#Not just native accent variations

[amerasdreams]

EVERY accent is not only valid but cool and beautiful

[menlove]

I will say realizing I have a navajo accent on a lot of my sentences was really heartwarming

[spacelesbiandisaster]

My favorite Headcanons for the Togruta Species

And Shili

And Kiros (Kinda)

Biology

Togruta babies are called Cubs (because I think is a cute word and bc they are aliens after all. Also it translate well to my native language, so when I say Cub I thinking of the word "Filhote" and I'm well aware I probably mixing up translations here).

They live in small groups up to 500 members (but rarely more than that).

Note: I'm saying "small" because our smallest towns have 5.000 member's, but ancient Togruta lived in actual small groups with 50 members or less.

Togruta can grow anxious if they don't have a community around them. Their species were made to live in groups.

Togruta's Montrals are capable of hearing frequencies up to 200000 hz (similar to tigers and bats) and are able of echolocate close objects.

They also have powerful noses and can recognize people from their smell.

Their eyes have a peripheral vision of 200°, that combined with their hearing and flair make them the most powerful predator in Shili.

A adult Togruta eats about 1,5kg of meat every day. Ofc there's alternatives such a rations bars that can lower that amount, but considering they feeding exclusive with meat that's the right amount to maintain themselves health.

Togruta are strict carnivorous (this cannon, but I just want to reassure the idea)

The average height is 1,9 meters for Female and 2,5 meters for Males, counting with their Montrals.

Togruta can easily live up to 90 years, some even got to 120, but they rarely live much more than that. It's a little longer than most humans, but they don't come near Mirialan's lifespan of 250 years or Yoda species that basically turn into living fossils.

Males tend to have longer Montrals while Females have longer Lekkus.

They share 80% of their DNA with Akul (similar with how humans share 90% of our DNA with chimpanzee) what suggest they had a common ancestor.

Their vocal cords can mimic sounds to attract their prey and avert other predators (such as the Akul). Trogruta Cubs were specially good at this and it's not rare see them trying to imitate sounds they find curious or funny. This also means they were very talkative, if a Togruta Cubs is quiet something is terrible wrong.

Because of this trait Togruta are one off the few species capable of learning how to speak Ithorese and Shyriiwook, although their accent is told to be sloppy and child-like.

The muscles on their legs are the strongest on all their body. They were originally a migratory species, so they needed the extra force and speed.

Their gestation period is around 7 months, a little shorter than humans. But their Cubs grow faster and usually start walking around their five mouth after they were born. They development that trait so neither the mother or the Cub stays vulnerable for long.

Togruta skin color have multiple variations, but the more common are: Orange, purple, yellow and dark blue. This colors also appear on the stripes of their Montrals and Lekkus. The flash color scheme serve two purposes: It warn their predators they are a thread (like some snakes do, the vibrant colors usually scares predators away) and it's also a sign of their health.

Health togruta have stronger colors, the more vibrant their color are the more attract they were consider to be.

Togruta are usually monogamous and tend to spend their whole life with a single partner. This whoever is changing due cultural facts, current is not expected to a individual to stick to a single partner but it's a constant event on their community.

Hybrids between other species are rare, however it's uncertain if this is due their biology or they general lack of interest of breeding with other species.

Hybrids between Togruta and Twi'Lek were been recorded although their appearance are highly inconsistent. Usually they keep smaller version of the Montrals and their Lekkus are more similar with the Twi'Lek version, thus stopping growing at a certain length.

It's said they can have hybrids with human and humanoids species (such as, idk, Mirialans), but there isn't enough Togruta in the galaxy making out with humans to know exactly what that would look like.

They change the teeth twice during their lives, one time when they still cubs and another once they hit 60 ~ 70 years. This happens so they can maintain strong teeth for all their lives.

Their canine teeth are sharp ass hell, even more so when they are Cubs. This can be a problem because Togruta bite each other as a form of affection. Also it's not uncommon for them to leave bite marks in visible places on their partners. When other sentient species saw that they thought the marks were from fighting, but turns out it's from the opposite of fighting.

(Note: I saw some other writes with similar headcanons, specially in barrissoka fanfic, and it's cute! But I'm going to make a point here that they can easily kill small animals with their bite, so I get kinda nervous when people make Ahsoka bite Barriss's neck with "all her strength" because that would probably be enough to pierce her skin. So only small bites are allowed here, Barriss doesn't need die like that.)

Togruta's Montrals and Lekkus can turn shriveley if they are raised under stressing ambients. (That's why Ahsoka's Lekkus are so short for her age). Headcanon send by @kayberrie

History/Politics/Culinary

As I mentioned the Togruta were originally a migratory species, that means they used to made camps so they could hunt in certain areas and then move to another region once the resorts became scarce. This whoever changed with time as they learned to cycle their prey with the seasons.

This is a vague example, but during spring and summer they hunt Thimiars (a rodent species from Shili) and other small prey, but as the autumn comes they start to hunt bigger prey so they can store the meat for the winter. During the winter itself they fish. Base on that their villagers are usually construed near river and always with around the forest.

Unlike most of sentient life Togruta are against the domestication of animals, so to this day they still hunt for eat, however all the food (with exception of a few ritualistic hunts) are share with the whole village. So if they can't get food for a while they will start prioritize the children and the elderly while their adults focus on solving the problem.

A exception to that is the domestication of Shilidogs, a species of Tooka (relatives to Lothcats) the Togruta adopt as a companion. The Shilidogs keep pests way from the villages and are very good companions for children. Like a real dog.

Togruta development a way to dry the meat with a space salt (that I don't have a name for yet) so they don't have to throw away the rest of their meal.

Also they when they hunt they make sure to use every single part of the animal and are very against wasting food. The feet of the prey usually is transformed into soup (which they feed the babies and the elderly bc they believe it helps their bones to grow stronger), and the organs are smoked and eaten as a delicacy (god, I hope I used that word right).

