Jump to content

"They say all of King Lima’s children are dead now, so they do."


Recommended Posts

Like the example in the topic title, there are multiple instances in Echoes where people feel the need to confirm something they said not five seconds earlier.
As someone who studies language, this has piqued my interest, because I haven't seen or heard anything like it before I played Echoes.

Does anyone know the reason why they do it? And if there is no special reason, is it just to give the Valentians some speech quirks of their own?

If this is the wrong forum for this kind of post, I apologize.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It doesn't seem that odd to my speech patterns. I think it is a sort of dialogue quirk that's used in regional parts of Ireland. I doubt that's where IS was taking it from, but the reason some people speak like that comes from some more literal translations of Irish to English when we were basically forced to speak the language a few centuries back. The same phenomenon probably happened in other medieval areas too. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no expert on this type of thing, but I think it might be "commoner" flavor.  I don't recall a time when any of the nobles said something like "it sure is" or "so they do" at the end of a sentence in such a manner (and if they did, it wasn't as frequent as the poorer folk), and it would make perfect sense since one of the big themes in Echoes is class division.

Though again, I wouldn't know for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

I'm no expert on this type of thing, but I think it might be "commoner" flavor.  I don't recall a time when any of the nobles said something like "it sure is" or "so they do" at the end of a sentence in such a manner (and if they did, it wasn't as frequent as the poorer folk), and it would make perfect sense since one of the big themes in Echoes is class division.

Though again, I wouldn't know for sure.

Desaix says "And Worms they are!" as a "confirmation" in one scene, but otherwise, I would agree on the "commoner" flavour notion.

Interestingly enough, none of the main cast uses that "quirk", even though commoners like Luthier, Gray, Tobin, Faye or Kliff would have every reason to.

Edited by DragonFlames
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's probably just colloquialism. I know a lot of older people that live in the countryside of Ireland (Including my grandparents) speak like that. It's just how hey talk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a quirk.

It's a way of talking.

I've heard this type of talk often enough that I don't understand why it warrants mention. In other words: how it possible to have never heard this type of thing before??

PS: I'm a prairie bumpkin in Canada, for what it's worth. :v

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Azz said:

It's probably just colloquialism. I know a lot of older people that live in the countryside of Ireland (Including my grandparents) speak like that. It's just how hey talk.

So people really do talk like that in real life, then? Interesting.

55 minutes ago, Sock said:

It's a quirk.

It's a way of talking.

I've heard this type of talk often enough that I don't understand why it warrants mention. In other words: how it possible to have never heard this type of thing before??

PS: I'm a prairie bumpkin in Canada, for what it's worth. :v

Well, to be fair, English isn't my first language and I live nowhere near the more rural areas of any English speaking countries, so I wouldn't know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Sock said:

It's a quirk.

It's a way of talking.

I've heard this type of talk often enough that I don't understand why it warrants mention.

If you're into studying dialects/language like the topic creator, then every way of talking bears mentioning, especially when media has speech mannerisms that deviate from the typical, which is some variant of an urban Californian dialect because most media comes out of the major cities in that state.

I think a lot of the previous posts brought up some really interesting points.  Regardless of if anyone's right about the specific reasoning why the devs had characters talk this way (we're most likely giving them more credit than they're due), it's cool to learn some new things about the English language and its usage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just giving perspective: I've heard it enough that it seems NORMAL to me.

And you guys have given me perspective: I've been taking things like language usage for granted. My world has been so very small...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's common at least for certain characters in British media. I'm not a native speaker of English and can't speak for how common it is in real life, but it is definitely a common role language quirk. Purely based on anectdotal experience, it is either used to make things sound slightly more uneducated, old timey, or outside of England, British. 

I'm unsure if it has a proper term. At first I thought it was just "right dislocation", but it works more as confirmation or repetition. 

Sadly I can't look it up right now. Might do it when I get back home. 

Edited by Thane
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, as someone who's read a fair chunk of Le Morte D'Arthur, the compilation of Arthurian lore from 1485, I can tell you it's pretty common throughout.
Much of Thomas Malory's hefty tome is filled with speech that seems redundant to the modern eye.
As it stands I view it as flavor for the kind of tale they're telling.

Actually when I think about it, Valentia, were it not retconned to continent size in Awakening, could have made for a pretty neat Medieval England/Ireland analogue.
Think about it, a rift between North and South, just like the rift between Ireland and England.

