Kevin's Watch

It seems that fewer attempts are made in the First Chronicles than in some other fantasy works to acknowledge that the languages of the Land are different from those of the "real" world. In terms of Unbelief, this makes sense. (Our dream characters usually speak our own language, though I've had a few heartbreaking exceptions where an entire dream was in Haruchai and I understood it without translation, but couldn't remember a single syllable in the morning...I digress!)

Yet I found it surprising that beyond the fascinating names for people and things, and the baroque richness of Donaldson's prose, even the languages of "foreigners" to the Land--Ramen, Haruchai, Giants--are given little narrative acknowledgment.

And the linguistic implications of Vow-extended life aren't considered. Irrespective of telepathy, Tull and Korik could apparently understand each other's speech--imagine if I tried to talk to a speaker of whatever was the ancestor of Modern English 2000 years ago. If the Bloodguard couldn't communicate telepathically with their people back in
the mountains (and the fierce nostalgia of Korik's musings in Gilden-Fire implies that they could not), then telepathy can't be invoked as a factor preventing their language from changing.

Well, the Haruchai must have been really lousy at languages - see, they had some 2000 years to learn and still could not shed their alien accents

Anyway, SRD is no Tolkien - it would've taken ages to prepare a believable and working language system; it would be fun, really, but the story does very well without it.

What SRD is really good at is calling up the subconscious of his readers by invoking names that feel vaguely familiar to anybody; combining elements and words from various languages from our world.

amanibhavam wrote:What SRD is really good at is calling up the subconscious of his readers by invoking names that feel vaguely familiar to anybody; combining elements and words from various languages from our world.

Or by calling up the subconscious by any other means. It's one of the things that creates broad appeal among readers, IMO. Works the same in other art forms, too.

Well, the Haruchai must have been really lousy at languages - see, they had some 2000 years to learn and still could not shed their alien accents

Could not, or would not. Maybe it's a cultural pride thing;
and/or maybe the common speech of the Land didn't fit their
conceptual categories well enough to be used for telepathy, so that
it remained forever their distant-second language.

If Linden ever attempts to learn Haruchai will some
native speaker tell her "Your accent is worse than a Sandgorgon's!"?

Most people will never be able to completely discard their original accent, no matter how long they're fluent in a language. A regional accent isn't so hard, but the more foreign the language, the less chance of sounding like a native if you learn after the age of eight or so. For example, Henry Kissenger. The man knows english better than %99 of the US population, but he will never be mistaken for a native speaker. It's a neurological thing.

Really, it would be surprising if the Haruchai lost their accent, as everything else points to them staying the same in almost all respects.

I see your point.