Dothraki language
The Dothraki language is a constructed fictional language developed by linguist David J. Peterson in 2009 for the nomadic warrior culture of the Dothraki people in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its HBO television adaptation Game of Thrones.[1] Designed to sound harsh and aggressive to reflect the Dothraki's horse-based, patriarchal society, it draws inspiration from natural language evolution processes, including semantic shifts seen in Polynesian and Romance languages, while incorporating a limited set of words and phrases originally provided by Martin.[1] Peterson expanded the language from Martin's approximately 55 Dothraki terms (many of which are names) into a fully functional system with over 4,000 words, a consistent phonology featuring sounds like [ʒ] and , and flexible syntax that allows variable head-dependent word order (e.g., noun-adjective or adjective-noun phrases).[1][2][3] The grammar emphasizes phrasal heads that trigger agreement and case assignment, enabling complex sentences such as "Khalakka dothrae mr'anha!" ("A prince rides with me!"), which became iconic in the series.[1] Vocabulary was coined through methods like root derivation and metaphorical extension—for instance, deriving terms for tools from verbs of action—to ensure cultural authenticity, rejecting words deemed too "civilized" for the Dothraki.[1] Since its debut in the 2011 Game of Thrones pilot, Dothraki has been spoken by actors in over 300 lines across the series (2011–2019), influencing fan communities and linguistic studies of conlanging.[2] Peterson's official guide, Living Language Dothraki (2014), provides a 128-page manual with grammar explanations, over 200 vocabulary items, cultural notes, and audio dialogues to enable conversational proficiency.[2] The language continues to evolve through Peterson's blog and annual challenges, such as Dothraki haiku contests, highlighting its adaptability for creative expression.[4]Development and Creation
Origins and Influences
The Dothraki language was constructed by professional conlanger David J. Peterson in 2009, specifically for the HBO television series Game of Thrones, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels.[5] Peterson was selected through a contest organized by HBO and the Language Creation Society, where he submitted a comprehensive proposal to expand the sparse linguistic material in Martin's books.[6] In the novels, Martin had invented only about 30 Dothraki words and proper names, providing minimal details such as the phrase "the Dothraki sea," which served as a starting point for Peterson's development.[7] Peterson's initial task involved reverse-engineering these book elements to build a coherent linguistic system, beginning with cultural analysis of the nomadic Dothraki people to inform vocabulary and structure.[8] He rapidly expanded the lexicon to over 1,700 words by early 2010, prior to the start of filming, ensuring the language could support scripted dialogue while allowing for natural derivation of new terms.[5] This foundation enabled the language's use in the series premiere, with Peterson continuing to refine it based on production needs. For linguistic features, Peterson drew from a range of natural languages to achieve authenticity and distinctiveness. The language features inflectional morphology with case systems inspired by Russian and animate/inanimate noun distinctions, drawing indirect influences from languages like Swahili through Peterson's prior conlangs, and circumfixes from Georgian.[8] Phonologically, it features sounds evoking Arabic—though omitting pharyngeals for actor accessibility—and Spanish-style dental consonants, contributing to its harsh, nomadic timbre.[8] These inspirations were selected to reflect the Dothraki's steppe warrior culture without directly copying any single source.[9]Design Constraints
The design of the Dothraki language was shaped by specific constraints imposed by George R.R. Martin, who envisioned it as the tongue of a fierce nomadic horse warrior culture, emphasizing harsh, guttural sounds to evoke their rugged lifestyle while explicitly stipulating no writing system in the source material.[5] These guidelines required the language to incorporate Martin's limited vocabulary—about 30 words and phrases from the A Song of Ice and Fire novels—without alteration, ensuring phonetic and morphological consistency with the originals to maintain narrative authenticity.[10] Production realities further limited the language's complexity to facilitate actor learnability, particularly given the need for dialogue delivery across the first one to two seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones. David J. Peterson, the language's creator, prioritized a simple phonology that avoided intricate contrasts, such as phonemic distinctions between aspirated and unaspirated stops, mirroring English patterns to ease pronunciation for non-native speakers.