Speech Guide

At 'Souls, we divide verbal communication into two "levels" -- high- and low-speech. Major predators, such as wolves, coyotes, jaguars, bears, and mountain lions, generally speak high-speech. Smaller predators, such as badgers, and herbivores and omnivores, for the most part, speak low-speech.

High-Speech

This cougar speaks high speech, though it may not be completely understood by a wolf -- even across high speech, there are small degrees of difference in dialect. Image by dracobotanicus@Flickr

High-speech is spoken by almost all major predators. It is further subdivided into languages, such as English, French, Russian, etc. For roleplay purposes, animals' language generally mimics the human language of their region. For example, wolves in most parts of Canada would naturally speak English, while wolves specifically from Quebec may speak French, English, or both.

However, this does not mean that wolves can communicate verbally with humans (if they were even alive). An English-speaking wolf and an English-speaking human would not be able to speak to one another because they use completely different sounds to communicate. To the wolf, the human would be making noises and speaking gibberish. To the human, the wolf would probably be whining and barking. A lot.

In general, the high-speech languages between mammalian species are the same. An English-speaking wolf would be able to communicate with an English-speaking bear without trouble. However, the more different a species is, the more its language may begin to diverge. An English-speaking alligator may have some trouble understanding an English-speaking coyote because mammalian dialects differ from reptilian ones. Think of this difference as the difference between Shakespearean English and modern English -- it would take a significant amount of learning for a speaker of one to understand the other, but many of the core attributes are still the same.

Low-Speech

Low-speech is spoken by lesser predators and prey animals, including horses, deer, rabbits, and birds. Like high-speech, it is also subdivided into various languages, though these may not mimic human languages as precisely. Low-speech contains more divergences, splitting off into hundreds of regional dialects and varying much more between species.

Species where groups of individuals tend to stay in a localized area will have more variation -- for example, many rabbits stay with the same warren their entire lives and never venture out of their immediate area. These rabbits may have a very specific dialect that even rabbits from a nearby region may not be able to understand at all, much less other species. Meanwhile, migrating birds such as ducks and terns, would have a more stable language, understandable between many others of the same and similar species.

Although very similar in appearance and perhaps even of the same species, these two rabbits may share virtually no mutual intelligibility in their speech, depending on their locales and dialects.
Images by lukaaash@Flickr and duloup@Flickr

The specifics of low-speech languages tend to be much more basic than high-speech languages -- there are less synonyms, less words in general, less complex sentence structures, and less advanced communicative techniques like metaphors and sarcasm. Because of the limitations of their natural language, a majority of animals that speak low-speech naturally are not able to ever grasp fluent high-speech.

Given repeated exposure, they may gain some listening, understanding, and comprehension skills, but it is rare that these animals are able to actually speak more than a small handful of words and form very basic sentences in high speech. This is not necessarily a limitation of intelligence, but the differences between high- and low-speech are incredibly significant. Low-speech-speaking species with slightly higher language flexibility include crows and rats.

It is similarly difficult for animals that speak high-speech naturally to learn low-speech. In the first place, the differences in species is usually the greatest deterrent. It can be very difficult for a high-speech-speaking mammal to even recognize the sounds of a bird as anything more than noise and gibberish, and the great number of specific dialects make it difficult to gain repeated exposure to the same one.

The lack of word or concept equivalents in many dialects make low-speech languages seem unnecessarily limited and therefore frustrating to high-speech individuals. It would take a very dedicated wolf to become fluent in any low-speech dialect, and even then, they may be at a complete loss when presented with low-speech of a differing dialect.

In roleplay, characters speaking low-speech should not have their dialogue written out in the same manner as high-speech. A meaning may be conveyed, but translations are rarely exact or word-for-word. For example, it is all right to say:

The bird nodded and warbled excitedly. He understood her words to mean that the rain was coming, but it was difficult to make out the specifics given her obvious excitement.

But it is not all right to say:

"'A storm's comin'! A storm's comin'!" the bird shrieked in low speech.

In the former, a general message is understood. In the latter, actual words are attributed to the bird, which is not allowed (even if the roleplayer specifically states the words are in low speech). This helps to alleviate confusion as to who can understand the low-speech as well as potential confusion regarding the level of depth and conversational ability a low-speech speaking creature can attain.

If you have any questions regarding high speech, low speech, or which species are naturally capable of which, please ask!

Speech by Species

For specific information about what dialect an animal speaks, please refer to the following table. Please see Wikipedia for lists of specific species in the following groups.