As for the actual meat, they cook only with salt but don't you dare think it's blend or without taste! Think about a Brazilian barbecue, that's how it's like.

Once their society started to interact with other planets the Togruta became very close with Wookies and Ithorians mainly because of their ability of speaking Ithorese and Shyriiwook, but also because both of these species also live in forests and share similar values towards dealing with nature.

However their relationship with the Ithorians started pretty rough because when the Togruta first meet the species they believe to be prey animals. Which they kinda are... But this is all put in the past once the Jedi came and solve the misunderstanding.

Because of the Ithorians the Togruta learned how to make the own space ships without destroying their forests.

Because the Jedi help with their relationship with the Ithorians the Togruta respect their order very much and begin to send some of their Cubs to become Jedi.

With their population growth they decide to make a new colonie rather than open the forest to expend their villagers, that's how Kiros was born.

The government of Kiros and Shili are very different. The Togruta of Kiros adopt a lot of the republic politics and build their on government in reference, naming a Chanceller of their own and a senator to represent them to other planets.

Kiros also have big cities rather than the small villagers of Shili.

Talking about Shili government, they usually spread around the planet in small villagers led by a elder council. This villagers are independent but usually live with some level of collaboration, trading goods with each other.

Because they need to deal with other species now they do elect a senator and a small government situated in one of the few big cities they have, but Shili's Togruta couldn't care less about politics and usually let their colony on Kiros deal with all the trouble. If you go to a random village in Shili and ask the name of the senator chances are that most of the people will get it wrong.

Because of this trait most sentient species believe Togruta to be less intelligent, but that's not the case, they just have a different approach to politics.

Kiros is considered a mere extension of Shili, and although they have a more development government they still answers to the people of Shili.

Their economy with the republic are based on the commerce of healing herbs that they collect from their forests. They are far from being the richest being of the galaxy, but they gather enough money to buy the essentials for their survive.

Realistic they don't need much of outside resources anyway because the way they live it's pretty minimalist.

I already mentioned a few misunderstanding others species made while meeting Togruta for the first time, and there was a actual debate if Togruta could be considered a sentient species to begin with, but luckily for them both the Wookies and the Ithorians already faced similar problems and were able to help the Togruta introduce themselves properly to the rest of the galaxy.

Culture

As you problem can see, their society are very close to nature and try the best to not break the balance of the chain by hunting more than they need or building house in animals habitats.

They are usually led by their elder and wiser members, regardless of gender.

Both man and woman engage with all types of chores: Hunting, cleaning, taking care of the children, religion rituals, you name it!

I'm not finished writing their religion yet, but the have a vast pantheon of gods for various realms of adoration. Their most important gods are the a representation of the Sun, the Moon and the death, but I'm not going into details because I don't have any yet.

I mentioned that they don't like throwing away the rest of their prey, so they carve idols, toys and jewelry from the bones and make their clothes from the skin/leather.

Ancient Togruta also used bones to make weapons, nowadays this pieces are used in religious rituals.

Speaking of religion rituals, the hunt of Akul is exclusive made for religion purposes and it's considered a crime to kill a Akul without a reason.

The Togruta are very aware they had a common ancestor with the Akul so that's why they respect the animal so much.

When a child is given to the Jedi they first make a celebration with all the members of their village so everyone can say goodbye properly. It's a joy to have one of their own in the Jedi ranks, but it's also sad to some extent because of how close the communities are. That Cub would probably had live their entire life with them and know that they have to go the village take some time to assimilate that. (So yeah, Ahsoka got a little party with mommy and daddy before Plo take her to the Jedi temple).

Raising cubs is seem as a community work, so it's not rare to leave your kids with the neighbors while hunting or working. Usually is some elder man or woman who stays with the cubs since they can't work as well as they once did.

Some parents make straps bandages in their Cubs Montrals so they can grow in certain patterns. This is especially popular among the Togruta from Kiros and it is a mere esthetic proceed. It doesn't hurt the cub because their Montrals still soft.

They made a holiday to celebrate their friendship with the Ithorians! They invite their alien friend for a three day party as a way to say sorry for trying do hunt them down when they first meet. The Ithorians are a strict vegetarian species, so the Togruta gather exotic fruits to give as a present. The Jedi send represents from both species to act as mediators in case of conflict, but ever since they stated their partnership, hundreds of years ago, they never had any conflict ever again. They truly became best buddies! (And I like the idea of having this alien festival between species that are so different. Let me have my exotic aliens!)

They used theatre to record their history, so instead of books they told teach using their plays. Usually they are full of exaggerated acrobat acts and sometimes songs. Yes, they have musicals!

Their musical instruments are also made of bones and they particular found of flutes.

Kiros is specially connect with all forms of art and their government had imported Togruta plays to all around the galaxy. Their acrobats and singers are praise and recognize as one of the best of the republic. But that's actually why the Zygerian were so interesting on making them slaves on that incident on the Clone Wars.

The children games are usually a sort of exercise to teach them how to hunt, so if you go to one the their villages you problem going to see children "hunting" each other, lefting bite marks everywhere and being absolutely chaotic, but this is considered normal so the adults don't really care. Other species say that Togruta Cubs are usually a nightmare to be around. Their best friends (aka the Ithorians) are still scared of their children.

At some point in ancient history Togruta started to cook theirs meals, but they still eat raw meat on some occasions and specific rituals.

Besides the festival with the Ithorians Togruta have a few holidays they celebrate with their village. They really like a party and even the people of Shili have a special love for the art exhibitions they do during theses events.

That's it for now.

Please feel free to use any of these headcanons if you like them. Also I would love to talk more about them, so you can make comments or ask questions if you have any.

