About the Ratonga "Accent".

[Murc]

so, I made a Ratonga, and I want to try and speak correctly with him.and I've gathered from the Voice Emotes that Ratonga (plural is just Ratonga right, or Ratongas?) put an extra "S" at the end of some words that end in letters other than S. for example, one of the emotes is "How 'bouts you takes on someone your own sizes" my question is, this speech quirk of theirs, is there a convention behind it besides what I have already stated? like are there only certain types of words that get the S or is it just......random?  or is this 100% the realm of the person playing the Ratonga?yeah, i know it is a frivolous question that really won't stretch the minds of the lore buffs in here. but i figured i'd ask here because the ingame Ratonga channel on my server is always empty, and i couldn't think of anywhere else a question like this belonged on the forum.thanks!

[Aurumn]

Well.... I think the only real reference you'll get on that is listening to all the emote chats to see where they stick the 's' in speech. Other than that, just tailor your 'Tonga's accent based on how educated you think they might be. The more "cultured" ratonga might speak better common than say his countrified cousin with the heavy underfoot accent. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Rabid-Othmir]

Wes just talks the ways we wants to talks.

[Kitsune286]

mights has to do somethings with the structure of our muzzle.

[Tamar]

Are yous saying we's talk funny?!? That nots a very nice things to do... Noes cheeses for you!

[Cusashorn]

Yeah, it's just how they talk. No particular reason behind it.

[Naubeta]

It's cute, like lolspeak <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Zin`Car]

<p>If you can do Jar Jar Binks speak with a squeaky voice, you're all set.</p><p>lucky you...</p>

[valkry]

<p>I would think it was a combination of factors.</p><p>1) The dental profile of a Tonga is completely different then any other Norrathian race. As highly evolved versions of common rodents, you can still see the slightly enlarged incisors. Concidering much Human speech is created by forcing air around different placements of the tongue against the teeth, lips or inside of the mouth, different sixed teeth would result in slight different sounds. I image this holds true for Iskar, Orge, Orc, etc.</p><p>2) Education level would also effect speak. A highly educated mage should probably use larger words (increased vocabulary size) and have trained themselves to reduce their accent, but will still have some 'lisp' due to mouth structure. Their use of the accent might be more pronounced during times off stress. (EX. I lived in Texas for one year, about 20 yrs ago. Normally I have a proper upper-Midwest accent, but if I become frustrated, the "Ya'll" word pops back into speech - much to my dismay.)</p><p>3) A final factor no one else has mentioned is what I will define as cultural. Was the Ratonga in question raised with Ratonga or Common (or other Human language) as their "native tongue?" A Tonga raised in Temple Street would have a more pronouced accent (and possibly slightly quicker speech cadence, due to close association with Gnome-folk). Likewise a Tonga who grew up in a household in the inner-wards of Freeport, might have spoken mostly Common to better blend in with the taller races. Certain sounds may exist in one language but not the other. (EX. Forgive me if I am not remembering this quite right. A native Japanese speaker will have trouble pronouncing English words with the "R" sound. There is no "R" sound in Japanese, so part of the accent is the speakers brain trying to subsitute the closest sound it does know. The speaker is mostly understandable, but the words sound just a bit off.)</p><p>So I think much of the accent you would chose to use, or not use, could be explained by the character's back story.</p>

[Bayler_x]

<cite>Tarklus@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote>my question is, this speech quirk of theirs, is there a convention behind it besides what I have already stated? like are there only certain types of words that get the S or is it just......random?  or is this 100% the realm of the person playing the Ratonga?</blockquote>I've never noticed any particular grammatical structures or parts of speech that trigger the extra s's.  But there does seem to be a sort of rhythm to it.  For me, at least, it tends to happen on the words that get the most emphasis.  (I'm sure poets and linguists have terminology for this stuff, but I don't know it.)My advice to any new tonga RPers is just add a arbitrary s's to each sentence.  Before long, you'll find that it just feels more appropriate in certain places than others.  And it'll generally be the same as the other tonga RPers you come in contact with.  Eventually it'll become so natural that you're writing important RL business documents and school papers in tonga-speak.  (But that's not part of the secret Ratonga plan.  Honest!  I mean, a plot to infiltrate real-life with Ratonga thought-programming is just too insidious and epic to have been conceived by a race so cute and frivolous.  Right...?)

