Poem: "A Chorus of Voices"

Jun 19, 2012 14:47


This is today's freebie.  It was inspired by a prompt from aura55.  You can read other poems in the Hart's Farm series through the Serial Poetry page.

All together now ... )

reading, writing, fishbowl, poetry, community, cyberfunded creativity, poem, linguistics, ethnic studies

Leave a comment

Comments 11

aura55 June 19 2012, 19:51:17 UTC
Oh, this is gorgeous! =) Thank you so much for writing it.

Reply

*bow, flourish* ysabetwordsmith June 19 2012, 20:04:25 UTC
You're welcome! I'm glad you like it. Languages are a favorite motif of mine, and this community has mixed ancestry so I decided they could keep their various heritage languages alive. And they like people, so if you drop a foreigner into their midst ... well, they do this.

Reply

Re: *bow, flourish* aura55 June 19 2012, 20:14:53 UTC
Yes, I am fond of languages as well. =) I really like it how we tend to develop really specific shared vocabulary and sometimes even grammar with certain people. Also how people will change their accent or dialect based on who they speak to (my father always does this, he speaks in a completely different accent with his brothers than with the rest of us). And the evolution of this personal language is also really interesting, since it's based on so many things.

I really liked Auduna's reaction. How she felt left out at first, but then realized she doesn't have to know the languages to be included. =) The juxtaposition of family speak and trying to communicate with somebody you have no languages in common with is also really awesome.

Reply

Re: *bow, flourish* ysabetwordsmith June 25 2012, 01:41:57 UTC
>> Yes, I am fond of languages as well. =) I really like it how we tend to develop really specific shared vocabulary and sometimes even grammar with certain people. <<

This series already has bits of Swedish and Irish scattered through it. There will probably be more. I like writing stuff with a specific ethnic background because it gives me specific sources to use. So then that comes out in the storytelling. Here people have taken bits of several different cultures and woven them together into something that is related, yet unique. So it's going to show in the way they speak.

>> Also how people will change their accent or dialect based on who they speak to (my father always does this, he speaks in a completely different accent with his brothers than with the rest of us). And the evolution of this personal language is also really interesting, since it's based on so many things. ... )

Reply


janetmiles June 19 2012, 19:59:43 UTC
I love the reminder that "no matter what language people spoke, they tended to say the same things".

Reply

Yay! ysabetwordsmith June 25 2012, 01:57:18 UTC
I'm glad this worked for you.

There's a linguistic observation that anything someone wants to say, can be said in any language. It's just easier to say some things in certain languages, because the grammar and vocabulary varies. But hey, there's a YouTube of a guy talking about his iPod in Dine. It's possible.

Reply


meeksp June 19 2012, 20:41:40 UTC
I like this :) I grew up in a mixed-language household, myself, and we did develop some private vocabulary, often by mashing two or more languages together and using the result.

I'm curious about Ayako! Why does she understand French, and how did she end up in Sweden?

Reply

Poem ysabetwordsmith June 20 2012, 01:21:35 UTC
See the thumbnail for "A Kettle of Fish" under the fishbowl post.

Reply


rickybuchanan June 20 2012, 03:48:33 UTC
Ohhhh, this is very lovely!

Although I only speak English and limited Auslan (Australian sign language) I adore being in spaces where there are multiple other languages around too. It seems so much richer to me!

Reply

Yay! ysabetwordsmith June 20 2012, 04:03:57 UTC
>>Ohhhh, this is very lovely!<<

Thank you!

>>Although I only speak English and limited Auslan (Australian sign language) I adore being in spaces where there are multiple other languages around too. It seems so much richer to me!<<

I haven't seen Auslan, but I know a few words in American Sign Language and in Plains Indian Sign. I tend to switch that way when I lose my voice.

There is another poem from today's fishbowl (not sponsored or posted yet) that follows "A Chorus of Voices," since meeksp asked how Ayako came to Sweden. "A Kettle of Fish" shows her and Fabrice in the kitchen, with a bit more linguistic juggling.

Reply

je_reviens July 3 2012, 17:54:48 UTC
Come take the Metra to downtown Chicago. I swear, it sometimes seems like English is the minority language since I hear it here so rarely.

Reply


Leave a comment

Up