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Uplift-morphs and speech

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Sat, 2010-03-20 08:58
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nielsk nielsk's picture
Uplift-morphs and speech
How do morphs for Uplifts speak - especially morphs like Octomorphs or Neo-Avians. Are they biologically designed for being able to speak human languages or do they use some kind of machine?
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Sat, 2010-03-20 13:46
Decivre Decivre's picture
Re: Uplift-morphs and speech
nielsk wrote:
How do morphs for Uplifts speak - especially morphs like Octomorphs or Neo-Avians. Are they biologically designed for being able to speak human languages or do they use some kind of machine?
Most of them (all of the ones in the core book) have transgenically-modified vocal cords and enhanced mouth flexibility to allow for human speech. Some have extra forms of communication native to their ancestral species... octopi can communicate through color changing.
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Sun, 2010-03-21 22:12
nick012000 nick012000's picture
Re: Uplift-morphs and speech
Decivre wrote:
nielsk wrote:
How do morphs for Uplifts speak - especially morphs like Octomorphs or Neo-Avians. Are they biologically designed for being able to speak human languages or do they use some kind of machine?
Most of them (all of the ones in the core book) have transgenically-modified vocal cords and enhanced mouth flexibility to allow for human speech. Some have extra forms of communication native to their ancestral species... octopi can communicate through color changing.
Neo-Avians probably have modified lyrinxes to allow them to do the baseline parrot speech mimicry trick, only since they're sapient, they wouldn't be mimicking the speech since they'd actually understand what they're saying. They wouldn't need to have their beaks modified, since their speech would almost all be done in the throat. It's possible that Neo-Octopi have similar enhancements done, since they also have beaks.
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Sun, 2010-03-21 22:44
Decivre Decivre's picture
Re: Uplift-morphs and speech
nick012000 wrote:
Neo-Avians probably have modified lyrinxes to allow them to do the baseline parrot speech mimicry trick, only since they're sapient, they wouldn't be mimicking the speech since they'd actually understand what they're saying. They wouldn't need to have their beaks modified, since their speech would almost all be done in the throat. It's possible that Neo-Octopi have similar enhancements done, since they also have beaks.
That is true. Mouth modifications would likely be used to simplify the necessary alterations on creatures with softer mandible structures, like uplift dolphins and neo-hominids. Another option might be to have two "lips", in that creatures with beaks have transgenic inner lips for lingual inflection. While parrots and such can mimic human speech, they cannot do so perfectly due to the means by which they imitate. They reproduce the approximate shifts in sounds with their vocal chords and tongue, which might make speech difficult to understand when it is spoken faster, and produced dynamically. Think of it like a ventriloquist substituting certain consonants with others... parrots must do the same but moreso due to the lack of teeth as well. Perhaps such an inflection modification might not be necessary for native uplifts (as they grew up without lips and teeth), but those transhumans who decide to switch to an uplift body might get them to better suit their means of language.
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Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
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Sat, 2010-05-29 09:18
splatter_gecko splatter_gecko's picture
Re: Uplift-morphs and speech
The mental and physical structures used by birds for mimicry could also be used in other morph designs. They would have a vast potential for mischief and misdirection even if they aren't perfect, think of the alien from Predator or that guy from the Police Academy movies. You might be able to add your own interjections into other peoples conversations, disguised as one of the participants, as long as no one was paying particularly close attention. Rage, confusion, general hilarity, or glorious chaos could then ensue. All of this would probably be even easier to perform with cybernetics, although it might be completely useless against someone with enhance auditory discrimination. Alternatively, GMs can use this to be really, really, creepy. I seem to remember some story somewhere that involved giant spiders that lured people into their webs by mimicking the sound of an infant in distress.
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Sat, 2010-05-29 10:09
King Shere King Shere's picture
Re: Uplift-morphs and speech
nick012000 wrote:
Neo-Avians probably have modified lyrinxes to allow them to do the baseline parrot speech mimicry trick, only since they're sapient, they wouldn't be mimicking the speech since they'd actually understand what they're saying. They wouldn't need to have their beaks modified, since their speech would almost all be done in the throat. It's possible that Neo-Octopi have similar enhancements done, since they also have beaks.
I dont think the Neo-Avians would have the Lyrinx system, as their Syrinx system is a "better one. Birds use vocal "pipes" not vocal cords. Even on other morph types the avians vocal Syrinx system may be used instead of Lyrinx, as it seems to be a "better" solution.
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Sat, 2010-05-29 11:36
Decivre Decivre's picture
Re: Uplift-morphs and speech
King Shere wrote:
I dont think the Neo-Avians would have the Lyrinx system, as their Syrinx system is a "better one. Birds use vocal "pipes" not vocal cords. Even on other morph types the avians vocal Syrinx system may be used instead of Lyrinx, as it seems to be a "better" solution.
Actually, most tetrapods have a larynx, including birds. Theirs just happens to be simpler, without vocal chords (which they dont need due to the syrinx). Also, I think it fair to note that a syrinx, while being versatile enough for mimicry to a great degree, does not have the vocal range potential that chords do. Birds generally mimic and create sounds at a high octave because of slower respiratory systems (though more efficient, removing more oxygen out of each breath) and the means by which the syrinx functions (essentially like an advanced whistle). A bird cannot create a low-octave sound with a syrinx (no baritone bird morphs for you!), and the few birds that make low sounds (ostriches, new world vultures, etc) don't have a syrinx at all (they just grunt and hiss). Of course, genetic engineering could theoretically improve the syrinx and respiratory system to make it a possibility. That said, you could probably do the same with vocal chords.
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Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
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