[Jindrack]

<p>There isn't any particular rule to where ratongas add the "s" to words.  It's much more feel than form.</p><p>I don't knows!  -- good</p><p>I don'ts know!  -- not so good</p>

[Kitsune286]

Wow, a reds name here?Its a great honors to have one. =)

[JamesRay]

Be happy the S's are always on the back end, otherwise your hits would get you in trouble.So would we call this cultural accent "ratonics?"

[ratdeath]

Us bests! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><b><span style="color: #ff0000;">Squeek!</span></b>Us is hopings for anything more Ratonga, histories, lore, books and what nots.I almost greet my coworkers with a Squeek sometimes <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Araxes]

Over time the members of Vermin have developed some Ratongan-speak and it seems to have spread somewhat through our RP and our posts on various spots on the web ... the members in our guild, including those that typically have not or do not roleplay, have become so used to this manner of "speech" that typing out the colloquialisms has become second nature for many of us whether we are "in character" or just talking.  It rather confuses outsiders but for us it's totally normal!Pronouns are suspect at all times.  A few of the most common words we have our rats mangle:You > Yous, Yews, or YewzI > Me's, Mees, I's, or EyezHim > HimsHer > actually remains in the singular form most of the time as just 'Her' -- however, unlike use of 'Hims' -- the feminine is followed by a pluralized descriptor.  For example, a phrase 'Hims not goings there' would be written in the feminine as 'Her nots goings there.'  So in actuality, the rats are speaking one way in the contractual form where 'Hims' is actually meant to be 'Him's' or in proper English, 'He is' -- and the feminine phrasing is simply omitting the preposition.  Also affirmatives or negatives:Yes > Yis (or when excited or nervous: 'yisyis'<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />No > Noes, No's, or NosVerbs and nouns or reflexives are equally pluralized, and with no particular rule as to why.  For example, the question, "Where are we going?" might be asked any of the following ways:"We's goings to theres?""We gonna goes there?""Where we goings?""Wheres we going?"Well.  It's not official.  But after 4 years of guildspeak in a guild 80% composed of Rats on an RP server ... I kind of think of it as the most official I know.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[TheKons]

Wow...

[Mies]

dont question Araxes' knowledge!!  >.<  or we will stab yewz and steal yewz shinies.

[Squeecha]

<p>Hmms.... I still is confused about what you is talkings about.</p><p>Just because everyone else talks funny doesn't mean you should says WE has an accent.</p><p>I still says it is a plot by the kitties.</p>

[Kahlef]

Yup. Araxes' guild vocabulary seems to have spread outside it.On the old guild I was there was a fellow ratonga that spoke exactly like that. Not sure if she was ever part of Vermin or just played with people of the guild and got the accent from there.As for me, I came with a lame excuse that my rat spent just too much time with humans. To the point that his father would constantly fight with him saying he was forgetting what it was to be a ratonga. That is true to some extent but deep down he is still a rat. And when he becomes frustrated or angry I just /emote him as cursing in ratongan. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Britefire]

its nots abnormal, alls the kitties ares abnormels, ratongsas speak normals, the kitties haves just brainwashed alls other races intos talking abnormals.ratongsas are normals<span style="color: #000000;"><u><span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;font-family: impact,chicago;color: #000025;">The kitties are evils, evils i tell yews evilzzz</span></u></span>

[silkfur]

"Heh. You alls must be kidding ifs you think we woulds really tell you honestly abouts anything we do! Nots when there are other races arounds, thats is for sure!"Darkstripe most often adds "s" to modifiers, connectives, prepositions, and so on, but usually only a few per sentence. She sometimes adds "s" to plurals, too - "I hate dark elveses; they are so arrogants!" Her grammar, however,is always correct. Some have suspected that Darkstripe could speak Common without the "accent" if she wanted to and is just rubbing her Ratonganess in everyone's face...

[Enever]

Usually I put the 's' near the end of a short sentence, a 's' in the middle of a medium size one and maybe one at the end, and the longer sentences I usually add an 's' to the beginning, middle and end, but I try not to spam my words with them. Though when I first played, I horribly slaughtered this accent.

[Shebara]

<p>Whats? I'm so confuseds at this points in times... we talks the ways we wants to talks... what's wrongs with our teeths? My teeths aren't THAT bigs... are theys? *checks* Ohs... they're fines.. bahs!</p><p>((I think it would be awesome if we just got a bunch of tonga together somewhere and tonga-chatted <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /> but that's just the rat-lover in me..))</p>