Linguistic Drift for Mothership

Humankind has flung itself into the empty cosmos. Centuries have come and gone. Islands of humanity wink to life - colonies that are long divorced from ancient Earth.

Life thrives where it must. Dyson Swarm habitats orbit a baud-like pulsar, generational mining colonies are dug into a neighborhood of asteroids, star-worshipping blackhole farmers silently harvest unspeakable particles from the accretion belt.

Communication between these human bastions is rare. It takes decades for radio signals to travel from one colony to another, half as long travelling at hyper-relativistic speeds. The occasional cargo freighter is the most interstellar contact any of them will ever have.

Language evolves quickly. It takes only a single generation for a pidgin to stabilize into a creole. With minimal outside influence to maintain a common language, slang fractures all. In just a lifetime apart, with minimal contact, two languages will evolve utterly unintelligible to speakers of the mother tongue.

Needs of the speakers accelerate linguistic evolution. A society of terraformers toiling away for generations on a planet will evolve a vastly different lexicon and grammar shortcuts than a society of asteroid miners passing down their legacy from one generation to the next in the vacuum of space.

The language will transform accordingly. Even with constant travelers passing through to refuel or resupply, it's not enough to keep languages stabilized together - it might even exacerbate change as new words and grammatical structures are introduced by travelers and incorporated into the language by native speakers. The language will drift, it will evolve. It becomes something new.

Communication Errors

At a new station or colony, roll a d10 for the following language scenarios. For results 2-8, someone with linguistic training can roll a language check to see if they catch a communication error before it's too late (the Communication Error Results table is located just below this one). After the PCs visit the station or colony for the first time, allow non-linguists to roll intelligence at disadvantage for language checks (to learn from their mistakes from last time), and let linguists roll with advantage.

If you want to avoid rolls and simulate PCs learning, just RP the linguistic drift. Actually talk like the NPCs would talk in the table below. And remember that an NPC won't sit there forever while PCs struggle to understand them - PCs will have two or three shots to understand and be understood before the NPC gives up, smiling and nodding to placate the PCs before ignoring them completely. NPCs have better things to do (places to be, customers to serve) and don't have time to waste on PCs who don't talk no good.

If it isn't obvious, 2-8 can (optionally) stack. So if you really want to fuck with your players to create a linguistic hell, roll multiple d10s.

PCs can hire translators at any time to ease transactions (roll on the Translators table), but are only required on a roll of 9 or 0.

Finally, the act of dealing with speakers of another language can be very stressful for PCs. Miscommunication, embarrassment, hostility towards non-native speakers...all of these contribute to an unpleasant experience. For every 10 minutes that PCs have to interact with a communication barrier without a translator, roll d10 stress.

1. Despite lightyears of distance and centuries of separation, the language is still more-or-less the same as your own. You're able to conduct basic trade without a problem.

2. The lexicon is mostly the same, and grammar structures resemble your own. As a result, PCs don't notice that a new grammatical case has taken hold - one that reverses which noun is being modified in the possessive/genitive case, leading to some unfortunate mistakes when it comes to exactly which noun is modifying another. These mistakes are quite messy to resolve. PCs take the wrong goods from the exchange, they resupply with the wrong type of food, sell the wrong goods to NPCs, etc. An NPC offers the captain to buy the entire PC crew as indentured servants for a generous sum of credits - but PCs think the NPC is actually trying to buy passage on the PC ship.

3. The lexicon has changed, but most vital services are still in the PC's language. However, x-bar inflections now migrate from the head of the verb phrase to the head of the IP itself, but do not become questions from the native speaker's point of view ([The fuel depot is over there.] becomes [Is the fuel depot over there.]) As a result, the NPC's answer to any question PCs ask sounds like a question reflected back at the PCs.

Example:

From the PC's perspective:

PC - "How much does fuel cost per unit?"

NPC - "Does it cost 100 credits per unit?" (This can translate into "It [NULL does] costs 100 credits per unit," where NULL represents a word that appears in the deep structure but is omitted or moved in the surface structure - in this case, [NULL does] moves to the head of the IP and is no longer covert, becoming "Does it cost 100 credits per unit.")

This can lead to other mix-ups in the reverse scenario. For instance, if a PC asks: "Are you for hire?" This a question from the PC's point of view, but a statement from the NPC's point of view ("You are for hire."). This can be interpreted as the PC insisting to the NPC that the NPC is for hire - whether they like it or not. This will lead to great offense.

