (though they do straight up just use scientific names in those books). Watership Down just calls them "men", so that's nice.

Watership Down probably does it best, because they do have their own names for things, but they also use the regular names. The only exception might be "Frith" but that works with the world because the rabbits believe the sun to be the creator god.

[sparkylurkdragon]

First episode of the Watership Down Netflix miniseries is looking gooood so far.

The closed captions are a little dodgy - I think they must be based on the script rather than the final line readings - and a few of the changes have made me go 'hmm', but mostly they seem to be in good service of the adaptation and I don't have any major problems with them yet. It's all trivia about a new take on the story rather than 'oh Frith and Inlé what the hell were you thinking' to me, which is better than what little I know about the cartoon series.

More spoilery thoughts below the fold!

I'm surprised they already reached Watership Down by the end of the first episode! But, no, they've hit all the important beats on the way. I've known this story for so long that I'm never quite sure how long it takes.

The most major  material change for me is Bigwig already using the -rah suffix with Hazel, right when the reach the Down; I could have sworn he indeed only does that when he 'stops fighting' after the climax, like he grumbled about when they first left Saddleford.

"Corva/Corvil" as a Lapine word seems kind of an ill fit in the language, but I did like an inclusion of a Lapine word for 'crow'. (Kind of wish we'd heard 'pfeffa' alongside 'homba' in the tale of the Blessing, though!)

And I was kind of disappointed we didn't get Bigwig mistaking Holly for the Black Rabbit.

All the other little changes I'm fine with so far, from how exactly the Blessing of El-ahrairah went to the Saddleford Owsla prompting Blackberry's understanding of floating to Strawberry getting a gender swap. (Though that second one makes me wonder how "There's a dog loose in the wood" will show up/how Fiver gives Hazel that idea, if he does.) And oooooh the Warren of Shining Wires gave me chills. That entire sequence is one of my favourites in the story and it was certainly done justice here.

I'm enjoying myself so far! :D

[words-for-cat-bracket]

WFC S2 - ROUND 3 - WEEK 2 - 4 of 8

ឆ្មា (Khmer) vs pfeffa (Lapine)

info and propawganda under the cut!

ឆ្មា (chmaa) /cʰmaː/

short and sweet. very fun to say. chma chma chma !!!

pfeffa - no IPA

Although never stated in the book, it's clearly onomatopoeic, and unlike all human words of similar origin, it's based not on meowing but on hissing. I like that, very cool and makes sense for a prey animal.

[antioceas]

Once closer to the snacks - with a sudden realization of just how hungry she was - Bluebonnet promptly went to work making herself a plate - all vegetarian. Funnily enough, meat had a tendency to not sit well with bunnies - especially when they were more likely to end up on the plate than not. In the back of her mind, something reminded Bluebonnet that cats - pfeffa - weren't exactly usually friends of her kind.

For the moment, it would seem she was still safe. Time to put that all behind her.

" I... do not know! " Bluebonnet answered after only the briefest pause to search her memory, " I must be on a nice little stroll and ended up here. How delightful. " One didn't need to know Bluebonnet's tells (such as the twitch of her nose and the way her eyes never fully focused before her) to tell this was barely the truth. That even Bluebonnet didn't believe it. After all, it was a rather ridiculous story.

" What about you? What are you doing in the city? Or do you live here? " Bluebonnet popped a cheese bite into her mouth, chewing politely as she watched Uta down champagne. That actually sounded quite nice...

" Could you flag me down some champagne? " Once again, her height proved a problem.

"No trouble at all." Uta found the experience of lifting a talking bunny quite novel. While in human form, people have coerced him to lift other creatures in the past, from his own kind (terrible idea), to guinea pigs, to human babies (not as bad as he imagined, actually). This Bluebonnet was quite light, warm, and very fluffy.

"Those smoked fish crackers were quite good," he said, "as well as the cheese pastries. They're refilling them almost faster than they can be eaten - they must have centipedes in the kitchen, don't you reckon?"

Once they've gotten enough snacks, he sat Bluebonnet upon a free stool. He could now resume his consumption of as many flutes of champagne as he could manage. "So what brings you to the city, Miss Bluebonnet?" asked Uta after a leisurely sip. "I can't imagine that this is an easy place to do whatever business that bunnies have to do."

[words-for-cat-bracket]

had some free time before my class so all the polls are made and ready to go, but before i publish them i thought i would try and get some propawganda for the words that don't have it! (and perhaps the ones without IPA too but that's secondary)

under the cut is all the words without propawganda and IPA. if you have some for any of the words, send me an ask or a message and i'll add it! of course you can always send me an ask with propawganda or additional information about any words, not just the ones on this list :3

these words have no propawganda:

cat (English)

chaton (French)

číča (Czech)

gato (Spanish)

gib (English)

katjie (Afrikaans)

kattunge (Norwegian)

killing (Danish)

kissanpentu (Finnish)

kočičák (Czech)

kočička (Czech)

kočka (Czech)

kóčka (Sorbian)

kocour (Czech)

kocourek (Czech)

kocur (Polish)

koťátko (Czech)

kotě (Czech)

míca (Czech)

micka (Czech)

Mieze (German)

moggy (British English)

molly (English)

puss (English)

pussy (English)

queen (English)

tom (English)

кот (Russian)

חתול (Hebrew)

ድሙ (Tigrinya)

猫 (Japanese)

these words have no IPA:

Büsi (Swiss German)

kāsakaeh (Menomini)

katjie (Afrikaans)

kattunge (Norwegian)

kisumisu (Finnish)

kočičák (Czech)

mëoi (Elvish)

meowbeast (Alternian)

mië (Acehnese)

mimi (French)

minina (Spanish)

pfeffa (Lapine)

shat (French)

shitty shat (French)

ድሙ (Tigrinya)

බළලා (Sinhala)

බළල් පැටියා (Sinhala)

三毛猫 (Mandarin)

[apatheticfluorescence]

This was like 4+ years ago but I miss my cat pfeffa he was attacked by a dog or coyote and I had to take him to the vet that night it was horrible. I just heard the song that I think I was listening to when it happened and it just brought up so much shit. I'm so bad with grief or loss I don't think I've ever properly recovered from things like this and it shows because I still feel something akin to guilt about it. I don't think I really know how to process some things at all like in the beginning it's difficult and gets more distant with time which is fine... But long after the event, when I think of it I often realize that it still lives in me and I can't change what happened or how it effect(s)(ed). there's a bandwidth to trauma over time.

[patmaabimajnuwn]

we are doing mischief

[apatheticfluorescence]

miss my cat pfeffa. he'd know what to do

[apatheticfluorescence]

Pfeffa.. I miss and love u buddy here’s to you

this pic from 2015

goodnight