Annachie wrote:Instead of dialect, which is a way of speaking, we should really be talking about a way of thinking or communicating.
Because, while RFC is right about their language etc, I'm not sure that he's really thought through 'Cats growing up on different planets, or even space stations. (Actually, I'm not sure he would until it looks like coming up in a future book)
Case in point, the kittens growing up on Grayson and the concept of unlimited running space/limited running space.
Now it may be that the aparently perfect information transfer that is Treecat communication will counter that. (And at this stage I think this is what RFC is hinting at)
Actually, there's a question. Is it a perfect information transfer or a perfect experience transfer. Or both?
The other thing is that by introducing the 'Cats to the concept of language, that a dialect (Thialect?) Has a higher chance of occuring.
Hell, realistically, with the security Cats and all, they are likely being introduced to the concept of dialect as well.
All that said, I doubt it will ever come up in a book unless RFC decides to expound upon it.
Looked at another way, every single 'cat speaks with an "accent." A data packet transferred from Nimitz to another 'cart is tagged with a "laughbrightlian" "accent" because it is produced as direct information transfer from a unique being --- Nimitz/Laughs Brightly --- who is the product of unique experiences. Thus the data transmission will be perfect (or as close an approximation as is ever likely to be reached) but will carry his unique "sidebands." This is how memory singers reproduce the actual experiences of 'cats hundreds of years dead. As treecat communities develop in different environments, those sideband elements will diverge more sharply from one another, but that will no more form "dialects" or accents than their individuality already produces. This is also why treecat names change over time; the individual bearing the name has changed and his/her designating "data packet" changes accordingly. In fact, one might say that any 'cat's "full name" consists of a single data transfer which sums up
all of the "people" that 'cat has ever been, but that it is the final byte tacked onto the end, the most recent descriptor, which is most important.
BTW, I am not saying that the 'cat mode of communication and cognition is superior to that of humans. It has significant advantages over any human language ever developed, but it has drawbacks, as well. For one thing, it makes abstract thought more difficult or even, in some cases, impossible, which is why I've told you from the beginning that they are not great innovators (and why they so treasure the 'cats, like Samantha, who
are innovators. The 'cats may be the galaxies ultimate pragmatists, and they are incredibly quick at
spreading innovations, but they are very slow at producing new concepts and ideas. In part, specifically
because their communications lack the ambiguity built into even the closest human communication. A treecat literally
cannot misunderstand another treecat, although the data packet itself can be shaped by the deliberate omission of critical components. Even that is very difficult for the 'cats, however, which is one of the things which makes (or at least
made) Nimitz and his sense of humor so close to unique in Bright Water Clan.
but it would put a lot of this into context for you.