[5] To prevent overly cumbersome expressions, the grammar was designed as inflectional—allowing morpheme fusion for word formation—but not polysynthetic, which could result in excessively long words impractical for on-screen use.[11] Additional features were curtailed to enhance usability, including the omission of tones and a restricted vowel inventory of just four—/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/—to streamline acquisition and subtitle readability.[5] This approach balanced fictional exoticism with practical realism, selecting influences for phonetic proximity to English so the language sounded alien yet intelligible in translation, thereby supporting the show's immersive storytelling without overwhelming production demands.[11]Evolution and Expansion
Following the debut of Game of Thrones in 2011, the Dothraki language underwent substantial expansion to accommodate the series' broadening scope. By September 2011, its vocabulary had reached 3,163 words, reflecting David J. Peterson's continuous development to support evolving storylines.[12] This growth continued through Peterson's iterative work, with the lexicon surpassing 4,000 words by 2019 and maintaining additions into the 2020s to ensure narrative depth.[13][14] As production progressed to seasons 2 through 8, Peterson adapted and extended the language with new phrases tailored to dramatic contexts, incorporating elements like insults, proverbs, and ritualistic expressions used in songs and chants. These inclusions enriched character interactions and cultural depictions, such as battle cries and idiomatic sayings that highlighted Dothraki societal norms.[15] Notable examples include commands evoking power and destruction, akin to "Dracarys" in its imperative force, though integrated within Dothraki dialogues to fit the nomadic warriors' lexicon. In more recent media, Dothraki features limited application in the spin-off House of the Dragon (2022–present), where minor lexical updates address occasional references amid a primary focus on Valyrian tongues. Peterson remains actively engaged with the franchise's extensions, overseeing language consistency across projects.[16] Community resources, including the official Living Language Dothraki coursebook with its integrated dictionary, were released in 2014 to standardize learning and reference, promoting canonical usage over unofficial fan-derived expansions.[17]Phonology
Consonants
The Dothraki language has 23 consonant phonemes, comprising stops, fricatives, nasals, liquids, affricates, and glides.[18] These include bilabial, alveolar, velar, and uvular articulations, contributing to the language's distinctive guttural and harsh quality inspired by nomadic warrior cultures.[18] Stops form voiceless/voiced pairs such as /p/–/b/, /t/–/d/, and /k/–/g/, with an additional voiceless uvular stop /q/ articulated by raising the back of the tongue to the uvula for a deeper, throaty sound. The stop /d/ is dental. Fricatives include pairs like /f/–/v/, /s/–/z/, /ʃ/–/ʒ/, alongside unpaired /θ/ (as in English "thin"), /x/ (a voiceless velar fricative, akin to the "ch" in Scottish "loch," providing guttural emphasis) and /h/ (glottal fricative). Affricates include /t͡ʃ/ (voiceless postalveolar) and its voiced counterpart /d͡ʒ/. Nasals consist of /m/ (bilabial) and /n/ (alveolar); /n/ assimilates in place of articulation to a following consonant, becoming velar [ŋ] before /k/ or /g/ (e.g., in sequences like ankh or ang), or uvular before /q/, mirroring natural assimilation in English compounds without altering the phonemic inventory. Liquids are /l/ (alveolar lateral approximant) and /r/ (alveolar rhotic), while glides include /j/ (palatal) and /w/ (labial-velar). No distinct labiodental or pharyngeal fricatives beyond these exist, and the inventory avoids complex clusters in initial positions to maintain pronounceability.[18] Allophonic variations enhance the language's phonetic flow. The rhotic /r/ is realized as a trill in word-initial, word-final, or geminated positions (e.g., rr), but as a tap [ɾ] intervocalically for a lighter, tapped quality similar to Spanish pero. Stops like /p/, /t/, and /k/ are aspirated with a puff of air even in final position, emphasizing their voiceless nature.[18] Romanization uses the Latin alphabet with digraphs for non-English sounds: ⟨th⟩ for /θ/, ⟨kh⟩ for /x/, ⟨sh⟩ for /ʃ/, ⟨ch⟩ for /t͡ʃ/, ⟨zh⟩ for /ʒ/, and ⟨ng⟩ for [ŋ] (assimilation). Single letters suffice for most others (e.g., ⟨p⟩ for /p/, ⟨r⟩ for /r/, ⟨j⟩ for /d͡ʒ/, ⟨y⟩ for /j/). Geminates, common in Dothraki, are doubled (e.g., ⟨tt⟩, ⟨nn⟩), pronounced with prolonged hold, while digraph geminates adjust accordingly (e.g., ⟨ssh⟩ for geminated /ʃ/). This system ensures accessibility for English speakers while preserving the language's phonetic integrity.[18]| Place/Manner | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental/Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||
