High Speech... what is it?

[Unfound One]

Roland speaks our English very well.
But he but can only make out parts of written English.
A lot of his words (ka, khef, char, dan-tete, can-toi) have English meanings, so are they totally different languages?
Growing up in Gilead, was the High Speech his first language?
What does the High Speech sound/look like? And how different is it from English?
And when he addresses someone in the High Speech, would we understand it?

Lots of questions, I know.
But I look forward to hearing your thoughts...

[MonteGss]

Wow, nice thread. :thumbsup:


I've often wondered these questions myself. The High Speech must be pretty similar to English, as it shares many of the same letters. That would lead me to believe that we probably would understand it if Roland were speaking it to us...with the exception of those words that don't exist in English (like the ones you mentioned). Maybe it sounds like English but with some sort of accent or inflection? Hmm.

Those are the start of my ideas anyway. :)

[Mark]

I think it is our language with some of it's own words, personally.

[BillyxRansom]

Well, seeing as I've gathered that gunslingers are kind of the equivalent to knights in usual fairy tales and whatnot, high class, things of that nature... I've gathered (only through partial examination) that the High Speech is a "higher" form of the English language. One that is way more sophisticated than the commoner, American English language. I believe that is actually even called the Low Speech.

[Letti]

Yeah, it's a damn good thread. IThese questions came to my mind as well.
I think you can speak and learn High Speech if you are a noble. So I don't think that everyone spoke High Speech in Gilead.
It must be very similar to English still different. If I remember well there were parts in the books where Roland spoke in High Speech and Eddie couldn't understand him.

[Unfound One]

I've gathered (only through partial examination) that the High Speech is a "higher" form of the English language. One that is way more sophisticated than the commoner, American English language. I believe that is actually even called the Low Speech.



I think you can speak and learn High Speech if you are a noble. So I don't think that everyone spoke High Speech in Gilead.
It must be very similar to English still different. If I remember well there were parts in the books where Roland spoke in High Speech and Eddie couldn't understand him.


So was it a class issue in Gilead?
Gunslingers spoke the High Speech while "commoners" spoke a lower form of it - possibly our English?

[Darkthoughts]

I thought it might be like old English, the kind of English that Chaucer, for example, uses.

[mia/susannah]

I don't think it is to much different than our English. I think it all depends on the accent or I should say the way you pronounce certain words.

[obscurejude]

I thought it might be like old English, the kind of English that Chaucer, for example, uses.

These are my thoughts Lisa. An antiquated form of English.

[educatedlady]

I thought it might be like old English, the kind of English that Chaucer, for example, uses.

These are my thoughts Lisa. An antiquated form of English.
I'm with you both on this one.

[Bethany]

i'm with the antiquated english thing as well.
i'm i remembering correctly that the speaking demon responded differently to roland when he used the high speech?

[Wuducynn]

To me the High Speech is (like the alternate worlds) an alternate English. Its not old or new or anything like that, its just related to English being that its from a connected world aka All- World.

[Daghain]

Well, seeing as I've gathered that gunslingers are kind of the equivalent to knights in usual fairy tales and whatnot, high class, things of that nature... I've gathered (only through partial examination) that the High Speech is a "higher" form of the English language. One that is way more sophisticated than the commoner, American English language. I believe that is actually even called the Low Speech.

I agree with this. I think the High Speech may be sort of the equivalent of us speaking "perfect" English or grammatically correct English, and the "commoners" would use more slang, etc.

I also think that the High Speech contains some elements of our English - Roland can understand some of our language, but it's just different enough that he has a hard time with it.

[Unfound One]

To me the High Speech is (like the alternate worlds) an alternate English. Its not old or new or anything like that, its just related to English being that its from a connected world aka All- World.

As in, kind of a different dialect?
So then do the differences just disappear when hearing it verbally but stick around in written form?

Or... This makes me think that when Roland is speaking the High Speech we might not understand all that he was saying but it would just make sense...
Well, maybe not us, but for their purposes, the members of the Ka-Tet would...?

[Daghain]

I kind of liken it to when I learned German in high school (many, MANY, years ago).

We learned "Hoch Deutsch" or "High German" - grammatically correct, "perfect" German.

In reality, people speak in dialects, slang, etc. and when they hear you speak Hoch Deutsch, they know you either learned it in school or you're of the really upper class.

