How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
At the end of the second class, he told us to start reading one of the two books in our rooms—The History and Purpose of the Limòri Academy. Good thing it was that one—the other was in a language I had never seen before. (18.6)
Hahp speaks at least three languages (according to his dad, this'll prepare him to be an awesome merchant), but the script that one of the wizard academy books is written in is a total mystery to him. It kinda makes sense that magic would be in its own language. If nothing else, that makes it seem more mysterious and, well, magical.
Quote #2
"The language is sacred to them, every word… That reinforces Somiss's theories. He is trying to figure out a way to get their help. It could save him a lifetime of study, if they have a written form, and even if they don't, it would put him years ahead of where he is now." (23.42)
Here Franklin is talking about the Gypsies. It makes sense that if their language is sacred to them, they don't necessarily want to go teaching it to outsiders. Maybe they also get an icky vibe off Somiss, who knows.
Quote #3
"She reads?" he asked, as though Sadima wasn't sitting at the table at all. "It's against the ancient decree, Franklin, unless she has some lineage you haven't bothered to tell me about." (25.23)
Imagine a world where only people of noble blood are allowed to learn to read. Yeah, it doesn't sound like a very nice world. Controlling access to information and language is one way of controlling people.
Quote #4
He reached for her hand, but she stood up and took a step back. He apologized and tried to talk her into staying, but she left, walking fast. Halfway to Rinka's shop, she wondered if Somiss was hiding thoughts too—if that was his real objection to silent-speech. (29.67)
Communication could be instant and complete with the use of silent-speech (a.k.a telepathy). Sadima reacts badly when Franklin tries it on her though, since she doesn't like the feeling of him snooping around in her head (though Shmooping around in her head would be just fine). That leads her to wonder: maybe Somiss doesn't want people to figure out how to communicate via silent-speech because he's hiding secrets…
Quote #5
Sadima stared at the writing, then whirled around and went back to the kitchen for her copy. Trembling, she put them side by side. Somiss had recopied the songs completely, three times over. All three of his copies were exactly alike, but different from hers. He had changed it. Why? To keep the real song from her and Franklin? (37.56)
Maybe it's not so off base to wonder if Somiss is keeping secrets from Sadima and Franklin. If he's going to the trouble to make extra copies of the songs he's studying just to change minor details then something is surely going on. But what?
Quote #6
"Somiss marked up the first set of copies, counting the letters. The ones in blue occur most often," Franklin said. "He is hoping some or even most of them are vowels."
Sadima blinked and he apologized. "Vowels are the letters you voice." (47.14-15)
This is an example of how you don't need to know how a language works in order to be able to speak that language. If you're reading this right now, you probably have a basic grasp of English, for instance, and yet we're thinking you might not be able to list every single rule of spelling and grammar off the top of your head (unless you're an English teacher, or the kid of an English teacher).
Quote #7
It was boring—I usually fell asleep when I tried to study the amazing accomplishments of the Founder. His translation methods were detailed in the book and hard to understand. They included counting vowels and comparing hundreds of versions of the old songs—and repeating certain words thousands of times to himself to see how the words might have been changed over time, all the while dodging his own royal family. (50.5)
What Somiss—oh, sorry, the Great and Mighty Founder—is described doing here is basic historical linguistics research. Spoken languages change over time, but they usually follow patterns when doing so, so theoretically you could figure out those patterns by comparing lots of variants of the same words, phrases, or songs that you've collected. It sure sounds like a pain in the butt to do all that work with little to go on, though.
Quote #8
She was afraid of him—and she was afraid for Franklin—but Somiss could not be trusted as the sole keeper of the old songs. Rinka's Erides was right. No one person ever should be. (51.4)
Even though Sadima's afraid of Somiss (heck, we would be too), she chooses to make copies of his notes. She does this because she believes that knowledge shouldn't be hoarded. This belief is also held by the Eridians, a group that worships a prophet known as Erides. For all that they're made out to be a cult, they're not sounding too bad at the moment.
Quote #9
The next chapter wasn't about the Founder. It was about the songs that magicians from the first Age of Magic had passed down by memorizing the words of their magical chants, then setting them to simple tunes. They had taught their children the songs, and their children had taught their children, and so on. So for all the centuries when there was no magic in the world, when kings ruled completely, scraps of it were saved. (54.3)
So did the songs pass to just any children, or specifically the Gypsies? Or maybe both? Since we know Somiss is the best candidate for the Founder of the magic academy, we're thinking he's probably being his usual secretive self and glossing over some of the details of the language of magic. And we'll also point out that there's no mention of Franklin or Sadima in the history book, making it sound like Somiss figured out all the linguistics stuff by his lonesome self. Jerk.
Quote #10
Jux positioned me at another anthill. It took me a very long time to come to the simple solution: I moved my thoughts to the honey, not the ants. Once the honey itself seemed to be telling them it was poisonous, the ants backed away. (60.7)
Here's an interesting thought: maybe it's possible to communicate with animals and inanimate objects as well as with people. Hahp figures out that he can send his thoughts into a glob of honey in order to accomplish the task he's given (to make the ants not eat the honey). We wonder what it's like to try to communicate with something you can eat.