Arcane Linguist

Chapter 151 Cultural Memetics and Idioms and Common Sayings

A few days later, on the seventh floor of the Mage Tower, in the library.

The hollowed-out Orvisto runes are suspended in the dome. On the ceiling, stardust-like runes exude bright magical light. The ground is polished as bright as glass tiles, like gems of stars embedded in the grid lines. Among them, the gold and silver stripes appear complicated and mysterious.

Roland walked under the magnificent and spacious hall, looked around, glanced at the holy lights that complement each other, and said with emotion: "I didn't expect that the work of the library was far more complicated than expected."

As a mage institution that attaches equal importance to teaching and research, the mage tower also shoulders its due responsibilities, and continues to provide various services for the mages stationed in it and the surrounding areas.

This includes but is not limited to the management of knowledge, especially magical knowledge that brings power.

"I thought it was just like those ordinary libraries. It only needs to be responsible for book borrowing, return, reservation, damage compensation and other basic affairs..."

"Hehe, those are chores that can be handed over to the servants.

As mage administrators, our duty is to consult and manage things related to magic.

This includes the qualification approval of borrowing inquiries, the distribution of courses, supplements, archiving and sorting of materials, the confidentiality of taboo knowledge, and so on.

The latter can extend the management content of confidential documents, which belongs to the content of archives management. "

Not far away, a senior in the tower who was about 30 years old enthusiastically introduced the work of the library to Roland, and explained it emphatically.

"Generally speaking, this is a position that spans multiple disciplines and involves teaching, administration, file management, and many other affairs. The part involving magic knowledge cannot be handled by non-corresponding mages."

Roland pondered: "The most fundamental reason for all this is probably because knowledge is power!"

In the mage's world, knowledge is power.

Moreover, there is no middleman to make the difference, and it can be converted directly!

At this time, the two came to a room inside.

The senior opened the door and entered another isolated area.

"Student Roland, you should pay special attention to the books here, it records the forbidden knowledge discovered in the world where the Mijatus Empire is located - the devil's summoning spell!

It was in a different world, a warlock empire with extraordinary power. It once developed a brilliant demonic civilization, but because of its greed, it fell into a long civil war.

The human beings there frequently summoned the devil, used contracts to trade with them, and obtained various dangerous forces beyond their control, which eventually led to the destruction of the entire empire.

Although these books are all reviewed safety materials, they also contain summoning spells and knowledge from the devil, and low-level mages are forbidden to touch them. "

Listening to his words, Roland thought of the disaster that Scudder had caused before, and felt deeply convinced.

Immediately afterwards, there was another side, behind a similar gate, the isolated area.

"The words of the ancient gods are stored here, so don't take it lightly.

A senior once took a book from here in violation of the rules. It was a text full of madness written by chaotic and evil believers. It turned into a cult and caused thousands of deaths and injuries in a certain village outside!
Some magic books, even if creatures can't understand them, will be polluted by spirits. That's because they are written with magic runes, which are essentially spell scrolls, not ordinary words.

When the spell scroll is activated, the spell takes effect, one can imagine...

Of course, most of the items that can be placed in these public areas are just low-level items that have been properly disposed of. "

"It's no wonder that the academy and the Mage Tower don't teach relevant content. If you don't have enough strength and wisdom, it's easy to put yourself in a dangerous situation.

However, even if we ban or destroy them, they will spread elsewhere, and it will be even more unfavorable at that time.

If they are managed and each has its proper place, it will be possible to turn it into useful knowledge and enrich the experience and wisdom of the mage. "

"It does, so our work is also very important.

This library is not newly built. The seniors working here have already completed the work of sorting and sorting, and what is left is nothing more than the collection of some new books and materials.

In addition to the transcription of some magic documents, many magic books or arcane-related knowledge are completed in the form of manuscripts, which is equivalent to the transcription of spell scrolls.

Sometimes, the mages in the tower can get extra allowances from these jobs, although it is not very high..."

When the senior said this, he smiled a little embarrassedly.

"I don't think you are interested in this part of the content."

Roland understood in seconds.

For myself, this is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and there is not much benefit.

But for other seniors and sisters, it is a good subsidy.

They are still counting on these to increase their income.

The senior continued to show him around the interior of the library.

Roland did not miss this place, but he had never tried working as a manager in the background.

Soon after, Roland came to the front desk to take over the management of borrowing and returning books.

Froya, Skold, Yiwen and others arrived one after another, and found him without any surprise.

