scientifically speaking, why do sylvari sound like humans?

[Samnang.1879]

> @"Trise.2865" said:

> Short version: because they want to.

 

**> They aren't, but the game uses human speech to represent it, universal-translator style, because we've simply learned to understand them.**

 

> They do! But, also like common felines, they're hidden by thicker fur (also clothes, but most felines don't wear them). The bikini/tank top on the naked model is purely for identification purposes.

 

sis if we have a universal-translator... why do quaggans' speech sound like "coo"...

and why does the springer sound like the spawn of satan?

[otto.5684]

> @"Samnang.1879" said:

> > @"Tzarakiel.7490" said:

> > Sound is just movement in the air. For all we know Sylvari have the plant version of an electric speaker or a mechanical gramophone.

>

> yes sis, but each sound sounds different depending on the material, e.g. human vocal folds produce human voices, violins make violin noise. each material and the way it is constructed makes the sound what it is. no two humans can sound alike (even monozygous twins).

>

> so it confuses me that sylvari sound like humans, their vocal box should be of different material (not muscle) and constructed differently... its impossible for a natural creature to form a gramophone in their voice box... and even then, it shouldn't sound like a human...

>

> at best, it should sound like a xylophone since that is made out of wood material or something woody instrument

 

It is not meant meant to be realistic but familiar. Imagine how creepy would it be if their voice was wood grinding.

[Samnang.1879]

> @"otto.5684" said:

> It is not meant meant to be realistic but familiar. Imagine how creepy would it be if their voice was wood grinding.

 

It should sound like this:

they can add like water trinkling effect to the human voices for sylvari... you know like an echo/water effect idk how to explain it, i'm not a sound engineer expert

 

[Leo.3428]

@"Samnang.1879", just when you posted this I was searching the Durmand library and found what the actual Sylvari voices sound like:

 

 

 

Weirder than Ents, that's why they do full human dubbing in the game.

 

 

[Samnang.1879]

> @"Leo.3428" said:

> @"Samnang.1879", just when you posted this I was searching the Durmand library and found what the actual Sylvari voices sound like:

>

>

>

>

>

> Weirder than Ents, that's why they do full human dubbing in the game.

>

>

 

sis... sylvari are plants, not whales.. xD

[VDAC.2137]

> @"Samnang.1879" said:

> > @"VDAC.2137" said:

> > Scientifically speaking, plants are substantially different from metazoans down to the cellular level and it would not be possible for them to move around as they do. But this is fantasy and magic! ;)

>

> thats another good point, although one can argue if those plants (sylvari) eat meat i guess they can attain enough energy to move like these carnivorous plants that can move on their own

 

I don’t think energy would be the limiting factor but rather cell structure: Plant cells have walls and so I question whether they would be able to produce movement analogous to ours, considering how muscle fibers must contract to move our limbs, etc. Now of course these cell walls are not always inflexible and cell size can vary greatly with water content (think of a wilted leaf). Then again, perhaps I think too narrowly — who says they have to have anything analogous to muscles at all? Spiders extend their legs through hemolymph pressure and no one would argue that they can’t move fast. I don’t know what would supply the pressure if not muscles elsewhere in the system, but it is interesting to speculate. :)

[castlemanic.3198]

> @"Samnang.1879" said:

> > @"castlemanic.3198" said:

> > Right, because even if they have human physical physiques and likenesses, need to eat and drink like humans, even feel hot and or cold like humans, but let's dismiss these facts because they were born in a magical fantasy way.

> >

> > If you don't want a scientific explanation, don't ask for one. But the sylvari biology (including human like sexual anatomy minus the reproductive capability from what i remember) was made to mimic human biology where it could (wood for bone, bark for flesh, they even heal at the same rate as humans and have the same biological needs as other mammilian species). So the idea that they wouldn't have a close approximation to human vocal cords when so many things ARE similar is dismissive of facts at best.

>

> sis i like your answer but it still doesn't answer how woody material in form of vocal cords = human voices...

> robots sound like robots because theyre not made of muscles

> nodules on the human vocal cord = changes the smoothness of the voice dramatically

 

Right but sylvari aren't JUST made out of wood, there's plenty of plantlike material out there that are similar to the softness/hardness of different areas of the human body.

