Questioner
Is the Dawnchant native to Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
...Yeah. Dawnchant is what they were speaking when humans came over. It is their language. It is the Dawnsingers' language. So yeah, that is native to Roshar.
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Questioner
Did the Dawnchant originate on Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
The Dawnchant originate on Roshar? Um, the Dawnchant… Yes… What I won't tell you or not is whether the Dawnchant is an evolution from a different language, but the Dawnchant itself is from Roshar.
#3
Questioner
In The Way of Kings, the first Dawnchant translation by Navani reads: “To be human is to want that which we cannot have.” Ironically, what I want and cannot have is more information about that language. If a fully constructed version of the Dawnchant were to appear in the future, what linguistic features would you incorporate to reflect specific cultural aspects of the Dawnsingers? And do you have an idea of how it would sound? If so, could you give us a quick demonstration?
Brandon Sanderson
This is a challenge I'm going to leave for an eventual TV or film adaptation and be like: “You guys figure it out.” Original Dawnchant would incorporate some of the way that the singers speak. The thing about it is… I’ve always imagined that the Rhythms that they’re adding add context in a way that the text doesn't have to give. So I don't imagine it tonal in the way that Chinese, the various Chinese dialects are, right? I more imagine it as more like sign language, where you can add emotion through the way that you're doing the signs, and things like that, than a tonal language. Because you can pair what you're saying with any of the Rhythms, rather than having them being innate. And so I didn't want the text itself to change, does that make sense? Because you add it on? So, someone experiencing it is much like speaking to them in any language, but I think it would probably have, like, extra pauses and very long vowels, and things like this, to give extra time for those Rhythms to really manifest themselves.