4. All verbs are now treated as transitive verbs. In the case where no object noun complement/direct object is possible, a dummy subject [it] is inserted. For example, if someone wants to say to the PCs "Please stand over there," [stand] is an intransitive verb that does not require a direct object, so the native speaker would insert the dummy subject [it] after the verb [stand], and actually say: "Please stand it over there." This can lead to obvious confusion from the PC's ("Stand what over there?"). Frustrated NPCs will eventually stop talking to the PCs and see them as ignorant spacers who can't speak a simple language. This will also lead to more NPCs trying to take advantage of the "idiot" PCs.

5. A new lexicon has replaced non-vital services. Words for fuel and repairs remain the same, but weapons, ammunition, clothes, medical supplies, scientific instruments - these all have new names. Some are even false cognates, which leads to PCs buying the wrong supplies or agreeing to sell things they never intended to sell. For instance, PCs haggle for a resupply of freeze-dried food but accidently buy 100 tons of frozen rats. If the linguist fails their roll, nobody realizes the mistake until the crew is underway and ready for dinner.

6. Everyone speaks in the past tense/past perfect tense about everything. Actual tense is inferred entirely from context - context that PCs won't have except through constant (months to years) of exposure to the culture of the station/colony.

7. Several common words in the PC's vocabulary (Warden's choice) are horribly offensive to the station/colony inhabitants. This can lead to an increase of fuel/service prices for the PCs, refusal of services, and even hostile/violent reaction from NPCs.

8. There is no longer a subject-verb-object obligation, in any order. As a result, subjects are omitted from sentences, and verbs are sometimes altogether absent, in much the same way that PROs are. The absent elements are derived through context, which PCs will not have. The absent elements always leave behind a null category. This results in a paused, jilted cadence when a null category is encountered. Prices for goods, directions, etc. are nigh impossible to attain without a lengthy back-and-forth.

9. Liberal use of compound words, new phonemes, and inter-fixes are mixed with what were once common words. The result is a language that sounds like the PCs own language, but is utterly unintelligible. A translator is necessary for any transactions.

0. New grammatical structures and cases, combined with an utterly foreign lexicon makes this language totally incomprehensible without a translator or extensive language lessons.

Communication Error Results

Don't feel limited to only these ten results. But if you need a quick roll or some inspiration, here's d10 results for you to use:

1. PCs accidentally sell what they intended to buy (example: if they were trying to buy more fuel, they accidentally sold the rest of their fuel). If the PCs don't have what they agreed to sell, they're on the hook for obtaining the goods to sell to the merchant.

2. PCs agree to sell themselves as indentured servants.

3. PCs buy slaves instead of food.

4. PCs agree to a cage-match tournament. Odds are 1:50 against them. Betting begins now. Forfeiting the match revokes station/colony privileges.

5. PCs volunteer to be willing sacrifices to the star beast imprisoned in the colony's depths.

6. PCs agree to smuggle illicit goods to the next sector over.

7. The haggling PC agrees to a marriage contract with the merchant's son/daughter. The dowry is a hundred thousand credits and twenty-five tons of ammonia nitrate fertilizer to the PC. Costs twice as much to break the marriage contract.

8. NPC hands over a piece of paper. For an outrageous price, PCs have just purchased a star with their name on it. They don't actually own the star, and the official name of the star won't change.

9. Accidentally join a cult. When PCs are arrive to where they think they'll be picking up whatever they thought they agreed to buy, it's actually just the induction ceremony into the cult. It's not violent, but it does involve getting a weird neck tattoo and the injection of a harmless parasite. Reneging the induction ceremony elicits a violent reaction from the cultists.

0. PCs have become part of a MLM scheme. Ten tons of essential oils and erotic lubricants are loaded into the cargo bay. They've given pamphlets on how to throw MLM Parties, and how to recruit their friends to become part of the MLM family.

Translators

A constantly morphing pidgin language necessitates translators. They're easy to find; they're always around the ports, loitering near bars and exchanges, willing to offer you their services. Cheap, they promise. "For you, my friend - very cheap..."

You can have all of these translators available at once, roll multiple d10s, or just a single d10. How you want to implement them is up to you.

