language observations in twst
Just a series of things I've noticed over the years! The topic was on my mind again since it came up recently in Little Big Adventure.
Twst seems to have its own set of languages which do not exist on Earth.
An unknown magical force automatically translates everything Yuu reads and hears into an Earth-based equivalent language so they can understand it. I assume that everything Yuu writes and/or says is also automatically translated into the Twst common tongue. This is hinted at in the light novel, but not in other adaptations.
Certain countries and/or areas in Twst seem to correlate with certain languages in the real world. For example, Ultramarine City has many Italian words, Fleur City/the City of Flowers has many French words, etc.
There's a common tongue (literally called Common) that is used to communicate across cultures and languages. (We don't have names for any other Twst language.) In most cases, the main cast and/or NPCs are speaking Common.
Speaking Cat seems to involve coordination of both vocalizations and hand/paw movements. We see examples of this in Azul (book 3) and in Ruggie's Dorm Uniform groovy.
Fae are able to infuse their voices with magic so that they can instantly communicate with other kinds of fae, even if their dialects or actual spoken languages are different.
An ancient nocturnal fae dialect sounds like animalistic growling and screeching.
Diurnal fae (at least the smaller pixies) speak in what sounds like tinkling bells to the human ear.
It's rare to find speakers of fae in modern day, but fae languages are considered proud and noble traditional languages. I have to wonder if this linguistic rarity is, in part, due to the colonization of Briarland. (That is to say, Briarland being conquered result in nocturnal fae culture and language being subdued and erased?)
It's difficult for the human ear to make sense of the nocturnal fae's language(s), as humans' hearing range is very narrow compared to otehr animals. It seems that just having some fae blood (like Sebek does) can allow you to detect minute sounds that a human wouldn't be able to.
Not all animal languages are made equal. Apparently, Mouse is more difficult because there is a significant size difference between humans and rodents. (Smaller voices are harder to hear, so it's hard for humans to detect subtle pronunciation.)
It sounds like Animal Linguistics increase in complexity as your year level increases. For example, third years like Trey know more Mouse than first and second years.
Chipmunk is also stated to be a difficult language, and, in retrospect, I wonder if that's because of the size difference thing.
Hedgehogs can understand mole, and I assume vice-versa. Ace states in his Dorm Uniform vignettes that these animals share an order (Eulipotyphla), so this seems to imply linguistic similarities in animals that share an order. Maybe they're even considered slightly different dialects?
According to Jack, not all beastmen speak and/or understand the language(s) of the animal they share DNA with.
I wonder if it's ONLY arcane academies that teach Animal Linguistics, since it doesn't sound like you need to use magic to speak the language of an animal...
What languages does NRC teach, and to what extent??? In the real world, it can take one person several years to master a single language, yet it sounds like there is a single Animal Linguistics course that covers multiple languages. But surely that can't be the case???? You would never be able to get to even a basic conversational level considering the rich variety of animals you'd have to cover over the course of just a few years.
Does the bond between a mage and their familiar override the need to communicate using Animal Linguistics? I've never seen Trein communicate with Lucius in Cat, yet Lucius still seems to perfectly understand Trein. Does Lucius just understand him because they've been together since he was a kitten? Cuz the chipmunks don't seem to understand human Common at all, even though they appear to live in a tree in Foothill Town, constantly around humans.
If humans can learn animal languages, can animals learn human languages???
Do merfolk have their own languages which are hard for non-mer to learn because of how mers’ bodies have adapted to producing sounds underwater and with fish parts?
Do beastmen and fae have an easier time picking up Animal Linguistics since their hearing is more sensitive than that of a human?
