People of parsh

[Necessary Eagle she/her]

In WoK they were the Parshendi. In WoR we learned they called themselves the Listeners. In OB the Fused + awakened Parshmen called themselves Singers, but the Listeners as a people were presumed dead anyway, so we were able to just use Singer for the whole species. RoW seemed to confirm this usage-- everyone is just calling them Singers.

But then at the end we find out there are Listeners left after all. So what name do we use to refer to the indigenous people of Roshar as a whole?

[Truthwatcher Artifabrian he/him]

Parshendi overall.

 Listeners and Singers for individual nations.

[18th Shard he/him]

1 hour ago, Truthwatcher Artifabrian said:

Parshendi overall.

 Listeners and Singers for individual nations.

I'd disagree. Parshendi is the Alethi name for "parshmen who can think" - essentially an unintended racial slur. I think until the most recent Desolation, Singer was the species name. Thus the Listeners are a break off nation from the Singers. 

[+robardin he/him]

4 hours ago, 18th Shard said:

I'd disagree. Parshendi is the Alethi name for "parshmen who can think" - essentially an unintended racial slur. I think until the most recent Desolation, Singer was the species name. Thus the Listeners are a break off nation from the Singers. 

Actually "parsh" was the term used during the False Desolation, which was when they fought the humans and Radiants with warform and Regal forms of Odium's power but not Fused via BAM. They were also "granted Voidlight", not sure if that meant they got Regals with One Surge but who were not immortally recycled.

Even then it was a new term, as Oathbringer Ch. 77 through 81 have these epigraphs "From drawer 30-20, first through fifth emeralds":

Quote

Something must be done about the remnants of Odium’s forces. The parsh, as they are now called, continue their war with zeal, even without their masters from Damnation.

A coalition has been formed among scholar Radiants. Our goal is to deny the enemy their supply of Voidlight; this will prevent their continuing transformations, and give us an edge in combat.

Our revelation is fueled by the theory that the Unmade can perhaps be captured like ordinary spren. It would require a special prison. And Melishi.

Ba-Ado-Mishram has somehow Connected with the parsh people, as Odium once did. She provides Voidlight and facilitates forms of power. Our strike team is going to imprison her.

We are uncertain the effect this will have on the parsh. At the very least, it should deny them forms of power. Melishi is confident, but Naze-daughter-Kuzodo warns of unintended side effects.

It's not clear where the term "parsh" arose though. It may never have been used by "the parsh" themselves, and have been a term coined and used only by humans.

[LuckyJim]

I think "singers" is the collective term, and it's what the singers refer to themselves as, where "parsh" is a term used by humans, I don't think any singers/listeners have referred to themselves as parsh.. Listeners is just a specific group, it's like the difference between "Native Americans" and "Lakota".

[Kvothe the Bloodless he/him]

20 hours ago, Truthwatcher Artifabrian said:

Parshendi overall.

 Listeners and Singers for individual nations.

I would say that to the singers/listeners, calling them Parshendi is like calling a Chinese person Japanese.

[Raven Wilder]

Actually, it'd be more like calling a Japanese person Japanese, since Japanese people don't call their country Japan; they call it Nippon (or Nihon, pronunciations vary).

And I think it is kind of unclear what the name for the species is, since singer, listener, and parshmen seem to be treated as separate terms.

[LuckyJim]

6 hours ago, Raven Wilder said:

Actually, it'd be more like calling a Japanese person Japanese, since Japanese people don't call their country Japan; they call it Nippon (or Nihon, pronunciations vary).

And I think it is kind of unclear what the name for the species is, since singer, listener, and parshmen seem to be treated as separate terms.

The name of the species is singer. Listener specifically refers to the group that abandoned Odium and lived in the Shattered Plains, and and term related to parsh is the human name for them.