originally posted by Gene de la Hunty
Greetings all.
Janny, aside from commending you on your exemplary way of running this site, and how impressed I am of the fact that you actually take the time to answer questions from the readers of your novels (and make them think); I had an ulterior motive for creating this thread. From the title you might gauge somewhat my intentions.
I was incredibly curious of the Paravian language, mainly because of its complexity, and the seamless way you deliver it, which presents a challenge to the reader. I read you saying on another thread "I'm not a linguist", but surely you could pass yourself off as one a lot of the time. Anyway, before I ramble, I was just curious as to the actual characters of Paravian. Obviously the language in itself is rather extensive and developed, but I was wondering whether there were equivalents to our english alphabet. Is there a "Paravian alphabet" as such, or is it completely unrelated to english? ("Has anyone/yourself made one/any sort of attempt, like with the 'dictionary' of Paravian?") ["Could you shed any light on the matter?"]
I heard you mentioning somewhere along the lines that the language itself is completely unrelated, but also that a picture of Alithiel might draw some sort of answer(s) in terms of the characters. Me, being the inept creature I am, decided that I couldn't actually find a decent close-up of the sword itself. Any help with this would also be appreciated. (And I'm always angling for some more 'teasers' in Paravian to decipher!)
Also, apologies if this subject has been breached. I spent some time trying to find one and failed~
Hi Gene -
You Asked.
Yes, I have a record of Paravian characters - to post it on this website, I'd have to scan it, as there are no "equivalent characters."
Some characters correspond to our planet's alphabets - some don't. Notably, Paravian has a character for what would translate as:
t-th
One character with a stop between. A character you have yet to meet - Iyat-thos Tarens - the t-th would be one character in Paravian.
One Day - there will be an appendix or a notation on this site with these details - right about now, I am too immersed in Stormed Fortress to take the time out to nail it down.
The pix of Alithiel you need is on this website - look under the Cover Art in Progress under the Gallery header - there's an enlarged pix of the sword - OR - see the US hardbound (Meisha Merlin) edition - it has the same illustration the full length of the inside flap.
You'd be able to pick out the Paravian characters for
A - L -i/soft y - th - i/soft y - ee - L
originally posted by Gene de la Hunty
Thanks a lot Janny. I appreciate it.