[krypticcafe]

the worst thing about the "Maus" thing is that it's not even smth someone speaking german would say. it sounds like he's pointing out random mice. the proper use would be "Mausi" or "Mäuschen" if we're gonna have to go with that pet name. Maus would only ever work in specific sentences like "Meine kleine Maus." but even in those the adjective is always diminutive to indicate that its a pet name and not just a random animal. There are so many potential nicknames but its a boring one and used wrong on top of it. Might be stupid to get worked up over that but it's fucking ANNOYING

Thanks for the insight, OP! I knew there were variations German words for nicknames (I've seen schatzi and täubchen) but I never knew it had specific connotations. And yes, I absolutely agree, there are some other cute nicknames I've seen used!!

I'm not a German speaker or aware of the regional differences there could be between German and Austrian pet names, but here's some of my faves I've seen:

Mein/Meine [insert name] - I'm very curious if there's a gender neutral usage of this or if "mein" is the default.

Prinz/Prinzessin - Prince/Princess; too bad there isn't a gender neutral version.

Schatz(i) - Treasure; someone let me know if the "i" makes a difference. It's my personal favorite since I think in an accent it sounds much more natural plus I just like how nicknames in German aren't too soft-sounding but still very meaningful.

Häsechen - Bunny; surprised it isn't used more.

Engel - Angel; this has me melting in a puddle, idk why I prefer this pronunciation over English lmao

Liebling - Heard that "liebe" is typically feminine and liebling works better. It's basic but I like it a lot.

Süßer - Sweet; it's sounds so cute what the fuck man

Täubchen - Little Dove; I'd personally call König this or Bärchen, it's so fucking cute why don't people use this more >:(((

If any of you are German speaking or German or Austrian natives, please correct me if needed! I'd also highly appreciate it if you guys can pitch in any other pet names and how they're used, preferably gender neutral and maybe some clarity on how suffixes (-i, -chen, etc) affect the name. I'll see if I can put it in a list for people to reference (and I will credit by the end of it, lord knows I don't know shit on German language lol). I know I can look online, and I have, but tbh I trust natives more than articles written by quirky English travel blogs.

[y-rhywbeth2]

'From region to region of the Realms Common may have different accents and slightly different vocabularies, influenced by other local human and nonhuman tongues. While a native of Thay will be able to communicate with a denizen of Baldur's Gate, each will be aware of the others' ridiculous accent.' - Cyclopaedia of the Realms

I find myself wondering what a Baldurian vs Thayan accent sounds like. I know it's not supposed to sound one-for-one like a real world accent, so that makes it rather hard to imagine.

Also there are other pidgin trade-tongues. 'Elvish,' 'dwarvish' and other non-human languages may technically just be their variations of common, as the various demihuman cultures all have different accents and linguistic drifts.

[fraterribilis]

The taxonomy of Sly Cooper: Part 2

So, the first entry of this series was pretty well-received. Here's part two. This time we'll be focusing of the villains of the first Sly-game, The Fiendish FIve.

Raleigh was actually kinda difficult to pin down, as he is pretty much just a generic non-descript frog. Looking at a list of amphibians in the British Isles didn't exactly narrow it down, as the UK also has several non-native species of frogs with varying degrees of naturalization. Eventually I settled with the species that I thought best matched his colouration, the marsh frog (Pelophylax ridibundus)

At up to 4 inches long, the marsh frog is the largest and one of the most widespread frog-species native to Europe, although it isn't native to the UK, being introduced in the 1930's. Within the UK it is primarily found in south-eastern England. Researchers are still undecided as to wether or not it poses a threat to the local ecosystem.

True to their name, marsh frogs are generally found in marsh regions, being more tolerant of saltwater and pollution than other frog-species. Like most frogs they primarily feed on insects and other invertebrates, but thanks to their size they can also prey on smaller fish, birds, and rodents.

In contrast, Muggshot was fairly easy to figure out. He is unsurspirisngly an american bulldog, particularly of what is called the "bully"-type. Domestic breeds generally aren't my forté, but I'll do my best.

American bulldogs were originally an offshoot of the english bulldog, which were brought to America following the colonization, where they were primarily used as livestock guardians and catch dogs. The "bully"-type ( also known as the "Johnson" or "Classic"-type) was created by dog-breeder John D. Johnson in the mid 19th-century, by crossbreeding standard american bulldogs with an english bulldog, resulting in a line of dogs that are bigger, more muscular, and with a more pronounced underbite than the standard variation, all very reminiscent of Muggshot.

Primarily used as guard dogs nowadays, american bulldogs are considered to be a loyal and courageous breed with strong protective insitncts. They riquire rigourous training and exercise in order to stay healthy (and make sure they don't skip leg-day, like a certain someone)

Mz. Ruby also proved to be alittle bit tricky. I had originally pinned her as an american crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) given that she lives in Haiti, where the only native crocodillian is the american crocodile. The Sly Cooper Wiki refers to her as an american alligator (Alligator missisipiensis), but there is nothing in-game that confirms this. However, i then realized that she is probably Cajun given her accent. The Cajun culture originates in Louisiana, where the only crocodilians are american alligators, so that kinda seals the deal.

You wouldn't really know that just by looking at her though. Alligators are distinquished by having short, broad snouts with an overbite. If we look at Mz. Ruby, while her her snout is kinda broad, she sure as hell doesn't have an overbite.

Petty taxonomy bullshit aside, american alligators are found throughout the swamps, rivers, and lakes of the south-eastern United States. They are the apex predators of their environment, and eat pretty much any animal they can get their jaws on. Although their range overlaps with that of the american crocodile in Florida, the two species generally don't compete over resources.

American alligators are some of the most cold-resistant reptiles, being able to survive temperatures as low as 40 degrees fahrenheit or 7 degrees celsius. Should the water they live in freeze over they can go into a kind of suspended animation, by digging a hole in the ice to breathe through, whilst lowering their metabolism and bodily functions to a minimum. Not quite the breaking of the laws of life and death that Mz. Ruby has got going on, but still pretty cool.

