35 replies to this topic

[KuroNyra]

Hello everybody.
I am KuroNyra, Lone Wolf at the moment. But fighting under the Mighty Clan Wolf Banner.


I am currently learning your Clan Language, and I have to admit that is not an easy task.

I have some problem understanding what is the "contraction" people's talk about.
So I ask for your help dear Clanners to allow me to understand all the secrets and rules of your mighty language.

I am French. So I still have trouble learning English.
I apologise in advance for all the mistake I could have wrote.

[Revis Volek]

Start here, This is the place to learn about the Clans.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Dictionary

Edited by DarthRevis, 01 July 2014 - 10:06 AM.

[KuroNyra]

Already saw that page.
I also checked here
http://www.sarna.net.../Clans#Language

But I have hard time fiding exactly what they mean by contraction.
That's why I'm asking here.

[Bregor Edain]

http://en.wikipedia....n_%28grammar%29

That should help you.

"That's why I'm asking here." Should be "That is why I am asking here" for example.

Edited by Bregor Edain, 01 July 2014 - 10:13 AM.

[BLOOD WOLF]

http://www.sarna.net...y_of_Clan_Terms

[KuroNyra]

Ok. Now I see what is exactly a contraction.
Thank you for your help.

[Astral Esper]

The contractions you are talking about refer to actual contractions in grammar (actual=do not, contraction=don't). The Clans want to keep to the old ways of Star League including speech. They see contractions as an offense to the language. If you wish to avoid using contractions, just remember, when you want to say something like won't, let's, or we're, instead say will not, let us, or we are.

[Bregor Edain]

Just remember a useful quote from Natasha Kerensky "Slavish adherence to former ritual shows that one has nothing better to think about"

[KuroNyra]

Bregor Edain, on 01 July 2014 - 10:23 AM, said:

Just remember a useful quote from Natasha Kerensky "Slavish adherence to former ritual shows that one has nothing better to think about"

Yeah but if it can avoid you an horrible death. It can be helpful quiaff?

[Revis Volek]

No such things as a horrible death when it comes to Clan Warriors....that is the ONLY way to go out. If you do not go down fighting then you have no honor and are better off running and hiding the rest of you wretched life.

[Zerberus]

One should also recognite that Clan Wolf was significantly more linient in this regard, especially among the freeborn ranks.

They ARE practical sometimes, but I don`t generally use them, anyway

[FireSlade]

Basically as others have stated you do not want to use shortened forms of a word (ex: ain't, aren't, can't, don't) because the Clans view those that use contractions as people with lazy minds (A.K.A. Stupid).

[CyclonerM]

DarthRevis, on 01 July 2014 - 10:38 AM, said:

No such things as a horrible death when it comes to Clan Warriors....that is the ONLY way to go out. If you do not go down fighting then you have no honor and are better off running and hiding the rest of you wretched life.

Sure, but a Clan Warrior may not want to die before achieving something, like a Bloodname, a couple of lines in the Remembrance, and whatever may grant them the honor of having their genetic legacy continue with the new sibkos.
Another rewarding honor would be having their ashes mixed to the nutrient solution of the sibkos in the "test-tubes"..

Zerberus, on 01 July 2014 - 10:39 AM, said:

One should also recognite that Clan Wolf was significantly more linient in this regard, especially among the freeborn ranks.

They ARE practical sometimes, but I don`t generally use them, anyway

True. I found a practical and in-character enough solution: using contractions when talking in TS with other cadets and warriors, not use them when talking with officers or Khans, especially about official matters. And i avoid them in forum threads too, especially if i am talking to other Clansmen. May have to relax it a bit when posting in "Inner Sphere" sections of the MWO forums, but then i might have to explain all of this to anyone that might ask

[Strum Wealh]

FireSlade, on 01 July 2014 - 10:57 AM, said:

Basically as others have stated you do not want to use shortened forms of a word (ex: ain't, aren't, can't, don't) because the Clans view those that use contractions as people with lazy minds (A.K.A. Stupid).

Yet, Clan-speak is full of contractions and slurring: "quiaff" ("query, affirmative response expected", used as a "tag question"), "quineg" ("query, negative response expected", also used as a "tag question"), "ristar" (a "rising star", "a person or thing that is growing quickly in popularity or importance in a particular field"), "batchall" ("battle challenge"), "dezgra" ("disgraced" -> "dezgraced"), "powless" (from "powerless"), "sibko" (from "SIBling COmpany" -> "Компания" is "company" in Kerensky's native Russian), and others.

It's just yet another area in which the Clans are hypocrites.

[FireSlade]

Strum Wealh, on 12 July 2014 - 09:38 AM, said:

Yet, Clan-speak is full of contractions and slurring: "quiaff" ("query, affirmative response expected", used as a "tag question"), "quineg" ("query, negative response expected", also used as a "tag question"), "ristar" (a "rising star", "a person or thing that is growing quickly in popularity or importance in a particular field"), "batchall" ("battle challenge"), "dezgra" ("disgraced" -> "dezgraced"), "powless" (from "powerless"), "sibko" (from "SIBling COmpany" -> "Компания" is "company" in Kerensky's native Russian), and others.

It's just yet another area in which the Clans are hypocrites.

Owch. True they shorten words but for the most part they do not sound like people that dropped out of school in the 4th grade.

[Sancho Kabrinski]

Welcome fellow trueborn

Check this:

http://www.sarna.net...y_of_Clan_Terms

[Tim East]

Leave that trueborn nonsense about contractions to the trues. It's fine to speak however you wish when you're free.

[_Comrade_]

Confusing because in dark age novel "rending of the falcon" the author writes that clanners don't use contractions even though thier are examples of them using in the past

[LoPanShui]

Remember, if you wish to speak in contractions Diamond Shark Industries can sell you discount apostrophes salvaged from the freebirth Inner Sphere scum. Diamond Shark apostrophes are guaranteed to shorten any word you wish in order to create an efficiency of language the same way you would create an efficiency in bidding! Imagine the look on your challenger's face when you bid not only fewer Omnimechs, but with fewer letters as well!

Disclaimer: Diamond Shark Industries is not responsible for the consequences of using Diamond Shark Apostrophes in front of superiors, equals or freebirths willing to sell you out.

Edited by LoPanShui, 16 July 2014 - 11:25 AM.

[Hatachi]

Other people have covered what a contraction is pretty well. However, don't forget the clans have the words "aff" and "neg." They aren't considered contractions and stand for affirmative and negative. They wouldn't use "OK." They would say "aff." The terms "Quiaff" and "Quineg" also exist. They're supposed to be used at the end of sentences in situations where you are expecting either a positive responsive, "Quiaff," or a negative response, "Quineg." An example would be, "Did you learn anything from this, Quiaff?

Edited by Hatachi, 16 July 2014 - 11:58 AM.