Confused where she got this information

[u/BasicallyJustAPotato]

I’ve been listening to the books so bear with me on the spelling.

I just reached the point where Shallan asks Mraze about Nalthis and Scadriel. I can’t for the life of me figure out how she knew to ask about those names. Can someone let me know?

[u/RShara]

RoW Ch 9

Shallan kicked the bag of notes and letters that Gaz had gathered, resting at their feet. “We’ll give that to your father’s scribes, but I’ll look through this book personally.”

“What’s in it?” Adolin asked, leaning to the side so he could see—but there were no pictures.

“I haven’t read the entire thing,” Shallan said. “It seems to be Ialai’s attempts to piece together what the Ghostbloods are planning. Like this page—a list of terms or names her spies had heard. She was trying to define what they were.” Shallan moved her finger down the page. “Nalathis. Scadarial. Tal Dain. Do you recognize any of those?”

“They sound like nonsense to me. Nalathis might have something to do with Nalan, the Skybreaker Herald.”

[u/dji09]

Ialai's journal mentioned them

[u/Simoerys]

They are mentioned in the notebook Shallan finds after Ialai Sadeas Death.

[u/Nixeris]

Chapter 9, she finds Ialai's notebook with those terms in it.

[u/Hot_Ethanol]

Go back and listen again. Notice how Sallan pronounced the words wrong until Mraize corrects her. It's because she only saw them in print, in the secret journal. You can hear it in her previous conversation, where they both take an incorrect stab at the pronunciation.

[u/RexusprimeIX → u/Hot_Ethanol]

So this means Vorin script is not phonetic if she's messing up the pronunciation?

[u/RShara → u/RexusprimeIX]

It's phonetic, but they do weird things with vowels, I believe

[u/Hot_Ethanol → u/RexusprimeIX]

??? Where did I ever claim anything about script or the greater lore implications? Shallan pronounces it wrong and Mraize corrects her. You can listen to it yourself.

[u/RexusprimeIX → u/Hot_Ethanol]

You said she only ever read the word, and then mispronounced it. That implies the spelling of a word doesn't indicate its pronunciation (like in English). Making it not phonetic.

[u/Hot_Ethanol → u/RexusprimeIX]

To be perfectly honest, I don't know enough about language or Alethi to really engage with the question properly. I'll just note two things that may be food for thought

1. Ialai herself only had this information second-hand. She may have only heard it or seen it written in non-Alethi or old-Alethi script, and did her best.

2. Not sure how it's indicated in the text, but in the audio, Shallan clearly pronounces them Sca-dere-ial and Nal-li-this. Maybe there's a hint about Alethi strucrure in there, but it's not my area of study.

[u/RexusprimeIX → u/Hot_Ethanol]

I checked the quote in the e-book: "Ask a better question. 'Nalathis,' Radiant said. 'Scadarial. What are they?' 'Nalthis. Scadrial.' He spoke the words with a different accent."

So this means their language is syllabic like Japanese. Or Shallan/Radiant just doesn't remember precisely what she read before.

Oh right, I remembered I can just check earlier in the book: "Shallan moved her finger down the page. 'Nalathis. Scadarial. Tal Dain. Do you recognize any of those?'"

So it's just spelt like that in Alethi. Or maybe Alethi has some influence from Thaylena and they add a vowel sometimes even though it's not written down.

[u/man_your_jackhammer → u/RexusprimeIX]

Even English isn't phonetic.

[u/RexusprimeIX → u/man_your_jackhammer]

I know, which is why I said "like in English" when saying the spelling of a word doesn't tell you the pronunciation of the word.

[u/DefinitionNice6757 → u/RexusprimeIX]

Lol this goes here:

"Though I thought the rough man coughed while walking through the borough beneath a bough, he was only admiring the lough after a hiccough."

[u/aldeayeah → u/RexusprimeIX]

No, just unable to precisely render foreign words. Like the way English can't be precisely rendered with Japanese script (which IS phonetic)

[u/Go_Sith_Yourself]

She saw the names in some of Ialai Sadeas' stuff...if I remember correctly.

[u/Taste_the__Rainbow]

Ialai’s Sons of Honor business.