Questions tagged [language]
For questions about the written or spoken language of a world.
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What kinds of phonemes can a race with penguin-like barbs be able to make or not?
Click to enlarge. Photo courtesy ???.
They are omnivores that can eat small plants, seeds, fruits, bugs, and small animals, and sometimes carrion, but they also eat fish during certain times of the ...
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How could I get two characters who speak different languages to the point where they can effectively communicate without a translator? [closed]
In my fantasy novel, I have two main languages (for the sake of this question I'll refer to them as the "Old Language" and the "New Language". The main character grew up isolated ...
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What sounds are most practical under conditions of low pressure, large spaces, and low temperature [closed]
This is for a very isolated group of humans living uncontacted for several thousand years. Obviously language is going to change and evolve beyond their native English over the generations (as will ...
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How could humans communicate with sapient elephants?
[PLEASE READ] After some consideration, I have decided to abandon this question as I have not gotten the answers I hoped for initially and cannot edit the parameters without invalidating one or more ...
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Would it be reasonable to assume writing systems would change drastically over the next 100,000 or more years?
On the one hand, 100,000 years is a pretty damn long time, I mean just look at how drastically writing systems have evolved over the past 5,000 years of their existence. On the other hand, since ...
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Limited list of words for a text or glyph-based messaging system
I'm building a world for a Pathfinder (TTRPG) mystery/political campaign, where I have a city that is a trading hub for shipping. I'm toying with the idea of having a glyph-based messaging system - ...
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Could an Alien decipher human languages using only comms traffic?
Could a hiding alien ship decipher all of our languages only using the comms traffic of our civilization without our cooperation(assuming our civilization has expanded across the solar system, to the ...
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Opposite 'Fire Magic'?
Not 'Ice Magic'. Ice is just frozen water and fire magic goes beyond water. But, for the sake of explaining in this question, let's go with "Ice Magic".
In a world where these two magics are ...
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How to make a sign language that only uses three fingers
I'm not sure if this is too broad, but a character I have in my story is mute. This character only has three fingers on each hand. They probably aren't going to be able to use ASL or other sign ...
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Is it possible for a humanoid to learn English within a few days, just from observing conversations?
A humanoid woman from another planet accidentally stumbles through a portal to 2024 Earth. I want her to be able to learn English in just a few days from overhearing my characters speak. Is there any ...
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The rebirth of a language from a group of mute people
I am toying around with a corner case of a well explored scenario: post apocalyptic world human re-population.
The added complication this time is that the group of survivors, by a sheer strike of ...
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How many distinct colors would tetrachromatic birds have?
I'm creating a world where the primary conscious species are essentially just ravens. Birds, in general, have tetrachromatic sight (extending in the UV range), meaning they see 4 base colors. My ...
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Do language-builders construct a system for new words?
When world builders are building a fictional language, do they typically create a mass of words in order for it to be useable or do they create a system for crafting new words from English?
Example: ...
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How would computers develop in a society where a Cherokee-like language is the dominant lingua franca?
I am writing a book set in a parallel universe where English is not the dominant language and the dominant language is a complex polysynthetic language that makes use of a complex system of word ...
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How Would Linguists Plan to Overcome the Language Barrier in a First Contact
A spaceship is headed for Earth. We detected it with a few months' warning. Messages have been sent to and received from the ship by radio, but we haven't deciphered anything they've said, and don't ...
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