Originally posted by Baron Saarthuran:
"What about use of a standardized "pictorial" or iconographic language in Traveller? Is there a basis for such a thing?" he said, staring at his "My Computer" icon...
That is a
very interesting idea. Since, iirc, anglic became the language of the Imperium during the Rule of Man when the Solomani culture began to seriously weed its way into Imperial life, it's easy to extrapolate current trends out to get some ideas about what things would be like on Terra thousands of years from now.
Especially since the advent of the internet, we've seen a major trend in western culture to bastardize the language (skillz, xtreme, etc) and iconify concepts.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to assume that there are different distinct levels of literacy and written language in the Imperium. Your average Joe or Jane really has no reason to know how to fully read the Anglic language, since news broadcasts, literature, entertainment and communication can all be easily handled vocally (through videophones, human or computers reading to yo, etc.). Their computer terminals and everything else they use that is computerized (which, if you at least accept the Virus plotline as a
possibility (whether you accept that it happened isn't important, just the idea that it could happen), would be so dumbed down that it's easy to picture a very MSN/AOL style interface that has little or no written text, instead relying on icons and voice to allow the people to interface with it. This becomes even more prevalent if you've added cybertech to your campaign. Why should I bother reading the terminal when I can just plug in and have the data hotwired into my brain?
Getting back somewhat to the original topic of the thread though:
I think introducing new characters into the alphabet is a great idea, and it doesn't even have to be a Imperium wide standard. Regional and/or vocational variation is a very realistic possibility, as is the use of slang and jargon that varies greatly. Consider, as someone touched on briefly in a prior post, the use of the word meat:
Standard definition: Animal Protein that you can eat
Cybertech Folk def: The human body before augmentation
Mercenary/Military def: Corpses on a battlefield
Psionics Endowed Folk def: The mind of a non-psion
Other variants are possible, and likely, but I think those illustrate the point. Fleshing out and diversifying the language spoken by most folk is, imo, an important part of bringing the Imperium to life.
One last bit that just occured to me, considering that I grew up in Southern California, where a lot of Spanish words and phrases get assimilated into American English. It makes perfect sense that the further you travel into the heart of the Vilani sections of the Imperium, you would find more Vilani phrases and words sprinkled throughout Imperial Anglic. Similarly, out in the Spinward Marches you might find a bit of Zhodani mixed into the cant. Traces of Vargr, Aslan and other alien languages would be prevalent in the areas with contact with those races.
I really like the idea that two Imperial humans, both fully fluent in (spoken at least) Anglic could walk up to each other and both be thinking 'what the hell did he just say?' Great immersion into the setting through that simple technique.
And I do respect their viewpoint: Ref's have enough things to worry about, and Players just want to get into the game, see new civilizations, and watch out for tracer shots - not worry about their punctuation!