[Unfound One]

So I'm sitting here talking with a fellow DT nerd, and she had the idea -

What if it's kind of like Latin is to us today?
It was spoken in educated circles and among the upper class, and then it trickled down throughout all of the other languages, influencing them as it went.
But this doesn't explain how all sorts of people, from Aunt Talitha in River Crossing, to Blaine the Mono, to the people of Megis, to folken of the Calla could understand it. And can they speak it back? I don't remember any instances where they did.

Thoughts?

[Jean]

that is very close to what I think, too. Not as much Latin to us, but Latin as it was in the time of the latest stage of decline, and soon after the fall, of the Roman Empire.

A similar, though mirrored, situation can be seen a few centuries later elsewhere. Walter Scott says (Ivanhoe):

At court, and in the castles of the great nobles, where the pomp and state of a court was emulated, Norman-French was the only language employed; in courts of law, the pleadings and judgments were delivered in the same tongue. In short, French was the language of honour, of chivalry, and even of justice, while the far more manly and expressive Anglo-Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hings, who knew no other.

So, such words as bed or cow stem from Saxon (German Bett, Kah), while pleasure or beef – a cow eaten – from Norman (French plaisir, boeuf). This state of things, however, can’t last for long:

… the necessary intercourse between the lords of the soil, and those oppressed inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated, occasioned the gradual formation of a dialect, compounded betwixt the French and the Anglo-Saxon, in which they could render themselves mutually intelligible to each other; and from this necessity arose by degrees the structure of our present English language, in which the speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so happily blended together…

Thus, the existence of two languages in a society is usually due to some external reasons, and doesn’t last long. How come there are two languages in the world we’re talking about? Was there a conquest? Who conquered whom? What allowed the two languages to coexist for so long without blending?

[Storyslinger]

I always felt that High Speech was Latin. Just my thoughts.

[Wuducynn]

Just my thoughts.

What else would they be?

[Storyslinger]

Your thoughts, or even that talented artist Bob.

[Wuducynn]

They wouldn't be my thoughts, because if you had my thoughts you would be in the luney bin, drooling and crying for your mommy.

[obscurejude]

that is very close to what I think, too. Not as much Latin to us, but Latin as it was in the time of the latest stage of decline, and soon after the fall, of the Roman Empire.

A similar, though mirrored, situation can be seen a few centuries later elsewhere. Walter Scott says (Ivanhoe):

At court, and in the castles of the great nobles, where the pomp and state of a court was emulated, Norman-French was the only language employed; in courts of law, the pleadings and judgments were delivered in the same tongue. In short, French was the language of honour, of chivalry, and even of justice, while the far more manly and expressive Anglo-Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hings, who knew no other.

So, such words as bed or cow stem from Saxon (German Bett, Kah), while pleasure or beef – a cow eaten – from Norman (French plaisir, boeuf). This state of things, however, can’t last for long:

… the necessary intercourse between the lords of the soil, and those oppressed inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated, occasioned the gradual formation of a dialect, compounded betwixt the French and the Anglo-Saxon, in which they could render themselves mutually intelligible to each other; and from this necessity arose by degrees the structure of our present English language, in which the speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so happily blended together…

Thus, the existence of two languages in a society is usually due to some external reasons, and doesn’t last long. How come there are two languages in the world we’re talking about? Was there a conquest? Who conquered whom? What allowed the two languages to coexist for so long without blending?

That's interesting Jean and has crossed my mind a couple of times. Greek would be another example along these lines. Koine (common Greek) of the world during Alexander the Great vs. the classical Greek of the golden period of Greece (c.a. Plato and Aristotle).

[Matt]

This may have been said but I think it was simply the difference of using the formal and the unformal.

For instance, the English we speak in America could be considered "low" compared to folks who speak English from the Kings dictionary.

[Sai Joshua]

I seem to recall a couple of times in the book where Roland spoke "High Speech" to supernatural creatures and they had to respond to him. I think that High Speech was something that had to do with Gan, kind of like when Callahan was speaking to the can-toi in the Dixie Pig and they had to obey his voice because it had authority. I think High Speech carried this same kind of weight.

[Wuducynn]

DT7 The can-toi had to obey Callahan because he had them mesmerized with power of the skolpadda.

[obscurejude]

The pere was dropping Gawd Bombs.

[Unfound One]

:lol:
And can I hear an amen?

[Crimson King]

Isn't it weird how Roland can say "ka" and "khef" but can't pronounce Keflex?

I could buy that the "x" might throw him off, but he calls it cheeflet or cheflet (something along that line), like he can't make the "k" sound...

