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Language Barriers in Runeterra?

SaltyToplaneGoat·4/2/2017, 9:10:44 AM·10 votes·1,062 views

This is something I just realized but... isn't it weird that everyone in this world speaks english, even if it is occasionally filled with some fantasy words? Obviously its so the reader can understand it, but can certain characters even interact with each other?

I think there are five large language groups, not accounting for small tribal languages:

  • the language of the far north, Freljord.

  • the language of Noxus (is similiar to demacian, as demacians originally came from what should later be the noxian empire)

  • the language of the south (Shurima and below)

  • the language of traders (kinda mashes all a little, the common tounge of Piltover, Zaun, and Bilgewater) - potentially the "universal language" when you are abroad

  • the language of Ionia - although I find it weird that Taliyah could intergrate into Noxus and then ALSO could converse with Yasuo easily... or does the noxian military offer language courses for the areas they are about to invade?

  • Potentially: the language of the Shadow Isles, what might be an antiquated version of ancient noxian or given the nature of an island nation anitiquated trader's speak.

It's not a big deal when you have people of the same group interacting (like in the Shurima story). But when different nationalities come together and everyone just speaks the same language, it just feels kinda... weird. And it also makes the world feel small.

4 Comments

Extrasolar4/2/2017, 4:39:31 PM2 votes

Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop fantasies like Pathfinder fixed this problem by basically creating one catch-all common language (very imaginatively called "Common") that the vast majority of sentient races speak, with many smaller, regional dialects of the same language that have to be learned and understood separately depending on the region.

I imagine that for any instances of characters from different countries talking to each other, it's much of the same. Though it would be nice to get a little acknowledgment of it in-story, like, when a character from a certain country is talking in their native dialect to someone else from their native country and then turns to someone not from their home country, they'd have to switch. For example, something as simple as, "Ashe and Tryndamere turned to see Quinn entering the room, and both slipped easily into the common vernacular, understandable by most sentient creatures that walked Runeterra" would be cool for worldbuilding.

Just speaking purely of Ionia, there seem to be several Ionian dialects, judging by Karma's special dialect that she chants when using her Mantra, as well as one catch-all common Ionian language that everyone uses and understands. Yasuo's chants are said to be an ancient Ionian dialect, which may or may not be commonly used anymore.

Itsbeghdev4/2/2017, 11:03:46 PM2 votes

First note: realistically, there would be no single trade language, there would be various pidgins, since for the most part you wouldn't have everyone in the same place at once.

Second: the Ruination is an event beyond all living (eheheh) memory and AFAIK historical records, so I'd place it further into the past than I would anything recognizable as a predecessor of any modern language. It could very easily not be related to any major modern language, perhaps not even as a substrate. Of course, the various undead of the Shadow isles are of somewhat diverse backgrounds, and of course as Yorick's Mist Walkers demonstrate don't even all really still act like people. Mordekaiser is even more prehistoric, Kalista, Hecarim, and the Ruined King were all from somewhere else, Karthus is from closer-to-modern Noxus. The only champions who'd be natively speaking the actual language of the Blessed Isles would be Thresh and Yorick.

Third: on the topic of Demacian, in all likelihood it originated as a creole of several different languages since Demacia was founded by somewhat diverse groups of people not quite entirely after the last Rune War. I'd say it's probable that one of those would be a predecessor of modern Common Noxian--which I give the label of Common because of course there is almost certainly a large degree of linguistic diversity within Noxus, but for the sake of internal communication one of its many tongues is elevated above the others, and is likely native to the area around the Immortal Bastion. Demacian most likely is possessed of a very prominent prestige dialect and formal register of such as not only can be assumed from everything we know about Demacian society but also the dialogue in the short story "For Demacia", which is written so as to suggest significantly more colloquial speech from the characters other than Lux, the members of the Dauntless Vanguard, and the demon.

Fourth: according to House Medarda's trade map, Piltover/Zaun is somewhat between Noxus and the outer (and in some cases former) reaches of Shurima. Judging from names, there is something of a single Shuriman language that furthermore has no influence on that of Piltover/Zaun and Noxus. As OP guessed I'd also say that due to similarity in names there is some kinship between the language of Piltover/Zaun and that of Bilgewater, and the language/family is prominent in most of southern Noxus (maybe it's even Common Noxian)--of course, there could be some common origin of all those English-y names that's unrelated to the relationship between the languages of Piltover/Zaun and Bilgewater, but given the nature of Bilgewater I'd say that the language there is probably a creole with Piltovian/Zaunite as a major component.

I'll write more later but wow do I feel sick.

Epicurus4/3/2017, 1:03:35 AM2 votes

This means Taliyah can speak her native Shuriman, Ur-Nox, and at least one of the Ionian dialects. Plus she travelled through the Freljord and possibly Demacia on the way back from Ionia, so she may speak even more. Clever girl.