DeConstructing the Language of Sebbou

My latest novel is out now. THE MASTERS' RIDDLE is a science fiction epic in which an alien being is captured by members of a mysterious race. The bulk of the novel is this alien's attempts to return home...to his home planet of Sebbol. Although the novel is in English, of course, there are moments when the alien speaks - which I do partly for flavoring the scene, partly for expressing emotion, partly for fun. I like alien languages.

I first encountered alien languages in my science fiction trilogy, THE DREAM LAND, set partially on the planet of Ghoupallesz. There I had the principal language most residents used, plus three languages used by peripheral societies. With a background in linguistics, I relished the opportunity to create full-functioning languages (and even included some quirks so they were not so perfect...like real languages). (Read more about inventing languages here.) I used them where relevant whenever we have:

1) the names of things with no equivalent word in English;

2) the phrases spoken by the native speakers;

3) the phrases spoken in reply by Earth characters who know the native language;

4) the words/phrases which are added here and there to help lend authenticity to the scene.

I recognize that having extensive passages in other-than-English is tedious for a reader. Thus, I try to limit myself to following a few rules when writing with alien languages (or Earth languages other than English, for example the Hindi spoken by Indians in my India novel about tiger hunting).

Rule 1. When the character hears spoken words which happen to be in the other language, I write out some of it. This is literally what the character hears, even if he doesn't understand it.  I can then explain what it means, as appropriate to the scene. For example, an announcement over a loudspeaker.

Rule 2. When a character literally speaks in a language other than English - because the character does not know English or chooses to speak in another language - I either provide a simple unobtrusive translation or otherwise tell the reader what was said. I do not want to give up the authenticity of the scene by avoiding the foreign language. For example, whenever it is vital that the character speak his own native language (which I give at least a clue as to what it means).

In THE MASTERS' RIDDLE, there are intelligent beings from several worlds. I give each its own language although for the most part I tell the story in English. How can they communicate with each other? An advanced species would have elevated means of communication. First, there is vocalization...which is not going to be understood no matter how well heard. Next is the attempt to communicate visually with facial expressions, hand gestures, and making marks on a surface or circumscribing designs in the air. I have them doing the 'Vulcan mind-meld' in some instances, where one being touches the other and through that neural network connection they can communicate. And a few other clever methods.

But what do they communicate? Not a system of language which one of them would not know. They can only communicate raw ideas - simple ideas, basic information without nuance. No metaphors, idioms, or slang. Even when two beings knowing different languages communicate through telepathy (no physical contact; mind to mind) the effect can only be this fundamental level of ideation: e.g., 'Go, sit, there.' rather than 'Would you please step over to that rock and have a seat there?'

When I worked on Ghoupallean, the main language used on Ghoupallesz, I devised the complete grammar and lexicon, made a thick dictionary of the language, learned to speak some of it - to the dismay of people around me in public venues. For THE MASTERS' RIDDLE I held back. Sure there are a few phrases our hero speaks in Sebbou, the native language of Sebbol, described variously as chirps, squeaks, and squeals. Not a commanding language at all. It is difficult for this alien to lead the ragtag gang of other species but he possesses a unique feature which gives him an advantage: his inner Ru. 

The inner Ru is a homunculus-like entity inside the mind, a miniature man, which both advises and translates. I imagined this little being much as I pondered the drawings of Plato's allegory: a cave with someone writing on the walls. Much of the writing was actually drawing, a visual language, thinking in images rather than abstract marks that made up a formal script to represent the phonetics.

Therefore, Sebbou takes the form in the novel mostly as category 1 above: things which do not directly translate into English, primarily the names of flora, fauna, and geologic features of planet Sebbol. There are a few direct phrases which help show the way of thinking of the Aull who live on Sebbol, the way myth informs their society.

In one scene of instruction, the mentor speaks a Sebbou phrase taken from our hero's mind:

“The Process is what you do with your mind to tear space apart and project body through tangent opening. Do with power of mind, which can be greatest force in the universe. Bio-chemical, electro-chemical energies created in the brain of an advanced creature, applied to engineering problems, can move mountains—sometimes planets. Or, as you say on your world, to ‘raise the stars’.”

