We should definitely talk about the linguistic differences between iterations, especially with the massive differences with their mythology.
IDW/MTMTE Megatron of Tarn derived his name from a bomb, specifically a neutron, so he's Megatronbomb of Tarn.
Then there's TFP Megatron, who consistently emphasizes himself as a gladiator from the Pits of Kaon... and taken his name from Megatronus, the Fallen. Not only the mech had the balls to take the Devil's name as his own (aka Lucifer), but eventually shortened it after he took his message to Cybertron's main political arena.
I doubt TFP Megatron wanted to completely separate his name from the very Prime that managed to fight all others to a standstill, so his shortened name in Neocybex would most likely bear the subglyphs of the relationship, like Megatronof the Fallen. It's both mockery and invocation. Rather than wait for the High Council to 'grace' him permission to search for the Matrix, he reaches out and bestows a titled Prime's designation on himself. If it was truly blasphemous, then the Fallen should have struck him down and swallowed him in the Pits.
It's not hard to figure out that, upon encounter with humans, cybertronians had to adapt their speech for us to be able to understand them. They also had to translate their names and give them vocalization patterns that otherwise could be not understandable or replicable by humans.
Now, let's take a step back and try to figure out how cybertronians would communicate vocally between one another:
Their speech patterns would consist mainly of mechanical noises, such as engine whirring, screeches, clanking, chirping, popping, hissing, and many more. You can refer to this article for a more detailed list of noises.
These sounds don't come just from their mouths (or intakes if you want to use the correct cybertronian term), but their whole bodies, as their many different mechanical components are an integral part of this array of noises. Humans do communicate through body language, but we don't look at someone cracking their knuckles or popping their elbow and go "understandable, have a great day". To us, these noises mean nothing. To cybertronians, they constitute an integral part of communication. However, no cybertronian would be able to assign a meaning to the noise of a human joint popping, simply because that very peculiar noise does not exist in cybertronian language.
This said, cybertronians hence communicate with vast vocalizations coming from their whole bodies. And they can mix them, too. A whir and a clicking sound separately mean two different things, together they have a whole new meaning that might be an entire phrase. This process is similar to some human languages too. For example, linguists out there come help me, in Japanese the word for teacher "先生" is composed of two kanjis that, alone, have two different meanings: "先" meaning "previous" and "生" meaning "life". HOWEVER, in this case the two noises are replicated one after another.
In Cybertronian language, 3 different things can happen:
2 sounds are made separately, they mean two separate things;
2 sounds are made one after another, they constitute a phrase;
2 sounds are made at the same time and overlap, they now compose one new unique sound that means something else entirely.
Of course, humans are only able to make one sound at a time, so replicating the overlapping sounds is impossible. For this reason, cybertronians must find a way to convey complex meanings in their language in a way that is possible for humans to comprehend. Most importantly, they need to translate their names in human language, closely enough that the original meaning isn't lost.
This magnificent post here explained how this process might occur, and offered a unique way to convey meaning into cybertronian names.
I might make another post on how cybertronian names are born, but that's a talk for another time.
For now, let's focus on the NAME STRUCTURE.
Starscream, for example. Again, refer to the aforementioned post. His name roughly translates to "he who screams in defiance of death". Another possibile translation could be "he who screams (at the stars) in defiance of death". Now we might be overcomplicating things, but imagine if there's a particular verb in cybertronian language that precisely refers to screaming as in "screaming to the sky/stars". Imagine Starscream's name contains that verb.
Do you follow? Good, let's overcomplicate it further. "Death" in cybertronian language might be one of those words whose sound can be used in overlap with other words, is often used alone due to its importance. The noun for death is, however, used in overlap with adjectives / verbs. If we keep following that logic, we can conclude that Starscream's name is composed of two consecutive sounds, one meaning "screaming to the stars" (one sound) and another being "in defiance of death / death being defied" (two overlapping sounds, coming out as one). Okay, the hard part is out. If you've kept up until now, you'll have no issues understanding the rest.
How would cybertronians be able to translate this complex name? They have no choice but to butcher it a bit, and since "death screamer" or "death defier" don't sound appealing, they chose to cut off the death part completely and keep the verb with its extended meaning "screaming to the stars". Ladies and gents and everyone in between, that's how "Starscream" is born.
