{"id":62698,"date":"2024-02-27T20:12:51","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T01:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=62698"},"modified":"2024-02-27T20:12:51","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T01:12:51","slug":"a-video-game-decoding-ancient-languages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=62698","title":{"rendered":"A Video Game Decoding Ancient Languages"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Xinyi Ye, who sent this to me, thought the idea of multiple languages and the Tower of Babel in a game would be quite clich\u00e9, but this one is actually good.\u00a0 You will be surprised at what you see and hear.<\/p>\r\n<div dir=\"auto\">This is the official trailer:<\/div>\r\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chants of Sennaar - Launch Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/__hzPH3tcvA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\r\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\r\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u00a0This is a <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/IxP48Axg6iw?si=AClS9i_n0d61EOfG\">full game video<\/a> (spoiler alert!).\u00a0 The game is called \"Chants of Sennaar\", and you can play it on these platforms:\u00a0 Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One<\/div>\r\n<div>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Players explore a structure inspired by the <a title=\"Tower of Babel\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tower_of_Babel\">Tower of Babel<\/a> &#8211; which the titular <a title=\"Shinar\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Shinar\">Sennaar<\/a> refers to &#8211; full of people who speak fictional languages, represented by <a title=\"Logogram\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Logogram\">logographic writing systems<\/a>: Encountered languages must be translated using clues such as <a class=\"mw-redirect\" title=\"Non-verbal communication\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Non-verbal_communication\">non-verbal communication<\/a> used by other <a title=\"Non-player character\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Non-player_character\">non-player characters<\/a>, <a title=\"Illustration\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Illustration\">illustrated<\/a> signs, or other contextual clues. The player is aided by a notebook that contains the list of <a title=\"Grapheme\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Grapheme\">graphemes<\/a> the player has encountered up to that point, and they may type in a word they assume is the meaning for a grapheme, which is then displayed above that grapheme the next time they encounter it. Once the player encounters enough graphemes, the notebook offers tests to see if a player has correctly translated the graphemes by displaying drawings of <a title=\"Noun\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Noun\">nouns<\/a>, <a title=\"Verb\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Verb\">verbs<\/a> or <a title=\"Adjective\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Adjective\">adjectives<\/a> which the player must match the correct grapheme to; if the player correctly matches all graphemes to meanings on the page, those graphemes will be considered solved, and their real <a title=\"English language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/English_language\">English<\/a> meaning will be displayed above them &#8211; if all graphemes from a sentence are solved, a full English translation is shown. As players progress higher through the tower, they encounter new languages that must be translated.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Different languages have different <a title=\"Writing system\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Writing_system\">writing systems<\/a> and different language characteristics: some languages signify <a title=\"Plural\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Plural\">plural<\/a> as <a title=\"Reduplication\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reduplication\">repeating the word<\/a> (e.g. \"doors\" is written as \"door door\"), while others have a separate grapheme for marking the previous or next noun as plural (e.g. \"[plural] door\" or \"door [plural]\"). Different languages also can have differing syntax, putting the <a title=\"Predicate (grammar)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Predicate_(grammar)\">predicate<\/a> and <a title=\"Subject (grammar)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Subject_(grammar)\">subject<\/a> in different places of a <a title=\"Sentence (linguistics)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sentence_(linguistics)\">sentence<\/a>. The graphemes themselves may also provide hints towards the meaning, with languages having <a title=\"Determinative\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Determinative\">determinatives<\/a> (e.g. verbs, or nouns that involve humans).<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p>\"Chants of Sennaar\" may be a game, but it is not simplistic or frivolous.\u00a0 The creators know a thing or two about linguistics, and they have applied their knowledge to their game.<\/p>\r\n<p>As people say nowadays, \"Enjoy\" &#8212; and think and learn.<\/p>\r\n<p><b>Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Linguists' Babel myth?\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=56087\" rel=\"bookmark\">Linguists' Babel myth?<\/a>\" (9\/8\/22)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a href=\"http:\/\/itre.cis.upenn.edu\/~myl\/languagelog\/archives\/004232.html\">'Babel' babble<\/a>\" (2\/24\/07)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Your brain on ___?\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=2799\" rel=\"bookmark\">Your brain on ___?<\/a>\" (11\/23\/10)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Historical Chinese pronunciations in a new video game\" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52458\" rel=\"bookmark\">Historical Chinese pronunciations in a new video game<\/a>\" (11\/3\/21)<\/li>\r\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to \" href=\"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=2933\" rel=\"bookmark\">'Game Over'?<\/a>\" (1\/30\/11)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xinyi Ye, who sent this to me, thought the idea of multiple languages and the Tower of Babel in a game would be quite clich\u00e9, but this one is actually good.\u00a0 You will be surprised at what you see and hear. This is the official trailer: \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[322,320,199,334,45,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-decipherment","category-grammar","category-language-and-entertainment","category-words-words-words","category-writing-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62698"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62708,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62698\/revisions\/62708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}