Moving unto the Panda King, and yeah... There is no getting around the fact that he is clearly meant to be a giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). I briefly toyed with the idea of him being one of the many extinct species of Ailuropoda, but that was too far-fetched.

Giant pandas are of course renowned for their cute appearance, strict bamboo diet, and for being the face of animal conservation. Though infamously endangered by habitat-loss in their native mountain range, they are considered less endangered nowadays, being given the IUCN-status of Vulnerable.

And no, pandas aren't an evolutionary dead-end or a lost cause in terms of conservation, and don't deserve to go extinct. Anyone who tells you otherwise likely doesn't understand ecology.

The giant panda is notable for having an extra long sesamoid bone on its front paws, in additon to its five fingers. While not a true finger, this bone practically works like an opposable thumb, which comes in handy when handling bamboo shoots (though it'll take some time before they master the art of pyrotechnics)

Finally we have Clockwerk, the immortal arch-nemesis of the Cooper Clan. His in-game description doesn't give us much to work with, other than that he is an owl of some kind. We do know that he apparently had an orange plumage before becoming a cyborg. Due to his large size and having a base in Russia, some people have identified him as a eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), which I can defintiely see.

I however subscribe to the theory that Clokcwerk was originally from Ancient Egypt, and thus like to think that he's a pharaoh eagle-owl (Bubo ascalaphus).

With a wingspan of about 3 feet, the pharaoh eagle-owl is actually one of the smaller members of its genus. It is found throughout Northern Africa along with parts of the Arabian Peninsula. It likes to nest around cliffs and river valleys, where it primarily feeds on rodents, reptiles, and other birds, but occasionally takes on prey as large as hares and desert foxes.

The ancient egyptians associated the owls with wisdom and knowledge, but also regarded them as symbols of mourning and death. Owls were sometimes mummified alongside humans, as it was believed that their night-vision would help guide the deceased through the darkness of the underworld.

[somethingstrangeisherehehe]

List of headcanons (Aladdin fandom)

I want to make it clear right away that these headcanons should not be considered all together, they are not small parts of the big picture. Yes, some of them are related or derive from each other, but some contradict the rest, so it is better to consider each one separately.

Clarification: the list is not final, it will be constantly supplemented and expanded.

An important note: headcanons will be understandable to those who watched all three parts of the cartoon Aladdin, as well as the series, and also read articles in fandom wiki.

___________

1. The favorite headcanon - is Aladdin, Mozenrath, Cassim - members of the same family. Mosenrath and Aladdin are brothers (completely or only on the line of one parent - no matter, I allow almost any variation).

2. Mozenrath has Asian roots.

3. Aladdin has whip scars on his arms and back from his time as a street thief.

4. In Agrabah about 20 years ago, there was an epidemic or post-war famine or economic decline and currency collapse. During that time period, many people lost relatives, including Aladdin lost his mother and Cassim was forced to leave Agrabah to earn some money.

5. Aladdin cannot write or read, and now he is learning how to do so. Until Aladdin is literate enough, he will not be allowed to be sultan.

6. Both Mozenrath and Cassim have mental trauma. Mozenrath from his childhood and adolescence, Cassim from the first time he killed a man and from the time he returned to Agrabah to his family but found neither his wife nor his son alive (or rather, he thought that no one had survived).

7. Cassim is a Tuareg (settled in Agrabah), or at least has Tuareg roots. A bunch of others follow from this headcanon, such as:

•Cassim knows the Tuareg language, Arabic is his second language.

•Cassim speaks with an accent, and sometimes mixes Arabic with his native language.

• Cassim’s marriage was not approved by his wife’s relatives.

• Cassim’s favorite color is blue, and he mostly wears blue clothes, he observes some Tuareg traditions, and abandoned some completely or partially to please the circumstances.

That's it, only 7 items so far, I'll be adding to it gradually

8. Mozenrath respects Jasmine deep down for her character and status.

9. Mozenrath has pierced ears and sometimes wears earrings.

10. Mozenrath tried to regain his hand with various spells... His bones were scratched with the texts of spells and conspiracies, which at least somehow slow down the process of further rotting of the remaining flesh.

little update hehe

11. Cassim has dissociative identity disorder. One of his personalities is psychopathic and truly enjoys criminal activities.

Wtf

12. Cassim loves beautiful clothes, jewelry and various trinkets, but wears them extremely rarely in order to avoid laughter and jokes from the other people.

13. Cassim is very fond of horses (you remember he didn't want to fly on the carpet with Aladdin and he was also talked into going to Agrabah on horseback ). He has also participated in horse races several many times and still does. He also likes to do trick ringing.

Just a small update today

14. The oracle was brought to Aladdin's wedding by Mozenrath.

15. Mozenrath's skeletal hand has no feeling, which is why he became left-handed after wearing the glove.

it's time to remember about Iago:

16. Iago and Cassim became not just good adventure companions, but true friends. Iago feels much more comfortable in Cassim's campaign, since now no one shuts him up, condemns him, or turns him into anything, heh.

17. Iago doesn't particularly like to work, but he does a favor for his friend: after Cassim leaves Agrabah, Iago helps him exchange letters with his son.

18. Iago loves casinos and every time he persuades Cassim to go there. Every time they gamble, they cheat according to their usual pattern: Iago pretends that he is an ordinary and stupid parrot that a man brought with him for some reason, and at this time helps Cassim rig the cards or recognize his opponent's cards.

I was sure that this⬇️ was already on my list, but as it turned out, no(

19. Mozenrath has long hair, but he braids it so that the length does not peek out from under his turban.

Something like this:

[flamingo-writes]

I’m enjoying your break down on Hobie’s character and your dedication to making sure he’s understood as being an incredible black character. He’s something so different to media and he deserves to have the depth of his character respected and acknowledged. That being said what’s your take on the way people are attributing AAVE to his character in fics? To me it’s just laziness, personally

Oh it’s definitely laziness. But I could also contribute this to ignorance.

