TF Language

[conure-herder.livejournal.com]

This bunny was spurned by this debate: http://www.donmurphy.net/board/showthread.php?t=23120

The thread brought up a good question - Transformers deal with physics that's beyond quantum and picto representations of their language is pretty simple for how complex a society they are.

Think of it this way. They have different senses than we do. We have audio, visual and when blind, the sense to touch to help us communicate language. We could also throw in body language in the case of ASL. However Transformers have seven senses, at least according to the G1 comics, that includes various forms of electromagnetic sensitivity. What if humans who tried to speak Cybertronian couldn't because they couldn't produce or pick up on subtle things like the electromagnetic stressors placed on certain syllables? TFs also can hear and see things in the ultraviolet/infrared/ultrasonic ranges. It's possible they speak using tones humans could never hope to reproduce, even with our technology. Dolphins, when clicking, are said to receive so much detail in one tenth of a second that humans can only dream of mimicking it with modern technology. They pick up so information so fast that we can't even decipher the information even when slowed down. What if that's why Transformers have a hard time understanding humans?

I'm specifically thinking Bayverse, but it could work for any aspect of fandom.

Comments

[ldot-rivian.livejournal.com]

Not only that, but they would hear the entire audio spectrum. Dog whistles anyone? When I have a human trying to speak their language, they only get words like 'tree' or 'pretty' and nothing of the in between or any of the more abstract words. Enough that a TF might possibly get the gist of what they were trying to say, if the TF was patient enough.

[conure-herder.livejournal.com]

Which makes me wonder- is that why Decepticons are so moody all the time? Too impatient to listen to us feeble minded squishies? :D

[kaitou-pandora.livejournal.com]

This is a great idea you bring up here. I'll admit to not having read the G1 comics, though, so I can't help any there.

My personal canon states that certain 'classes' of Transformers - more specifically the Praxians and Vossians - have adapted a variant of Cybertronian that is easy to teach to organics so they can communicate. The idea came about due to Skyfire and Starscream, both fliers, being scientists and going off-world, and somehow headspace took that to mean that the Vossian dialect had been adapted to organic vocals, and that the Praxians, being close to Vos, adapted a similar version. This version is heavily influenced by Sanjuno's Nine Rings of Vos epic, though.

And it would definitely work in Bayverse - we have documented Cybertronian speaking, and it does sound more electronic than anything humans could pronounce.

Also, another reason that works for me of why Transformer/human translation doesn't work that well - words like vorn, frag, joor, etc. all don't really have human equivalents, and it's easier to say something human-sounding for Cybertronian units. Plus, they developed in a different environment - sayings like 'I'm so hungry I could eat a horse' would naturally be different because they don't have horses, or possibly even horse-equivalents - Cybertronians are by and large their own vehicles and therefore don't need other methods of transportation. Mechs like G1 Perceptor with his microscope alternate-mode would be the ones who need transportation, and G1 Bumblebee fitting into Wheeljack's interior is useful for if multiple parties want to get somewhere but the larger/largest is faster and can carry their companion(s) to get to the destination faster.

(And I really did not intend the comment to get that long when I started.)

[niyazi-a.livejournal.com]

I kind of did this one months ago. Bayverse, Starscream and a linguistics researcher. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5347821/1/Prisoner

[darkdanc3r.livejournal.com]

Heh. I've been trying to ignore mental bunnies along this line. I've got a couple of books - Language Contact and The Philosophy of Language - that I've been reading over and kind of want to apply to the Transformers universe.

[vermilionbird.livejournal.com]

I've been playing with the electrical field that they produce as a form of expressing social communications and dominance. "I'm happy to see you" or "stay away" signals that they send to each other, or "I'm more powerful than you".