Due to the way Transformers are programmed, before a Cybertronian can say a word he must first think of the word. The word is recorded in his brain as a sequence of characters to which sounds are assigned, not as a sound that can be reproduced using characters. This means that when a Cybertronian hears a word he does not know, he cannot say it until he has assigned character values to the sounds. Having done this he can then say the word.

 

For example, when the Autobots learned the human name "Sparkplug" they, in order to say this word, had to first "write" the word in their memories. When speaking in English they use the English alphabet to "write" the words in their minds before pronouncing them according to the English way of speaking, producing the sound "Sparkplug". When speaking in Modern Autobot they must use the best possible transliteration - s-pa-r-ka-pa-al-u-b, which is prounced as a crackling, whistling noise best transliterated as parka-palub - or fully translate the meaning of the word "sparkplug" and say waumo, the Autobot name for a certain part of the engine distantly similar to the sparkplug of an internal combustion engine. 

 

When transliterating from one Cybertronian language to another, things become a little more complicated as the trisounds can be traced back to their Primaltongue roots and assigned new values. This can lead to some rather strange conversions. For example, it is easy to see how the Modern Autobot word utupa is transliterated as oodupa in Modern Decepticon, or how the Decepticon espe becomes ezpa in Autobot, but it may baffle a human as to how the Decepticon aculac is transliterated into Autobot as awelwe, or how the Autobot uvavi is transliterated in Decepticon as yu-ack.

 

The transliteration process goes as follows:

 

A Decepticon says a word in Modern Decepticon word, here transliterated into English as aculac.

The Autobot listener breaks this down into its component trisounds in Modern Decepticon; a-cu-la-ch.

The Autobot listener assigns trisounds from Modern Autobot to the Modern Decepticon trisounds according to the Primaltongue trisound from which they evolved. a-cu-la-ch is evolved from the Primaltongue trisounds A-CH-L-CH. Because in Modern Autobot the Primaltongue trisound CH has evolved into the trisound we, this produces the Modern Autobot trisounds a-we-el-we.

The Autobot listener assembles the trisounds a-we-el-we into a word, and pronounces it.

This word is transliterated into English as awelwe.

 

An Autobot says a word in Modern Autobot word, here transliterated into English as uvavi.

The Decepticon listener breaks this down into its component trisounds in Modern Autobot; u-va-vi.

The Decepticon listener assigns Modern Decepticon trisounds to the Modern Autobot trisounds according to the Primaltonge trisounds from which they evolved. u-va-vi is evolved from the Primaltongue trisounds U-V-V.

Because Modern Decepticon has no trisounds evolved from the Primaltongue V trisound, the Decepticon can only transliterate u-va-vi as yu-[blank]-[blank].

The Decepticon fills the two blanks with a standard error noise and assembles the trisound and error noises into a word, and pronounces it.

The word is transliterated into English as yu-ack.

 

Further examples:

 

A Decepticon says a word in Modern Decepticon, here transliterated into English as degemme.

The Autobot listener breaks degemme down into its Modern Decepticon trisouds; te-gu-ea-mbu.

The Autobot listener assigns Modern Autobot trisounds to the Modern Decepticon trisounds according to the Primaltongue root trisounds. te-gu-ea-mbu is evolved from the Primaltongue trisounds T-D-E-B.

The Autobot listener assembles the Modern Autobot trisounds ta-di-e-b into a word and pronounces it.

The word is transliterated into English as tadieba.

 

An Autobot says a word in Modern Autobot, here transliterated into English as cujan.

The Decepticon listener breaks cujan down into its Modern Autobot trisounds; co-va-n.

The Decepticon listener assigns Modern Decepticon trisounds to the Modern Autobot trisounds according to the Primaltongue trisounds. co-va-n is evolved from the Primaltonge trisounds AA-V-N.

Because Modern Decepticon has no V trisound, the Decepticon can only transliterate co-va-n as sau-[blank]-aun.

The Decepticon ignores the single blank and assembles the trisounds into a word, and pronounces it.

The word is transliterated into English as sau-un.

 

A Decepticon says a word in Modern Decepticon, here transliterated into English as brechuzuma.

The Autobot listener breaks brechuzuma down into its Modern Decepticon trisounds: bre-cho-zu-mba.

