86 motifs match “language”  ·  back to the chapters

• Culture hero invents and teaches the Irish language. A541.1
• Language of heaven. A667
• Confusion of tongues. Originally all men speak same language. Because of a sin they come to speak different languages. A1333
• Origin of language. A1482
• Hebrew the language of the inhabitants of heaven. A1482.1
• Origin of particular languages. A1616
• Cold before theft of fire impedes speech: explanation of difficulty of certain languages. A1616.1
• Origin of Irish language. A1616.2
• Animal languages learned from animal. B165
• Animal languages learned from serpent (not eaten). (Cf. B176.) B165.1
• Animal languages learned by having ears licked by serpent. (Cf. B161.1.) B165.1.1
• Animal languages from stolen serpent's crown. (Cf. B176.) B165.1.2
• Animal languages learned from frog. B165.2
• Formerly animals and man spoke the same language. God took the power of speech from the animals because men refused to kill speaking beasts. B210.3
• All kinds of animals understand the language of heaven. B212.0.1
• First animals knew human language. B212.0.2
• Animal languages. The various animals have languages of their own. (Cf. B251.1.2.) B215
• Animals taught one another's language. B215.0.1
• Bird language. B215.1
• Dog language. B215.2
• Dog language understood by fox. B215.2.1
• Fox language. B215.3
• Frog language. B215.4
• Serpent language. B215.5
• Lizard's language. B215.5.1
• Insects' language. B215.6
• Ant language. B215.6.1
• Knowledge of animal languages. Person understands them. B216
• Animal language learned. B217
• Animal languages learned from eating animal. B217.1
• Animal languages learned from eating serpent. (Cf. B176.) B217.1.1
• Animal languages learned from eating dragon's heart. B217.1.2
• Animal languages learned from eating plant. B217.2
• Animal languages learned from ghosts (spirits). B217.3
• Animal languages learned from carrying churchyard mould in hat. B217.4
• Bird language learned by having ears magically cleansed. B217.5
• Animal languages learned by exchanging tongues with helpful dragon. B217.6
• Stone deity (image of) confers upon man powers of understanding animal language. B217.7
• Language of animals learned by Adam from Eve. B217.8
• Frog returned to spring: grateful. Teaches hero animals' language (Cf. B217). B375.2
• Tabu: revealing knowledge of animal languages. C425
• "We three" – "For gold" – "That is right": phrases of foreign language. Three travelers know each one phrase of a foreign language. They incriminate themselves. C495.2.2
• Tabu: using obscene language. C496
• Change of language for breaking tabu. C966
• Magic object teaches animal languages. (Cf. D1268.) D1301
• Magic turf from church-roof teaches animal languages. (Cf. D934.) D1301.1
• Drinking blood teaches animal languages. (Cf. D1041.) D1301.2
• Bird's head (when eaten) teaches animal languages. D1301.4
• Language acquired by swallowing its written characters. D1735.2
• Knowledge of ghost language. D1815.1
• Magic knowledge of language of animals. D1815.2
• Magic knowledge of demon language. D1815.3
• Magic knowledge of tree language. D1815.4
• Magic knowledge of vegetable language. D1815.5
• Magic knowledge of language of valleys. D1815.6
• Miraculous ability to learn to read and to write foreign language in short time. F695.3.1
• Discussion by symbols. Sign language. H607
• Discussion between two poets (sages?) carried on in poetic obscure language. H607.2
• Princess declares her love through sign language: not understood. H607.3
• Quest assigned because of hero's knowledge of animal languages. H1214
• Host wants to learn Hebrew even at risk of forgetting his own language. J344.2
• King brought to sense of duty by feigned conversation of birds. Philosopher pretends to know bird's language and to be translating what they tell him. J816.1
• Witness cannot speak language of accusation: discredited. Two parrots taught accusation of mistress in a particular dialect. They know nothing more of the language. (Cf. G1154.1.) J1152
• Youth announces fire in imitation of priest's metaphorical language. The fire set by cat's tail gains headway. J1269.12
• Words in a foreign language thought to be insults. J1802
• Conversation by sign language mutually misunderstood. J1804
• "I don't know" thought to be a person's name. A man in a country that cannot speak his language hears "I don't know" so frequently that he thinks it must be the name of the owner of all the places he inquires about. J2496
• Misunderstandings because of lack of knowledge of a different language than one's own. J2496.2
• Two jars full of live black wasps sold as interpreters of foreign language. K137.1
• Parrot knowing only two words sold as speaking foreign language. K137.2
• Signal for theft given in foreign language. K358
• Victim persuaded to hold out his tongue: cut off. Robbers induced by various excuses (to learn to sing, to learn foreign language, to have a hair taken off the tongue). K825
• Dupe persuaded to scald self with hot water in order to learn languages. K1046
• Trickster teaches a dupe a strange language. K1068
• Prophesying through knowledge of animal languages. M302.1
• Murder discovered through knowledge of bird languages. Birds point out the murder. N271.4
• Understanding of animal languages leads to discovery of a treasure. N547
• Difficult language used by poets. P427.7.2.1
• Unacquainted lovers converse in sign language. T42.1
• Saint understands language of wren, fly, cat. V223.5.1
• Language of angels. V249.2
• Hebrew the language of the angels. V249.2.1
• Use of strange language to show one's high education. W116.7
• Learning the Bavarian language. A caretaker of an estate recently sold to a Bavarian sits among the swine so as to learn Bavarian. X652
• Sign language. Message delivered by means of the fingers, etc. Z175
• Language of flowers. Z175.1