I’m from Mexico so, English is not my first language. At school I learned American English all of elementary school and from middle school to high school I was taught British English.

I mostly consumed American media, but I was also obsessed with Harry Potter and Doctor Who. So I’ve always been exposed to both English variations and sometimes mix them when I’m either talking or writing up without even realising it (with my accent leaning more towards American).

But I’m not going to lie to you. I love languages, I like linguistics, and spend an awful lot of time noticing little details in the way people talk. And because I love accents I dedicate time to analysing accents as well as vernacular.

I think the turning point to me, personally, was when I noticed how between white Americans and African Americans there’s a difference in accent, whether is not the case between white and black people in England —or at least not that I am able to pick up through my Hispanic ears—. I think it’s curious, and there probably is an explanation as to why, that you can hear Americans talk and immediately know the color of their skin.

One time rewatching Doctor Who as background noise while doing chores around my house I noticed Mickey and Martha (both black characters) sounded exactly the same as the white characters. I knew it was Mickey and Martha because I know their voices but this is when I noticed there’s no difference in accent between them (other than regional accent). Whereas in America you have regional accent AND white and black accents (not talking about other accents here bcs it’s not the point).

Now focused on Hobie…Comic Hobie is American, hes black and he’s from New York. Granted. But let’s be real, the vast majority of the Hobie fanfics out there are written with Movie Hobie in mind. ATSV Hobie is British, specifically from London (I mean technically he’s from the city Old York, but judging by Daniel Kaluuya’s voice acting, he has cockney accent (London). And i think in ATSV’s Hobie this is particularly important because of the way he showcases being a punk. Not that Comic Hobie is less of a punk, but Movie Punk was clearly inspired by the movements origin in England. And the fact that hes black (and also from the late 70’s) only gives more punch to his ideology. Repression looks different depending on your ethnicity.

I think by stripping Movie Hobie from his original vernacular is stripping a big part of Hobie’s identity. He’s British. He hates the monarchy and the government but he likes being British, as shown in the watch he makes for Gwen. Both the watch and the box have the Union Flag on it.

He likes being British. Plus I think, a lot of the charisma in the character is shown through the way he talks. What he says and HOW he says it, and he uses a lot of English and rhyme slang. And the fact that Miles (being the viewer’s surrogate through the story) doesn’t understand what Hobie says most of the time, is yet another layer to the mystery that is Hobie. That same mystery that draws you in to the character and makes you think: “I want to know more about this guy���

I could attribute giving Hobie AAVE could be a case of lazy writing, but I can also attribute that to ignorance. I would expect the latter to be less of a case in native English speakers. But to non-English speakers it would be either laziness or a lack of proper knowledge. Also because people have proved time and time again to be ignorant in things that would seem insanely obvious to all someone else.

And maybe it’s a me thing. I take my writing seriously, and like to deeply research before writing. I do admit I barely proof read fanfics, is a bad habit I have, and sometimes typos or American spelling escape me. But I try to really stick to the character’s personality. And a big part of personality is expressed in the way we talk. So I’d say it’s important to know who you’re writing about, to properly portray they speech patterns since through talking is one of the main ways in which we show who we are to the world.

[mapsofnonexistentplaces]

i think its annoying when linguistics people are all heavyhanded about using the term accent because yeah its the most recognisable shorthand for all variations in speech for one language but honestly if people regarded 'an accent' as just like. a restricted form of speech heavily influenced by the phonemes of your native language and not just a cut and dry way to define someone's speaking patterns everything would be easier for everyone and especially me

[funnywormz]

i think the dunmeshi english dub is pretty decent but i have a few Thoughts

1) as much as i love prozd, i feel like an older man's voice would have suited senshi better (like his va in the japanese version)

2) some of the dialogue is funny, but it's very 2020s and they've added in some jokes/lines that are way different to the original, and i feel like it's gonna age about as well as "LOL SO RANDOM XD" humour did (as in not well at all). the line where chilchuck calls laios cringe especially grates on me considering that's not even close to the sentiment of what he was saying originally

3) i think it would have been cool if toshiro could've been voice acted by someone who was a native japanese speaker with english as a second language too. maybe the same for kabru, where he could be voice acted by someone who spoke arabic as their first language or something. and, controversial idea i know, but laios and falin could have european accents although idk exactly from where........... ik this is nitpicky and silly but i just get a bit sick of every character having a generic american accent can't we get some variation in there. canonically all of the characters are from different places so it doesn't rlly make sense for them to all sound exactly the same

[best-non-english-word-torunament]

Round one: 些, xiē vs Bah

(poll at the end)

些, xiē (Mandarin Chinese)

Pronunciation depends on the dialect of Mandarin, but here are a few ways (chosen based on variation):

Beijing: [ɕiɛ⁵⁵] Jinan: [ɕiə²¹³] Nanjing: [sie²¹²]

Translation: Some, a few, a bit

Chinese is a Sino-Tibetan macrolanguage (a dialect continuum consisting of different varieties that are distinct languages based the criterium of mutual intelligibility, but commonly referred to as a single language) with around 1 350 300 000 speakers that consists of 16 recognised languages, often referred to as dialects. Out of these, Mandarin Chinese is the largest, as 70% of Chinese speakers have it as their native language. The Beijing dialect of Mandarin forms the basis of Standard Chinese, which is the national language and taught in schools all over China.

Motivation: It's just really fun to write

(stroke order taken from wiktionary by me to illustrate)

Note: The word was submitted as a Chinese word, not a Mandarin one. Words written with the same character and with the same meaning exist in different Chinese languages, but the submitted romanisation matches the Mandarin one.