 

Grapes, apples, tomatoes, mangoes, vines, roots, leaves, carrots, watermelon, all of these real life fruit have different textures, different softnesses and hardnesses, even a variation within the fruit itself, it's not impossible that vocal cords and other internal organs of the sylvari are made of softer plantlike material like grapes or oranges, or where needed, apples or even the harder outside of a watermelon. They are magical plant beings, and fruits and vegetables ARE plants, so it's entirely possible that they take their shape and form from softer plant material that is closer in texture to human flesh, not just wood. And, being magical plant beings, they don't even have to take from real world plants either, they could be made from an entirely new type of plant material that exists only on tyria (omnom berries don't exist in the real world for instance), so really, all options are on the table when it comes to what kind of plant material they have access to when it comes to their vocal cords.

 

Not to mention that sylvari can also have a friggin mushroom for hair, which indicates that their form is not even limited to plantlife but fungi as well, which has it's own range of hardnesses and softnesses.

[Tommo Chocolate.5870]

My understanding is that there's a lot more to speech than just vocal cords - you at least need to use your lips, tongue, the inside of your mouth, and sometimes your teeth as well. Sylvari heads and faces are generally very human-shaped (even if they're made of different types of cells). I'm really more surprised that charr can talk and sound essentially like humans, given that they don't really have lips and their mouths and teeth are very different from human ones.

 

> @"castlemanic.3198" said:

> > @"Dragon Priestess.9760" said:

> > Eh, I have the same question about Charr like... why don't they have 6 breasts like other felines.

> >

> > Some things are just not meant to be, lol.

>

> Felines don't have human like breasts. There's minimal sexual dimorphism in most feline species, the only example i can think about is how adult male lions have manes and adult female lions don't. As such, Charr are actually pretty realistic on the sexual dimorphism front, so that's why female charr don't have 6 human like breasts. Because cats don't either.

 

The ANet designers actually considered giving charr 6 breasts. They mentioned it in an interview, available [here](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Artistic_Origin_of_the_Charr "here"). The relevant part is:

 

> Finally, there was the matter of the chest. It really didn't make any sense to have boobs on a charr female, particularly with all the effort we took to make her sleek and fierce. We thought they should have no breasts at all or at least hide them under some fluffy fur. Above all else, we needed to be true to the race, of course! There was still some debate, however, so I gave them a choice: either be subtle and downplay the breasts (it wasn't a point of the race, anyway) or go full-on realistic. Yes, that's right —none or six!!

> But really, the armor augmentation required for six boobs would be just as ridiculous, so none it was!

 

Of course, I find it hard to tell to what extent she's joking...

 

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> The real question here is why *wouldnt* plants speak with a snooty british accent? Can science answer that, huh?

 

Wait, the sylvari accent is snooty? I'd never thought of it like that, but perhaps that's because I'm British and so it just sounds fairly normal to me (except when the male sylvari PC actor messes the accent up and slips into something else - which unfortunately happens quite frequently).

[Westenev.5289]

This is a world of magic, and we're trying to throw our science at magical plant people?

 

:#

[zoejo.2317]

More importantly, why two human-like breasts? What comes out of it? Into who's mouth?

If they don't have breasts, why is the Ritualist outfit bikini shaped for female sylvari?

[Trise.2865]

> @"Samnang.1879" said:

> > @"Trise.2865" said:

> > **They aren't, but the game uses human speech to represent it, universal-translator style, because we've simply learned to understand them.**

>

> sis if we have a universal-translator... why do quaggans' speech sound like "coo"...

> and why does the springer sound like the spawn of satan?

 

Assuming the translator theory is true fact, it wouldn't necessarily change the sounds and phrases the beings in question are using. Sylvari use breathy, airy sounds, the same way Quaggans use long tonal sounds or Asura use tight nasal sounds. And breathy sounds, translated, sound kinda like the "vague fantasy British" trope. It's the same reason Star Trek Klingons still say "kaplaq!" sometimes, or other sci-fi/fantasy aliens speak with weird accents, despite speaking otherwise flawless English.

 

Similarly, and also relating to the Springer, not all vocalizations are true speech. Springers sound like that because that's what a giant, 8-foot-tall rabbit creature might sound like. Seriously, if you recorded rabbit and hare vocalizations, pitched them down a couple octaves and added some reverb for depth, that's the Springers' sounds... plus a bit of goat bleating for variety, since real-life rabbits don't vocalize all that much (mostly just alarm cries) and goats love to vocalize. As a real-world example, a house cat's vocalizations are phonetically similar to a tiger's. The tiger could be imitated by adjusting the pitch, volume, and echo as though the house cat were very large. I'm sure a proper sound engineer could comment further.

