Fitz10019
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 6
Preferred Game Systems: 3.5e
Currently Playing: 3.5e
Currently Running: 3.5e
Favorite Species of Monkey: flying
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Post by Fitz10019 on Jan 16, 2015 15:13:02 GMT -8
I'm really enjoying the AP. One idea being used sounds weird to me.
Hearing references to "Old Elvish" strikes me as odd. If elves live for hundreds of years (maybe they don't in Stu's homebrew), I would expect the huge amount of multi-generational overlap to severely cut down on changes in the language -- especially pronunciation.
I'd have the same problem with "Old Dwarfish" if that came up.
So, what would cause such a race to have such a lingual shift? Or is it more of a "High Elvish" or "Court Elvish" for nobles?
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Post by lowkeyoh on Jan 16, 2015 15:30:53 GMT -8
Languages are always going to shift when you come into contact with other cultures, even with the aid of long lifespans.
If we assume that 'old elvish' was used in magical rituals, especially those pertaining to necromancy, it might be that those types of rituals stopped being used. If Latin is only being spoken at catholic mass, and everyone became Lutheran, how long until Latin would be forgotten completely?
Another big shift would be dialects and geography. If elves shifted from isolation into contact with other cultures, the old language speaking elves might have stayed isolated, and the rest of elf kind evolved into modern elf speak. Combine that with the Isolated Elves getting eaten by werewolves, and then BAM lost language.
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sbloyd
Supporter
WHAT! A human in a Precursor service vehicle?!
Posts: 2,762
Preferred Game Systems: Storyteller; Dresden; Mage
Favorite Species of Monkey: Goddamnit, Curious George is a CHIMP not a monkey! Stop teaching my daughter improper classification!
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old Elvish
Jan 16, 2015 16:16:39 GMT -8
via mobile
Post by sbloyd on Jan 16, 2015 16:16:39 GMT -8
Also keep in mind that Eldemy elves are not like Tolkien elves. The fashion in which their race is dying out may be putting unique stresses on the language.
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Post by Kainguru on Jan 17, 2015 3:36:24 GMT -8
Or it has actually been misheard. There's 'Elvish' ie: that which is spoken by elves and then there's 'Old Elvis' which is spoken in the style of Las Vegas, burger munching, amphetamine guzzling, fat Elvis . . . 'Ah huh, ah huh' Aaron
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Post by kurtpotts on Jan 19, 2015 13:25:11 GMT -8
Stealing this for my Dresden files game.
I think he said Old Elvish. No he has a lisp the spell requires Old Elvis. Something about the rhythms can really fire up a demon.
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Post by lowkeyoh on Jan 19, 2015 14:54:41 GMT -8
You ain't nothing but a Hound Dog, being summoned into the mortal realm all the time. You ain't never killed a human and you ain't no friend of mine.
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Post by archmagezemoc on Feb 8, 2015 11:20:09 GMT -8
My thoughts on these "old races" is based on a few things. One, their life spans are longer yea, but seeing as times relative their "Old Elvish" could be hundreds of thousands of years old, same goes for Dwarves. Took less than 1,000 years for Latin to "die out" and Olde English is even younger. And 2 is the classic "oh they have had catastrophes and they were separated from the language, or that language died out with its people or something something trope.
In the end, its a fantasy game, with made up languages, how can you geuss at how old the Elvish tongue is and how many different variations it went through. Shit, most of my family can't even tell what a persons saying IN ENGLISH if they have a thick accent, enrages me, but might as well be "Old Elvish" to them as far as they know. They'd be lost and dead somewhere in Europe without me to translate Accented-English to English T___T
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