[Brainslinger]

Yeah, I didn't really buy Roland's pronunciation problems considering he is multilingual. Then again I didn't really buy the idea that he only sees dots on TV screens either, (someone from a different time period like the middle ages in our world probably wouldn't have trouble seeing a picture, it's not the tech it's biology of the brain interpreting it, which would be the same) but that's another topic.

From Drawing of the Three, it seemed clear to me that the Low Speech is very similar to English. I remember Roland thinking that he had a bit of trouble understanding what was said but it wasn't that different, more a diallect difference. He also thought that if he was there in the flesh he wouldn't have any difficulty at all, like his mind automatically interprets when travelling to a different world.

High speech though is completely different. I tend to think of it like Latin too, except a bit more widely used among the upper classes. So basically I think the low speech is like a diallect of English (although they don't have any concept of 'English' of course) with some words of High Speech included.

I think that's right...

I'm still curious what language Roland spoke with Calvin Tower, it was never explained. Is that how the High Speech sounds in our world?

[razz]

firs off, i was about to make an innapropriate comment about drunks and drug addicts, but this doesn't seem like the right time. so think of it as this:

how do other languages emerge. isolationism. mixture of culture and language. religion. etc. now every (almost) religion is based off latin. so you will find some words in german, french, english...they sound the same, and usually mean about the same. so imagine that for some reason, a part of america gets broken off and isolated. in a few hundred or a thousand years, probably less, this language will have changed, but not so much that it sounds TOO different from english. think maybe...anglisch. now eventually one of those languages must become dominant. so which one? since the high speech isn't exactly english, we can assume it's that. english dies out, and is replaced by a smaller language. perhaps german. or maybe english almost completely dies out, and before a rise to imperialism, people begin using it to plan. so when they take over, english is revived (obviously some changes would have been made, accidental or on purpose) but since german is now dominant, only a few people close to the ruler who used it would know it. thus higher class people would use it, thus the high speech.

[Unfound One]

High speech though is completely different. I tend to think of it like Latin too, except a bit more widely used among the upper classes. So basically I think the low speech is like a diallect of English (although they don't have any concept of 'English' of course) with some words of High Speech included.

So High Speech is a totally different language, not a dialect - is that what you're saying? If so, I agree completely.



I'm still curious what language Roland spoke with Calvin Tower, it was never explained. Is that how the High Speech sounds in our world?

Ah, an excellent question. When I just did my re-read I marked that page but didn't write about it here because I wasn't sure what to make of it...
That's a really interesting idea...
At the same time though, don't they use words from the high speech like ka, ka-tet, khef and such in our world and they make sense? Is this only because they're so familiar?
Good questions Brainslinger...

[Wuducynn]

Boy howdy thats a lot of repetitive posts! :lol:

[Brice]

Wow, Sj! You must have really liked what you had to say here to have said it seven times. :lol:

[Brice]

That has gotta be the first septuple post I've seen.

[Wuducynn]

Yeah, its a first for me also.

[Unfound One]

:lol: :rofl: :lol:
Sorry guys, my computer WOULD NOT LOAD.
So I just kept hitting the button.
I fixed it.

[Wuducynn]

Awwwwwwwww :( the more of you the merrier!

[Unfound One]

Okay nevermind.
I'm going to leave them.
It's fuckin' hilarous.

[Erin]

Oops. I deleted one before I saw you wanted to keep them. Lo siento. Now it's only on there 6 times. :lol:

[Brice]

Yes, it is. :D

And I'm sorry Matthew and I interrupted you posting the same post some more. :P

[Unfound One]

Hahaha, it's no big deal.
I'm such a goof.

[Wuducynn]

19 repeat posts should do!

[Brice]

:lol:

[Billy-Bumbler]

Am I the only one who thinks/realizes that the "Great Letters" are all caps?

[Letti]

I don't think so. I think there are some letters we don't have or there are some differences. Like High Speech is very similar to English (but they are not the same) that's how the Great Letters are similar to our letters but there must be differences.

[osseolax28]

I alway thought the HIGH SPEECH was either with i slight Britsih accent (i know wthats wierd) or some other all together because when roland talks to the slow mutant, i think on the way to see S.K., he talks in the high speech and eddie cant understand it

[flaggwalkstheline]

I thought of it as similar to sindarin-elven... though I had no indication that it was:orely:

[jayson]

I thought of it as similar to sindarin-elven... though I had no indication that it was:orely:

But Sindarin was the most common of the Elvish languages, spoken by the Teleri. If I were to compare the High Speech to any of the Elvish tongues it would likely be Quenya.

