#blip blip reeeeeeeeevvvvv

[drunkeninlovesailor]

Cybertronian names and vocalizations headcanons:

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.