talking dragons

[dfrankis at dial.pipex.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18845

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tandy, Heidi" <heidi.h.tandy.c92 at a...> 
wrote:
> > 
> >                  But since we *are* in JKR's world, there is no 
> > indication that dragons speak parseltongue.  It is clear, 
however, 
> > that both basilisks *and* snakes speak parseltongue in JKR's 
world.
> > Since dragons are, to some extent, related to these, I'm 
comfortable 
> > speculating that dragons will be shown to be parselmouths, too.
> 
> I have strong suspicions that the first language of dragons 
wouldn't be
> parsletongue, because it's unlikely that two species would speak 
the exact
> same language - however, as the species are related, their 
languages may
> also be related enough that a dragon would understand some words 
spoken in
> parsletongue, and therefore the nesting mother understood Harry, at 
least in
> a limited way, much in the same way that a native French speaker can
> understand some Creole, as the languages are related - not enough 
to speak
> it fluently, but enough to have a vague comprehension of what 
someone
> speaking Creole is saying.

Yes, there is some support for this, as the Brazilian snake in the 
zoo called Harry 'amigo'.  Would Hebridean Blacks speak Gaelic-
parseltongue or English-parseltongue?

David