Languages/Dragon

Dragonspeak

Ishgard’s recent efforts at reestablishing communication with the dragons has opened the door for a more in-depth study of the creatures' unique and ancient tongue. The following is taken from a dissertation penned by a Sharlayan student after spending several moons in Anyx Trine.

Brevity is the Soul

If I were to describe dragonspeak in one word, it would be “economic”. The dragons (more specifically, the First Brood) have had thousands of summers to trim the fat—whether it be from vocabulary, grammar, syntax, or even pronunciation. Multiple meanings have been consolidated into single terms and redundancies eliminated. Words have been shortened, simplified, or condensed to minimize oratory exertion. Instead of differences in meaning being represented by different words, inflection and breath patterns have become the norm. And then there is the simple fact that the beings who use this language have been doing so with the same partners for countless seasons. It is only expected that after communicating with someone for so long, both parties are, in a sense, able to anticipate what the other will say, further contributing to the abbreviation or omission of obsolete terms, as well as imparting even deeper meaning to words not spoken—the ultimate form of reading between the lines.

Unchanging

Languages such as Eorzean change over time as thousands upon thousands of individuals use and refine them. Those individuals eventually die after a few decades, and the next generation takes up the process of changing the language, moving it in directions the previous may not have even imagined. The path draconic takes, however, is largely dictated by the wyrms of the First Brood. These select few do not fade after a few decades, and while the language is passed down to their progeny, it is ultimately used to speak with the parents—parents who change little themselves. The result is a paradox in the sense that you have a language that exists in a form that can only be mastered by someone who has been exposed to it for thousands of years...making it difficult for any younger dragons to pick it up themselves, coupled with the unfortunate fact that the lifespan of the latter broods, while still significant, pales in comparison to that of the First.

Life and Death

One of the most basic and unique features of draconic is the presence or absence of life in each word. To the dragons, most words (with some exceptions, of course) represent a concept that either contains or is void of life. Words that are deemed to contain life, such as dragon, person, and flesh, will almost always contain a low-frequency nasal sound somewhere in them, whereas words without life, such as escape, sleep, and see, will always contain what can be best described as a wispy, breathy sound similar to lightly clearing ones throat—similar to the glottalic egressive aitch prevalent in Thavnairian. The former is represented in transcribed dragonspeak with an [n], the latter with an [h], to distinguish them from normal “n” and aitch sounds.

• Dragon - dra[n]
• Person - arr[n]
• Flesh - [n]esh
• Escape - e[h]ek
• Sleep - so[h]m
• See - [h]ess

What dragons consider to be life is not always as clear-cut as “living being” versus “inanimate object.” For example, the word for death, mor[n], contains the life-representing [n]. While to us, death represents the absence of life, the dragons look at it as a part of life—something that would not exist without life—and therefore add that [n]. Another example is [n]Joskh, or the word for ask. The dragons believe that life is a journey to search for the reason for existence, and that questions are what bring them closer to that goal. For the dragons, to question is to live. On the other hand, the word for sun, “soo[h],” does not contain an [n] despite being something that is considered by many cultures necessary for the cultivation of life. This is because the dragons—those of the First Brood, at least—believe that the sun is naught more than a sphere of energy providing heat and light from the heavens.

Look to the Past

There is next to no conjugation of verbs in dragonspeak—another sign of extreme efficiency. Where in Eorzean we have different forms to indicate past or present tense, as well as a compound structure to communicate future tense, dragons use the same word for all three—the only difference being the inhaling of breath while saying the verb to indicate future.

For example, let us take the word for eat—ee(h]s. The three forms are as follows:

• Eat - ee[h]s
• Ate - ee[h]s
• Will Eat - [s]ee[h]s

The first two are spoken while breathing out, and pronounced like “east” minus the “t,” with the middle of the word heavily aspirated (like the slight soughing of an autumn wind through slowly decaying leaves). The latter is spoken while breathing in—an action that, when performed by a dragon, creates a slight hissing sound that attaches itself to the front of the word. This is represented by [s] when transliterating.

So why is there seemingly no linguistic difference between past and present tense? The reasoning behind this decision lies in how dragons view time and causality. The dragons believe that the present is a culmination of everything that has occurred in the past, essentially making the two one and the same. To put it simply, when one has lived tens of thousands of years, what is happening now is indistinguishable from something that has happened before.

Order

The basic structure of a sentence is Verb - Object - Subject. Where in Eorzean we would say “The peiste ate the Lalafell,” the dragons would say “Ate Lalafell peiste.” This is one example as to how important action is to the dragons as opposed to the initiator of that action. Who or what ate the Lalafell is (relatively) unimportant. Immediately recognizing that “eating” has occurred readies the dragon to decide on an appropriate action in response.

Adjectives and adverbs will almost always come after the word that they modify, again placing the importance on the action or the object of that action over the words that describe them. The sentence <The greedy peiste> [slowly ate] {the foolish Lalafell} would be constructed in dragonspeak as [Ate slowly] {Lalafell foolish} <peiste greedy>.

You also may notice the lack of articles in the dragonspeak rendition. This is because dragons no longer employ the articles a, an, or the, having come to view them as superfluous and bringing little to a sentence in the way of relevant meaning.

Similarities

Astute observers may have already picked up on the fact that some dragonspeak words appear similar to their Eorzean counterparts. Some scholars have even gone as far as claiming these similarities to Eorzean suggest that Eorzean languages may have a root in dragonspeak.

DRACONIC EORZEAN	EORZEAN
r[h]ei	Pray
ta[h]i	Tie
wor[h]	War

Known Words

The following is an abridged collection of dragonspeak words currently known to the people of Seventh Astral Era Eorzea.

Verbs

English	Dragonspeak
(word)	(word)
answer	tosk[h]
ask	[n]oskh
be	[n]
bring	to[h]m
call	o[h]l
change	e[h]skdy[h]r
come	ko[h]m
curse	k[h]ur
decide/intend/choose	sai[h]
die	mor[n]
differ	dy[h]r
disturb/destroy	dys[h]
eat	ee[h]s
escape	e[h]sk
fall/drop	fa[h]l
fight/war	wor[h]
fly	fo[h]l
follow	olo[h]
force/drive/push	oos[h]
gaze/witness/see	[h]ess
get/receive/hold	seet[h]
give up/surrender/sacrifice	ee[h]l
give/inflict	se[h]th
go	ko[h]l
happen/occur/befall	[h]aff
have	a[h]l
hide	an[h]ess
kill	e[h]k mor[n]
know	ahle[h]
leave/discard/forget	do[h]
lie	eil[n]
listen/hear/learn	losk[h]
make liquid	e[h]k
mix	kis[h]
must/need	[s]ma[h]
pillage/steal	e[h]sk y a[n]
point/face	f[h]ei
pray	r[h]ei
presume/believe/think/plan	lee[h]s
regret	k[h]ash
render/make/turn	e[h]sk
return	fe[h]sk
revive	[n]ehsk
seek	ko[h]l [h]ess
shake	sha[h]
sleep	so[h]m
speak	osk[h]
stand	ta[h]n
stay	sei[h]
tie/bind	ta[h]i
tire	so[h]
use/wield	oo[h]s
wait	w[h]ei
wake	ro[h]s

Nouns

Dragonspeak	English	Grammar
age/time	a[h]im
Allag	Ala[n]
anger/hate	ga[h]r
apology	so[h]r
army	sor[n]
Ascian	as[h]a[n]
beast	(wild beast) [n]eest
betrayal	eil[n]
blood	loo[n]
bone	ohl
bottom	t[h]om
chicken/bird	fou[n]
circle/fate	ak[h]
crystal	t[h]arl
death	mor[n]
doing	do
dragon	dra[n]
dragoon	dra[h]or[h]
dream	[h]ess y so[h]m
egg	for[h][n]esh
Elezen	[N]ell
end	e[n]d
extinction	alamor[n]
eye	[h]ess[n]esh
fire	fa[n]
firmament/sky/heavens	we[h]s
flesh	[n]esh
god	es[h] e[h]d
gold	go[h]l
hand	ei[n]
holy see	[n]ishka
Ishgard	[n]ish
journey	nee[h]
kin	ki[n]
knowledge	ohle[h]
land/Hydaelyn	le[h]s
leader	[n]ehd
loneliness/madness	lo[h]s
love	e[h]sk
man	err[n]
Meracydia	mera[h]
method/way	w[h]ei
moon	mo[h]
name	e[h]m
pain	a[n]g
peace	slumber
person	arr[n]
piece	ee[h]s
power/strength	stra[h]
punishment	scor[h]
redemption	asa[h]
root/center	oo[h]r
savior	[n]arr
Shiva	Shee[n]
sin	si[n]
sleep/slumber/calm	so[h]m
song	a[h]m
spirit	es[h]
start	sta[h]r
steel/blade	l[h]ei
storm	stoh
summer	ma[h]r
sun	soo[h]
Thordan	Thor[n]
top/first	e[h]d
tree	gro[n]
truth	s[h]is
vengeance	sja[h]s
wall/shield/conviction	s[h]all
want/desire	wa[n]
water	wa[h]
will	es[h] y [n]esh
woman	herr[n]

Adjectives

English	Dragonspeak
after/later	fta[h]r
again	k[h]ei
ancient	fa[h]
arrogant	gah[n]
not now	for[h]
blind	an[h]ess
born	or[n]
calm	a[h]lm
confused	koo[h]
corrupted/rotten	te[n]
covered	k[h]ad
deep	dee[h]
during	fee[h]r
eager/zealous	e[h]ll
easy	ee[h]z
empty/hole/alone	e[h]s
enchanted	tar[h]
eternal	afa[h]
few	yuu[h]
final	f[h]ail
good	oo[h]d
greedy	war[n]
half	a[h]f
high/up	ai[h]
inside	dai[h]
large/great/many	la[h]r
light	lye
little/weak	my[h]k
lost/forsaken	no[n]
low/down	lo[h]
new	nuu[h]
promised	al
quiet	le[n]s
red	rhe
right	ais
sad	k[h]ai
slow	so[h]l
strong	ong
stupid/foolish/young	ya[h]
too/beyond	tou
wicked/treacherous	eil
wrong	nais

Others

English	Dragonspeak	Notes
1st Person (I/We)	a[n]
2nd/3rd Person (You)	i[n]
It	a[h]
on	y
of	y
negative	n/no	If the verb already starts with an "n" sound, the negative becomes "no"
empasize order	na	Used at the end of an order (ie. Eat your vegetables!) for emphasis.
to/for	ool
from	oom
with	ith
Yes	ess
No	no
why/how	w[h]a[h]
what/where	ta[h]
now/still a
though	kal
But	ka
because	k[h]as
all/always	ala
as is/like/(even) if	ahs
one	wa[h]
two	to[h]
three	thra[h]
four	fto[h]
five	[h]ai
six	e[h]ch
seven	se[h]n
eight	e[h]i
nine	nha[h]
ten	te[h]
hundred	ha[h]
thousand	tha[h]