Slowly dipping my toes back into the world of pony to see what happens. | https://en.pronouns.page/@GlissRose
Apple Bloom wonders why every creature speaks the same language.
The Crusaders will not rest until they have answers.
Set between Season 7 and Season 8. Somewhat of a companion piece to The Pranking Manual. Reading that story is not necessary to read this one, as it is only mentioned briefly.
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It seems to me they would have had to call the language something in order to teach it to everypony. Coming from the first season, I figured that spoken language must derive primarily from Celestia and Luna as they are immortal goddesses, and time alone would make the stability of their speech universal for many species. I also believe that in many cases what we are experiencing through the show is an automatic translation where common languages that foals would be taught alongside their native language are translated to English (or whatever language in which the viewer is watching the show), and only when words from other languages are used for emphasis inside of an otherwise common language sentence are they represented by another language that exists on earth.
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For one thing, I don't follow the "Royal Sisters are immortal goddesses" theory. I want to find a reason for anycreature's longevity that doesn't include immortality. (And I do have a few ideas for the Sisters.) I could see the automatic translation thing working, although one would have to wonder if it would still work if we ever did stumble across Equestria one day. You never know...
So the zebras picked up Common Language as time went on?
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Yes, or at the very least some of them.
Bit of a non-event, really...I admit I was sort of expecting the explanation to be something a bit more...you know...off the wall, it being MLP and all.
But in all fairness, this is partly how major languages get to be so widespread during their times of use in history--people needed a common language so they can all clearly communicate with each other. Granted, none of them have, to date, ever achieved truly universal coverage like here in the story, but they were certainly widespread and common at their heights. Today, its English. An example of a past one was Latin. Someday in the future, there might be yet another.
It's sort of intriguing to think about if you're into languages and all that.
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A 'common language'...isn't that referred to as a 'lingua franca'? Which sounds French, despite it never applying to French?
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Yes, lingua franca is one term for a common language. The term steams from what is called a "pidgin" language in use in the Mediterranean around medieval times that was referred to as "lingua franca," (loosely translated, "the language of the Franks") and was a language used for trade and commerce, hodgepodging together elements from several differing languages common at the time. It mostly used Italian, as Italian speakers were mostly dominating the markets of the day, but it also borrowed words from other common languages of the day and region, including Old French...though the term "lingua franca" derives more from Italian (and a little Greek) than it does French.
The reason it might seem French though is because both it and Italian are "Romance languages," having heavy roots in Latin, and thus have many similarities in structure and words.
Hmph, interesting headcanon, and it's always a question that I've had. While I like your theory, I feel the explanation in the story was a bit rushed, with Stygian explaining everything in one or two paragraphs and a lack of a build up to the answer.
I always thought the language was called Ponish (from the episode "A Kirin Tale"). Which might suggest that ponies came up with the language, and other creatures adapted it as a lingua franca.
I personally just treat it as an oversight on the show creators' part. This is a cartoon intended for small children, and having hard-to-understand accents or multiple languages for different creatures (even with subtitles) would be plain confusing for them.
Incorporating multiple languages into a fictional show is quite difficult in general. The British TV show Allo Allo took a unique approach where French characters spoke in French-accent English, while British characters spoke in British-accent English. And the French could not understand what the British were saying. And vice versa.
So it's like Esperanto, only successful as a project.
Clearly, he's heard of them more than just in passing.
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They might not be goddessess, but they - Celestia in particular - have been responsible for the principal heavenly bodies for over a thousand years, so the argument still makes sense.
Luna's speach patterns can serve as a weak evidence of that influence. What she's speaking can be generously described as Middle English at most, but Old English that actually existed a thousand years ago is nearly completely incomprehensible to modern speakers. (However, there's a limit to this point's relevance - for one, as you need to ignore the Norman invasion.)
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The 'Franks' in lingua franca basically referred to all Western Europeans as a group distinct from Arabs and Greeks.