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Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 06:29
by lotek
Thanks to
inhuien for making me notice this
Humming seems to be used in many ways in Dune, let's see if we can find them all.
1) Count Fenring and his wife use it as the vessel for their secret language
2) the Bene Tleilax also has a secret language based on humming, but they can also use it to control their genetic creations
3) the Honored Matres use hummingto augment the potency of their sexual enslavement(I don't think it is a language in any way)
So humming can be:
- a language
- a hypno-ligation enhancer
- both
More?
(I'd guess the BG would use it in a similar way to the HM but I can't think of any example_and will probably facepalm myself when provided with one)
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 06:59
by inhuien
lotek wrote:More?
(I'd guess the BG would use it in a similar way to the HM but I can't think of any example_and will probably facepalm myself when provided with one)
Sexual Imprinting? Although I can't think of any quotes to support this.
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 07:09
by Apjak
Next from KJA
Hummers of DUNE
I'd have made the sexual innuendo, but FH already did that, and this'd be what he have gotten out of that.
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 07:20
by lotek
you bastard!
@inhuien
I would think they use similar techniques to the HM, the difference between them being the level in which they would use it(consider the possibility for RM to control their aging and the reason why they don't do it)
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 07:54
by SadisticCynic
The Tleilaxu used whistling rather than humming, no?
Similar thing though.
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 08:31
by lotek
ooops you're right!
I can see why I had them confused though...
(just to be sure doesn't Bijaz use humming on Hayt in DM?)
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 08:33
by lotek
inhuien wrote:lotek wrote:More?
(I'd guess the BG would use it in a similar way to the HM but I can't think of any example_and will probably facepalm myself when provided with one)
Sexual Imprinting? Although I can't think of any quotes to support this.
yeah they must have the same techniques, the main difference being in their use of it...
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 14:33
by SandChigger
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 14:37
by MrFlibble
lotek wrote:(just to be sure doesn't Bijaz use humming on Hayt in DM?)
"And now I know your target," Hayt said. "You were aimed at me."
"And I've hit it right on!" Bijaz said. "You made such a big target, how could I miss?" He nodded as though to himself. "Now I will sing to you." He began to hum, a keening, whining monotonous theme, repeated over and over.
Hayt stiffened, experiencing odd pains that played up and down his spine. He stared at the face of the dwarf, seeing youthful eyes in an old face. The eyes were the center of a network of knobby white lines which ran to the hollows below his temples. Such a large head! Every feature focused on the pursed-up mouth from which that monotonous noise issued. The sound made Hayt think of ancient rituals, folk memories, old words and customs, half-forgotten meanings in lost mutterings. Something vital was happening here -- a bloody play of ideas across Time. Elder ideas lay tangled in the dwarfs singing. It was like a blazing light in the distance, coming nearer and nearer, illuminating life across a span of centuries.
FH explored the theme of different forms of non-verbal communication quite extensively. In this respect, humming and whistling falls into the same category as handsign languages. As for HMs' humming, I guess this one is different and is some kind of action that appeals to instinct rather than carries a message.
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 14:45
by lotek
thanks for the quote(it conforts my failing memory to see that Dune did indeed imprint itself in my unconscious,after all I read it every day for years!)
It is true the Tleilax also use whistling then? They do don't they?
I reckon we could have another post for handsigns and battle languages though
And Chig'
thank you for the enlightment
Re: Humming
Posted: 20 May 2010 15:29
by MrFlibble
Chapterhouse Dune wrote:There's always the whistling language we impress on every ghola.
Chapterhouse Dune wrote:Scytale whistled while he walked down the corridor fronting his quarters, taking his afternoon exercise. Down and back. Whistling.
Get them accustomed to me whistling.
On the other hand:
Heretics of Dune wrote:Odrade had been watching Waff as the mimic Tuek spoke. Surprise! The Bene Tleilax Master had never before been addressed thus by one of his minions. What a shock! Rage convulsed his features. Humming sounds like the noises of angry insects came from his mouth, a modulated thing that clearly was some kind of language. The Face Dancers of his entourage froze but the false Tuek merely returned attention to his counselors.
Quite to the contrary, the term "whistling" is never used throughout
Heretics to refer to the Tleilaxu command language.
