Vreleksá

Vrelina · Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 13

In the show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, draws upon different ethnic and geographic origins from the real world for its backdrop. A major influence comes from Asia and the Americas. There are four elements for the four areas: Earth, Water, Air, Fire.

Brainstorm question:
What conlangs would they speak and would they be able to understand each other?

eldin raigmore

Hemicomputer · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 610 Location: Calgary, Alberta

Well, there would likely be languages for Earth, Air, Fire, and Water kingdoms, seeing as those seem to be the main countries. The Air language would probably not be spoken very much, since it's "the LAST airbender". I think that either there would be a Lingua Franca used, or that the main characters speak Water language to each other. I say this because the Earthbenders are vastly oppressed (so their language would be discouraged), there's only one Airbender (not exactly a language community), and the Firebenders are the "bad guys", so the main characters wouldn't want to speak their language. Also, two of the main characters a Waterbenders.
_________________
Bakram uso, mi abila, / del us bakrat, dahud bakrita!

Vortex · Joined: 10 Feb 2008 Posts: 54

You would probably find a pidgin language arising in the areas controlled by the Fire kingdom and maybe a creole popping up in the mix. This would be because the firebenders would be the dominant culture in those areas and would probably refuse to speak the languages of the natives, who they probably see as beneath them. So the natives would create a pidgin inorder to communicate with the imperial power with in their region. This would probably further the idea that the oppressed people are below the firebenders since they "can't speak the language right."