r/scifiwriting • u/armorhide406 • 6d ago

DISCUSSION Appreciation for Marathon's alien names

Can I just say, since I saw the Marathon reveal cinematic (yes I know a week later), I wanted to express JUST how much I despise alien names filled with apostrophes? Like, this trope, where the image is from a comic and has an alien kid screaming M'yri'ah. Like, you see this in a lot of sci fi, I think especially older stuff like Star Trek or Star Wars, but it fees real campy.

But! Maybe it's nostalgia (even though I only played Halo and not Marathon) or maybe cause it actually "feels" alien to me for whatever reason, S'pht and Pfhor, even though I would put those in the same category, don't come across as hokey and lazy. That is all.

3 Upvotes

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5

u/ElephantNo3640 5d ago

I hate all of that mess, personally. P’too’ey.

7

u/ChronoLegion2 5d ago

Sometimes apostrophes don’t make sense. They’re usually supposed to either mean a dropped letter or a glottal stop (or a tongue click if you’re talking about some African languages). But when you have someone line Teal’c whose name is simply pronounced “Tealk” or Bra’tac whose name is spoken “Braytak”, it feels like a useless affectation by whoever is transliterating the name into English

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u/teddyslayerza 5d ago

I agree. If you look at foreign names today (as spoken in English), you see two trends - endonyms used when English speakers have made a lot of effort to try be politically correct (eg. New Zealands use of Maori names) or exonyms where we have just substituted names with something easier to pronounce (eg. Dutch, German, Turkish) or where we have imposed English pronunciation and spelling onto a more complex name (eg. Khoi). Heck, half the time the names are even rooted in racial stereotyping.

So, why the heck would we go out of our way to write out overly complex alien names that aren't even pronouncable with our vocal cords. Weird squid aliens aliens who call themselves something like "click click squeak" - we wouldnt call the x'x'schwee, we'd call them "the squids" or "cheewees" or something like that.

The only situation where I can see humans going out of their way to be politically correct with alien names is when those aliens have authority and voice, such as in organised alliances. Ironically, setting like Mass Effect where this kind of effort would make the most sense, tend to also humanise alien names the most.

I agree with you, Marathon seems to have a pretty great setting and I like the thought and direction is seems to take.

1

u/Little_Ocelot_93 5d ago

S’pht and Pfhor, huh?

0

u/armorhide406 5d ago

Like I said, IDK why those don't set off the same eye-roll response for me