Echani Language?

[Andorreth Vikar]

So I know that the beskar bucket-heads have a fairly fleshed out language courtesy of Karen Traviss. I was wondering if there's any link s that can be well linked for the Echani Language, primarily because two out of my three characters speak Mando but both have at least some ties to Echani and it'd be nice to understand the language so I can show the other side to my character's culture. Anyone that can HALP me?

 

[LT-137]

First of all, shame on you for choosing Echani.

But, secondly, from a lot of the websites I've used as references in my work in the Thyrsian people, have made mention of a Latin/French/Czech hybridization as the Echani dialect, as well as utilizing the Elven as a base for the written language. Feel free to check the third link on this page for the fanon "source" material, as the other links basically copypasta that person's work. lol

 

[Allyson Locke]

The Echani speak basic. Most of their "deeper" connection and language is done through physical contact - its why Echani are a combative race, they speak through physical action. [member="Andorreth Vikar"] [member="Khonsu Amon"]

Experience: Echani is one of my favorite canon races :3 I also write a character that is their leader <3

 

[LT-137]

[member="Allyson Locke"] - Their spoken language is unlisted on the wookieepedia page, so it's safe to assume they speak their own tongue as well as Basic.

Basic transformed from a Core Worlds trade language into what it's known in the present day (ICly) as Galactic Basic Standard, so the populace of Eshan would have to have a verbal language before the evolving dialect traversed the stars - in addition to their own "cultural" language of communicating through combat.

 

[Ria Misrani]

[member="Allyson Locke"] | [member="Andorreth Vikar"] | [member="Srina Talon"]

I believe Srina's utilized a bit of Elvish when writing the Echani's language. I've tagged her here for that reason!

 

[Jsc]

[member="Andorreth Vikar"] - It's unlisted. So whatever you decide to come up with is fine.

I mean. The human race has, over thousands of years, created a vast collection of tribes, languages, cultures, and much much more. And that's just under the umbrella of "human". Diversity at it's finest. So, it's not hard to imagine that the Echani would naturally carry the same level of wild diversity over their long and conflicted history. If not more, or less.

So... Yeah. Infinite possibilities. Nice.

 

[Alexandra Feanor]

I prefer the language of booze personally, as an Echani.

But ya, its mostly a physical thing, but I could see Elven being a good basis.

 

[Srina Talon]

[member="Andorreth Vikar"] All of the above have points of merit in my opinion...But, my beautiful sister [member="Nysana Talon"] is correct in that I do frequently use Elvish but it's really just a personal preference. It's familiar to me, cause hey, sekrit time, I'm a nerd, but it isn't a standard. Echani are definitely diverse enough that you can use anything that pleases as the tall dark and handsome [member="Khonsu Amon"] noted. The combative language portion IS hugely important and most of us incorporate that when we can.

At the end of the day...Wing it. Fly free, my friend, on the wings of your imagination. SW has a loooot open to interpretation so you might as well.

The only thing I super appreciate is whenever there are words in a post that aren't English, Ancient Sith, Mando'a, etc etc...Gimmie a translation. Stick it at the bottom in a spoiler or somethin' but please goodness gracious don't make me look it up XD.

 

[Eugen Aker]

[member="Andorreth Vikar"]

In old canon, the primary form of communication is through nonverbal means, primarily body language. The reason for this peculiar development was that the fact Echani are similar in physical appearance (likely due to their origins as a science experiment by the Arkanians), family members being almost indistinguishable more often than not. They then became masters at reading thoughts and emotions through body language and microexpressions.

Consequently, they excelled in martial arts and they came to see combat as the purest form of expression. ("Actions speak louder than words" and all that jazz.) In stressful situations, a person's true character is more likely to be revealed as they're put under pressure, and there are few more stressful events than combat.

I've seen above people mentioning using their own made-up languages for verbal communication, and that's cool, you do you. That said, it's probably Basic for these reasons.

• A near-human race with artificial origins through bioengineering.
• Eshan's relatively close proximity to the Galactic Core, and steady contact with galactic civilization as whole thanks to FTL communication and travel.
• The Echani finding non-verbal communication more efficient than spoken word, which meant that they probably wouldn't invest in going through all the work of making a new verbal language.

I'm sure the Echani have developed their own local dialect of Basic to better suit their culture. I like to imagine most Echani coming off as direct and even somewhat robotic in speech to non-Echani, because I don't see many Echani in making much use in variations of tone (which is a big part of Basic/English) and then the non-Echani on the other side probably can't understand the subtle nuances of their body language which would provide helpful context.

(BTW, I was speaking Sith.)