Matoran Words Expressable In Agori?

[vulpelibrorum]

Here's a question that's been bugging me for a bit. Since Mata Nui gave all the Matoran the ability to speak Agori, does that mean that unique Matoran words, like rahi, kanohi, etc. are no longer in use among matoran and other previous MU residents? Or did Mata Nui's language conversion give MU residents the ability to use both as necessary?Also, did the Agori language conversion end the use of treespeak among Le-Matoran?

[Zarohum]

I was under the impression MN gave them that ability BEFORE Teridax took control. That would explain "Manas Zya" or "Inika" or phrases they said were in Matoran that they used for other things.

[GSR]

Presumably, it'd be like any other language with loanwords. Words for things not known to the other culture are carried over into the resulting languages.

[P962]

I'm guessing the MU inhabitants are bilingual now..

[Guest]

Here's a question that's been bugging me for a bit. Since Mata Nui gave all the Matoran the ability to speak Agori, does that mean that unique Matoran words, like rahi, kanohi, etc. are no longer in use among matoran and other previous MU residents? Or did Mata Nui's language conversion give MU residents the ability to use both as necessary?

Well think about it: is a Kanohi exactly the same as a mask? Kanohi are very specific masks, objects the Agori had never encountered before. It only makes sense that they'd do what we've done as well (with english translations of what Matoran said): borrow the words from Matoran, a language that does have them. So when they're talking about Kanohi they probably say 'Kanohi' and when they're talking about other masks they probably say the Agori word for mask.

Also, did the Agori language conversion end the use of treespeak among Le-Matoran?

Probably. When you learn a new language, you most often end up speaking it with an accent predicted by your mother tongue (which includes the difference between dialects of your mother tongue) but as I understood it Mata Nui gave them the ability to instantly speak the language fluently, which would override that. Plus, Treespeak was mostly a different vocabulary, which usually isn't carried over into another language (except maybe idioms, but we don't know of any Treespeak idioms).And Greg doesn't like Treespeak. Seems like the perfect opportunity for him to get rid of it, doesn't it?

I was under the impression MN gave them that ability BEFORE Teridax took control. That would explain "Manas Zya" or "Inika" or phrases they said were in Matoran that they used for other things.

The Matoran spoke Matoran before Teridax's death, Greg has said that before. That selective translating was a bit of artistic license on Greg's behalf, because you don't have to always talk about the Energy from a Star Heroes when everybody who knows what that's supposed to mean already knows that they're called the Toa Inika. Same as... well off the top of my head I can only think of 'apartheid', which is Afrikaans/Dutch for 'specialness' but it always refers to a specific legal system. It doesn't make sense to talk about 'specialness' if everybody knows it as 'apartheid'.

[Taipu1]

Kanohi names would be carried over, and names for rahi that came from the MU. Rahi could in fact be a collective name used for the animals that came from the Mata Nui robot, or simply those created by Makuta. Words like 'Koro', 'Metru' and that sort of thing would probably be ditched though...shame, Koro is such a nostalgic word in Bionicle, we haven't seen a Koro for years...

[fishers64]

I'm guessing the MU inhabitants are bilingual now..

Probably. Although this could be an additional factor separating the species...Matoran can speak Matoran and talk to another Matoran, but the Agori nearby would be like: What? Are you plotting againest me? This could lead to the Matoran Language being outlawed to keep the peace...

[The 1st Shadow]

An interesting question, indeed. It was said that Mata Nui gave them the ability, so I assume they're bilingual now. In any case, I agree with Taipu1 and the others, in that the names of the Rahi would be carried over, as well as the word Rahi to differentiate the creatures created in the MU.As for Tree-speak, I think it might still exist, just that it won't be used as much. I kinda like Tree-speak, so I don't want it to die like that.but in any case, we know that there are words in Matoran that, while they can be translated to Agori, they have more meaning in Matoran, perhaps. So eventually they may just form a new language comprised of both. Just a theory.

[Paleo]

Here's a question that's been bugging me for a bit. Since Mata Nui gave all the Matoran the ability to speak Agori, does that mean that unique Matoran words, like rahi, kanohi, etc. are no longer in use among matoran and other previous MU residents? Or did Mata Nui's language conversion give MU residents the ability to use both as necessary? Also, did the Agori language conversion end the use of treespeak among Le-Matoran?

I believe that Mata Nui gave MU inhabitants the ability to UNDERSTAND agori and vice-versa for Agori and Glatorian. When a Matoran says "Rahi" it would be translated into the agori word for animal.

[bonesiii]

The elephant in the room of this topic so far, though, is that Matoran was formed out of borrow words from Agori. (Greg confirmed that to me personally.)So all the normal words of Matoran probably exist in Agori. What's most likely to be different in Matoran is the grammatical structure, since it was a programming language, while Agori is a natural language. Just like many real-world programming languages use English words.A difficulty, if it was like typical real-world languages, comes in that we often invent new terms for computer programming. Matoran language does this with things like Kanohi power types.However, I doubt this was a difficulty, because, at least in that example, Greg said they name Kanohi powers after the existing word for its concept. So just as we might call Tahu's Mask a "Shielding" and know from the normal term shielding what it means. Strength, etc.Admittedly some power names are less clear in English, like Fate or the more technobabblish words (none of which come to mind off the top of my head right now ). But for all we know, those same terms may have been well understood in Agori normal language. Even if not, the above means that MOST power names would be obvious.So yeah, they'd pretty much adopt Agori grammar and use the same words, which are common to both.

[Paleo]

The elephant in the room of this topic so far, though, is that Matoran was formed out of borrow words from Agori. (Greg confirmed that to me personally.)So all the normal words of Matoran probably exist in Agori. What's most likely to be different in Matoran is the grammatical structure, since it was a programming language, while Agori is a natural language. Just like many real-world programming languages use English words.A difficulty, if it was like typical real-world languages, comes in that we often invent new terms for computer programming. Matoran language does this with things like Kanohi power types.However, I doubt this was a difficulty, because, at least in that example, Greg said they name Kanohi powers after the existing word for its concept. So just as we might call Tahu's Mask a "Shielding" and know from the normal term shielding what it means. Strength, etc.Admittedly some power names are less clear in English, like Fate or the more technobabblish words (none of which come to mind off the top of my head right now ). But for all we know, those same terms may have been well understood in Agori normal language. Even if not, the above means that MOST power names would be obvious.So yeah, they'd pretty much adopt Agori grammar and use the same words, which are common to both.

Also, Bomonga was able to translate the Agori writing below Metru Nui with only a little difficulty, so it wouldn't be hard to translate one language into the other.It's kind of like knowing Spanish, and being able to somewhat understand French writing.