| Stop | p b | t d | k g | q | ||||
| Fricative | f v | θ (th) s z | ʃ (sh) ʒ (zh) | x (kh) | h | |||
| Affricate | t͡ʃ (ch) d͡ʒ (j) | |||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||||
| Glide | y (j) | w |
Vowels
The Dothraki language employs a compact vowel inventory consisting of four monophthong vowels: /i/, /e/, /o/, and /a/. These vowels are non-nasalized, with /i/, /e/, and /a/ unrounded and /o/ rounded.[19] The qualities align closely with cardinal vowels in the International Phonetic Alphabet: /i/ is a high front unrounded vowel, akin to the 'ee' in English "see"; /e/ is a mid front unrounded vowel, similar to the 'e' in "bed"; /o/ is a mid back rounded vowel, resembling the 'o' in "go" but purer and without a following glide; and /a/ is an open central unrounded vowel, between the 'a' in "father" and "cat," with a relatively flat tongue position.[18] Phonetic variation occurs contextually, particularly following the uvular stop /q/, where vowels undergo laxing to advanced tongue root ([-ATR]) allophones: /a/ realizes as [ɑ], /e/ as [ɛ], /o/ as [ɔ], and /i/ as due to the absence of a lax high front counterpart in the inventory. This assimilation creates a "darker" or more retracted quality, as the uvular consonant influences the subsequent vowel timbre. For instance, in qafat [qɑfat] "to sit" and qevir [qɛvɪr] "girl," the initial vowels reflect this rule.[20][21] Vowel sequences arise in hiatus, where two adjacent vowels form distinct syllables without obligatory resolution via glides or contraction in native pronunciation. Diphthongs do not exist as phonemic units; instead, sequences like those in dothrae [doθ.rae] "the gods" or khalaan [xa.laːn] "city" are articulated as separate vowel nuclei, each fully voiced. Non-native speakers may insert glides (e.g., a between /a/ and /i/), but this is not standard.[19][18] The glides /j/ and /w/ function as semivowels in consonant positions (e.g., y as in "yes" and w as in "west"), but they do not systematically break hiatus.[18] Dothraki lacks phonemic vowel length distinctions, with all vowels underlyingly short. Perceived duration varies suprasegmentally: stressed vowels are articulated slightly longer than unstressed ones, contributing to rhythmic emphasis without altering phonemic contrasts. For example, in qaeya [ˈqa.je.a], the stressed initial vowel extends modestly. Geminates, such as doubled vowels in orthography (e.g., oo), represent identical adjacent vowels in separate syllables rather than long vowels.[18][20]Prosody
The prosody of Dothraki encompasses suprasegmental features that contribute to its rhythmic and intonational profile, shaped by the language's syllable structure and stress patterns. The syllable structure follows a (C)V(C) template, where syllables are predominantly open or closed with a single consonant coda, permitting limited complex onsets such as /pr/ and /tr/ but prohibiting broader consonant clusters.[20] This simple phonotactic framework ensures straightforward syllable division, as seen in words like pryas (/pr.jas/, "life") with a complex onset or zhavvorsi (/ʒa.vor.si/, "queen") with simple codas.[19] Stress in Dothraki is fixed and predictable, primarily falling on the final syllable of words ending in a consonant, as in athchomar (/aθ.t͡ʃoˈmar/, "loyalty"). For words ending in a vowel but preceded by two consonants (excluding digraphs like kh or th), stress shifts to the penultimate syllable, such as tolorro (/toˈlor.ro/, "bone"); in all other cases, it places on the initial syllable. In compound words, primary stress typically aligns with the final syllable of the first element, maintaining the language's emphasis on lexical roots while subordinating subsequent components. These rules, devised by language creator David J. Peterson, create a consistent accentual system that avoids ambiguity in pronunciation.[22][19] Intonation in Dothraki follows declarative falling contours for statements and rising patterns for yes/no questions, mirroring common Indo-European patterns to facilitate comprehension in dialogue. Emphatic expressions leverage the language's guttural consonants for added intensity, enhancing the nomadic, harsh quality intended by Peterson to evoke the Dothraki's warrior culture. The overall rhythm is stress-timed, with stressed syllables occurring at roughly regular intervals, which amplifies the aggressive, percussive sound in spoken lines, as heard in scripted scenes from Game of Thrones.[19][23]Orthography and Romanization