Toog’s face flashed bronze. “^sT’_n Ra’_q.”

“You remember expression from childhood? Took from your mind, from memories of childhood training, so can understand. Is true. This power, when focused on right spot and increased to right magnitude can rip curtain between two sides of universe. At such a moment, while rending this curtain, step through to other world.”

The phrase is a common expression and means something significant to our Aull friend and it makes him press on with his lessons. The initial /s/ is a polite hiss which initiates all speech in Aull society. The /T/ with apostrophe represents /t/ with a trailing vowel huff. The falling /n/ is a gutteral utterance. The /R/ is a strong consonant followed by a longer vowel represented by /a/ and the same apostrophic huff. The final /q/ is an emphatic grunt which acts as a conclusion in Sebbou. Therefore, 'Tin rai q'  means “raise the stars”. 

Let's try it:  s (high-pitched hiss) T (with a huff) n (deep in throat) R (almost trilled) a (normal vowel, add huff) kh (unvoiced growl)

Not bad. It's easier if you have the oral apparatus of the Aull throat and mouth. They are, after all, descendent from amphibians. If you can't do it, don't worry. You got the idea. (A glossary is included at the end of the book, if you're curious about Sebbou.)

I wanted to get on with the story rather than indulge in linguistic play, so these kind of direct expressions of Sebbou are kept to the minimum. I tell what they all say, as they communicate mostly through mind-meld or telepathy. The languages are not the main point of the story but are something real that needs to be accounted for in the story. We cannot pretend beings from different planets can all speak the same language. That would not be realistic. I am not a member of Starfleet and I do not possess a handy communicator device (although the Masters in one scene do employ a similar machine). 

But supposing these various characters happened to be in this setting with this problem? How would they communicate with each other in order to solve their problem? That's the point we have to operate with throughout the book. It's all about what's real.

NEXT: Summer vacation reading list.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2021 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

Independence Day: Not the Movie

Dear Independents,

Most of the past several Julys (Julies?) I've been posting your summer reading list and then fleeing to parts unknown. Not this year. Last July was the lockdown. Before that I did a driving tour of Canada. Prior to that I went to China four Julies in a row to teach at a university. Before that I taught a class at my own university. Earlier Julys have faded but I remember a lot of summer classes as a student, a few days near a beach, more days indoors next to the air conditioner, and a little dip in a pool or two.

However, as fate would have it, I have a new book launching today. It's a science fiction novel about an alien (undocumented non-human being?) who through no fault of his (her? its?) own is captured by a mysterious race (species?) that tortures and enslaves him. This cruel treatment leads him to want to escape, moreover to return to his home and be with his family. But there are obstacles, of course, or we wouldn't have a good plot. 

There is no direct connection between this story and Independence Day, commonly known as 4th of July. I looked back to past July blog posts and found none that had an American holiday theme. So I suppose I'll have to start one since I'm still around today.

Yes, it's been a tough time lately. Almost everyone has suffered in a multitude of ways. I think I've skated by fairly well unscathed by all the happenings, both viral and social. I've never been a big rah-rah kind of guy but I can get choked up by some displays of patriotism, the same bald-faced nationalism that most nations have on their birthdays.

Then part of me says "now wait a minute" and I can easily list some things "we" (people long gone ahead of me?) got wrong, did wrong, or failed to do when it should've been done. It's a complicated history, we understand, and one that cannot be told in black and white. We try, but the grays (not the aliens!) are overwhelming. Take any geographical area, any group of people, any planet of intelligent creatures, and there will be the good and the bad - and for movie buffs also the ugly. 

There: I said it. Now let us work toward returning to the righteous path, staying the course, keeping to one's lane, and/or being the best we can be. It's not too difficult. Some people I know like to say we should treat people how we would want to be treated. This may seem a bit narcissistic to some of us. Or not. All is in the mote of the eye of the beholder. But we can still dream, can't we?

(No, I'm not drunk. Just short of sleep and typing too fast. But you get the idea.)

So why not give my latest novel a good read, be filled with the wisdom of First Goddess and hope you return home before it's too late, as our friend Toog wishes. It's kind of like The Shawshank Redemption but with aliens. Actually I've never seen more than a passing minute of it. And, yes, an interdimensional portal. And alien languages, some inter-species seduction, and new military hardware on a frozen, dying world. Perfect for a read beside the pool or on the beach.

Note: there is an actual human among the captives, but this is just for comic relief.

Thanks in advance. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

The Author

Here is a handy dandy link to the Kindle version (click on the word 'Kindle').

Here is a professionally designed link to the Paperback edition (click on the word 'Paperback').

NEXT: The insider info dump about THE MASTERS' RIDDLE.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2021 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

The Truth in all its Fiction

I meant to post my Oscar predictions last week but there was not enough time before the TV program to allow sufficient debate. All in all, I was as right as I usually am: 55%. One thing that happened that piqued my interest was Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor award for his role in The Revenant. The film also was a winner for Alejandro G. Iñárritu, winning Best Director, and for cinematography.

I have nothing against Leo, although I've never really been a fan of his, probably just due to the choices of movies he is in. I have nothing against the film itself, although in several ways it seemed "less" than what I expected. It was more like a comic book version of a revenge tale. Indeed, an earlier film version of the same story, Man in the Wilderness starring Richard Harris, was better told in my opinion. Between the two films there are significant differences in the story - beyond the bear attack and the abandonment.

I first became interested in The Revenant while writing my vampire book A Dry Patch of Skin and researching vampire legends and various diseases which mimic the traits of vampirism. I learned that "revenant" was a term used to identify a person who was as good as dead yet still walked among us--more akin to a zombie than the common idea of the vampire. So I used the term to describe my protagonist, a man afflicted with the vampire disease: he did not die and then come back to life as the typical vampire does. No, he was descending into a horrible life where he looked like death yet could not actually die and be relieved of his horrors. Then the first advertisement for the film popped up on Facebook.

When I saw that it was a retelling of the Hugh Glass story, I was very excited. I recalled the film Man in the Wilderness and how it had been a seminal artistic experience. Several of the ideas, tropes employed in that film, I have made use of in my writing and in life in general. I was probably 14 when I saw it, a romantic age for a boy back in the pre-computer era. My family was once again on summer vacation, heading up the Alaska Highway for a month of fishing and camping in Alaska, our final destination being the town of Homer on the Kenai peninsula south of Anchorage. 

However, we stopped for the night at the village of Burwash Landing on the shore of Kulane Lake in the Yukon territory of Canada. After checking in at the lodge, we wondered what there was to do here on the shore of this huge lake high in the mountains. It was a beautiful location, certainly, though lonely and isolated, especially after dark. 

"Well, they're showing a movie tonight in the community center," said the hotel owner, standing at the front desk.

So we walked over to the community center. Inside, a couple dozen folding chairs had been set up and at the front of the small room a movie screen also had been set up. At the back of the room was the movie projector. Every so often, we paused to let the person running the projector change the film reel. That barely affected my enjoyment of the film, however. I quickly forgot I was lost in the Yukon, instead following poor Hugh Glass as he struggles to keep from dying, then marches through the wilderness driven by his revenge against Captain Henry, the man he blames for abandoning him. Of course, in The Revenant Captain Henry is a good guy and blameless; it is another trapper who is the target of Glass's vengeance.

I remember feeling rather nervous as we walked back to the hotel after the film. It was dark by then, one street lamp, and the wilderness was literally all around us. Probably a few bears were watching us. That is what I liked to think, anyway; I had a big imagination. The truths of the film, however, impressed me greatly. The Hugh Glass of Man in the Wilderness was a humble introvert who Captain Henry had essentially rescued from a hopeless life. Hugh had a son back on the east coast, left with the grandmother after Hugh's wife died during childbirth - as the film depicts. Once Hugh catches up to Captain Henry and the others, he has a change of heart against exacting revenge - perhaps due to the experiences he has along the way. Now, he just wants to go home to see his son. Being a son myself, I wondered if my father would have trekked that far for me.

I learned much later that Man in the Wilderness was based on (or "inspired by") a book called Wilderness written by my favorite science-fiction author Roger Zelazny, his only foray into Westerns (co-authored with frontier expert Gerald Hausman). I learned that it was based on true events. I knew authors may take liberties with true events but I assumed the basic narrative was true in the film.

Now comes The Revenant, based on a 2002 book by the same name written by Michael Punke. My first thought on learning the film was coming soon was to try to understand why they had given it the title they did. With Man in the Wilderness flowing back through my head, I could understand the thinking: almost killed by a grizzly and left for dead, Hugh nevertheless returns to haunt his company of trappers. Makes sense. You leave a man to die - he was bound to die soon anyway - then he likely does die but then you see him around every tree, following you like a ghost....

Last night I finally finished reading the book version of The Revenant. (Full disclosure: I bought the book first but saw the film before I started to read the book.) My reactions? Simply put, the film takes a lot of liberties with the story. Not unexpected, of course. The second half of the book does not get into the film. Instead, the film invents its own second half. The author of the book makes a point of citing sources of information about the true events in Hugh Glass's life - still an amazing story. 

And yet, was the author's purpose to tell an interesting tale or to make available a recording of the facts albeit told in an entertaining way? In the Revenant film, Leo's Hugh reaches the fort then goes out again after Fitzgerald, the man who left him and, in the film, also killed his half-Pawnee son. In the book there is no son to be killed. In the book, Hugh's revenge seems driven by the theft of an excellent rifle as well as being left for dead even though he eventually recovered. In Man in the Wilderness, revenge is against Captain Henry and Hugh's son is way back in the east - ironically, Hugh has abandoned his own son, so that idea provides balance in the film's plot.

At the end of the Revenant book, Punke offers the final events as Hugh returns to Fort Atkinson on the Missouri River (north of today's Kansas City) to catch up with Fitzgerald. There is a courtroom scene and an attempt by Hugh to shoot Fitzgerald with a pistol. Once the story is done, Punke offers a section of notes, separating the facts from the fiction. I read with disdain his declaration that the courtroom nonsense was all fiction. 

Repeat: I read the last chapter about the final confrontation between Hugh Glass and Fitzgerald (Captain Henry is still back in the mountains) then, in the following two pages, the author essentially tells me "Oh, by the way, that last scene is all made-up." True or not true, it was intended to be part of the story. The story! There went my suspension of disbelief.

Sure, all books marketed as fiction are presumed to be "all made up" but when there is an underlying true story involved, it seems disingenuous to then announce quite baldly which parts are true to the facts, which are fictionalization of less certain details, and which are completely fabricated. 

I am reminded of my own recent effort, A Girl Called Wolf, which deals with the same issues in its telling of an orphan girl's life in Greenland. (Read about our collaboration here.) It is a novel (by definition a fiction) based on or "inspired by" a true story (story by definition means fiction) or "true events"; quite a cumbersome thing. In my case, the principal person, the heroine the novel is based on, is still alive so how could I write the true ending to the story? There were two options: Leave it at that feel-good moment when we know that "everything's going to be fine from now on..." or write what the next logical event should be in order to achieve an appropriately heroic climax to the story. I chose the latter, with the heroine's permission. 

Now I feel a strange brotherhood with Mr. Punke and his book (novel?). We both started with real events, put them together with some fictional caulking as needed, and employed a completely fictional conclusion for the sake of telling a good story. 

In the end, the story is king (or queen, in my book's case). The reader cares less that the facts are reported accurately, down to the letter, than that the plot - the story arc - makes sense in the context of the events. Truth may be stranger than fiction and yet many who read understand that fiction is often more truthful than the facts. For the author, it is the story that must be forged. If we want the straight-forward facts, we have newspaper archives and old correspondence - and even that is subject to the whims of memory and the vagaries of its recording. So worry not about the truth. Worry instead about the solidarity of the experience and of the universal insights gleaned from a work of art, not pesky details from a work of reportage.

Now let me return to my current work-in-progress, an epic fantasy (with dragons), where I willingly employ 100% fiction without apology.



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(C) Copyright 2010-2016 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.