Illitan is the language spoken in Ul Qoma. Its counterpart in Besźel is Besź.
Illitan Quotes in The City & the City
The The City & the City quotes below are all either spoken by Illitan or refer to Illitan. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5
Quotes
Anyway whether in its original or later written form, Illitan bears no resemblance to Besź. Nor does it sound similar. But these distinctions are not as deep as they appear. Despite careful cultural differentiation, in the shape of their grammars and the relations of their phonemes (if not the base sounds themselves), the languages are closely related—they share a common ancestor, after all. It feels almost seditious to say so. Still.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Illitan Term Timeline in The City & the City
The timeline below shows where the term Illitan appears in The City & the City. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
...reminds the man that the call he is making is not illegal, and switches to Illitan. However, the man switches back to Besź, grumbling that “it’s the same damn-faced language anyway.”...
(full context)
Chapter 5
To those who don’t know much about them, Illitan and Besź seem very different; they sound different, and where Besź is written in a...
(full context)
...in Ul Qoma will approach someone in Ul Qomatown and ask them for directions in Illitan, but Breach is usually forgiving of such incidents.
(full context)
Chapter 12
...An Ul Qoman police car pulls up and an officer gets out, greeting Borlú in Illitan. He introduces himself as Senior Detective Qussim Dhatt, and welcomes Borlú to Ul Qoma.
(full context)
...ago. In preparation, he had participated in an “accelerated” two-day orientation, which involved lessons in Illitan and Ul Qoman history and law. The teacher he had for this trip, meanwhile, told...
(full context)
Chapter 17
...A man shows Borlú that someone wrote the phrase, “The heart of a wolf” in Illitan on it. Dhatt explains, “It’s an old motherland song.” Dhatt observes that the bomb was...
(full context)
Chapter 24
...that belong neither to Besźel nor Ul Qoma. He hears a mix of Besź and Illitan being spoken, as well as a hybrid language combining the two. They step through doors...
(full context)
Chapter 27
...Borlú spots a unificationist gang spray painting the words “TOGETHER! UNITY!” in both Besź and Illitan. Very quickly, the group is swarmed by Breach avatars moving so quickly they could hardly...
(full context)