Bah (Brazilian Portuguese)

[ˈba]

Translation: An interjection that can be used in any situation depending on tone. It's used in the southernmost state in Brazil and characterizes its accent. Bah comes from the word "barbaridade" (barbarity), used in older gaúcho slang as such:

Person A: (ridiculous, usually negative thing) and then those teenagers stole my sheep!

Person B: (agreeing/sympathetic with A) what a barbaridade!

Nowadays it lost it's meaning as a WORD word, being used in any context as an interjection like this:

A: and then those teenagers stole my sheep!

B: Baaah! (sympathetic with A)

(more examples given by the submitter at the end of the post)

Portuguese is an Indo-European language belonging to the Romance branch originating from Portugal. Due to colonialism it is the main and official language of Brazil, where 213 million of its 264 million speakers live. Brazilian Portuguese is considered a dialect of Portuguese as they are mutually intelligible.

Motivation: The heart of every gaúcho's vocabulary. bah is perfect. I use it in every five sentences and I'm not exaggerating. it's the best word bc without it I would die

Note: Gaúcho refers either to a native or inhabitant of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state, or a cowboy of the South American Pampas according to Wiktionary. I assume the submitter is referring to the former meaning, but I liked the other too much to leave it out, also the meanings are probably linked.

More examples from the submitter of bah:

When seeing something impressive: bóóóó

When watching something you know isn't gonna end well, at the moment it goes badly (like a missed goal in soccer, someone parking badly or drunk people doing something stupid): buhiii (oof/ouch, meaning cringe)

Person A: If they apologized and you sorted this whole thing out, there isn't a reason to cut them off Person B: Yeah, but I found out they cheated on their last girlfriend... Person A: Bah. Yeah you’re right. (oh/shit/this face :/ , meaning that's stepping out of line, I tried to defend the subject but I can't deny your arguments)

Person A: Wanna go to the movies tonight? Person B: sure! -bahhh... I forgot I have some work to catch up on, I can't (ohhhh, meaning you remembered something, sad/apologetic tone)

Person A: They cancelled the concert! We're gonna have to wait for the next tour... Person B: Bahhhhhh I was so excited! (awww mannn/ughhh, meaning disappointment, frustration)

Person A: We’re finally gonna see The Concert From the Previous Example! Get your ticket ready so we can get in! Person B: Oh my god. I left it at home Person A: BA. (fuck)

[fractured-shield]

Requesting for the WIP Bingo—

Half coherent ramblings about langauage

*grabs popcorn and a blanket* okay I’m ready!!!

ok so!! *pulls out my super long disorganized notes document and spends like 20 minutes looking for the right notes* I'm gonna put the map here too just for ease of access

So first of all, we have the god-tongue, Vakran, which originated in Vehtel Eromel, the city on the western expanse where the five four gods live. It's spoken by any mage or priest who serves in the city, and known to varying degrees by common people in the surrounding kingdom of Vinahri, and a bit less-so in Fairalme further east. On the eastern expanse, it's exclusively used by mages, sort of in a church-latin kind of way: used in written manuscript and recitation but not casual conversations, since they've long since stopped trading with the western half of the continent. The Lochieru dialect is essentially a heavily modified version of Vakran (like sharper consonants and less dropped/modified sounds), so it gives them an edge in actually learning spoken magic, but makes them sound sort of off-putting to other mages...in addition to the whole "they worship the banished fifth god and the dragons that god created" thing.

So I mentioned Vinahri and Fairalme in the west speak varying degrees of Vakran, but Fairalmin is their native language. In Vinahri, it's got more of a slow pace with a heavier rhythm and uvular r sounds to it, and the further you get to the Fairalmin coast it's more like...imagine the rhythm of a west wales accent and some of the vowel sounds, smushed on top of an irish accent but specifically something around galway. i realize that's incredibly specific and convoluted but it makes sense in my head and this is important to me bc Idhren's originally from the Fairalmin barrier islands lmao. it used to be a sort of trade language, but the trade isn't there anymore because the coastal kingdoms on the eastern expanse also aren't there, so it's pretty rare to hear on the eastern expanse now.

And speaking of that, in the eastern expanse the three original elf kingdoms (Linador, Ngelorim, and Silorn) spoke Cenaith. The new ones formed from their remnants in the last war do too, but like...you can tell the someone's age based on what their Cenaith sounds like. Older speakers have a lot stronger regional accents, if you're familiar you can be like "that's a middle class accent from the city of Thiamal in Ngelorim" but with anyone born after the most recent war, they grew up around a bunch of varied accents from all three kingdoms and sort of have this distinct "I think someone in your family was from that region based on that one single slang word you use but you sound like your accent is influenced by like ten things" kind of vibe. Since like, elf kingdoms and all, and there's such slow dialectical shift in any instance other than a huge upheaval that changes what accents everyone grows up hearing.

There's also Common, which is the trade language of the Hyse (humans) that was adopted by the Alliance council once the two Hyse kingdoms were allowed to join. It comes from Ilgost, and has a ton of variation in accents compared to Cenaith. And there's Riddana, which is spoken in Rhorn (although Common is also pretty...common there). It's got a lot more of a germanic feel to it I think, just based on vibes? And then there's Ikhanan which is spoken near the eastern shore and by a few isolated groups elsewhere and I still need to figure out a lot of what I'm doing with that, but it's a shared tongue of goblins and dwarves since they've historically coexisted in that area.

