On Nitroglycerin, Trinitrotoluene, and other subtleties of romantic languages (Patreon)

A brief English lesson for you, in case you are unfamiliar with these concepts. I was taught them in high school, but I have heard that many were not.

In writing, there are several categories of consonants:

• Liquids: flowing sounds like l and r
• Fricatives: airy sounds like v, f, ch
• Sibilants: hissing sounds like s and sh
• Plosives: harsh, interrupting sounds like (just about everything else) b, c d, t, g, etc

For our purposes here I'm going to refer to the first three categories all together as Liquids since they are all similarly smooth and light, and because that's how I've grown up thinking about it.

I have always held a stout believe that French and German as languages are total opposites. No matter what one says in German, it could be the highest compliment, it sounds like an insult to the untrained ear. And no matter in French if someone has just called you a mole-faced goosesucker, it will sound like a very sweet remark (if anyone is skilled in French I'd be interested in knowing what French for that would be...).

This is because of liquids and plosives. French as a language is almost entirely comprised of liquid sounds-- they are smooth, soft, flowing-- whereas German tends to use a lot of Plosives making the speech sound sharp and staggering. This gives each language a certain impression to the sounds, regardless of the actual words.

The same is true in Reborn.

Back in season 1 of the online league when I was arranging the personalities everyone would play, I had the actors make use of this. Specifically, Corey and Luna did. 

Corey took a focus on including as many plosive consonants in his diction as he could. Luna, in turn, filled hers with liquids.

Let me write that again.

Corey usually slipped as many plosive sounds as possible into his speech. Luna, by contrast, loaded her text with liquid letters.

Do you see it? Plosives in bold, liquids italicized.

Corey took a focus on including as many plosive consonants in his diction as he could. Luna, in turn, filled hers with liquids. 

Corey usually slipped as many plosive sounds as possible into his speech. Luna, by contrast, loaded her text with liquid letters. 

...There's just an example for you of how slightly changing the word choice can change the entire feel of the sentence. I edited a lot of the dialogue in subtle ways for E16. In some cases, this was why.

Let's consider some of their in-game lines. I'll grab their highlighted quotes from the wiki.

Luna:  Darkness is love. There's nothing to fear. 

Corey:  Hope is weakness. It's an illusion meant to sugarcoat this sickening reality. 

This is something I characterized them with from the start. Probably nobody actively notices it, but I think it can make a significant difference in how they're perceived regardless. 

Incidentally, if you've been paying much attention to Starlight's characters, you might have noticed a trend.

Aulyra, Yuelle, Raine, Rime

I haven't shown you guys any demons yet, but let me provide some names for counter-example:

Wikk, Zagan, Skarlet, Exxeix

The clear pattern: Angelic names take a focus on liquid consonants, whereas demonic ones highlight plosives. Of course, there are exceptions, such as Star, but as a general rule to set the tone and norms of names in these worlds, focusing on the effect of the sounds can be particularly valuable.