The thing about a True Name language the way Paolini described it, where the Word is exactly equal to the Thing, not just as a symbol for the thing but is the thing itself (or, in linguistics terms, where the signifier IS the signified), is that there must, by nature, be some objective word-ness built in to reality. That is to say, some objective, measurable property of Things that unambiguously express their Word. Which means the Words can be reverse engineered by studying the Things.
The best real-world analogy I can think of, because Things Don't Work Like That, is chemical formulae. The chemical structure of a substance is a measurable physical property of that substance. If we assume that the symbols we use to signify different elements (H for hydrogen, O for oxygen, etc. etc.) is universal, then it is possible to reverse-discover the chemical formula for any substance by careful observation of its physical properties. H2O is as close to a "true name" of water as we have in the real world, because it exactly and unambiguously describes the physical properties of water. Two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom. Without knowing that H2O is used to describe water, we can examine a molecule of water and determine that there are two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, and then derive the formula H2O.
For the AL to be the True Name the way Paolini describes, it should be theoretically possible to reverse-engineer the AL vocabulary (nouns, at least) by simply examining the chemical substances in the natural world, without ever knowing anything about it being called "the Ancient Language", or being spoken by elves, or even being a language at all. The physical properties of the world should reveal the True Names to anyone who examines them.
no subject
Hush, it's an alternate universe. :P
The thing about a True Name language the way Paolini described it, where the Word is exactly equal to the Thing, not just as a symbol for the thing but is the thing itself (or, in linguistics terms, where the signifier IS the signified), is that there must, by nature, be some objective word-ness built in to reality. That is to say, some objective, measurable property of Things that unambiguously express their Word. Which means the Words can be reverse engineered by studying the Things.
The best real-world analogy I can think of, because Things Don't Work Like That, is chemical formulae. The chemical structure of a substance is a measurable physical property of that substance. If we assume that the symbols we use to signify different elements (H for hydrogen, O for oxygen, etc. etc.) is universal, then it is possible to reverse-discover the chemical formula for any substance by careful observation of its physical properties. H2O is as close to a "true name" of water as we have in the real world, because it exactly and unambiguously describes the physical properties of water. Two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom. Without knowing that H2O is used to describe water, we can examine a molecule of water and determine that there are two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, and then derive the formula H2O.
For the AL to be the True Name the way Paolini describes, it should be theoretically possible to reverse-engineer the AL vocabulary (nouns, at least) by simply examining the chemical substances in the natural world, without ever knowing anything about it being called "the Ancient Language", or being spoken by elves, or even being a language at all. The physical properties of the world should reveal the True Names to anyone who examines them.
So there :P