Also like, final note (although I'm sure I've forgotten something), Therien's accent is an absolute mess. She's already got that muddled post-war young person Cenaith accent, but with hints of her father's Fairalmin accent, and when she speaks Common you can tell Cenaith is her first language but there's a very noticeable Riddana undercurrent to it too from her time spent there and it's very confusing to anyone who doesn't know how she ended up with such a weird style of speaking

[pall0r-mortis]

'Thus strangely are our souls constructed, and by slight ligaments are we bound to prosperity and ruin.' ~ Mary Shelley

Sidney Lawrence Philips

Nicknames: Sid

Pronouns: He/Him/They/Them

Magick Status: Magick - Sorcerer (Out as an abomination sorcerer, actually an alchemy sorcerer)

Nationality: American/Boiling Isles

Ethnicity: White

Accent: Mix of American Midwestern and Boiling Isles English

Height: 6"1'

Build: Skinny, sharp edges, but stronger than he looks.

Complexion: Pale with visible scars.

Eye Color: Icy blue

Hair Color/Length/Style: Black, naturally straight, worn short and rarely styled but when it is it's usually slicked back.

Tattoos: (CW: skulls, medical imagery) Has a multitude covering his upper arms, ribs, part of his chest and shoulders, primarily in a minimalist or geometric style centering on medical illustration. He designed all himself, did most of them himself as well; his casting scars from spellwork are part of the designs. Full tattoo post link can be found below.

Piercings: Ears, left nostril but rarely wears it.

Daily Jewelry: Always has some collection of metal rings on both hands, it varies from day to day, as he uses them as conduits for his magic, and most are variations of poison rings that he stores Humors in small powdered amounts in. Typically has at least one silver, gold, copper and steel on each hand, but the amount changes depending.

Occupation: Delivery and general staff at Pizza Planet, and mechanic at Gadget's Garage.

What would you find if you Googled them? 

(TW: Illness)

Nothing about him, but his father Paul Philips is a well known plastic surgeon who catered to high end and rich clientele for the past twenty or so years, predominantly working in the US. There was a small scandal mentioned in some tabloids about his wife having an affair, and their divorce in the years after.

Most recently the Philips name was known due to Paul's sudden decline in health that forced him to mostly retire and relocate to an unknown small town. The circumstances of the sudden illness are still considered a mystery to the public.

What natives would know about them:

Very little. Sid doesn't make a habit of being too friendly. He, his father, and his father's live-in caretaker Lavenza moved to town recently, to the Southern Isles neighborhood. The family wealth is obvious, the house had remodeling going on for several months before they arrived, but overall they all seem fairly secretive.

Boiling Isles transplants would, however, know the Philips family, depending on how well they knew Sid or his father when they lived there.

Other:

Sid's dog Scud, a white and black bull terrier, is often spotted around him or sometimes roaming around the neighborhood. He's friendly but becomes very aggressive at hostility towards Sid. Otherwise he may roam up to strangers for attention, but is notably uncomfortable around older men and shies away from them due to his fear of Paul.

Sid always wears some variation of black, fingerless gloves to cover his crafting circle scars. If they are seen he just lets people think they're scarification tattoos. As an OOC note though alchemy has become so forgotten over the years that they wouldn't be recognizable for what they actually are to most. Some very old sorcerers or those who study magic history/magic overall intensively might though. (just ask me ooc and we can discuss who would know)

At this point Sid is openly approaching powerful sorcerers for reagents under the false motives of trying to break a curse that has resulted in his father's condition.

[Full Bio] [Tattoo Post] [Alchemy] [Coven of the Divine Exchange]

[panther-os]

When Special Interests Collide: 9-1-1 & Linguistics Edition

Peruvian and Mexican Spanish are unique dialects - heavily influenced by local indigenous languages - where several words don't even sound similar to each other. An "accent" isn't going to be what trips Eddie and Buck up when talking to each other, it's going to be slang and regional differences.

Think soda vs pop vs sodapop vs soft drink vs coke or coca-cola vs lemonade vs Sprite vs other brand names for lemon-lime soda. All equally correct ways to refer to the same thing, varying only by dialectical context and specificity. (In some parts of the South, all soda is coke or coca-cola. In some parts of the world as a whole, all lemon-lime soda is called lemonade while lemonade itself is lemon juice. In my part of the world, all lemon-lime soda is Sprite.)

Some dialects are more common - almost everyone in North America who learns Spanish in school learns Northeastern Mexican Spanish with Texan influence and almost everyone in Europe who learns Spanish the same way learns Castilian Spanish.

(Eddie may have learned any of the 10 dialects of Spanish local to Mexico from his family or even a Texican variant from before the border changed. He may also be fluent in Spanglish, which is a structured code-switching system between Spanish and English, with some creole words thrown in where appropriate to its own internal rules.)

Andean-Coastal Spanish is the most common form spoken in Peru out of five recognized dialects, and it's extremely common in Ecuador as well but almost unheard of in the United States and Canada.

It's not just "saying words funny" or "sounding like the white boy he is". It's far more like a Scots English speaker talking to a Bostonian. Which I'm aware sounds exactly like "saying words funny" to the uneducated, but that's why I'm making this post. <3

An accent is how the oral posture (the way the parts of your mouth move) of your native language affects how you say words in a learned language. It can also be how the posture of your native signed language affects how you form signs in others, or how the alphabet of your native language affects how you write characters and symbols in another alphabet.

You can have a strong accent, but not a bad accent.

A dialect is a variation of a language, with its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary similar but distinct from other dialects of the same language. Or, in rare cases, grammar or vocabulary completely different from other dialects! Most dialects of the same language are mutually intelligible, meaning you can understand what the person means even if not what they say.

You can speak a different dialect or mimic a dialect badly, but you cannot speak a wrong dialect.

A language is a system of communication with distinct, nuanced rules governing how - and sometimes in which situations - it is used. Most languages are mutually unintelligible, meaning the speaker of one cannot understand the other at all. If two languages are from the same language family, they may be partially intelligible instead, meaning you can get the gist or pick up keywords, but you cannot understand completely.

In addition to speaking a different language, you can speak a wrong language or speak a language badly, depending on the context.

