[HPforGrownups] Re: Definitions

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 46929


Klei (I think) wrote: 
> > ... and at least the mermaids have their own language, ...
> 
> I think they don't have a language, they just sound odd above water.
> 
> Katsmall the Wise


Grey Wolf <greywolf1 at jazzfree.com> wrote:

By that reasoning, Americans don't have a language, they just sound weird to those who don't speak English. I clasify Mermaid as a language because Harry does so: at the end of the second task, Dumbledore speaks to the mermaids, and Harry says that "Dumbledore seemed to know Mermaid". This is tricky, since, like in any language, you need to learn the sounds that make up the words, as well as the meaning of the words themselves. Also, we cannot discount that it is an altoghether separate langauge and that what came out of the egg was only English distortioned so it could only be understood under the water.


Me:

I think that since the merpeople are magical, a magical answer is required.  I think that it's possible that if you HAVEN'T learned Mermish, you can only understand it while underwater (the water acts like a Babelfish for you, to borrow a term from Douglas Adams).  It's a real language, though, and not just distorted English.  You're just hearing it as English when you're underwater, the translation medium, just as Harry hears Parseltongue as English because he's a Parselmouth.  He didn't even know he'd spoken another language when he was telling the snake not to attack Justin.    Mermish can be learned, however, unlike Parseltongue, because obviously, Dumbledore has learned it.  If there's a way to understand Parseltongue without being a Parselmouth, JKR hasn't revealed it.

 

--Barb

 


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