The name phonetics are kept as closely accurate to the original sound as possible.
There are, thank Primus, names that don't contain overlapping noises and can be somewhat pronounced by humans. However, keep in mind that Cybertronian is a very sound-oriented language much like Chinese or Arab. Your vocalization must be precise or else it might take on a whole new meaning.
For example, let's imagine "Tarn" is pronounced with a single noise, or two or more consequential noises, that sound simple enough to the human ear. Phonetically speaking, it'd come out as:
the sound of engines turning on;
a very loud and grating revving noise;
and finally the natural noise of engines stopping.
It'd come out as "T-rrrrrrrrrrr-nh". It is pronounceable by humans precisely? Hell no, but you might be able to come close with a throaty sound and a rolling R. If the noise you just made is close enough to get a phonetical pass, congrats! You can now speak 0.0000000000001% Cybertronian. Don't do that in front of the decepticon fanatic though, he might not appreciate anyway.
Cybertronian language rarely contains vowels. Cybertronians on earth have adapted their names to contain vowels and make the sound more comprehensible (See the noise for "Tarn" not containing the "a").
A bunch on examples on how Cybertronian names might sound:
Megatron: Two revving noises (Me + Ga), only distinguishable by cybertronians, followed by a strong rrrrrrrrrrrr sound.
Arcee: A softer rrr sound, followed by chirping and shirieking overlapping noises, making up a "cee".
Bumblebee: The "bumble" part might be two consequential popping sounds.
I had some free time and tried to figure out a bit more about Old Cybertronian.
First, the alphabet is just a cypher for the English alphabet. Very fun for finding cute hidden messages, but not useful for finding the sounds each letter makes (unless you assume they’re pronounced like their English alphabet counterparts, which I do not).
Most of the examples of spoken Old Cybertronian in the comics is spoken by fluent speakers (like Vos and Cyclonus). As a result, their dialogue isn’t much help for phonetics either. However, we do get a bit of an insight when Cyclonus attempts to teach Tailgate a song. Mispronunciations in the dialogue of new speakers can give an understanding of which sounds a new speaker familiar with the descendant language might not be able to distinguish. These mistakes might mean the sounds of those letters are similar.
The song fragment we see Cyclonus teach can be deciphered as “I’VE GOT MY OWN” (Old Cybertronian doesn’t seem to have an upper and lower case). Tailgate’s first attempt is deciphered as “I’VE GOQMY RWN” (spacing is true to speech bubble). From this, we can see two things: 1) the “T” and “Q” sounds are easily conflated by new speakers, and 2) the “O” and “R” sounds are as well.
The “T” and “Q” conflation doesn’t seem to be that odd to me. In English, they’re both unvoiced aspirates made by blocking the flow of air through the mouth; the main difference is the location of that block (front of the mouth/teeth for “T,” back of the mouth/soft palate for “Q” and “K”). Though we don’t know what it would sound like, from this we can assume Old Cybertronian has at minimum one, likely more, distinct unvoiced aspirates.
“O” and “R” is different. It seems a little unusual for a vowel to be understood as a consonant… UNLESS that vowel is actually the result of a language that places greater emphasis on the voicing (movement of the vocal chords during pronunciation) of the consonant instead of viewing the consonant and vowel as distinct sounds. Perhaps, then, what readers might understand as an “oh” sound (like in “own”) is actually an “rrh” sound with voicing before it.
I think this focus on consonant sounds, their placement in the mouth/throat, and their voiced/unvoiced qualities makes sense for Old Cybertronian. Other examples of the language in the comics that don’t use the Old Cybertronian alphabet are almost always a string of consonants. On top of that, these sounds might be more easily replicated across Cybertronians with significantly different facial structures (lacking lips, animal heads, hollow cheeks, etc) by replacing them with more metallic sounds. Unvoiced, unaspirated stops could be made by tapping parts of the faceplate together. Aspirates are the same with a short burst of ventilation. Certain kinds of voicing could be made by rumbling engines, etc. We know there’s some kind of screeching and groaning involved, we just don’t know where or by what means
I couldn’t easily find more examples of characters learning Old Cybertronian, but if there are more, I’d love to see them! I’d like a larger sample pool to more accurately guess what it might sound like in real life.