TL;DR: Peruvian and Mexican Spanish are dialects of the same language, with similar but different rules and vocabulary, which Buck would speak with an American accent. As a bilingual person, if Eddie learned Peruvian Spanish, he would likely speak it with an American accent on some words and a Mexican Spanish accent on others. If Buck was speaking Peruvian Spanish correctly and Eddie was speaking Mexican Spanish, they would mostly understand each other, but not completely, and their accents would not affect that.

[grapefruiters]

hi sorry im not trying to be rude but i really dont think youre right. if someone pronounces a foreign word completely wrong because theyve never heard it said out loud before, they are saying it wrong even if they mean well and you wouldnt be wrong for correcting them. even if the word is in their native language, maybe they just dont know how its pronounced and land on something completely different; theyre wrong, and that doesnt mean theyre doing anything bad. its fine to be wrong. that being said i do agree that every word out there has a range of variations in pronunciation that are still correct/acceptable and accents and such dont ever count as mispronouncing things because theyre out of your control

like, i dont care if someone pronounces it gif or jif but if they read the word 'gif' and pronounce it as 'cat' its not bad to tell them they got the pronunciation wrong. obviously thats hyperbole but you get what i mean right? if someone pronounced 'gauche: as 'gow-kee' it wouldnt be wrong to correct them. that is an incorrect pronunciation

yep! i never said it would be bad to correct, just wrong to comment negatively. once again, i agree with you. my post was a generalization about the treatment of non-standard accents and i’ll admit i didn’t have purposeful mispronunciation of names in mind when writing the post. nothing wrong with correcting people when they’re mispronouncing words out of ignorance or malice

[nyanconlang]

Time for numbers (part 1)

In modern Japanese, the numbers are a little complex in use. There is the native number system, the ones based on Chinese numbers, and a few variant readings that get used here and there.

Originally, as the name suggests, there were only the native numbers, but the Chinese number system was borrowed early on through trade.

The native number system had the following numbers:

1 ひ(と') /pi.tə/, 2 ふ(た) /pu.ta/, 3 み /mi/, 4 よ /jə/, 5 い(つ') /itu'/, 6 む' /mu/, 7 な'な /na'.na/, 8 や' /ja'/, 9 ここの /kə.kə'.nə/, 10 と'を /tə'.wo/ (or そ /sə/ in compounds), 20 は'た /pa'.ta/, 100 もも /mə.mə/, 200 は'たもも or ふたほ /pa'.ta.mə.mə/ or /pu.ta.pə/, 1,000 ち /ti/ and 10,000 よ'ろづ /jə'.rə.du/ (also meaning "a large number" and "everything"), plus most combos of the above.

Counting 1-10 would (and often still does) go ひ, ふ, み, よ, い, む, な, や, こ, と sometimes with variations with longer versions of some numbers. This is also the start of a Shinto prayer used to help calm one's mind, the Hifumi Norito.

This has really gotten away from me, especially adding in the notes and some bits under the cut that aren't super relevant to numbers themselves, so I'll be stopping this post here and make a second post about the borrowed Chinese numbers.

Modern Japanese is a pitch accent language, meaning that words may be differentiated in part by a single high pitch within the word (or no pitch). The real point of accent in this case is actually a pitch drop, because while there's only one accented syllable* per word (the high syllable before the drop), many dialects start raising the tone from the second syllable until the drop in tone. So a word that drops tone after the second to last syllable might be noted as ○○●○ where the black circle represents the accented symbol, but in the Tokyo dialect it will be said closer to ○●●○.

There are dialects where only the accented syllable is high, except in "unaccented" words where tone raising still occurs but there is no drop at the end of the word before particles. So there would be a differences between a word that is accented on the last syllable before a particle ○○○●-○, and one that is unaccented ○●●●-●, where in the standard dialect the difference would only be on the particle: ○●●●-○ vs ○●●●-●.

There are also the "Kinki" dialects like Kyoto and Osaka where the default syllable until the drop is HIGH, the drop typically occurs one syllable sooner than in Tokyo style dialects, and a low syllable at the beginning of words is called low register and has its own special attributes.

However! Old Japanese was likely a "restricted tone" language instead of a pitch accent one. There is evidence for four types of tone: low/null, high, rising and falling. The last two were uncommon and had some special effects on the system later, but a word was not restricted to only one high tone per word. Depending on which reconstruction you follow for tones in early writing**, there are many 3 syllable words that had tone patterns of ●○● contrasted against both ●○○ and ○○●, and four syllable words with ●○●○ contrasted with both ○○●○ and ●○○○.

All that said, there are going to be times I do not have sources for the tone pattern in Old Japanese directly, and will have to guess based on modern counterparts. These guesses may later turn out to wrong, based on newer evidence! In all cases, I use an apostrophe after the accented syllable to show where a tone drop occurs. This goes against the standard usage in IPA where it is used before a syllable to show it is stressed, but I think it works well enough since it is the fall in pitch that is the accent. I will change this if needed in the future.

*Please also note that what I'm calling syllables are actually known as mora which can be part of syllables or their own syllables. But I figured any English speakers just coming to conlanging and linguistics are less likely to know what morae are than syllables.

**It's not a big issue but there's the standard reconstruction and the "Ramsey" reconstruction and after looking at the available data and arguments, I'm a Ramseyist. I will always work from a Ramseyist framework and if using sources from a standard viewpoint, I will convert them to the form that would be used by Ramsey and similar academics.

***There is a third way to count based on the "Iroha" poem, but that is just using the sounds in a pangram poem in order to count out something. Kind of like using the alphabet instead of or in addition to numbers in English. Its date of authorship is unknown; The earliest written record of it dates to 1079 CE and it was said to have been written by Kuukai, but there is some evidence that it was penned as eulogy for Kuukai. So the most likely time frame for it being written is about from 835 CE to 1079 CE, but some case might be made for it being written as early as 780 CE but that would be assuming Kuukai wrote it and did so as a young child.