Unable to Understand the Speech?

[seabiscuit1009]

I've been rereading the YW books as a way to prepare for AWOM, and in WAW and WH, there are two moments when Dairine is unable to understand what Roshaun and the Sun are saying.

In WAW:

"The answer was a strange low garbled roar, one she instantly recognized, since it had shocked her so when first she'd heard it. The Sun said something, and I didn't understand. But now it was Roshaun saying something in the Speech, and once again Dairine wasn't getting it. Impossible. Everything understands the Speech!" -p.201 of the hardcover edition released in the USA.

It just made me think; what was Roshaun saying? Better yet, why doesn't Dairine understand him or the Sun, even with the Speech? I'm curious what you guys think, because I have no ideas.

[Priellan]

Maybe it's something to do with Roshaun's training as a sun-healer kind of person? Maybe it has something to do with the family royal jewel. Since it's Dairine's as of WAW, maybe she can understand the sun now? I don't know. Sorry, this is much more theorizing than anything.

[alla]

The earlier books do make a point that a beginning wizard must learn vocab in the Speech - maybe Dairine doesn't have the vocab for what Roshaun is doing? Or maybe Sol doesn't use the Speech?

[SilveredBlue]

I'd say that it's a personal misunderstanding. Remember when Nita got the 'calls' from the robot and knight, which were actually Darryl? Now, Darryl was a human, a wizard, and speaking the Speech, yet Nita misunderstood the robot and had a very limited conversation with the knight because of Darryl's autism.

Now, neither Roshaun nor Sol, to the best of my understanding, is 'on the spectrum'. (although...hey....a sun with some sort of disability- that would be interesting. Fred certainly had enough mind, as it were, to make it possible for things to happen in the mind.) But the same concept holds- there's some fundamental grating part that Dairine can't, or won't, understand.

Hey, I just thought of something else: in AWAl, Nita says something to the effect of:
"Everything can speak the Speech, but that doesn't mean everyone can understand it." It doesn't seem like Dairine's got this concept yet.

Hmm...I smell a vague shippy-ness in my second paragraph...but I won't elaborate. Too much has been said already.

(Although, if you FORCE me, I will...)

[Twitchy]

Hmmm....me no speak Speech?

Well, the sun is pretty major. Maybe it's speaking in Enactive, or some form that's higher than the simple form most wizards use until they get deeper into the study of Speech. Maybe?

[SpacePen]

I detect a story arc...

This is pointed out so clearly both times that I can't help but think it's going to come back to either be a help or a hindrance to Dairine - I haven't read aWoM yet so I don't know if it's picked up there, or if we have to wait till another book...

[anotherBob]

Just because someone knows how to speak a language doesn't mean she knows all of the words. I agree with others that it could have been a problem with star vocabulary just as a normal person wouldn't understand terminology of nuclear physics. There is also the voice that is being used (enactive as was posited).

Bob

[Alex Quilmane]

From my understanding of the Enactive, it's the mode used when you're making alterations to matter and space. It'd be rather odd for Sol and Roshaun to both be speaking it. I agree with the others that it's perhaps Dairine's understanding of the speech that may be hindered. Even if she "understood" the speech, it could be a concept over her head. For example, the words they are using in the speech could describe the way some matter in Sol is flowing. In this case, since Dairine is (currently) unable to grasp the concept, she doesn't understand the words.

[benrapp7]

A different theory.

I have my own theory. I believe that R was speaking to the sun in a language that is as ancient as the Speech itself. But can only be understood by those whose mastery lies with plasma an similar objects. But, of course, I cannot be sure. I hope that in the next book, Diane will answer all of our questions about R. She can't just leave us hanging with him just disappearing!

[SpeckledKoi]

Star language?

I came across an entry under 'star names' on ErrantryWiki that says a star's name for itself is usually in the Speech, but there are "occasional exceptions." Perhaps these exceptions are part of a star language, which Roshaun might be familiar with? It seems unlikely that Dairine would mistake something for the Speech that isn't, but it is possible. I'm not sure how, but I think this may be related.