After some chatting, it dawned on me that he was "under the grassroots" here.

"Your Excellency Orvisto really values ​​you, and wants to train you in the direction of the tower master."

Roland has special treatment here. Seeing that he doesn't have to wear a work uniform, and doesn't have to commute to and from get off work on time like others, he knows that he is here to experience life.

Froya was stationed in the tower before, and she also worked in these positions in rotation, and she earned a salary and a stipend in a down-to-earth manner.

However, as Roland published articles one after another, and released one arcane achievement after another, everyone realized the gap between himself and him.

This kind of thing is not surprising at all. After chatting for a while, they went to study separately.

Afterwards, other people in the tower interacted with each other, and their reactions were similar.

I don't even bother to envy, because it was commonplace a year or two ago.

As the people around Roland, if they were shocked every day, wouldn't they knock down the Mage Tower?

Roland suddenly discovered that it was easy to meet everyone in this position.

After all, the library is a place for learning, and many mages often come here to exchange and discuss.

He took the initiative to stop Leitlin, Tebow and the others, and inquired about the progress of the magic of bronze inscriptions and scroll printing.

"You really can't rest for a moment."

When the shift was over, the fellow senior sister let out a sigh of emotion.

"I'm so sorry to bother you?"

"That's not the case, but our position is indeed leisure, and we have a lot of time to study and read by ourselves."

She refers to the fact that there are servants to help with daily chores, and when there is not much research pressure, librarians can usually calm down and study hard.

"I probably won't have that chance."

Roland smiled reservedly, both proud and helpless.

"That is, you are the leader of the school, a real busy person."

"Fortunately, in the world of magic, there are many spells for quick reading."

"Oh, Junior Roland, that kind of reading is too utilitarian, it's not a pleasure.

Only by brewing a cup of hand-ground coffee or black tea made by yourself, and reading carefully in the leisure time in the afternoon and evening, can you experience the real fun. "

The sister from the same post insisted on her own theory.

……

In the following days, Roland continued to experience the work of various positions here.

From registering at the front desk to handling at the backstage, from approving applications to checking bibliographies, and even scrubbing the bookshelves and mopping the floor, I have done it myself.

He is taking this opportunity to experience it for himself, to see if there is a chance to bypass the library system and get in touch with those banned books.

Facts have proved that the management system of the mage tower is quite perfect.

As long as it is done strictly in accordance with the rules and regulations, coupled with the supervision of Ta Ling, there will be no troubles.

In the future, if you want to be the owner of the tower, or take charge of a research institute, private laboratory and other institutions, the most important thing is to follow the rules and follow the existing regulations.

I have no special advantage in this regard, and there is no need to set off reforms or something.

Just copy the homework.

In addition, he also had a good experience of the mentality and habits of the staff.

The staff in the mage tower is divided into two classes, one is ordinary people, and the other is the mage stationed in the tower.

Most of the senior authorities are assigned to the latter, and their mentality is often lazy and loose. Strictly speaking, they are not qualified managers.

However, the system of Alteraine is to reuse mages.

In addition, there are many things that only mages can do.

This has led to the birth of many noble and idle people.

The mage tower provides these noble and idle people with a comfortable living environment and easy work, which is actually weakening the strength of the wild mage class.

The results of arcane arts are the carrots hanging in front of them. Many people spend their whole lives without gaining anything, but at least they can still rely on the work in the tower to guarantee their basic living.

If you ran out to fend for yourself, it would be a completely different situation.

……

Before I knew it, it was July.

As the article "Construction of the Character System of Seres Language" passed the initial review and re-examination, the news gradually spread. Many people used their own methods to ask Roland for information and discuss related issues by the way.

Roland still attaches great importance to the "Shuowen Jiezi" attached to this paper. During this period of time, he has continued to organize and edit it, and has accumulated a lot of ideas.

Although in the eyes of many people in this different world, it was written according to the contents of the previous writings, but in the previous life of Blue Star, it should actually be the first.

There was "Shuowen Jiezi" first, then there was the interpretation of oracle bone inscriptions, and then there was "Jin Wen Bian".

Moreover, its inspiration to later generations of dictionaries is also like the existence of the founder of the mountain.

Just take this opportunity to discuss many subsequent branches.

The development route of "Jia Jin Zhuan Li Cao Kai Xing Jian", the calligraphy of Chinese characters, the establishment of various literary genres, syntax, phonetics, the evolution of analytical forms, the changes of word meanings, the origin of idioms and allusions...

