Wavecrest chatter

The dialect of the wavecrest dialect is similar in structure to the other dolphin dialects of Teshelyn, but it can perhaps be the hardest of the four primary dialects for outside speakers to learn and become accustomed to. This is not due to any phonetic or grammatical difficulties, but rather due to the unrelenting tendency of wavecrest dolphins to jokingly insult one another at any given opportunity. This feature is usually a difficult cultural gap for outsiders to breach, as they never know when they may have crossed a line.
Learners from other cultures of Teshelyn tend to approach this in different ways. For the balaceti, it is easy enough, as they are not vocally equipped to replicate the chatters and whistles of dolphin speech, and thus they learn only to understand the dolphins. This has led to some high-profile misunderstandings, however, as silverfin-taught balaceti are shocked at what a wavecrest dolphin might say to them.
The silverfen themselves tend to simply not play into the jokes and insults of the wavecrests. They are aware that they are harmless and even gestures of friendship, yet the silverfen choose to speak to the wavecrests as they would to each other. Younger wavecrests subsequently tend to view the silverfen as haughty or stuffy, yet as they grow older they see it as a gesture of respect that the silverfen treat the wavecrests as their own.
Roughtooths, on the other hand, try to give it as good as they get it. However, slight cultural differences between the two can lead to situations where a playful insult by either side may be taken as actual offense by the other. Roughtooths and wavecrests thus tend to either become the best of friends or most bitter rivals.
The only species exempt from the constant barrage of jokes are the orcas. Either out of respect for their serious nature, or out of deference to their immense size and power, the wavecrests choose not to engage in their normal conversational patterns when speaking with an orca unless the individual is very well-known to the speaker.
As with other dolphin dialects, there is a distinction between short-range and long-range communication among the wavecrests. Short-range communication tends to consist of creaks, clicks, and chatter at a very rapid pace that can be difficult for learners to follow, while long-range communication is generally in the form of improvised song. This is the form that learners tend to begin with, as it is also the form that they are most likely to have heard before actually having met a dolphin.

Geographical Distribution

As the wavecrest dolphins are generally uniformly spread throughout the Balacen, there is one unifying dialect of speech that unites them. Particular insults and their frequencies may change regionally, but any wavecrest would be able to understand another.

Common Phrases

"You'd struggle to catch a sunfish!"
"I'd speak slower so you could understand me, but I wouldn't want you thinking you know whalesong."
(sung) empty spheres // empty skulls // I bring neither // which is yours?

Common Female Names

Menksha

Common Male Names

Kishti, Kshakta