[osseolax28]

I dont know much about elveish, none actually, but elvish was another i tought of. Maybe even Latin or some for mof it?

[flaggwalkstheline]

I thought of it as similar to sindarin-elven... though I had no indication that it was:orely:

But Sindarin was the most common of the Elvish languages, spoken by the Teleri. If I were to compare the High Speech to any of the Elvish tongues it would likely be Quenya.

true, though sindarin is still pretty exotic when compared to the common westenra english

[jayson]

true, though sindarin is still pretty exotic when compared to the common westenra english

True. Just saying that Quenya fits the analogy better. :)

[Matt of Gilead]

I hadn't thought about this, but it is interesting to consider. I'll keep it in mind when I get around to my reread.

[EdwardDean1999]

I think the Great Letters are all caps.

Did you ever notice that every SK mention of High Speech is, "Roland said xyz in the high speech" or "The Taheen said xyz in the high speech"? You never get a sample written out in phonetics.

I think of the High Speech as sounding like a romance language. Maybe an Italian/French/and yeah Quenya hybrid. What do you all think?

[Billy-Bumbler]

In the second book, Roland could read most of the all-caps sign of Balazar's "Tower" bar "He now saw letters below the tower which had been made of shaped tubes; most of them were Great Letters. TOWER he could read, and yes, LEANING. LEANING TOWER."

[Hoot]

Interesting. But if the difference between English letters and 'Great Letters' were simply caps, wouldn't Roland have had an easier time reading [Than he did when he read 'Salem's Lot ] ?

I mean, say I wrote this sentence:

Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow. [This is the allegedly shortest sentence with all the letters in it, don't hold me on it though]

SPHINX OF THE BLACK QUARTZ, JUDGE MY VOW.

Would he really have that much of a hard time reading? Perhaps translating h, i, n, a, j, d, m....

Never mind, I defeated my own point. =S

I suppose that'd be a plausible theory. I don't see why not.

Here's an excerpt of him attempting to read [From Wolves of the Calla]:

'Sir-lock Hones' he read aloud. 'No. Holmes. Like Odetta's fathername. Four... Short... Movels. Movels? No, this one was an N.'

Through that, we can safely assume that he has difficulty reading: h, l, m, and n. Which would fit the initial hypothesis well, as they're quite different in capital form. [H, L, M, N]

I dunno, it sounds about right.

[Brice]

If that were true though wouldn't he have trouble in his own world reading Hax, Lud, Mejis, Nort, etc...?

[Hoot]

Um, presumably, but your point is moot as far as I'd know, 'cuz they wouldn't write their city names in English. [Assumptions, but either way. Great Letters or the other whatever common text that is unique to Mid World. Roland would be able to read it.]

[pathoftheturtle]

that is very close to what I think, too. Not as much Latin to us, but Latin as it was in the time of the latest stage of decline, and soon after the fall, of the Roman Empire.

A similar, though mirrored, situation can be seen a few centuries later elsewhere. Walter Scott says (Ivanhoe):

At court, and in the castles of the great nobles, where the pomp and state of a court was emulated, Norman-French was the only language employed; in courts of law, the pleadings and judgments were delivered in the same tongue. In short, French was the language of honour, of chivalry, and even of justice, while the far more manly and expressive Anglo-Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hings, who knew no other.

So, such words as bed or cow stem from Saxon (German Bett, Kah), while pleasure or beef – a cow eaten – from Norman (French plaisir, boeuf). This state of things, however, can’t last for long:

… the necessary intercourse between the lords of the soil, and those oppressed inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated, occasioned the gradual formation of a dialect, compounded betwixt the French and the Anglo-Saxon, in which they could render themselves mutually intelligible to each other; and from this necessity arose by degrees the structure of our present English language, in which the speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so happily blended together…

Thus, the existence of two languages in a society is usually due to some external reasons, and doesn’t last long. How come there are two languages in the world we’re talking about? Was there a conquest? Who conquered whom? What allowed the two languages to coexist for so long without blending?I believe that extra-dimesional travel explains it. Although the High Speech is used in Mid-World, I don't think that it is primarily a language of that world. It appears to be based on the language of beings from other planes of existance. Gunslingers are more concerned with otherworldly matters than the commoners were. Even they probably made practical use of it only rarely, but I still reckon that it was for the sake of those occasions that they maintained it as a professional parlance.

