Valyrian

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Valyrian
Project author David J. Peterson (Linguist), George RR Martin (Author)
speaker fictional voice over artist from 2012 television series Game of Thrones and novel A Song of Ice and Fire
Linguistic
classification

artificial language

  • Valyrian
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

no

The Valyrian languages are a fictional language family from the fantasy novel series The Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin and the TV series Game of Thrones based on it .

In the novels, High Valyrian and the idioms derived from it are mentioned quite often, but not particularly developed, apart from a few words. For the television series, the American linguist David J. Peterson created the High Valyrian language as well as the dialectal variants of Astapori Valyrian, Yunkian (Yunkai Valyrisch) and Mereenese (Meereen Valyrian). The language is based on fragments that can be found in the novels.

High Valyrian

In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire , High Valyrian has the function of a lingua franca , as Latin did in the Middle Ages . In the novels it is described that the language is not in use as an everyday language , but is an educational language for the nobles from Essos and Westeros. Most of the literature and most of the songs were written in Valyrian. The language also originally came from southern Essos and was spread through the conquests of the Valyrian Dragon Lords and their expansions. After the fall of Valyria, Valyrian retained its status as the dominant language on the continent. Varieties are spoken throughout Essos, the Free Cities, and the cities of Slave Bay. In Westeros, Valyrian has the status of a foreign language . The Targaryen house, which descends from the nobility of the old Valyria, probably also cultivated Valyrian in Westeros. Daenerys calls High Valyrian their mother tongue.

Valyrian dialects

David J. Peterson describes the differences within the Valyrian language family and its dialects as follows: All Valyrian dialects represent a kind of Ghiscari Valyrian . Ghiscari was spoken in the slave bay before the Valyrian conquest and was replaced by High Valyrian over the course of three generations . However, traces of Ghiscari remained locally in the vocabulary because certain terms were missing in Valyrian or people did not specifically learn Valyrian correctly. All dialects are grammatically very similar and clearly interspersed with Ghiscari lexemes . They are based on a common culture and exist in a kind of symbiosis , with every city and thus every dialect having something that the others lack. Since Meereen is the largest city, one can assume that they are the largest social underclass has, the large differences in pronunciation to the other two very similar dialects which can be explained. The Upper Valyrian, however, was upheld by the upper class and never completely disappeared. Not much is known about the fall of the Valyrian culture and thus its language. There was probably a natural disaster that destroyed Valyria, as indicated by the rugged landscape.

Languages ​​derived from High Valyrian

In the world of the novel and the television series, variants of High Valyrian are spoken in Esso's nine Free Cities. Tyrion describes the language situation in the volume A Dance with Dragons as follows: "not so much a dialect as nine dialects on the way to becoming separate tongues" ("not so much a dialect, but nine dialects on the way to becoming individual languages") . Peterson describes the relationship between High Valyrian and the Free Cities comparable to that between Latin and the Romance languages or more appropriately such as between Standard Arabic and the modern varieties of Arabic. Therefore, High Valyrian is perfectly understandable in Essos with some difficulties.

Astapori Valyrian

Si kizy vasko v'uvar ez zya gundja yn hilas. "And that's because I love the curves of her ass." - Astapori Valyrian, Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode 3

The first language derived from High Valyrian was the Astapori Valyrian of Slave Bay in the television series. It appeared in the third season in the third episode with "Valar Dohaeris". Astapori Valyrian has long vowels marked with macron . The "Immaculate" are known as "Dovaogēdy" [do.vao.ˈɡeː.dy] in High Valyrian and "Dovoghedhy" [do.vo.ˈɣe.ði] in Astapori. Astapori Valyrisch has lost the case system and the word order is subject – predicate – object (SPO). The four genders were reduced to two. There are two definite articles: ji and vi . The word stress is not as clear as in High Valyrian.

Language example

Valyrian : Nyke Daenerys Jelmāzmo hen Targārio Lentrot, hen Valyrio Uēpo ānogār iksan. Valyrio muño ēngos ñuhys issa. English: I am Daenerys storm daughter from the House of Targaryen, from the blood of old Valyria. Valyrian is my mother tongue. - Game of Thrones, Season 3, Episode 4

creation

To create the Valyrian and Dothraki languages ​​spoken in the Game of Thrones series , HBO commissioned linguist David J. Peterson to create these idioms . The producers gave Peterson a lot of leeway for this, as George RR Martin himself was not interested in the linguistic aspects of his work. Thus he can be seen as the author of the language.

The published novels contain only a few words High Valyrian, including the central greetings: valar morghulis ("all men must die") and valar dohaeris ("all people must serve") as well as dracarys ("dragon fire"). For the novel The Winds of Winter , Peterson Martin provided additional Valyrian translations and phrases .

Peterson commented that Martin's choice of words dracary was very unfortunate as it was very close to the Latin word "drago" for dragon . Peterson therefore made it an independent, free lexeme . His word for dragon is zaldrīzes . He used the phrases valar morghulis and valar dohaeris , on the other hand, to develop the conjugation system of the language. Another word trēsy , meaning “son,” was created in honor of Peterson's 3,000 Twitter followers.

Peterson did not create a separate script , but uses the Latin alphabet for the written representation of the language. At the beginning of June 2013 there were 667 High Valyrian words.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants labial Palatal Dental - Alveolar Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosives p [p], b [b] t [t], d [d] k [k], g [g] q [q]
Fricatives v [v, w] j [ʒ], s [s], z [z], (th [θ]) a gh [ɣ, ʁ̝] b , (kh [x, ɣ, h]) c r [r], rh [r̥] h [h]
Affricates j [dʒ]
Lateral alj [ʎ] l [l]
Nasals m [m] ñ [ɲ] n [n, ŋ, ɴ] d n [n, ŋ, ɴ] d n [n, ŋ, ɴ] d
  • a / th / dental fricative occurs only in foreign words from Dothraki, not a Valyrian sound.
  • b / gh / can be implemented velar or uvular depending on the speaker, the distinction is not phonemic.
  • c / kh / velar fricative occurs only in foreign words from Dothraki, no Valyrian sound.
  • d / n / adapts to the respective environment, there are no separate alveolar, velar or uvular nasals.

Vowels

Vowels Front Central Back
Closed ī, i [iː, i], ȳ, y [yː, y] ū, u [uː, u]
medium ē, e [eː, e] ō, o [oː, o]
Open ā, a [aː, a] ā, a [aː, a]

Vowels with a length sign (ī, ȳ, ū, ē, ō and ā) are pronounced twice as long as the short vowels. Some words are only distinguished by the length of the vowel. The sounds ⟨ȳ⟩ and ⟨y⟩ are not articulated in modern High Valyrian, since they represent prestige sounds that were not adopted by the subsequent talks. Consequently, Daenerys Targaryen's first name is generally pronounced [dǝˈnɛːrɪs] by the actors in Game of Thrones. In High Valyrian the name would have been realized with the pronunciation [ˈdae̯neɾys], with a diphthong in the first syllable and a <y> at the end. The long vowels have been lost in some Valyrian variants. In the third season of Game of Thrones , one hears Astapori-Valyrian, in which all long vowels have been lost.

grammar

Nouns (nouns)

Nouns can be declined after eight cases: nominative , genitive , dative , accusative , locative , instrumental , comitive and vocative . However, the instrumental and the comitive are not always differentiated in all declension schemes. The genitive, dative and locative are not always differentiated in the plural either.

Numbers (number)

There are four grammatical numbers in High Valyrian: singular (singular), plural (plural), paukal (small, clearly defined amount) and collectives (collective names). For example: vala "man, man" (sing.); vali "men, people" (pl.); valun "some men, people" (pau.); valar "all men, people" (coll.). [12] [13] The collective can in turn itself be modified by the number as the new declension of a noun, e.g. B. azantys "knight, soldier" (sing.) → azantyr "army" (coll.); azantyr "army" (sing.) → azantyri "armies" (pl.). [14]

Numeralia (numerals)

All Numeralia (number words) are adjectives and can be used like participles .

Cardinal number Ordinal number
1 mēre 1. ēlie
2 lanta 2. tones
3 hāre 3. Saelie
4 izula 4. izunnie
5 toma 5. tōmelie
6 bȳre 6. byllie
7 sīkuda 7. sīglie
8 jēnqa 8. jēnqelie
9 vōre 9. fully
10 ampa 10. amplie

The adjective endings in the nominative in all genders are as follows:

Adjectives Lunar Solar Terrestrial Aquatic
Class I. -a -ys -on -or
Class II -e -ior
Class III -ie -ior

Numbers match the nouns in terms of number and gender . Here is an example with the number "lanta" (two) and an example of each gender in the nominative (vala “man, human”; azantys “knight”; dōron “stone”; hāedar “younger sister”).

  • Lunar: lanti vali “two men, people”
  • Solar: lantyz azantyssy “two knights”
  • Terrestrial: lanta dōra "two stones"
  • Aquatic: lantra hāedri “two younger sisters”

Gender

There are four grammatical genera that do not match gender. The Valyrian terms for the genera are:

  • hūrenkon qogror - "moon class" (lunar class)
  • vēzenkon qogror - "solar class" (solar class)
  • tegōñor qogror - "earth class" (terrestrial class)
  • embōñor qogror - "water class" (aquatic class)

Animate and individual nouns usually belong to the lunar and solar classes , while other nouns usually belong to the earth or water class declination . The names for the above-mentioned classes come from the nouns themselves, which are, so to speak, prototypical for each gender . Peterson describes the Valyrian genera as inherent , but they are more predictable due to their phonology than the genera in French and comparable to the properties of the noun classes in the Bantu languages . Due to the phonological predictability it can be said that many terms for "people" are lunar or solar (usually they end in -a or -ys), while "food" and "plants" belong to the earth class (usually they end in -on) . According to Peterson, the declination classes in High Valyrian can be defined by looking at the singular and plural of the numbers and determining where they fit together. This is clear from the following declination tables:

First declension
(Lunar: vala , "man, human") 		Second declination
(Solar: loktys , "sailor")
Singular Plural Lump sum Collective Singular Plural Lump sum Collective
Nominative vala vali valun valar loktys loktyssy loktyn loktyr Nom.
accusative vale valī valuni valari lokti loktī loktyni loktyri Acc.
Genitive valo valoti valuno valaro lokto loktoti loktyno loktyro Gene.
dative valot valunta valarta loktot loktynty loktyrty Date
locative valā valunna valarra loktȳ loktī loktynny loktyrry Locomotive.
Instrumental valosa valossi valussa valarza loktomy loktommi loktyssy loktyrzy Instr.
Comitative valoma valommi valumma valarma loktymmy loktyrmy Com.
vocative valus valis valussa valarza loktys loktyssys loktyssy loktyrzy Vok.
Singular Plural Lump sum Collective Singular Plural Lump sum Collective
First declension Second declination

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peterson, David J. (March 31, 2013). "Valar Dohaeris". Dothraki.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  2. ^ David J. Peterson: The State of Valyrian, www.dothraki.com/?s=Valyrian. Retrieved June 10, 2016
  3. ^ Peterson, David J. (April 22, 2013). "Sesīr Urnēbion Zȳhon Keliton Issa". Dothraki.com. Retrieved April 24, 2013
  4. ↑ Tharoor Ishaan (3 May 2013). "Tongues of Ice and Fire: Creating the Languages ​​in Game of Thrones". Time. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  5. ↑ Peterson, David J. (June 4, 2013). "Kastāmiro Daomior (comment at 2:46 am)". Dothraki.com. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  6. ↑ Peterson, David J. (April 8, 2013). "Tīkuni Zōbrī, Udra Zōbriar". Dothraki.com. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  7. ↑ Peterson, David J .: "Tȳni Trēsi". Dothraki.com. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  8. ↑ Peterson, David J .: "Sesīr Urnēbion Zȳhon Keliton Issa". Dothraki.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  9. ↑ Peterson, David J.: "Sesīr Urnēbion Zȳhon Keliton Issa". Dothraki.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013.
  10. ^ Peterson, David J .: "Perzo Vūjita". Dothraki.com. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  11. ^ Peterson, David J .: "Perzo Vūjita". Dothraki.com. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  12. ^ Peterson, David J .: "Perzo Vūjita". Dothraki.com. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  13. ↑ Peterson, David J .: "Some High Valyrian Inflection". Dothraki.com. Retrieved June 1, 2013.