10354/Inventing a New Language

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Inventing a New Language
Date of Scene: 08 December 2019
Location: Second Floor, Xavier's School
Synopsis: Doug agrees to invent a new Mutant Language
Cast of Characters: Sunspot, Polaris, Cypher




Sunspot has posed:
One of the problems of Genosha seems to be they are taking mutant refugees from all over the world. As a former British colony, Genosha official language has always been English, and in truth English is well-known in most of the western world.

But if mutants have it bad in America, they actually have it much worse in the Muslim countries and also the Far East. English is far less used in China or Iran. Or in some African nations where even regular humans are trying to leave in huge numbers.

"If you have language or translation problems, who are you gonna call?" Because Doug abilities are actually very useful. Except those times someone shoots him. We are working on that.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna sighed, combing her fingers through her hair, "Well, hopefully he's around today and we can ask him. Hmm?" She let her hands fall away as she glanced toward Roberto briefly and back around the hall, a faint grimace twisting her lips. "Even if it's not a spoken language, but something written, something that can be easily used by the majority of residents for the more basic parts of life.. you know?"

The Princess of Genosha had been having issues with the translations and addressing the sheer number of refugees. A lot of issues that had arisen due to cultural misunderstandings as well as language.

And with an island filled with mutants, many of whom had trouble controlling their powers.. it was a recipe for distaster.

Cypher has posed:
Sam makes Doug take one day off a week. So today, Doug is at the school, getting intimately familiar with his pillow. He talks in his sleep, by the way, but it's usually a senseless babble of any number of languages mixed together, so nobody's really been able to understand it. His door does have a whiteboard hung on it. When he's asleep, it says 'Do Not Disturb' in various languages. Today it's Khmer!

Sunspot has posed:
Since it is Doug's day off Roberto assumes he would be watching Star Trek or playing Word of Battlecraft. Or maybe spending quality time with Jubilee. Which still sounds strange, but more power to him.

He really shouldn't be sleeping mid-afternoon, right? So Roberto knocks at the door of his room, waits fifteen seconds, then opens it. "Hey, Doug," he greets.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna followed Roberto along to Doug's room, her heeled boots clicking with each step. The green haired woman was dressed in a thick cashmere sweater, of a soft blue, pair of jeans, and a pair of black boots of some variety. Likely overly expensive. She arched a brow at Roberto as he knocked on the door, her gaze swinging to the sign hanging there in a foreign language.

"Maybe he's out?" She drawled, and then Roberto was swinging the door open to enter without much of a pause.

"Uhm.." Lorna lingered in the doorway, waiting awkwardly.

Cypher has posed:
Well just because it's his day off doesn't mean he wasn't working all night beforehand. Letter of the law. And it appears that much like Illyana, that was just a fling! Doug's like that sometimes, a scoundrel in a nice guy suit.

When Roberto opens the door, he sits up, and stretches. He's wearing a t-shirt with a picture of Superman on it that says 'DRESS FOR THE JOB YOU WANT'.

"Oh. Hey." he says, with a yawn -- before he half-heartedly lobs a pillow at Roberto's head. It hits the doorframe. "For old times' sake. What's up?"

Sunspot has posed:
"You taking a nap?" Asks Roberto a second before the pillow bounces off the doorframe and hits him on the face. Ack. Undignified! "Damnit, Ramsey," he protests.

He tosses the pillow back. Then runs a hand through his hair, putting it back in place or something. "We need some advice with a language problem. Want to join us for coffee at the kitchen? Or maybe tomorrow it would be better?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna laughed softly as the pillow went flying through the air to smack at Roberto's face. She came up behind the solar powered mutant, peering around his shoulder with her hand reaching out to settle on his shoulder once he'd tossed the pillow back at Doug. "We can came back later, I was just hoping to talk to you." She murmured, shooting Roberto a look.

"It's really my problem and Genosha, but I mentioned it to Roberto and he said that you might be able to help."

