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From the Message Box - To'ul Language
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(08-28-2013, 05:50 AM)stevebowers Wrote: This message was sent to us via the contact box on the site

Quote:A message from the Orion's Arm Website:

Type: General Comment
From: dazhuang2@yahoo.com
Message: Could someone make a page for the language To'ul'ha'loss?

Any ideas?

Dazhuang would be welcome to contribute ideas if (s)he ever sees this.

To'ul'ha'loss the To’ul’h language.
I can’t say much beyond general design considerations..

To’ul’h
http://www.orionsarm.com/eg-topic/4802a95fb92f2

*There should probably many languages to mention, not just the one of To'ul'ha'loss. However, the descriptions of any of the languages can allow for a variety of explorations of how the To’ul’h could speak and write.
*Going off what I read in the To’ul’h article, their spoken language will have a wider range of sounds than humans.
Since the To’ul’h have ecolocation as well as electromagnetic senses, their To’ul’h to To’ul’h communication could probably involve plenty of ecolocation chirps as well as other sounds, so I suspect there could be an element of interplay between verbal and ‘echolocation sight’. Though apparently bats use different frequencies to echolocate than to speak.

*Written language could have a very different barrier from human languages- that of requiring highly durable textures. Carving symbols in stone for permanence needs the design consideration that hundreds of To’ul’hs might run their limbs over the writing- though they can probably read by echolocation instead. If there is an equivalent to books, they might need to be thicker and heavier to accommodate textured writing. Inclusion of metals in ornate writing can have the additional ability to communicate with the To'ul'h electromagnetic sense. (Would small bits of metal actually be sensed?) Braille might be a good starting point for imagining how work will be written. Perhaps punching holes in sheets of leather or metal, or a thicker paper equivalent.

*Early To’ul’h writing can probably originate through marks pressed into clay tablets, which are then baked. Beyond that, it might occur that writing is slightly more resource-intensive for To’ul’h than for humans, due to the texture-based nature of their writing. It might also have the consequence that their languages, in general, need to be more efficient (more meaning per physical symbol) with their glyphs.

(04-27-2007, 10:16 AM)Encyclopedia Galactica: Toul'h Wrote: To'ul'hs do not have the usual graphic arts known to humans, except in the form of textures and incisions on a suitable surface. Their written records are designed to be detectable by touch or by sonar: glyphs or ideographs carved into a surface, or runic inscriptions, or Braille-like bumps and hollows, depending on the language and culture. Sculptures are usually intended to be pleasing to the touch, or to give interesting patterns when scanned with a sonar chirp.

*Their texture carvings can can act as signposts in areas where touch-based writing is not possible, but echolocation is.
*The Incan writing of quipus might occur in a few more places than in human civilization, so it might be that early To’ul’h writing (and perhaps later on too) is based in textiles that contain a wide variety of textures and materials. Later on, when mechanical devices are invented (if they are), sewing machine-like devices might provide an alternative to typewriters.
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RE: From the Message Box - To'ul Language - by Worldtree - 10-18-2013, 12:36 PM

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