[AlishaRiley]

I agree with the concept of it being a different dialect as opposed to a completely diferent language, but in a way that it's perhaps as different as Old English is to modern English. In a sense, I guess it takes a certain level of intelligence to comprehend Old English, so therefore, I've kind of assumed that hig Speech is somewhat similar to that...not completely so, but I guess you guys might know what I'm trying to say.
Forgive me, I'm ill, and groggy. :lol:

[Darkthoughts]

I thought the same...without being ill or groggy :lol: :couple:

[candy]

I agree with the concept of it being a different dialect as opposed to a completely diferent language, but in a way that it's perhaps as different as Old English is to modern English. In a sense, I guess it takes a certain level of intelligence to comprehend Old English, so therefore, I've kind of assumed that hig Speech is somewhat similar to that...not completely so, but I guess you guys might know what I'm trying to say.
Forgive me, I'm ill, and groggy. :lol:

i know what you mean sweetie. its like shakespeare, have you tried readin that? its like a whole different language and yet still strangely english. this would explain how everyone knew about high speech, as when you talk to someone about olde english these days they still know what you are talking about. i think its also a dialect thing to. being a northern born lass myself if i tried to speak in the olde worlde english it would sound plain wrong.

it would also account for looking different when written down, as i seem to remember roland readin high speech somewhere?

[candy]

hope your feeling better too alisha:rose:

[AlishaRiley]

Thank you very much, Candy. :huglove:
And that's what i was thinking - about Shakespeare etc. Although if I couldn't understand his work, I'd be pretty much fucked considering I'm studying English lit. :P But that was kind fo my point - you have to learn it to speak it. Once more, i doubt I'm making sense, but as long as somebody got my first point, I don't mind. :lol:

[The Lady of Shadows]

sorry but i think we're all wrong. high speech is what we get when speaking to bricey after he's had a bowl or two. :P

[AlishaRiley]

:lol:

[Chap]

[haven't read the thread, so I apologize if a joke similar to this has been made]

High speech? sounds like a conversation between Alisha and Brice.

get it? :P

[AlishaRiley]

:rofl: God will smite you for comments like that toward me. SMITE, I tellsya!

[Brice]

Why? It's true. :lol:

[spirou]

that is very close to what I think, too. Not as much Latin to us, but Latin as it was in the time of the latest stage of decline, and soon after the fall, of the Roman Empire.

A similar, though mirrored, situation can be seen a few centuries later elsewhere. Walter Scott says (Ivanhoe):

At court, and in the castles of the great nobles, where the pomp and state of a court was emulated, Norman-French was the only language employed; in courts of law, the pleadings and judgments were delivered in the same tongue. In short, French was the language of honour, of chivalry, and even of justice, while the far more manly and expressive Anglo-Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hings, who knew no other.

So, such words as bed or cow stem from Saxon (German Bett, Kah), while pleasure or beef – a cow eaten – from Norman (French plaisir, boeuf). This state of things, however, can’t last for long:

… the necessary intercourse between the lords of the soil, and those oppressed inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated, occasioned the gradual formation of a dialect, compounded betwixt the French and the Anglo-Saxon, in which they could render themselves mutually intelligible to each other; and from this necessity arose by degrees the structure of our present English language, in which the speech of the victors and the vanquished have been so happily blended together…

Thus, the existence of two languages in a society is usually due to some external reasons, and doesn’t last long. How come there are two languages in the world we’re talking about? Was there a conquest? Who conquered whom? What allowed the two languages to coexist for so long without blending?

That's interesting Jean and has crossed my mind a couple of times. Greek would be another example along these lines. Koine (common Greek) of the world during Alexander the Great vs. the classical Greek of the golden period of Greece (c.a. Plato and Aristotle).

Hi:blush: my first post

Anyway,i think that the high speech might be something like Shakespeare's language like we read it today.Very difficult,but we can understand it (or you can,because it's very difficult for me:P ) But i think it's the same thing as ancient greek is for us (i'm greek),we understand some things but not much.

[Jean]

hi spirou http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

Greek is an interesting example. Being Russian, I can read easily understand your capital letters - mostly the same as ours - but to read lowercase I got to strain my furry brain a lot (and never be certain anyway, unless it's a word I knew before). If I remember right, Roland could read capitals in modern English easier than lowercase, or is it only something I dreamed?

[spirou]

Oh yes,that's right! Russian and greek capital letters is a great example!

