Whalesong
The discovery of glyph crystals and the development of a reliable method to echo their contents provided irrefutable proof of what many naturalists had long suspected: that whalesong contained structure and content, and was not merely the vocalizations of wild animals.
The early years of the study of whalesong - later dubbed cetalinguistics - were mostly focused on identifying and defining its structure. True translation would not be achieved for decades, but early cetalinguists were able to glean some meaning from a song given the time and place of its recording (if available), and similarities with other songs with comparable characteristics. Common phrases indicating places or seasons were identified, and translators soon learned that whales sang mostly in broad metaphors. The difficulty of translating not only from a broadly unknown language, but also from a broadly unknown culture discouraged most from pursuing the endeavor, and cetalinguistics almost seemed like a passing academic trend.
When the key glyph was discovered in the Crystal Springs that contained a conversation between a whale, an orca, and a balaceti, the field of cetalinguistics was revitalized. A wide swath of what had previously been held as concrete knowledge had to be thrown out as yet another mistranslation, and linguistic efforts began anew.
Syntax
Whalesong verses tend to follow a simple but flexible structure. Consider the following verse:
vibrant waters
life abundant, troubles few
our home, now and always
unrivaled This is a very typical whalesong verse. The first line sets the tone, usually describing water. The second line is a trochaic description of the setting. The third line is an amphibrachic description of the subject. Finally, the fourth line is a single amphibrach, describing the action of the verse. The limited nature of this structure leads to significant ambiguity that translators must struggle with, but experienced translators familiar with the common themes and nuances of whalesong can make reasonable assumptions if a verse is too vague.
life abundant, troubles few
our home, now and always
unrivaled This is a very typical whalesong verse. The first line sets the tone, usually describing water. The second line is a trochaic description of the setting. The third line is an amphibrachic description of the subject. Finally, the fourth line is a single amphibrach, describing the action of the verse. The limited nature of this structure leads to significant ambiguity that translators must struggle with, but experienced translators familiar with the common themes and nuances of whalesong can make reasonable assumptions if a verse is too vague.
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