#or sabo desperately trying to change his dialect to erase his connection to the nobility he hated

[wingodex]

language in one piece is so intriguing to me, and i really wish that oda was committed to language as a theme rather than simply as an aesthetic because it works so well with a lot of the stuff he's got going on already. as it stands, multiple languages clearly exist in the world of one piece, because while everyone speaks japanese, they use a lot of words, phrases and names from other languages. and also the whole thing with the language on the poneglyphs. i understand why narratively it would be difficult to deal with characters not all speaking the same language, but oda already has the perfect set up for why they can. the whole world is ruled by a corrupt totalitarian government that is extremely committed to the suppression of knowledge and communication to the point of literal genocide, and one of the main characters is already being hunted down for her ability to read a forbidden language, so why not just push it a bit further? the potential for the suppression of different languages to be a part of the way that the world government controls and oppresses people, so that people are forced to assimilate into the common language. that way, the usage of native languages becomes an expression of freedom, the literal main theme of one piece. the destruction of knowledge and culture through the simultaneous destruction of language. the celestial dragons are separated from the rest of populace not just because of their inability to empathise with them as equal human beings, but also through a refusal to even try to communicate with them. law and robin carrying the fate and legacy of their countries' languages on their shoulders, while also being the two characters most committed to discovering the hidden secrets of the world which can only be done by understanding a lost language. like it's all just right there, it would have been so easy

#op blogging #i mean i guess it could be argued that poneglyphs are written in a different no-longer-used script #but it makes more sense to me that it's a language or otherwise you could figure out how to read them using cryptography #and anyway robin is already an archeaologist who is specifically interested in linguistics so like #it's not even that much of a stretch for her act as a translator if they met people who spoke a different language #there are a bunch of other characters who could also have interesting relationships and connections to language too #like sanji being born in one sea and escaping to another #or cora who spends years pretending to not be able to speak #or chopper who can communicate with animals and trying to navigate the difference in the way that humans communicate #which is already explicitly part of his story when he accidentally kills dr hiriluk bcus he doesn't understand common symbols #but could be taken even further #or zoro who was trained by a man whose native language wasnt the same as his #or sabo desperately trying to change his dialect to erase his connection to the nobility he hated #like i can go on. there's so much here