The Autobot listener assigns Modern Autobot trisounds to the Modern Decepticon trisounds according to the Primaltongue root trisounds. bre-cho-zu-mba is evolved from the Primaltongue trisounds D-CH-S-B.

The Autobot listener assembles the Modern Autobot trisounds di-we-su-pa into a word and pronounces it.

The word is transliterated into English as diweshupa.

 

Examples using suffixes:

 

The Decepticon Air Commander is called Starscream in English. This is a translation of his name in Modern Decepticon, here transliterated into English as zaur-shrea. However, zaur-shrea is a not a name until it is connected to a naming suffix. Starscream's preferred suffix is -GRON, meaning "this well-built person", producing the transliterated name Zaur-shrearon.

 

An Autobot listener would break zaur-shrearon into its Modern Decepticon trisounds [zhau-re-shea-re-gru-n] evolved from the Primaltongue trisounds S-R-E-R-D-N. The Autobot then assembles the Modern Autobot trisounds su-r-ce-r-di-n into the Modern Autobot name transliterated here as Surkedin.

 

If, during the process of transliteration, the Autobot wished to insult Starscream he could do so by changing his preferred -GRON suffix to one such as -OSSON, meaning "that weird stranger". In this case the Autobot would ignore the -GRON suffix and work from the Primaltongue trisounds S-R-E-R, assembling the Modern Autobot trisounds su-r-ce-r and adding the Modern Autobot form of the -OSSON suffix [-osun] into the Modern Autobot pronounciation transliterated here as Surkosun.

 

Transliteration is mainly used during cross-faction conversations. Most conversations of any sort between Autobots and Decepticons are done in Murion. It is standard form in such situations to transliterate names, and concepts and words highly specific to one language but not the other.

 

For example, if the Decepticon Mixmaster and the Autobot Trailbreaker are playing a peaceful game of scatterpiece, all conversation will be done in Murion, the second language of both. Trailbreaker would transliterate Mixmaster's name from its Modern Decepticon form [Palauluz] into Murion and address him as Bwalas. Likewise Mixmaster would transliterate Trailbreaker's name from Modern Autobot [Kapunkas] into Murion and address him as Kabunkas.

 

However, if Mixmaster and Trailbreaker meet in battle, Mixmaster [a staunch believer in the Decepticon cause] would speak to Trailbreaker in Modern Decepticon and address him as Kaba-oonkzi. Trailbreaker, being a rather more polite individual, would still speak to Mixmaster in Murion but could change the -LUS suffix [meaning "that superior" or "master] with -LOSSON [meaning "that weird person"] and address him as Bwalosun [meaning both "weirdly mixed person", i.e. a strange hybrid, and "Mix-weirdo", i.e. a play on the name Mixmaster]. -LOSSON is sufficiently close to -LUS that this constitutes quite a clever pun in Murion, although not the sort that Mixmaster would be inclined to laugh at.

 

If Megatron wishes to talk down to the Autobot Prowl, he will speak in Decepticon and transliterate Prowl's name in Modern Autobot, Sunomios [meaning "stealthy patroller"], into Modern Decepticon and address him as Zunakuz. If Prowl wishes to express his disgust at being spoken down to so he might well reply in Modern Autobot and transliterate Megatron's name in Modern Decepticon, Vlautron [meaning "this great person"], into Modern Autobot and address him as Xaton.

 

If Megatron wished to speak to Prowl in a less hostile fashion, he would speak in Murion and address Prowl by transliterating his name into Murion as Sounomis. If Prowl wished to return the courtest he would transliterate Megatron's name into Murion as Zuotron.

 

However, direct translations of names are not done. If Prowl and Starscream are conversing, Prowl may address Starscream as Zaur-shrearon [Modern Decepticon, very polite] or Suar-e-suden [Murion, neutral] or Surkedin [Modern Autobot, insulting]. He would never address Starscream as Tisu-shuyas ["star scream" in Modern Autobot] because, due to the different connotations of the words in the different languages, Prowl would be addressing Starscream with a word that was not his name and, assuming Starscream realised Prowl was talking to him and not an Autobot named Starscream, he would most likely be very confused and assume Prowl was having a linguistic malfunction.