Languages in the Spinward Marches

[cptbutton]

Over on Storium I've gotten into a Traveller game.

I was wondering what languages my PC might speak. Current date 1115 Imperial.

PC - traditional transrift Aslan, outcast starport guttersnipe, space pirate with non-Aslans, Darrian prisoner on Torment.

Brief web research tells me: Obviously he'll speak Trokh, and at least one of Trade Vilani, Anglic, and Basic Sylean. In game it is established that the Darrians will teach prisoners Anglic if necessary, so that is presumably de facto language on Torment.

The origin of his deceased fellow pirates hasn't been determined, except that one was a Sword Worlder.

Any thoughts on which other languages he might speak? He is not the sort to learn languages with an immediate reason to.

[Hans Rancke-Madsen]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Over on Storium I've gotten into a Traveller game.

I was wondering what languages my PC might speak. Current date 1115 Imperial.

PC - traditional transrift Aslan, outcast starport guttersnipe, space pirate with non-Aslans, Darrian prisoner on Torment.

Brief web research tells me: Obviously he'll speak Trokh, and at least one of Trade Vilani, Anglic, and Basic Sylean. In game it is established that the Darrians will teach prisoners Anglic if necessary, so that is presumably de facto language on Torment.

The origin of his deceased fellow pirates hasn't been determined, except that one was a Sword Worlder.

Any thoughts on which other languages he might speak? He is not the sort to learn languages with an immediate reason to.

You've covered the ones that it's unlikely he wouldn't have (Trokh as native tongue and Galanglic in the starport, useful everywhere). If you want justification for more, you're already on the right track. Something other than Galanglic from his guttersnipe days (the local language whatever it is, could be Vilani), the common language on the pirate ship whatever that is, and the Anglic taught by the Darrians. The common language on Torment could be Darrian (te-Zapet) even if the Darrians teach prisoners Galanglic.


Hans

[ak_aramis]

Languages I know are referenced in CT, MT & T20 canon as spoken:
Anglic/Galanglic (Both are used for the same language)
Riftian Anglic (The specific dialect of the Domain of Deneb)
Vilani (Bilandin)
Old High Vliani — (Dialect) - not common outside domain of Vland — JTAS 16
Zhodani (Zhdant, Zhdetl)
Trokh (Aslan)
Gvegh (one of several Vargr languages)
Daryen (Te-zlodh)
Droyne (Oynprinth)
Droyne world specifics (Each Droyne world has a unique language) — MT Ref's Companion
Shrieker (only on one world) — A10
Dolphin (Delphin) — JTAS 6
Sword Worlder Anglic — JTAS 16 (Dialect of Anglic)
Darrian Anglic — JTAS 16 (Dialect of Anglic)
Sword Worlder — (Dialect of Icelandic) JTAS 18
Individual sworld world local world dialects — JTAS 18
Dandie/Llellewyloly — Race in TTA, own language implied by JTAS 16.
Eibokin — Race in TTA, own language implied by JTAS 16.


A number of adventures mention specific world's local languages.
Mention is made in both JTAS 16 and other sources that many human minor worlds have specific languages of their own still, and that almost all minor races speak their own.

note the following from MT PM:

ANGLIC
The official language of the Third Imperium is Anglic. A distant descendent of Terran English, Anglic was the language of the Rule of Man (-2204 to -1776). The Anglic language remained a common interstellar language for trade and commerce during the Long Night. Its widespread use on the original worlds of the Third Imperium made it a natural language selection when the empire was
established.
On many worlds, Anglic is only a second language used for system traffic control, commercial operations, and interstellar communications. Anglic is sometimes called Galanglic (for Galactic Anglic).
The Imperium has not been able to prevent the emergence of a variety of Anglic dialects. Interstellar communications, holocrystals, and recordings help to spread a uniform pronunciation of Anglic throughout the Imperium.
Within the Imperium, any Anglic speaker can understand almost any other, but isolated communities on worlds with little contact with the interstellar trade lanes shift their speech patterns to form dialects. Broad areas within the Imperium have established their own pronunciation patterns; accepted dialects include Rim (which includes Terra), Core (the central region of the Imperium), Riftian (the spinward frontiers), and Transform (the Antares region).

and from the MT Ref's Companion in re Gvegh:

Vargr: There are hundreds of Vargr languages spoken on the thousands of worlds which have been settled by the Vargr. The most commonly encountered Vargr language in the Domain of Deneb and its neighboring sectors is Gvegh. More than 60 percent of all Vargr in the region speak languages in the Gvegh language group (Gvegh, GveghAek, Knithnour, Uedhu, and Taeksu). The Vargr Word Generation Table produces Gvegh words.

And on Vilani...

Vilani: The Ziru Sirka (the Grand Empire of Stars: the First Imperium) was a Vilani Empire and it spoke Vilani. The language lost its primary language status when the empire fell to the Rule of Man: but the language has never completely died out. Large populations on worlds within 10 parsecs of Vland speak Vilani as a primary or secondary language. Many Vilani words and names have been incorporated into Anglic, and Vilani is taught in many schools in order to provide a greater understanding of common word origins.
Vilani is especially important to the Vilani megacorporations (Naasirka, Makhidkarun, and Sharurshid) where it is as widely used as Anglic.

[SteveS]

It would seem that there's little to do on Torment other than work and seek a safe spot in the criminal hierarchy. It would seem that Torment would have people from a wide variety of places in the surrounding area, to the point that one might be able to find a spot in the hierarchy as a translator if one had a talent for languages.

[Drifter]

Originally Posted by SteveS

It would seem that there's little to do on Torment other than work and seek a safe spot in the criminal hierarchy. It would seem that Torment would have people from a wide variety of places in the surrounding area, to the point that one might be able to find a spot in the hierarchy as a translator if one had a talent for languages.

I don't have my books handy, but at what tech level are automatic translators available? I thought that relatively low, like GTL9 or so?