A Lesson in Dragonspeak

[Shem]

I mentioned earlier how inflection and intonation plays a role in the language. These intricacies are transliterated via dots (glottal stops), shapes (rumbling), curved lines (pitch changes), and other types of flourishes (fluttering) above and below the written words. This cannot be reproduced by any of Microsoft’s pre-installed fonts, so I’ve included a picture of some handwritten script.

To be able to write these (or approximations) using Word you can use the Equation Editor. In 2013 go to Insert -> Equation -> Matrices -> and select empty 3x1 matrix (typing the actual letter in the middle box). You can then approximate your notation with a large number of different symbols instead of writing them by hand, placing them in the top or bottom box. It might not be as easy when an accent covers multiple characters though.

[Velox]

One correction

Funfact 2:

An interesting example can be found in the Dravanian hinterlands. Unlike the Churning Mists, where place names are rendered in dragonspeak because only dragons (and the occasional moogle) reside there, there are quite a lot of Eorzean (English) names on the hinterlands map, despite being Dravanian lands occupied primarily by dragons for thousands of years. The truth of the matter is that most of these locations DO have dragonspeak names, but the early Eorzeans who settled there misheard the dragon names (which were too complex for them) and instead gave them similar-sounding en equivalents.

The easiest one is Mourn─a corruption of 'mor[n]', meaning 'death', which is the entrance to Sohm Ahl (eternal slumber), where dragons go to end their overlong lives and get some deserved sleep.

Other examples include:

The Whilom River -> wa[h]r a[h]lm (calm water)
Mare’s Oath -> ma[h]r ro[h]s (summer woken)
Halo -> w[h]ei lo[h]s (the path to loneliness)

This should be "Forelands" given the examples

[Risvertasashi]

Any chance we could get the full language doc sometime? O：)

(Post is appreciated, just the linguist nerd in me... I also envy that you get to use these skills in your job!)

[Fernehalwes]

One correction

This should be "Forelands" given the examples

Thank you for that catch, Velox! Updated the file.

[Amortis]

BytsTRyBBiT MitRytI IXynRtt? Hai?

Ja, §äorytynM ÐRÁKKÆR, FtnnytM Byórðæár? eh?

Sie Saeth ja hest, Hai? grin.

[Inzoum]

You never cease to amaze me, Ferne. I just love reading (or hearing, when you're doing panels) about all the little details and the intricate thought process that goes into all the things that makes my favourite game so wonderful.

We're lucky the FFXIV team has you on board. Not only are you working hard to prepare quality content for the game, but you're also taking a lot of your time to share your experience with us and give us a glimpse of how things happen behind the scenes.

Congratulations on such a fine post, once again, it was a pleasure reading through it all!

[Richiealvian]

This is pure gold, I feel cooler learning dragonspeak than other languages already..

Nice to see that you captured that concept of people using other languages (albeit most times incorrectly) and incorporating it to their own everyday life. Don't we all do that. English words that sometimes doesn't make sense but sounds cool as hell in japanese anime songs, tattoos with Japanese or Chinese words, or even random french in restaurant menus that doesn't always make sense.

Guess being "different" makes people look cool, but since everyone wants to be different in the same way they end up being similar again.. like how you pictured the Allagans.

There are so many moral lessons and real life comparisons made in the storyline that makes you feel the lore team is very wise.. I always imagined the life of someone who lived through it all and know which are lies from truths, much like Hraesvelgr. Politics and religion doesn't mean crap to him, he lived through it and how truth is twisted and history rewritten by momentary victors, and how there's no real "right" or "wrong" in life, only different actions and values in different time and circumstance.

[Elladie]

Thanks for this, it was fascinating.

I love the idea that the First Brood have lived so long, they've pared language down to its bare essentials and communication involves a great deal more than words. It makes a lot of sense. It's very different from the direction Tolkien went in for Entish - he made that interminably slow, verbose and very frustrating for anyone else to listen to - but it works.

I'm a little worried that I was so excited to see that you'd posted on the Lore forum; I think I may be getting too obsessed with lore stoof! Also you made me loathe the Allaghans even more than I already did, although I'm glad their intellectual hubris came back to bite them on the ass big-time

[Anonymoose]

Thanks for all these updates! Before I replied, I went through the whole post adding new word definitions and checking words I'd found but not defined... and then found the note that things would be posted tomorrow. Whoops.

Indeed, I'd say you've succeeded in the language - even when I feel rather confident that I've cracked something unconfirmed (Hess Afah! - To "see forever"! The top of the mountain!), I find upon further review that it's not so simple (Wait a minute, that means to "Watch Forever", as in Tioman was on guard).

Looking forward to seeing how close Vik and I were as we chipped away at these, especially the Sorh Gahr mobs and dragon names from Anyx Trine.


EDIT
Oh, and also looking forward to whether or not mor and dhona are conspicuously absent...

1) To what extent do the spoken races understand dragonspeak?
2) To what extent do the dragons themselves speak Eorzean?
3) With reference to Q1, assuming that the average Eorzean doesn't understand dragonspeak, what are the chances that reference material can be found in repositories like the Great Gubal Library?

A good chunk of information related to this can be found in the old Dragonspeak introduction.

[treuhavik]

Looking forward to seeing how close Vik and I were as we chipped away at these, especially the Sorh Gahr mobs and dragon names from Anyx Trine.

Fingers crossed! It was certainly difficult trying to broaden the scope of each definition, as dragons would, but I think we were really close with most of the words we worked on.