Let's Read: Warrior Cats Series

[Arcaii]

Excelente! It has such potential.

[SingTheRain]

I haven't, but speaking of YA books that might actually be good, try the Skinjacker Trilogy! It's essentially kids in limbo and when I last read it, I liked it a lot.

I second this so hard. Those were great books.

[agathokakologic]

Haven't posted for a while, but I'm watching o3o

[Mr. Cloudwhisker]

Haven't posted for a while, but I'm watching o3o

Same here XD

[. étoile]

[I r o n.]

Leafpool: This time, I'll catch er'!

[. étoile]

[Arcaii]

Warriors Musings: Language, Part Three

Accents

One of the many things missing from the books is the dissonance between Clans. As Grey said:

Living in isolated, or even semi-isolated, groups has a social effect. Every clan should, by rights, speak in a particular way, with their own phrases and terms for things, and accents (however slight).

And since these cats don't go out of their way to interact with each other (save for the Gathering), this should be an extremely noticeable difference. The only question would be how the cats should talk.

We've already established that feral cats are naturally quiet - they won't even meow if they're in pain. Body language would be a big part of their daily conversations, conveying the tone of voice the cat intends to use with their tail or ears. We've also said that the cat's daily lifestyle would affect their vernacular significantly, since these things mean life or death. The question is, how do we figure out what cats in what areas would have which accent?

Let's take the Big Four for our examples. WindClan lives in the high moors, where the breeze carries many scents and they can see all of the territories from the top of the hill. Their favored prey is rabbits, and are notable for being quick in both feet and wit. RiverClan live in and around the water, and are especially noted for being sleek and graceful. They eat fish more than any other prey, and are pretty well-muscled from all the swimming. ShadowClan live in the marshes, tending to hunt and move around at night more than the other Clans. They scavenge often and are particularly prideful and suspicious. ThunderClan is protagonist territory and not even worth discussion, but for the sake of my example, they live in a dense wood and hunt through stealth and agility. They're strong and notably peaceful.

Now that we have our summaries, an accent should be pretty easy to find:

WindClan would talk in quick, short bursts of conversation before falling completely silent. They would likely use words with harder-sounding consonants (Ks, Js, Zs, etc) and speak loudly due to having to talk over the wind all the time, but quickly switch over to mute mode when confronted with prey or strangers. It would be hard for an outsider to speak with them because of their rapid-fire conversations and dislike of repeating themselves even though their accent is impossible to understand.

RiverClan would definitely have the luxury of speaking slowly and as loudly as they like, since their main prey can't hear them unless they're underwater. They might drawl their words or have a rather 'posh' accent, though their constant use of terminology that means nothing to those who don't spend half their life in the water and general slowness would be cause for impatience. They would choose their words carefully and be much more patient while talking than other Clans, thanks to always hovering over the water and trying to keep out of sight of the fish.

ShadowClan would probably be the most quiet of the Clans. Having to scavenge and hunting at night would keep their conversations to a minimum, out of fear of being caught by a Twoleg or dog in the Carrionplace. Their rough lifestyle would lead them to be blunt and terse, causing a rift between them and the other Clans due to their apathy towards pithy things like tact and feelings. They would only say the necessary, with curt, low voices and perhaps a lack of any "real" accent. When you're trying to get a message across, clarity is of the utmost importance, especially in a place where you could be torn apart by dogs.

ThunderClan has, ironically, the least development of all the Clans, so that leaves more work for me. In the forest, strange noises will startle potential prey and alert enemies to your location, so they would have to be hushed, like ShadowClan. However, their voices would be noticeably more mellow and breathy, and their terminology would have a sort of rustling feel to it, like the underbrush they live in. They would be excellent mimics of birds and squirrels. They would rarely shout and have a more flat tone thanks to a lack of using body language, in part to both their dislike of moving their bodies for no reason and for their peaceful nature - it's a lot easier to keep the peace when you speak in a monotone.

This was a bit drawn out, but as you can see, finding an accent for a Clan is a fairly simple process. In the wild, your surroundings affect you in a million ways, right down to the color of your fur. Accents should be no different.

Coming eventually: part four, where we discuss dialects and terminology!

[. étoile]

And remember, one of the authors based the clan territory off of the UK.
They're Brits my friends.

[Arcaii]

Yes, but then series 2 happens...(muffled grumbling and swearing)