In particular, idioms and allusions are a major feature of Seres.

What are idioms?

Idioms are stereotyped words in the vocabulary, mostly four characters, but also three characters, five characters or more than seven characters, which are similar to Xiehouyu, idioms, proverbs, etc.

This kind of thing is definitely a model rooted in historical and cultural roots. All idioms come from ancient classics or writings, historical stories and people's oral stories. They are a kind of fixed phrases unique to ancient Chinese vocabulary that have been used for a long time.

If it weren't for some of the materials that had been accumulated before, and even created "The Romance of Siris", Roland really didn't have the confidence to propose this concept.

In another arcane salon held privately, many people in the school heard about it and said, "Atlantic, Dragon, Elvish, etc. also have their own 'idioms'."

"This kind of thing is originally a conventional way of expression."

"However, it is really rare to have a language as concise and concise as Seris's, with rich connotations!"

"Yes, this also reflects the high information density characteristic of Seres."

Roland said: "Idioms are essentially a kind of highly compressed information in Seres.

Its underlying principle is the arbitrariness of language and at the same time the transmission of cultural memes.

Taking the word 'waiting for the rabbit' as an example, a person who has studied Seres carefully can recognize each of the four characters 'shou', 'plant', 'waiting', and 'rabbit', and they are connected together , I can even guess and know the general idea.

But if you have not experienced the influence of relevant cultures and do not know the allusions behind this incident, you will not understand its true connotation.

The transmission of information will be distorted.

The transmission of this cultural meme is essentially a kind of 'meme'.

It is necessary to have the same cultural meme in order to reflect the resonance of the 'meme'. "

When he said this, he told the story of waiting for a rabbit on the spot.

This is an idiom evolved from a fable. It first came from "Han Feizi·Five Beetles", which has a derogatory meaning of not being flexible and getting something for nothing.

In later generations, a neutral meaning similar to "stopping with stillness" was derived.

For the same reason, there are also "three people become tigers", "tomorrow is yellow flowers" and so on.

Literally, it means... three people turned into tigers?

Tomorrow's yellow flower?
But in fact, what it expresses is the spread of rumours, rumors of fabricated facts, and yellow flowers after the Double Ninth Festival, which are outdated and meaningless.

If you don't understand the origins and allusions of these idioms, it will lead to taking the words literally and causing great fallacies.

The connection between "signifier" and "signified" in linguistics is arbitrary, and in many cases, they can really be randomly matched.

Some jerky words are really like slang, making people confused.

This is why Roland has always emphasized the historical and cultural soil.

The Cyris language is rooted here. Without these soils, it is really a tree without roots and water without a source.

"Uh, I don't quite understand, but I seem to understand what you mean..." Scudder and others said in a daze.

Now the Siris School is in the ascendant, and many people have only a half-knowledge of the Siris language.

I don't have enough cultural background to understand and absorb it.

"For example, basketball and chicken are not related originally, but I hope that everyone will try to connect basketball and chicken and think about it."

Roland gave a very famous example on the Blue Star Internet in his previous life.

"Basketball and chicken?" Everyone was completely dumbfounded.

"Yes, when you have a bold idea, and agree with like-minded members of the school, and stipulate its 'meaning', a meme is formed.

The essence of idioms is also a stalk! "

"So, chickens playing basketball can also be an idiom?"

The clever student Skold suddenly realized.

"Children can be taught." Roland smiled gratifiedly.

Chicken playing basketball can indeed be an idiom.

It is still an idiom .mpg with its own sound and picture, which can penetrate into people's minds.

Of course, it is difficult to say whether it can be inherited and developed.

"Speaking of which, I am more willing to use cultural memetics to explain the generation and transmission of idioms."

The so-called meme refers to the basic unit of cultural transmission in meme theory, its status in the process of communication and replacement of language, ideas, beliefs, and behaviors in civilization, and the role of genes in the process of biological reproduction and evolution. similar.

Its etymology "meme", the Chinese translation of "meme", is really a model of Xinyada, which fully reflects the related connection of "gene".

And if it is explained in terms of computer programming language, an idiom is one common function after another, and it is a program segment that can be executed repeatedly.

Making full use of idioms and allusions can be concise and meaningful.

It's like writing a function, making more use of existing functions, so you don't have to write more code.

The idioms in Seris also have a highly generalized function. With just a few words, they can tell a classic story and convey some complex meanings.

It is equivalent to the standard function library of "Seres Language".