Optimus Prime some cycles (meant as human days here for me) after Megatron and High Guard’s banishment from Iacon: “Well, well, well... if it isn’t my old friend: the dawning realization that I fragged up bad.”
Where do the names "Autobot" and "Decepticon" even come from? Are there any sort of root words that go with them?
Dear Etymology Enthusiast,
This answer is complicated by language barriers that span galaxies. As Galvatron alluded to—albeit in tones I would never use—Cybertronian words can be very linguistically dense; a translation that conveyed every nuance of our equivalent for "Autobot" would take over seventeen minutes for a human to say! As such, "Autobot" and "Decepticon" are only approximations of the neocybex names of these factions.
In many universes, my faction is named for the ideals of freedom and autonomy—hence, "Autobot" is derived from the term "autonomous". Sometimes this reflects a casting off of Quintesson rule or triumph over a caste system, but in other contexts—sometimes simultaneously—it reflects a darker facet of Cybertronian history. A famous bot once said that autonomy was a gift, a spark of sentience kindled by Primus himself. That bot's name was Nova Prime, and he used that belief to justify the subjugation of hundreds of alien worlds.
The suffix translated as "-bot" encompasses ideas such as "person", "individual", "independent agent". It could be considered an adaptation of the common English-language "man", of course—you might be familiar with the Aerialmen, the Dinomen, and the Sparkamen—but "bot" conveys that it most commonly refers to mechanical lifeforms. While typically used in the names of teams and factions, occasionally an individual might be called "Dinobot" or "Dreadbot"; such sobriquets can be seen as similar to a human being carrying a family name as their first name, such as "Jackson".
As for "Decepticon"… much has been said of the phrase "you are being deceived." In many universal clusters, this is indeed the earliest origin of the term. "Decepticon" suffers to a greater degree from the imperfections of localization. In many universes, Cybertronian language uses nuances related to subject and object that fail to translate, especially when neologism is concerned; "Decepticon" principally suggests "deceptive" in English, but in its original Cybertronix, the waveform can simultaneously be read as "the deceived".
The "-con" suffix is not dissimilar to "-bot", though it carries subtly but significantly different implications. "Person" is an adequate translation, but its meaning is much broader, not being restricted to living creatures; you may know of data-cons, information storage devices commonly used in my home reality. The closest equivalent to the suffix in your language would be "entity"—or, more bluntly, "thing". As such, the translation "-con" is derived from your language's "construct", a created object or idea.
The reasoning for the use of this suffix varies across the multiverse. On versions of Cybertron where Functionism took hold, Cybertronians of lower labor castes, or with alternate modes considered fit only for use by others, were more likely to have "con" names or be assigned categories like "Constructicon", "Agricon" or "Recordicon". Conversely, in universes where the Decepticons originate as a military junta, the use of "-con" carries the suggestion of component; all Decepticons are considered to be a part of Megatron's war machine. These implications, of course, carry over to the Mini-Cons. While I am proud to count Safeguard as a friend and partner, for much of my world's history, Decepticon and Autobot alike treated his kind as "smart tools", as mere objects to be collected. Regardless, the Great War created extreme political polarization of the "-con" suffix, and nearly no self-described Autobot adopts it; even as Decepticons freely use "bot" to describe themselves, "con" is almost exclusively used by Autobots as a term of animosity.
One more suffix you may have heard of is "-tron"; here, the root is "positron"—which, before the introduction of microscope alt-modes, we simply understood to be the stuff of sparks. The Cybertron factions of realities like the G1 World and BT World draw their names from a well of indigeneity; unlike the invading, colonizing Quintessons, the Cybertrons are the true sparks of the planet and derive their name thus. The Destrons, then, are destructive sparks who oppose the planet. Naturally, "-bot" and "-con" recur in these worlds too, following similar etymological patterns.
So, in season 4 ep 11 Blades keeps insisting that the plural of the word "moose" should be "meese" or "meeses", even though he's proven wrong by Francene's Alexa-type thing she has on her phone.
This made me think. What if almost every word in modern cybertronian has a plural form?
So I came up with this symbol (why in hell is the image file so large???)
This symbol roughly signifies "many" or "lots of" and is added at the end of the word if you desire to make a plural form of it, also changing the pronunciation.
This is what made blades so confused. All words in cybertronian have a different sounding plural form.
