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Calcery face reveal :]

I may change his name later, because the Cal/Mel/Tal nickname trifecta is starting to bug me.

Bug ferrets are kind of overwhelming, but that's their whole deal. They also have difficulty pronouncing consonants that require a labial seal, like m, v, p, and b. Despite their fantastic grasp of language, their mouth equipment is not very talented. Avians get away with passable "lip" consonants by having a much more flexible pharynx and tongue than ferrets.

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Anonymous

huh, i thought they couldn't speak orally. do they have oral languages on their home planet, or is it all tactile/visual sign?

Jay Eaton

There are bug ferret oral languages, but their use in practice is usually more akin to contact calling, warnings, and attention seeking; like bird or prairie dog calls. They tend to have very limited vocabulary and be used more as an emotional accent for signed speech-- kind of like how humans often use gestures as an emotional accent for spoken words.

Anonymous

Man, I love bug ferrets. That last panel is especially nice. Just realised that Pinkie and Brownie can't pronounce their own nicknames, though; did they pick those or did other people start calling them that?

Jay Eaton

Other people nicknamed them, since Pinkie and Brownie's actual names are gestures without intrinsic meaning. It works great if you're talking about them in a sign language, not so much if you're talking about them in English.

Anonymous

Ah yeah, I specified 'nicknames' because of that; I was more wondering if they would introduce themselves with those nicknames when communicating orally with people :0

Anonymous

The bug ferrets are so incredibly endearing... I love their funny whurfs, how they talk over each other and are just :) “I would like to Tuch it” all the time.

Anonymous

i love them communicating in multiple forms of communication at once (speaking, touch sign, and etc) so cool!