(btw i love evgeni plushenko:drool:)

[Jean]

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bearmood_friendly.gif

[nearlyprescient]

I agree with the concept of it being a different dialect as opposed to a completely diferent language, but in a way that it's perhaps as different as Old English is to modern English. In a sense, I guess it takes a certain level of intelligence to comprehend Old English, so therefore, I've kind of assumed that hig Speech is somewhat similar to that...not completely so, but I guess you guys might know what I'm trying to say.
Forgive me, I'm ill, and groggy. :lol:

i know what you mean sweetie. its like shakespeare, have you tried readin that? its like a whole different language and yet still strangely english. this would explain how everyone knew about high speech, as when you talk to someone about olde english these days they still know what you are talking about. i think its also a dialect thing to. being a northern born lass myself if i tried to speak in the olde worlde english it would sound plain wrong.

it would also account for looking different when written down, as i seem to remember roland readin high speech somewhere?

Well, if I remember correctly, didn't Susan's aunt use a lot of 'thou's and 'thy's and 'thee's?
I remember there being a justification for her use of words like that, but I don't recall entirely.
that would imply that they have their own 'olde english' in Mid-world alongside High and Low Speech. I'm assuming by Olde English we're all meaning the sort of stuff like Chaucer and Shakespeare used? I think a more apt analogy, assuming I'm right about Susan's aunt implying they have their own 'olde low speech,' would be to say that High Speech more resembles the Anglo-Saxon language that English evolved from. You know, that language Beowulf was originally written in. I remember an AP Lit teacher showing the class some things translated from that to Shakespearian-era english, and then modern english with the intent of showing us that the same phrase in each version is somewhat recognizable to modern audiences that are monolingual.

Additionally, I remember there being a part where a single High Speech letter was described as "Zn." What does that mean? Not entirely sure, but it definitely says something about the High Speech alphabet, right? Of course, this thread is complicated enough without necessarily considering differing alphabets or writing systems.
I'm sure if anyone were interested in checking further into either of these, they might find a little more enlightenment to share with the rest of us, as I'm too interested in reading the final installment to backtrack and check those two leads out.
the first thing I referenced would be from Wizard and Glass, but I'm not sure I remember which piece the "Zn" thing was from. It could be from any book after The Drawing of the Three.

[nearlyprescient]

In response to Eddie not understanding Roland's conversation with the Slow Mutant, that was shortly after meeting S.K.
and in response to us never seeing a phonetic example of the High Speech, that would be the one occasion that comes to mind.
I think it was also written out rather than described at the beginning of Roland's conversation with Calvin Tower upon their first meeting in East Stoneham.

[nearlyprescient]

Sorry if I'm double posting, but it appears that my well constructed, somewhat lengthy post got lost somewhere in transmission.
but, my point was that Susan's Aunt uses 'thee' and 'thou' and such, even going so far as to suggest at one point that she's entitled to use those sorts of words for some reason. the reason escapes me, but it suggests that there might be an 'Olde Low Speech' equivalent to what people have been describing as 'Olde English.'
my point is that it might be more relevant to equate High Speech with that Anglo-Saxon language that Beowulf was written in.
An English Lit. teacher, during our Beowulf unit, brought in examples of a phrase that was written three times on a sheet; once in Anglo-Saxon, once in Shakespeare or Chaucer's 'Olde English', and finally in a modern, 2008-2009 English.
the difference was noticeable, but most of us students were capable of puzzling through the phrase in Anglo-Saxon. It was foreign and yet familiar at the same time, which is sort of how High Speech/English are compared in the story.
I seem to remember my teacher suggesting that a lot of profanity came directly from Anglo-Saxon as the evolution of languages had Anglo-Saxon at one point as a low language. she said that a number of words came almost directly, but the majority of those such words were what would be considered vulgar in modern days.

Yup. Two posts. Sorry. I'm not sure why the first one wasn't showing up for me. I guess this one should be removed, but I feel like I explained the Anglo-Saxon thing better here.

[AlishaRiley]

I see your point very clearly, sai, and I'm inclined to agree with you. :)
In fact, it makes more sense than my original opinion, although it's a similar theory.
Anglo-saxon vernacular was the same for me when I first studied it - completely foreign - and if I'm being honest, it still ain't all that clear! :lol:
But yes, it makes sense, and kudos to you. :)

[osseolax28]

I just started to read the eyes of the dragon and it says in the book that there are 15 Great letters of the high speach.
so i guess they can't all be caps

[mystima]

Heck, for all we know it could be the Hawaiian language.:thumbsup: :rock: