#fa: language

[felis-artis]

Language; The Vigils

I'm writing this post in one of the largest languages known globally. Cette phrase est écrite en français. Everyone in society knows a form of language, spoken or not, and that is special. It shows the growth of our species.

How does this growth fit into this project?

The evolution of language is the evolution of history. Plain and simple. From artwork on cavern walls, to carved stones, to papyrus, to paper, and, eventually, to the very screen you are reading this on.

Development of communication was one of the three things that made humanity what it is today. Communication is very interesting in non-linguistic aspects as well. Pheromones and chemicals define how bugs exist. Community defines how animals move and migrate. It's all important, and even the way humanity communicates has changed so much compared to everything else.

Language depth is a thing I want to work with in Felis-Artis. These cats have complex ideas and religion that had to have been conveyed somehow, ignoring the fact they speak fluently for a moment. They'll cook and joke and laugh, and I want to dive into that form of art. Language.

Of course, you can't talk about languages in Warriors projects without brining up Babenfew's (Bonefall's) Clanmew or Redux Iterum's work with language.

My passing interest in language was sparked by these works. My first foray into these conlangs. I've since learned toki pona, so it'll be a better experience :)

This is the basic masterpost for every language post I'll make. I want to keep this one updated more than my others, because it's meant to be constantly updated.

FELIS ARTIS LANGUAGES:

Language Tree and Evolution

Vigilspeak

Creoles: → Vigilspeak / Towngrowl → Liongrowl / Tribemew → Tribemew / Vigilspeak

Towngrowl

Tribemew

Liongrowl

---

VIGILSPEAK INFORMATION:

How did it come to be?

Who speaks it?

Vocabulary

Grammar

--

.

CREOLE LANGUAGES:

Vigilspeak / Towngrowl: Known as "Townspeak"

How did it come to be?

Who speaks it?

Vocabulary

Grammar

--

.

Liongrowl / Tribemew: Known as "Lionmew" or "Prideroar"

How did it come to be?

Who speaks it?

Vocabulary

Grammar

--

.

Tribemew / Vigilspeak: Known as "Storm's Speak"

How did it come to be?

Who speaks it?

Vocabulary

Grammar

--

.

TOWNGROWL INFORMATION:

How did it come to be?

Who speaks it?

Vocabulary

Grammar

-

.

TRIBEMEW INFORMATION:

How did it come to be?

Who speaks it?

Vocabulary

Grammar

-

.

LIONGROWL INFORMATION:

How did it come to be?

Who speaks it?

Vocabulary

Grammar

-

.

---

Questions about any language are ALWAYS OPEN! They will take longer than my other posts, of course, but they are open!

[felis-artis]

mr malicious smiler sir! care to elaborate about crowtongue (the boy) and crowtongue (language)? is crowtongue (the boy) associated with crows?

yes!

When the Firetwins enter the forest for the first time, they get lost. Hopelessly so. In annoyance, Tiny, in his annoyance, hisses out a swear word in Corvidclaw, which their mothers taught them both, as per tradition. Smokepaw, who had been stalking them for a while, thinks it to be a call for reinforcements in Crowtongue, and absolutely bodies Tiny. Full on tackles him, to which Rusty brutally attacks and wounds Smokepaw before fleeing.

Bluestar named Crowpaw that for his color, having no idea of what transpired at the border. Such a small thing. Later, when she's told of what happens, she huffs a small laugh and says nothing else.

At the ceremony, the newly named Crowtongue fumes quietly. He wants to be treated with respect, not named after his crush's linguistic fumble. Prairieclaw, noticing this, allows Crowtongue to vent. Soon, they're close.

It burns.

Crowstar practices his Corvidclaw a lot once he becomes leader. He teaches Tigerbeetle a lot of what he knows, and encourages them to learn more from the birds around the territory.

Crowstar's last words spoken in Corvidclaw translate to a native saying, directly translating to "Blackbird-thoughts" but meaning "Your thoughts are cluttered". He says it to himself as he walks to the beach.

[felis-artis]

how different are the languages from each other? are there many cognates or have they diverged too significantly?

In Felis Artis, language evolved across the globe with four big sections, huge language families that encompass thousands of them:

Primates (Humans are the only example in this category)

Mammals (Cats and Dogs, alongside a select few other species)

Aquatic creatures (Fish and amphibians)

Reptiles

Human language in this universe evolved first, with the final language family to evolve into existence being that of reptiles. Mammals and Aquatic creatures evolved a few thousand years after each other, which is surprising in those in anthropology, but I digress.

Mammal languages converge a LOT based on species. The length of a muzzle, amount of teeth, muscles in the face, and lips (or lack thereof) can impact how a language sounds, and therefor makes it harder to understand without something to help with it, like a translator or something of the like.

I should also note that the smarter birds (Corvids and some parrots) are in this category. Not because they are mammals, but because their languages are mammalian in origins.

I've made a handy little chart for the mammalian language family :)

Note, I forgot to add Modern Tribemew to this tree. It's meant to be on the little edge/outcropping that Towngrowl has before merging into Townspeak. Whoops!

It stems from Barkgrowl, a language spoken by wolves, before humans. As you can see, it was the first language in the family spoken, and evolved into all of languages.

To answer your question anon, yes, there are many cognates. Sometimes it's hard to tell, but most languages share a solid 40% of their syllables and basic affixes from Barkhowl, and also nearby languages. Towngrowl slowly began to diverge into Straytalk and Townspeak once the Vigils left the area, and it's language pool is pretty similar.

Once Felinepurr evolved into Old Tribemew, the influx of domestic cats began to pour into the territories and the Vigils began to form, thus the huge amount of divergences in the area, but it also became a problem. Very quickly. I'll get into why in another post when I have the time, but it's quite interesting :)