Warden's choice for the cost of translators, but it should not be a trivial cost. The Risk v Reward of trying to communicate on their own v. hiring an NPC translator shouldn't be an easy decision. Depending on the economy of your game, a decent method of pricing might be the NPC's LNGx100 credits per day. Skilled translators know their value and will not be easy to haggle down nor will they be cheap (you can use their LNG skill as a haggling opposition check when first hiring them). Shitty translators are desperate for work and will sell themselves cheap, but their lack of skill may induce a roll on the Communication Error Results table.

To simulate the translator's skill, they each have an LNG skill. If PCs are using a translator, also roll an LNG check. Rolling over the LNG skill induces a Communication Error Result roll.

1. LNG: 100. Someone ancient. They walk excruciatingly slow and doubles any transit time, but you won't find a better (or more expensive) translator. They're a native speaker of the local language, and all-around polyglot. There's no chance for a communication error with them.

2. LNG: 80. A religious nut and polyglot. Skilled translator, but won't shut the fuck up about his weird space gods.

3. LNG: 70. Knows where the best deals in town are - d10 chance to reduce trade/service costs by 40%.

4. LNG: 60. Little girl, street urchin. Keeps calling you "my friend." She's not a native speaker of the local language - she learned the language in the streets and on the fly. Left here by her parents (by accident or misfortune, nobody knows). Trying to save up enough to start fresh on a station/colony with more opportunities. D10 chance she'll try to stow away aboard your ship. If you find her stowed away, she'll try to join your crew or haggle you into paying her for more translator services.

5. LNG: 80, but d10 chance she gets drunk on the job. If she does, reduce LNG to 30 (but her cost stays LNG 80). A maverick of a woman. Former pilot. She says a battle injury to her leg keeps her from flying. Walks with a limp that she occasionally forgets to fake. The truth is, she froze under fire and was stripped of her pilot's license. She's trying to earn back enough credits to bribe station/colony officials into reinstating her. She's ruining her reputation and bankroll with her drinking problem.

6. LNG: 50. He's sitting outside a bar, flipping a coin. He's not great, but he's not terrible. You can probably haggle him down to be even cheaper. He wants you to help develop his app. He'll ask for venture capital funding or programming experience. Whenever he's not translating for you, he's pitching you one of the many ideas he has for an app.

7. LNG: 40. Malfunctioning android. Not a native speaker, and they can barely understand what you're saying. But they've got the black market hookup and know how to smuggle goods in and out of stations. Their language skills aren't exactly up to snuff, but somehow they can talk you right past customs (advantage on any checks that involving getting things through customs or other contraband inspections). 

8. LNG: 30. Better than a translation dictionary, but not by much. He expects you to pay for his meal. He'll stop translating for you if you refuse. If you're a dick about it (threaten him, etc), he'll agree to keep translating for you, but purposefully translate everything wrong (roll twice on the Communication Error Results table).

9. LNG: 20. A homeless woman. She speaks the native language fluently, but she has a hell of a time understanding what you're saying. When you try to leave, she insists she's part of your crew now. She'll make a scene if you deny it. You'll need to pay her LNG fee again just to make her go away.

0. LNG: 15. Literally just a translation dictionary you picked up at the duty-free. You can speak into it and select the language you want it to spit out.

A Note on Linguistic Theory

Ideas for linguistic drift in this post are based on Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar and Trans-Generative Grammar.

UG is a compelling linguistic theory, but it is not without problems. I believe the underlying ideas of the theory are sound based on the idea that language is an instinct. However, the exact mechanics and rules of a universal grammar are subject to change as we learn more and more about the biological elements that influence the language loop.

Criticisms of universal grammar are valid. One of the hardest reconciliations for UG, in my opinion, is not the origin of the theory. The trouble is finding a bridge law that links the biological with the grammatical. If we want to say that UG is valid because of the biological elements that make language a human instinct, then there must be a bridge law to link the predicates of grammar with the predicates of neurology. While Broca's Area and Wernicke's Area can account for some of the biological elements that contribute to language, our understanding of the biomechanical elements is not enough to reduce language down to a unifying theory.

In future posts, I'll be discussing alien languages (namely, how can we think about language in a way that isn't just "English, but with funny symbols") and @last_analogician's idea (over on the Mothership discord) of Interstellanguage, an NGO that works to spread a common language to keep humankind united among the stars.

Artwork

All art in this post is by Raul Urias. You can check out more of his fantastic work at his website: https://rauluriasart.com/