THE ICEMILK (revisions)

Ta'lia of the Seven Jewels

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #30 on: 02 July 2007, 17:05:44 »

From the developers sight we do have one - the British one, at least it was the case some time ago. At least preferable.

Santharia , the medieval community surely doesn't have one. In the middleage and later many words were spelt differently and even pronounced differently or there were certain words which were only comon in certain areas. I doubt that anyone in Strata would listen to somebody in New Santhala (the Santhros e.g.) how he should write this or that or even his name!


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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #31 on: 02 July 2007, 22:50:42 »

I assume you changed the following sentence, Altario:

Different people use the Icemilk to add fragrance to soap. Even the Shen-D'auras, of the Shendar people, use the Icemilk to flavour the fresh water bowls of their elaborate toilets, when it is available.

Always make sure - especially if the entry is already up - to mark precisely what you changed, as otherwise I could just guess.

Concerning the language: As "English" the way we use it on the site (with the British spelling) is referred to as "Tharian" in Santharia, this makes it somewhat evident that the core of this language is from the Santharian north (Thar). Thus Erpheronian, as they dominate(d) this region and gave the language its name.

Ancient forms should therefore be at home in this region, and so would be the term "milch". "Milk" would be a more modern term, mainly used by the southerners, which could now - millenia later - also be used in the Santharian north without a problem. Just like an "American" (un-Tharian spelling) with words like "color", "honor" etc. would be understood. Nevertheless, it would be seen more as lousy writing by the scholars I'd say, who still write "colour", "honour" and "milch". With other words: Terms like "milk" might be more common overall in Santharia, but it would primarily be the coloquial form, the commoners' version, derived from non-Erpheronian influences.


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Altario Shialt-eck-Gorrin

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #32 on: 02 July 2007, 22:59:36 »

Sorry Art, you indeed are correct. rolleyes

I should have put it in red.


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Mina

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #33 on: 03 July 2007, 00:38:32 »

I think you might be confusing writing with language. Simply put, writing represents language, but is not language in itself.

My question was mainly about writing. Basically, if there was a standardised spelling system, you wouldn't have two spellings for the word milk/milch, regardless of how people actually pronounce it. On the other hand, we use a fairly standardised spelling system on the main site, which represents the Compendium, so if we determine that Santharia does not have a standard spelling system, we'd probably have to explain why the Compendium apparently does.

English spelling is a little unusual in that it has two variants that are both considered standard. It probably won't be too useful unless you plan for something similar to be the case in Santharia as well. What you've said sounds like Santharia has a standardised system and that 'milk' is non-standard, but if that's the case, why would it appear that way in the Compendium, which would most likely use the standard spelling?


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Bard Judith

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #34 on: 03 July 2007, 12:40:07 »

Some random thoughts on spelling and writing ...

The Compendium has hundreds of scholars from across Santharia and even from outside of the kingdom. Not all were educated at the Great University (if such a thing even exists). They would use the spelling they were taught.

There are no such things as proofreaders and editors in our contemporary Santharian society, despite the All-Seeing Eye of Artimidor. No one reads over Gean Firefeet's poems before they are hand-copied into the Compendium, for example.

Shakespeare spelt his name at least six different ways and was apparently untroubled by this.

Writers as modern as Zane Grey were using 'bowlder' for 'boulder' and 'canuon' for 'canyon' without challenge.

We include all the variant names for plants and beasts in our entries. Some gems and colours vary - the green of Bard Judith's eyes can be written as 'emerald' or 'emeraud', for example, and we have both 'grey' and 'gray' referenced.

Since 'milk' and 'milch' are (at least in Santharia) pronounced differently, why would they not be spelt differently to reflect that? It merely depends upon which particular scholar/researcher is writing the entry and upon his/her tribal origin... Same with 'eggs', 'eyren', and 'aeyren', by the way...


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Mina

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #35 on: 03 July 2007, 13:22:13 »

Well yes, that makes sense if spelling in Santharia isn't standardised yet. But words the Compendium (well, the main site) seem to be spelled in an unusually uniform manner if that were the case. There are some cases idiosyncratic spellings in it, as you point out, but they are relatively uncommon. This makes sense OOC of course, since we do have a standardised spelling system and don't want to make the site too hard for people to read, but shouldn't we justify it IC as well?


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Artimidor Federkiel

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #36 on: 03 July 2007, 22:25:26 »

Simply put: I don't think it is necessary to explain everything until the tiny last detail, be it in magic or in language, regarding the gods or how volcanoes work. Takes the fun out of it, but I repeat myself.


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Mina

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Re: THE ICEMILK (revisions)

« Reply #37 on: 03 July 2007, 23:48:50 »

I personally find it more fun to have all the details worked out so they can be found or inferred by anyone willing to dig for them.

But, what I was doing here was pointing out a possible inconsistency. Ignoring inconsistencies might be less work, but there's also the risk that it'd make you look sloppy. But this is a rather minor one anyway, so I'm not going to spend too much effort arguing bout it.


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