Then again, take that with a handful of salt, given I'm the guy who can't help but think of the Archanean continent as Asia, with Talys Island being Japan, or Elibe as Europe (which would also make the Western Isles England/Scotland/Ireland) despite the obvious problems with that line of thought on fantasy continents. Being that it doesn't line up with reality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Mad-manakete said:

Well, as someone who's read a fair chunk of Le Morte D'Arthur, the compilation of Arthurian lore from 1485, I can tell you it's pretty common throughout.
Much of Thomas Malory's hefty tome is filled with speech that seems redundant to the modern eye.
As it stands I view it as flavor for the kind of tale they're telling.

Actually when I think about it, Valentia, were it not retconned to continent size in Awakening, could have made for a pretty neat Medieval England/Ireland analogue.
Think about it, a rift between North and South, just like the rift between Ireland and England.

Then again, take that with a handful of salt, given I'm the guy who can't help but think of the Archanean continent as Asia, with Talys Island being Japan, or Elibe as Europe (which would also make the Western Isles England/Scotland/Ireland) despite the obvious problems with that line of thought on fantasy continents. Being that it doesn't line up with reality.

Well, you're not entirely wrong here, since most Elibean locations' names are directly taken from ancient or modern European cities or states. Then again, Akaneia has Macedon(ia).

Interestingly enough, the lore of King Arthur didn't even start out as being English. A French writer named Chrétien de Troyes came up with it and his works were translated into German in the late 1100's to early 1200's by some more or less famous writers. It was only during the 15th century that  the English king started to centralize the lore around England and combined it with Welsh stories, which was how the whole "whoever takes this sword from the stone shall become king of England" thing was born, they were separate tales originally. Why he did that, I don't know, but I'm assuming that he, like many other rulers of old, saw relating himself to King Arthur (who was depicted as the ideal ruler) as a means to legitimize his own rule. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Well, you're not entirely wrong here, since most Elibean locations' names are directly taken from ancient or modern European cities or states. Then again, Akaneia has Macedon(ia).

Interestingly enough, the lore of King Arthur didn't even start out as being English. A French writer named Chrétien de Troyes came up with it and his works were translated into German in the late 1100's to early 1200's by some more or less famous writers. It was only during the 15th century that  the English king started to centralize the lore around England and combined it with Welsh stories, which was how the whole "whoever takes this sword from the stone shall become king of England" thing was born, they were separate tales originally. Why he did that, I don't know, but I'm assuming that he, like many other rulers of old, saw relating himself to King Arthur (who was depicted as the ideal ruler) as a means to legitimize his own rule. 

It was fanfiction. Just a bunch of thousand year old fanfiction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Well, you're not entirely wrong here, since most Elibean locations' names are directly taken from ancient or modern European cities or states. Then again, Akaneia has Macedon(ia).

Interestingly enough, the lore of King Arthur didn't even start out as being English. A French writer named Chrétien de Troyes came up with it and his works were translated into German in the late 1100's to early 1200's by some more or less famous writers. It was only during the 15th century that  the English king started to centralize the lore around England and combined it with Welsh stories, which was how the whole "whoever takes this sword from the stone shall become king of England" thing was born, they were separate tales originally. Why he did that, I don't know, but I'm assuming that he, like many other rulers of old, saw relating himself to King Arthur (who was depicted as the ideal ruler) as a means to legitimize his own rule. 

I'm well aware of both facts. After all, it's kind of a hobby knowing this stuff.

Merlin's exploits alone were those of a dozen or so other mages. There was an early account where Modred was the one that Guinevere committed her infidelity with instead of Lancelot. The list goes on.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Jotari said:

It was fanfiction. Just a bunch of thousand year old fanfiction.

LOL

7 minutes ago, Mad-manakete said:

I'm well aware of both facts. After all, it's kind of a hobby knowing this stuff.

Merlin's exploits alone were those of a dozen or so other mages. There was an early account where Modred was the one that Guinevere committed her infidelity with instead of Lancelot. The list goes on.

Indeed.

I know of all of this because I study German Literature at university right now. Been doing it for... four years, I think. I really need to finish soon...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 28-4-2018 at 2:16 PM, Mad-manakete said:

Then again, take that with a handful of salt, given I'm the guy who can't help but think of the Archanean continent as Asia, with Talys Island being Japan, or Elibe as Europe (which would also make the Western Isles England/Scotland/Ireland) despite the obvious problems with that line of thought on fantasy continents. Being that it doesn't line up with reality.

Personally I see Archenea as a stand in for the Mediterranean countries. Most civilizations are circled around a large body of water, its got some Greek influences and north of that main body of water are barbarians. 

Sacea aside Elibe is more closer to Western Europe with Bern being Germany and Etruria being France with a touch of Italy put in.

Edited by Etrurian emperor
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...