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"It's hard to tell stories about critters that are not human. John W. Campbell tried it, in "Twilight," and everybody says it's a wonderful story, and nobody ever reads it twice."
- Jerry Pournelle
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| Battle Language | ||
| A special-purpose language designed for both clear communication of information related to war, and difficulty of translation. |
The Atreides are a noble family, ruling over entire planets for many generations. Unfortunately, as the book remarks, "those below you always covet your station." When you have many enemies, you would do well to have a specialized language when you need to go to war.
| Jessica found the tiny receiver Idaho had left for them, flipped its switch. A green light glowed on the instrument's face. Tinny screeching came from its speaker. She reduced the volume, hunted across the bands. A voice speaking Atreides battle language came into the tent. " . . . back and regroup at the ridge. Fedor reports no survivors in Carthag and the Guild Bank has been sacked." Carthag! Jessica thought. That was a Harkonnen hotbed. "They're Sardaukar," the voice said. "Watch out for Sardaukar in Atreides uniforms. They're . . . " A roaring filled the speaker, then silence. |
| Technovelgy from Dune,
by Frank Herbert. Published by Putnam in 1965 Additional resources -
|
Special languages are common in times of war; they are called "codes." They were in common use in ancient times, although they may seem laughably simple today.
In recent times, there was an example of the use of an actual language as a code. The allies used American Indian Navajo language; this "battle language" was never broken.
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