Cypher has posed:
Doug gets up. He's wearing hawaiian board shorts - he jams his feet into a pair of Warlock-shaped slippers he apparently had custom made -- they're grinning -- and then says, "Oh, no, I'll make time." He says, before he opens a mini-fridge and gets out a red bull. He pops the tab on it and has a swig, and brightens, visibly.

Then he rubs his chin. "You want a mutant Lingua Franca that'll help you overcome language and social barriers among the Genoshan refugees and help you start building a common culture. A Mutant Esperanto? Interesting idea."

Sunspot has posed:
"Coffee is much better than that, man," points out Roberto when Doug grabs the soda can. Americans. "Come, you room is... uh, I have seen better." And it is Saturday, so the school is half-empty. "It gotta be something that can be spread fast. Maybe with a telepathic whammy. I am quite sure most telepaths can't do the Prof's telepathic-language teaching, but maybe with the right 'mutant esperanto'?"

Polaris has posed:
Lorna paused, considering Doug and smiling, "Yeah, actually that's exactly it. I was getting fed up with the Council's constant complaints that were really just people having issues communicating. Most of these mutants come from places that never even allowed them to get an education. Never mind learning a second language. The schools are struggling with it." She sighed, and grimaced, glancing back to Roberto and then back to Doug. She shrugged once, "Roberto is offering to buy you coffee is what I heard." She murmured, and nudged Roberto's shoulder with her own gently.

"But maybe, if people wanted to use telepathy to learn it. That would be on offer, yes."

Cypher has posed:
"Well, learning language at the fundamental root of the human intellect. And people are always going to find ways not to communicate with each other. Do you want something with an Earth language root, a dead language that already exists like the Hyborean tongues -- I mean it'd be funny if everyone on Genosha spoke Aquilonian, when the only two other people alive who know it are the Black Queen and uh, me." he rubs the back of his neck, "Or do you want something all new with no common Earth root?" Doug asks, "Because that one's going to take the most time. I can create you a language out of whole cloth, I did it to build the computer programming code I use, it just takes time."

Sunspot has posed:
"It is an ongoing crisis," points out Roberto. So the sooner the better, although it has been going for over a year and there are not riots in the streets yet. So it is not a deadly condition either. "No one is going to die if you don't get it tomorrow, but I am not sure if it will be useful if you take a year. I am quite sure the people that migrated two years ago speak decent English by now."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna inclined her head toward Roberto and glanced back to Doug, "As he said, we've got a good amount of refugees that have been there for a long while and have adjusted. Though it's been rough. The problem being that we constantly have more refugees, and well, the population hasn't slowed either.." She murmured, and shifted her weight on her toes.

"Ideally, I care that it is easy for people to learn. Simplistic. I don't care about what it is, or how it is.. but I want it to be easily learned. So if people don't choose to use telepathy, they might not struggle as much with learning English for example." She crossed her arms, thinking.

"A common Earth root would likely be the easiest then, wouldn't it?"

Cypher has posed:
"Well, that's exactly what Esperanto was designed for," Doug says. "But I imagine you want something unique, something Mutants can say is culturally theirs."

He taps his chin with three fingers, and then says, "I mean, Language is a funny thing. Hebrew was a ceremonial, religious language used much the same way Latin is by the Catholic Church -- essentially dead... until it wasn't. And there's still arguments that Aramaic should've been revived instead, but no chance getting that cat back in the bag. Language brings things with it though... culture. Religion, even. Are you prepared for that? If I make you a language, and they take to it, it could open a whole can of worms of... stuff." He gestures with his hands for emphasis.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto nods. "That is what I have read about Esperanto, yes... but," he hmphs. Culture? Esperanto has no culture. On the other hand, it is true language can influence culture. Actually it is usually the other way around: culture modifies language. But newcomes that adapt the language would also adapt to the culture?

This is quite a bit Roberto knowledge. He figures Xavier, who has a doctorate in philosophy, might know. They really should ask experts about the consequences of imposing a language on a whole population. The Romans did it, and the colonial powers of the Nineteenth Century. It was often a mess.

"Doug. Do you think you could create a language that would make people... better? Smarter? Or at least more prone to think before doing something stupid? It would certainly make mutants the superior race," he chuckles.

Polaris has posed:
Lorna shrugged, "I want a mutant language, like you said, unique. I'm not planning to impose this on anyone. And I still have to take it to my father and the Council. I just thought that having it as an option... as something people might want to use.. rather than the human languages that were part and parcel of their oppression.. Might give people another kind of freedom." She murmured, and glanced at Roberto, her eyebrows arching briefly.

"I think you're putting too much on language." She drawled, her voice dry.

Cypher has posed:
Doug's mouth squiggles into a funny line.

He's fighting it... he's fighting it... he's losing.

"If I could come up with a language that'd make people more prone to think twice before they ran off and did something stupid I'd have taught it to you years ago, Fallen Angel." OoOOoOOoooooOoooh. He deserves what he gets for that one, and he knows it, it's written all over his face.

"I can do that for you. I'm actually in favor of it - the world is treating us like a singular race... but we're not that. Not yet. But language is one of those things that helps define identity. So, I'll do it. I'll call it--" He puts a finger over his mouth.

"I don't know, you're good at packaging things Berto, come up with a name."

Sunspot has posed:
What? Him? Roberto frowns a bit. It definitely should not be 'Genoshan'. Too many implications there. It should also be for all mutants. Some day, a few centuries from now, the bulk of the population of Earth will be mutants. And they probably won't call themselves mutants.

"If you can't do better than current languages do, Doug..." he starts. "Ah, call it Basic. If it gets adopted it will eventually become the main language on Earth."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna laughed softly at Doug'd ribbing, a hand smothering her laughter slightly as she grinned and glanced side long at Roberto and then back to Doug in turn. "Well he's already dating me, so that could go either way." She joked lightly, a smirk on her lips as she glanced around the room and back, her weight rocking her heels from the back to front slightly.

"But I think he has a point, actually. Some day, pending robots taking over and slaughtering everyone, everyone will be a mutant. What we're doing now might very well become the building blocks for that future. Basic makes me think of Star Wars though.." She teased.

Cypher has posed:
Doug considers that. "Hmmm." He says, before he puts his hand on his hip. "We'll call it Basic M. M for Mutant. And Magneto'll go for anything with an 'M' on it, it's kind of his thing..." He dwells on that for a moment.

"First, we need an alphabet." He mulls over that, and then says, "I DO find the old Hyborean alphabet very elegant and adaptable, and I mean the Aquilonians dominated the West with it--" he wipes off his whiteboard and starts squiggling letters onto it in a neat hand. "An alphabet is a visual representation of a language, the physical representation of sound, connected to meaning... a sign of human intellectual development was moving from pictographs to alphabets, an increased layer of abstract thought--"

Sunspot has posed:
"No," Roberto states firmly. "Hell, no. Leave the alphabet alone. People need a language to make things simpler. They don't need to re-learn alphabets, or god... or changing all the computer keyboards and needing to learn to type on them again. Keep it simple. Get crazy creative later."

Polaris has posed:
Lorna's eyebrows shot upward and she glanced between Roberto and Doug and back again. "But Chinese characters, or Russian aren't the same as English characters for an alphabet.. We're going to alienate someone either way. The question is which way is fair? I dunno, it's something to consider. I'm not the expert when it comes to languages." She smiled at Doug and stifled a yawn as it crept from her lips.

"I think I need some more coffee.."

Cypher has posed:
Doug smirks at Roberto, and then gestures. "Trust the process, Roberto! Don't worry, by the time I'm done you'll be astonished at how easy I've made it." He continues squiggling down letters.