Dragon Speak, for those looking for it.

[rizo/nawkia]

Theres the link I found, The subject of where it was came up in order today so i thought id link it.

[Thenalth]

Thanks alot Rizo, i've been looking for such for a while, now i can actually figure out what some people are saying

[C`gan]

And please keep repeating to Saphire, "Ieo (or Iea if female) d'na scov!"

[Frith-Rae]

Oh tha tis a more comprehensive find than the original - awesome!

FYI the "original" that Keir Chet brought to the server and started using is up on the Istaria Wikki. I posted it there ont he Wikki as the original website was lost years ago. I never got around to posting it up here.

But I see that this PDF actually has bunch more words the original document we were using did not! So Awesome! Gonna save this on my HD. We need to get his stickied here!

Or if we can't stiky the link, we can convert it to organized forum posts and just lock and sticky the thread for others to be able to find; since the Wikki isn't as used or known about.

Also Keir Chet was able to come up with some words people wanted to use (but we didn't have at the time) and that would NOT be on this list. BUt it is on the list on the Wikki.

Like Glit'Sita - was never in the original language, but was a more formal greeting The Chet decided upon after analyzing the words and combining two of them. At'eo/At'ea is the informal greetings and USE to be much, much, more popular but appears to have disappeared out of the vocabulary.

Just dont use that dreaded abbreviation (sita or glit) around Frith, she goes into coniptions and will launch into a 3 hour lecture on proper dragon language and its use. =D (Cuz its kinda like chopping a word in half...)

[Raeshlavik]

Theres the link I found, The subject of where it was came up in order today so i thought id link it.

That's the one I have a hard copy of from back in the before times... And now I have a digital copy as well.

Thanks!

[trcroyle]

The pdf says it was originally copied from this site:

http://bardstune.4t.com/dragonlanguage.htm

Which is just plain html for anyone having trouble with the pdf.

[LungTien Temeraire]

This thread should be sticky, I think.

[Thenalth]

Yes, this does deserve a Sticky, and the occasional bump before then Found this useful when i'm having trouble translating

[Kryodrache]

Bump. Buuuuuuuuuuuuump.

[Tondargaet_Glit]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....no, wait, that's another topic for another forum....years ago, while playing a different RP game, I went looking for fantasy languages...my main target were the languages created by Tolkien, and, of course, I found any number of sites hosting these languages (many of which I downloaded, simply to have easily available). I also found a number of other languages, including the Erdoten k'Eilert (language of the dragon) information that's still available at http://bardstune.4t.com/dragonlanguage.htm and other information further developed by Keir Chet k'Eilerten that is *not* currently available (as far as I can tell) online. In my files, I have their "Dragon Language Quick Guide" as well as a two-page English to Dragon dictionary; both of these documents contain the copyright and fair-use information. If it isn't illegal, and, if there was interest, I'd be happy to upload these documents somewhere for all to access....?

On the subject of language, though...I'm an amateur linguist and a trained singer, and, the question of how a language actually sounds is something that has always appealed to me...obviously, if singing in a language other than my native-tongue (English), it's important to get the pronunciation and accent as close to accurate as possible. While I can't "hear" actual "dragon" being spoken, I can make several assumptions.

First of all, we have to look at the physiology of a dragon. The physical size of even a hatchling (somewhere between a rhino and an elephant), and, most specifically, the size of the resonating chamber (their chest) means that a dragon would be capable of exceedingly low-pitch sounds, including sub-sonics...probably down in the single-digit Hertz. I'm thinking of the low rumble of an elephant, for example, more felt than actually heard.

Again, based on their physiology, I'd conjecture that dragons also make use of the "head voice," using their throat and nasal chambers to resonate and create different sounds; these sounds would be much more "personal," given the different sizes and shapes of dragon heads, but, would be akin to the woodwinds section of an orchestra: hoots and whistles quite possibly covering a number of octaves.

As has been pointed out, a dragon's fangs and tongue would make certain sounds more or less probable, as would the question: do dragons have lips?

There's much more that could be said about the possible sounds a dragon could make, but, to sum it up, just based on the physical body, a dragon should be quite capable of making sounds beyond the hearing of a human...from below 20Hz to above 20kHz. As an aside, this could even explain some of the "stun" abilities of a dragon...quite possible that the force of those sounds could be used as a weapon. I think it's also safe to say that the sound of a dragon, particularly speaking in its native-tongue, would be quite musical.

The dragon language that we've been given has words with a LOT of vowels, with a number of diphthongs (as well as "triphthongs and even "quadthongs"); there are pronunciation guides, but, I find that I disagree with them. All of the existing lore and in-game information about dragons and their society imply a very tradition-bound culture...changes come *very* slowly, if at all. I think their language would be the same way...for the most part, it would be pronounced as it would have been, thousands of years ago.

Looking at the various languages that have an overwhelming use of vowel sounds AND that have not changed all that much, I'm instantly drawn to Hawaiian, which not only has entire strings of vowels but also uses the glottal stop (') in many words. Hawaiian, as with all the Polynesian languages, has very simple rules regarding pronunciation, which haven't changed over the years. Quite simply, every letter always has the same sound, and, every letter is always pronounced. Personally, I think this fits perfectly into the model of dragon society and culture, as well as the idea of their "musical" capabilities.

For the consonants, I think the guide shown in the language documents is fine. For the vowels, however, I prefer the Hawaiian guide.

A = ah
E = eh
I = ee
O = oh (a very short "oh")
U = oo

These vowels are always pronounced the same way, and, are always pronounced. Put two vowels together, and both would be pronounced ("aa" would be ah-ah, for example).

Applying these rules to Erdoten k'Eilert would result, as examples in these pronunciations:

Temaga nieo oiorna? (How are you this morning?) Teh-mah-gah nee-eh-oh oh-ee-ohr-nah
Ieo eliea g'rei, a'kei nieo. (I am well, thank you.) Ee-eh-oh eh-lee-eh-ah guh(chopped short)-reh-ee, ah(chopped short)-keh-ee nee-eh-oh

I think this model fits better with both the physiology of dragons and their desire to remain true to their traditions. On the other hand, I'm quite sure others have different ideas, and I'm not at all suggesting that they're wrong, particularly given the role-playing nature of Order.