Perhaps, after completing the enchanted structure, the transcription of many spells and spell scrolls can be positively improved.

The number of Cyris characters in the dictionary is relatively fixed.

For example, the simplified Chinese code table of the GB2312 standard contains 6763 Chinese characters.

When Roland was in Blue Star in his previous life, in order to master the Wubi input method, he had practiced all of them, and he could memorize them all by relying on the golden fingers of the mutant soul's memory.

Even the GBK Chinese character internal code expansion specification that has not been mastered includes all Chinese and non-Chinese characters of the GB standard, CJK Chinese characters, simplified character list, some radicals and important structures in "Kangxi Dictionary" and "Cihai", 13 Chinese character structure symbols and so on, a total of 21003 Chinese characters, is also a relatively fixed number.

However, words and idioms are not so fixed.

Because of the special composition of Chinese characters, brand-new vocabulary can be pieced together very flexibly.

Taking two-character words as an example, the theoretical number is as many as hundreds of millions, and three-character words and four-character words are even more astonishing trillions and ten trillions.

Even outrageous idioms like chickens playing basketball can be created. Roland can't imagine how people in this different world will use it.

So to set a tone, it is very necessary to first carry over 4 commonly used idioms and sayings that were commonly used in previous lives.

The only trouble is that the transfer of idioms requires allusions and historical evidence.

This kind of thing is equivalent to the fruit that bears on the tree.

Right now, "Shuowen Jiezi" is equivalent to the trunk of a tree, and it is far from the time to "invent and create" as one likes.

Roland imagined that in the future, when the foundation of the Selis language school is solid and the historical and cultural soil is rich enough and fertile, he will be able to "invent" whatever he wants to invent and "create" whatever he wants to create.

But I'm afraid it won't work now, and it won't even work for a long time in the future.

I have to fill in the soil honestly. At best, I just fill a few small flowerpots first, get some potted plants, and bear some small fruits.

Some things seem to be destined to be planted by the predecessors, and the descendants to enjoy the shade.

Roland wasn't upset, because the foundation of linguistics laid the foundation of magical runes.

There are always people who planted trees in this world.

Why can't it be myself?
……

A few days later, the time came to July 7.

Ding! The editorial department of "Arcane" journal sent you a new email!

Following Ta Ling's reminder, an extra notification appeared in Roland's mailbox.

"A gentle reminder from the editorial department of the "Arcane" periodical, your paper "Construction of the Sailiese Character System" has been included in this journal, and the official publication time is expected to be August 8th..."

The first time is raw and the second time is familiar, and after the third time, there is no disturbance in my heart.

Isn't it the "Arcane" periodical, which is similar to ordinary newspapers.

Sooner or later, I will be a cool guy who can post a selfie on "Arcane"!

Roland turned off the notification expressionlessly, and continued to chat with Lunifus who was far away in Iser.

"Honey, I recently had an idea for improving the Power Word of Siris!"

Lunephth, as always, is obsessed with arcane arts, adding a new member to the Siris family of magic.

Now she has begun to study the Power Word of Siris above level 4.

Roland asked her about the problems he had encountered recently. As a "dream art" related to dreams, this kind of magic still has a lot in common with the Iser rune.

After the chat, Roland suddenly changed his expression slightly, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

When he immersed his spiritual power in his mind, a tree rooted in the rich soil stood tall, and his whole body exuded holy aura.

Both ends of its upper limit are icy dark voids, and it really looks like a tree stretching the sky and the earth.

Roland's mental power skipped over the huge sacred tree, and concentrated his induction.

The godhead fragments in his mind seemed to be full of divine power again, and he could use it to perform the "dream technique" again.

Ordinary "Dream Art" is complicated and inefficient, and it is not a very good simplified wish art, but with the blessing of divine power, because of the great power of "Dream Come True", it has surpassed ordinary "Wish Art" miraculous effect.

Trina had repeatedly escaped from the hands of archmages and even legendary mages before, relying on this power.

Trina's level of education is not high, and she grew up relying on her talent, thinking about using it in battle all day long, and she doesn't have any other tricks.

But in Roland's eyes, this is a research tool to eliminate black boxes, and every drop must be used in arcane experiments to produce the greatest value.

He is now trying to raise his real level to the fourth level, to achieve a breakthrough from the low level to the middle level, and it is really inseparable from the help of this kind of divine power.

"1234... about 9 drops.

Logically speaking, it should be enough. "

So, start getting ready.

(End of this chapter)