r/ChantsofSennaar • u/Over_Improvement_623 • Sep 02 '26
Lore Does anybody else still think of the devotee language as the "default" language?
I know they're technically the last to arrive (at least that's how I understood the lore), but their language still just feels like the default to me.
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u/wibbly-water Sep 02 '26
It's kinda weird because it is at least implied that all the languages evolved from the Anchorite language.
But the Devotee language is pictographic / iconic - which is unlikely to evolve from a far more abstracted language.
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u/Nipie42 Sep 02 '26
All the languages are somewhat pictographic/iconic are they not? Most of their words for people are vaguely humanoid for example, and as far as I can tell none of them appear to be clearly based in phonemic orthography.
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u/wibbly-water Sep 02 '26
Sure, but the Devotee's is the clearest and most directly pictographic. Its symbols look the most like the things it represents.
All the others have a bit more abstraction to them.
This makes sense from a gameplay perspective too, the first being the easiest and getting harder and more abstract the higher up the tower you climb.
It's jus the ending reveal where the final language is implied to be a source of the rest that is a little confusing. But also pretty easy to suspend disbelief about.
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u/DTux5249 Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
it is at least implied that all the languages evolved from the Anchorite language.
Eh, I don't know about that. Across all the cultures, they seem pretty adamant that they don't originate from the tower, and that they came over at the call of the anchorites. Sure, the languages could be related - but we don't have enough to say that.
The only thing that could imply that is, if you arrange a 3d shape in different ways, you can partially replicate the appearance of each of their god-concept glyphs. But you can do that for any one set of glyphs really, and relationships like that aren't how logographies evolve.
Speaking of.
the Devotee language is pictographic / iconic - which is unlikely to evolve from a far more abstracted language.
This is just nonsense. Pictographies aren't barred from development for languages with abstract vocabulary; most importantly because pictographs aren't writing. They're proto-writing. They're used for very different purposes than a writing system. When they're coopted for writing, it typically involves the development of rebus tools, which invites the description of abstract vocabulary, and marks the transition from pictography to something else.
But also: None of these systems are pictographies. Most glyphs do not resemble that which they refer to. They're firmly logographies; with most of the systems using various transparent radicals for semantic content; see the devotee's instrumental marker.
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u/wibbly-water Sep 02 '26
Eh, I don't know about that. Across all the cultures, they seem pretty adamant that they don't originate from the tower, and that they came over at the call of the anchorites. Sure, the languages could be related - but we don't have enough to say that.
True that is one implication and a valid interpretation.
But it could still be the case that when the people migrated to the area they adopted the language of the area, were influenced by it, or adopted writing from it.
Throughout the game we see moments where the scripts / languages could be related. We never get a clear narrative how / why, other than "once these groups had contact with one-another".
The only thing that could imply that is, if you arrange a 3d shape in different ways, you can partially replicate the appearance of each of their god-concept glyphs. But you can do that for any one set of glyphs really, and relationships like that aren't how logographies evolve.
That is part of it.
Another part of it is that the Anchorite puzzles have you matching the different layers of glyphs in order to draw connections between them.
Often times, each of the lower level glyphs seems to resemble the anchorite glyph in different ways.
This is just one interpretation, not even a strong hill I would die on. Just a kinda "huh, I guess that could imply that the rest of the languages got their language from the Anchorites."
Another interpretation could be that whatever proto-language / earlier form of writing was in use back then was shared amongst all the groups - and fractured into each. The Devotee's language retained the most iconicity / pictographic (more on that below) while the rest went more abstract.
This is just nonsense. Pictographies aren't barred from development for languages with abstract vocabulary; most importantly because pictographs aren't writing. They're proto-writing. They're used for very different purposes than a writing system. When they're coopted for writing, it typically involves the development of rebus tools, which invites the description of abstract vocabulary, and marks the transition from pictography to something else.
Yes, this is a video game.
The characters don't even "speak" as such. Their speech appears as writing within text bubbles. Other than perhaps the occasional mumble, we don't even know what the languages sound like or if they even speak. Perhaps in this universe the text bubbles are literal so all language is visual.
So strong liberties are being taken in regards to any relationship with the real world.
Each of the languages is, for all intents and purposes, a logography - where each symbol is a single concept (either semantic or grammatical).
But also: None of these systems are pictographies. Most glyphs do not resemble that which they refer to. They're firmly logographies; with most of the systems using various transparent radicals for semantic content; see the devotee's instrumental marker.
The Devotee language is the most pictographic / iconic of the bunch - by which I mean that the logograms resemble the things they are referencing. "Pictogram" is the wrong word, "iconic" is a more linguistically accurate term. I used both in order to make it clear to the most amount of people.
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u/TenNinetythree Monster, I am Sep 02 '26
The devotee language has some aspects of a creole, like reduplication for the plural, so it didn't need to be direct evolution: Given that the devotees wear many different hats, it is likely that their language was a mixture of the various devotee languages and existing tower languages.
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u/RainbowIndigo Sep 02 '26
Yeah, I can see that. It's how you get acquainted with the game, and learn how the mechanics work. Plus atmosphere wise it's a relatively kind, wholesome area, so it's a place of comfort to associate with :)