TL;DR: Humanity Wears Many Hats

[Haighus]

Yeah, I do remember some fluff about Imperial Guard recruits being trained onboard the ships taking them to their first warzone, after being shipped off-world from their regimental muster. The training includes being taught Low Gothic, as well as environmental adjustment to avoid culture shock on deployment (getting Hive worlders used to the concept of 'sky', or teaching feral worlders about technology for example). Which would support the idea that Low Gothic is not anywhere near as universal as it would first appear, but largely confined to the Imperial Organisations who are probably teaching it from the same textbooks they used during the Great Crusade in compliance operations. But if anyone is in the business of regularly communicating with Imperial Organisations, then they would probably learn it too.

[YorkNecromancer]

Which would support the idea that Low Gothic is not anywhere near as universal as it would first appear, but largely confined to the Imperial Organisations who are probably teaching it from the same textbooks they used during the Great Crusade in compliance operations. But if anyone is in the business of regularly communicating with Imperial Organisations, then they would probably learn it too.

This is my thought. That the way Low Gothic works is like French under the Norman invasion - the Imperial Guard lands, takes over, and Low Gothic becomes the 'official' language. But it's actually only spoken by the Imperial Army; everyone native who learns to speak it only does so when they need to speak with the Imperial forces. Of course, Low Gothic words end up working their way into the native language, in the same way as modern English stole words like 'honour', 'mansion', and 'beef' from French. But ultimately, Low Gothic only lasts as long as the Imperium's there.

If it stays for a protracted period, what happens depends on how much communication there is between the Imperial forces and the Imperium as a whole. If there's lots, I'd imagine it ends up being relatively unalloyed with native words. If the Imperial forces are left for longer than a few decades, I'd imagine that original form would only stay amongst the officer class, while the rank and file troops end up leaving/intermarrying with the natives, probably creating a pidgin version of Low Gothic and the planet's native tongue, much like in places like the Carribean. After a few years, it would essentially be a completely new language, even though bilingualism would probably remain as those who'd served in the Guard made sure to teach their children Low Gothic, and those from the planet made sure to teach their children the planet's native tongue as part of their heritage.

Either way, Low Gothic would only stay 'pure' so long as the Imperium forced it to. Otherwise, it'll very quickly evolve into a new form, because that's just what happens when two languages mix.

[Psychosplodge]

Nice Baneblade CG. Are they Elysian masked heads on the guardsmen as well?


Interesting as usual Yorkie, part of it is clearly the POV of the fiction we all consume though isn't it? It is all about one imperial organisation or another. Apart from the sort of fluff Haighus mentions, the most common mentions I can think of is space marine chapters, most seem to retain their homeworlds language and reference being "hypno taught" gothic.

[CoffeeGrunt]

Nice Baneblade CG. Are they Elysian masked heads on the guardsmen as well?

Thanks.

Yup, the Elysian heads with Respirators. They make up my Veterans, though each squad is slightly different as I like the idea of Veteran squads being a long-serving band of brothers kinda deal, so they're all similar, but each squad has a little bit of variance.

Interesting as usual Yorkie, part of it is clearly the POV of the fiction we all consume though isn't it? It is all about one imperial organisation or another. Apart from the sort of fluff Haighus mentions, the most common mentions I can think of is space marine chapters, most seem to retain their homeworlds language and reference being "hypno taught" gothic.

Yeah, especially in the Horus Heresy era, but I imagine that carries through to the "modern day."

That said, it might be rarer due to A, many Chapters not having a certain Homeworld, and B, the enforced homogeneity Space Marine conditioning includes to ensure their service is to the Imperium.

[Morgrim]

Thanks.

Yup, the Elysian heads with Respirators. They make up my Veterans, though each squad is slightly different as I like the idea of Veteran squads being a long-serving band of brothers kinda deal, so they're all similar, but each squad has a little bit of variance.



Yeah, especially in the Horus Heresy era, but I imagine that carries through to the "modern day."

That said, it might be rarer due to A, many Chapters not having a certain Homeworld, and B, the enforced homogeneity Space Marine conditioning includes to ensure their service is to the Imperium.

Don't some of the books imply that the default language for Space Marines is High Gothic, not low? It fits with the idea of them being 'nobility'. Of course they'd learn both, even if their homeworld used something different, but since so much of their non-combat day to day life is rigidly ceremonial it would make sense if much of it was in High Gothic.

After all, the only humans they're likely to interact with are governors, high ranking members of the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, and the Inquisition. All of whom are likely to be fluent in High Gothic.

[Haighus]

Yeah, I reckon Space Marines would be taught both forms of Gothic, as well as their Chapter's particular flavour of battle cant, which generally seems to be unique to the Chapter in question. I can't see all that many Space Marine Chapters using High Gothic as their default language though, seeing as many of them come from feral worlds and have quite rough cultures, like the Space Wolves or the Executioners. Others are relatively down-to-earth too, like the Salamanders.

[Denzark]

2 things - as a concept, if you can force an entire planet to adopt the monotheism of emperor worship, and tithing, and black ships, and arbitrators and and and etc - it is probably easy and easier than some of the things above, to force the planet to speak/learn low gothic. Especially if taught from a young age - threatening the young is probably more effective than the old.

I wonder if every planetary governor is required to ensure there is a 'Low Gothic GCSE' on the syllabus... But joking aside, if you can quell a religious belief and force a new one, is it not easier to enforce a language?

Second point, I thought I had seen in the fluff somewhere that there was sort of hypno-stasis learning technology or whatever. Like in Judge Dredd when the judges get indoctrinated when asleep. If that technology exists then there is even less impediment to Low Gothic being everywhere - I thought IG/SM had stuff pumped into them whilst on long warp flights.

[grimmas]

Hypnotherapy has certainly been stated as part of Space Marine training since pretty much the beginning. Of course it does have its limitations as illustrated in Bill King's first Ragnar Novel.

[Denzark]

Thinking on it if High/Low Gothic is the official language of the ecclesiarchy then everyone is probably automatically obliged to learn it.

[grimmas]

Low Gothic isn't really one language it's a catch all for numerous languages that have developed from a single root language. Much like Patois in nominally English but has diverged so much it is really it's own language now. Of course linguisticly speaking low Gothic may well just be name for local dialects of High Gothic.

Interestingly during the Early Middle Ages/late dark age when Religious envoys from Rome returned to Britain they were less than impressed with the "Latin" being used by the local Christian officials.