 

> @"zoejo.2317" said:

> More importantly, why two human-like breasts? What comes out of it? Into who's mouth?

> If they don't have breasts, why is the Ritualist outfit bikini shaped for female sylvari?

 

They don't have true mammalian breasts, but they do deliberately imitate human forms and dimorphisms, which includes breast-like appendages. Why, specifically, they do that is unknown, but most theories usually trace back to humanity being perceived (by the Tree) as the most prevalent (and therefore most widely-accepted) sentient species, and as such an ideal template for long-term survival of the species. It's another "because they wanted to" scenario.

 

As for the clothing: choosing to express humanoid dimorphism means choosing to express variations that body type entails, including the ancient Ritualists' "bikini" designs. Simply put: female-bodied Sylvari wear female-designed clothing because they choose to express femininity. Using another Star Trek example: It's the same reason people who cosplay as Klingons or alien Starfleet officers wear their respective uniforms, because that's what they believe the people they're emulating would wear.

[EmmetOtter.8542]

And did anyone mention that the voice actors are speaking in ENGLISH??? Scientifically speaking any Earth language wouldn't be spoken on another planet

[Turkeyspit.3965]

> @"Klipso.8653" said:

> Everyone knows that plants sound like British people

 

Vin Diesel was so miscast as Groot

[Perihen the Thawk.9527]

> @"Dragon Priestess.9760" said:

> Eh, I have the same question about Charr like... why don't they have 6 breasts like other felines.

>

> Some things are just not meant to be, lol.

 

Cats don't have prominent breasts when they're not lactating, though. They're usually small enough that they're easily hidden under the fur. Actually, most mammals don't. Permanent breasts is a human thing.

[Akari Storm.6809]

Ever see the movie called "The Ruins"? I would say swamp thing also, but he started out as human.

[Akari Storm.6809]

> @"EmmetOtter.8542" said:

> And did anyone mention that the voice actors are speaking in ENGLISH??? Scientifically speaking any Earth language wouldn't be spoken on another planet

 

Ever watch the show "Vikings", they aren't actually speaking English to each other, anet gods just let us hear it that way so we can follow along.

[Ashantara.8731]

Also: why do they have human teeth?

[Samnang.1879]

> @"Akari Storm.6809" said:

> > @"EmmetOtter.8542" said:

> > And did anyone mention that the voice actors are speaking in ENGLISH??? Scientifically speaking any Earth language wouldn't be spoken on another planet

>

> Ever watch the show "Vikings", they aren't actually speaking English to each other, anet gods just let us hear it that way so we can follow along.

 

me right now imagining Charrs go "meow meow"... while asura go "squeak squeak"

[Samnang.1879]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> Also: why do they have human teeth?

 

what sylvari's mouth should look like:

 


 

[Ashantara.8731]

> @"Samnang.1879" said:

> > @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> > Also: why do they have human teeth?

>

> what sylvari's mouth should look like:

 

Wrong. You obviously never paid attention to any of the old school dialogue cutscenes with Trahearne, Caithe or any Sylvari PC. They have perfect human teeth, nothing like a plant.

 

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> Also: why do they have human teeth?

 

...and belly buttons.

[Crab Fear.1624]

Lol...science...

 

No to science.....yes to magic...

 

 

[Ashen.2907]

"scientifically speaking, why does a humanoid plant species that was spawned from...."

 

really?

[Rogue.4756]

Because humans are the ones designing and playing the game.

[Ultramex.1506]

A bit disappointed that 2 questions about the accent and only 1 answer, other are about boobs, considering Sylvari copy everything from Human the accent is what make them different, that and their colorful skin.

[Trise.2865]

> @"Ashantara.8731" said:

> Also: why do they have human teeth?

 

They're not actually teeth, *per se*. They're a distinct emulation of Human forms, presumably specialized thorns or wood-knots fashioned to look like teeth. One must assume these wooden teeth were easier to create than Human facial distinctions, as they're a near-perfect emulation while the faces remain vaguely unnatural-looking.

>! ...of course we know the *actual* reason is: "it's an artifact of the automated lip-flap software they use in facial animations, and of reusing the Human facial rigs in particular", but that's a little "too real".

 

> ...and belly buttons

 

That I *can* answer definitively. The Sylvari belly buttons are the opposite end of their root-stem (which is on the lower back; the point from which native Sylvari "clothing" springs). It's the remnants of their spawning flower-bud, like the bottom of an apple, or the point underneath a peach. They aren't technically "needed" as such, but there's also no real reason to deliberately remove them.