Re: VL - Should Vulcan language be consistent?
Adam Ophir Shapira 
Tue, 21 Oct 1997 22:23:16 +0100

On Earth there are several languages, some of which are major
languages that dominate world politics, while there are many
others that are seldom if ever heard outside a given village.

Likewise, it would occur to me, that there would be more than
one Vulcan language.

True, there may be one Vulcan language that is more widely
spoken than any other, and which may be recognized as a global
language. However, it would seem as though there would be several
other major runner-up languages that are common on the planet,
just not *as* common as the main Vulcan language, and still other
languages which, as I suggested, aren't spoken outside a given
area the size of a village.

We were having a discussion, by the way, about the Vulcan word
for "Vulcan". Perhapse *each* of these Vulcan languages would
have a *different* word for Vulcan! (In other words, to state
that there is a single "Vulcan Language" would be as ludicrous
as to refer to a single "Terran Language" ... and therefore
there is no universal Vulcan word for "Vulcan".)

I hereby motion that the canonical version of the Vulcan language,
instead of us calling it "Vulcan", we call it something else, like
"High Vulcan" ... implying that not all Vulcans speak it natively,
but all over the planet, a good number of people will be able to
communicate in it. For example, if Torek wants to communicate with
Simok at a global convention, Torek will speak in his native tongue
while using a universal translator badge that will translate
all that he says to High Vulcan. Simok may not be able to translate
any of this, but *his* universal translator badge may be able to
translate the High Vulcan translation of Torek's words into *Simok's*
local language.