Romanization System
The Dothraki language employs a Latin-based romanization system devised by its creator, David J. Peterson, to facilitate pronunciation for English-speaking audiences while accurately representing its phonetic inventory. This orthography draws on English spelling conventions, utilizing the standard 26-letter alphabet supplemented by common digraphs and a few special characters to denote sounds not present in English. It prioritizes simplicity and readability, avoiding complex diacritics beyond one instance, and follows English capitalization rules—such as initial capitals for proper nouns and sentence starts—without additional modifications for Dothraki-specific terms.[18] Key digraphs include ⟨sh⟩ for the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ (as in "shack"), ⟨ch⟩ for the voiceless postalveolar affricate /tʃ/ (as in "chalk," with an aspirated release), ⟨th⟩ for the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ (as in "thin"), ⟨kh⟩ for the voiceless velar fricative /x/ (as in Scottish "loch" or German "Bach"), and ⟨zh⟩ for the voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ (as in "azure"). Single letters like ⟨j⟩ represent the voiced postalveolar affricate /dʒ/ (as in "jam"), while ⟨q⟩ denotes a uvular stop /q/, akin to a backed /k/. The letter ⟨ñ⟩ is used for the palatal nasal /ɲ/, a sound similar to the "ñ" in Spanish "niño" or the "ng" in English "sing" but before a front vowel, appearing in words like puñila ("worn").[18][24] Other conventions include the apostrophe (⟨'⟩), which primarily indicates contractions or elisions between words or morphemes and is not pronounced as a glottal stop, as in mr'anha (pronounced as if mranha). Double consonants, such as ⟨kk⟩ or ⟨ss⟩, are held longer for gemination, while digraphs like ⟨ssh⟩ double only the fricative component. Vowels are spelled with single letters (⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨y⟩ as a consonant only), with length or quality variations determined by stress rather than diacritics; for instance, ⟨a⟩ is pronounced between the "a" in "father" and "cat." This system ensures that Dothraki text can be read aloud with minimal phonetic ambiguity.[18] The romanization was officially adopted for the HBO series Game of Thrones, appearing in episode scripts, subtitles, and promotional materials to guide actors and viewers. It forms the basis of Peterson's instructional works, including the Dothraki Reference Grammar (submitted to HBO in 2010) and Living Language Dothraki (2014), which provide comprehensive lexicons and lessons using this orthography.[18]Hypothetical Scripts
In the canonical lore of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, the Dothraki are portrayed as illiterate nomads whose culture emphasizes oral tradition over written records, resulting in no native writing system for their language.[22] This absence aligns with their depiction as horse-mounted warriors roaming the Dothraki Sea, where literacy is not valued or developed. David J. Peterson, who constructed the Dothraki language for HBO's Game of Thrones, has endorsed and detailed several fan-created hypothetical scripts on his official website to facilitate writing the language beyond its standard Romanization. One prominent proposal is an alphabet invented by Carlos Carrion Torres and his daughter Patrícia Carrion, envisioned as a system devised by the character Jorah Mormont to transcribe Dothraki within the series' universe. This script draws inspiration from the Valyrian glyphs also created by the Carri ons, featuring an alphabetic structure written left to right, with vowels derived from rotations of a base symbol, paired consonants represented by 180-degree rotations, and vertical strokes indicating palatalization or other modifications like affricates.[25][26] Another fan proposal highlighted by Peterson is a syllabary developed by contributor Qvaak, designed specifically for Dothraki's phonetic structure and derived from the Roman alphabet through enlargement, shrinkage, and rearrangement into compact glyphs. In this system, each glyph centers on the syllable's vowel as a prominent boxy form, with the initial consonant placed in the middle and the coda consonant in the lower right; additional lines serve for word boundaries, punctuation, or decorative elements, making it adaptable for nomadic use.[27] Peterson has further explored transliterations using existing scripts for hypothetical Dothraki writing, such as an abjad modeled on Arabic that omits vowels as incidental, focusing on consonants to evoke a terse, warrior-like aesthetic.[28] He also proposed a Cyrillic-based system, mapping Dothraki sounds to letters familiar in Slavic and Mongolian orthographies while adjusting for unique phonemes like palatal fricatives.[29] Additionally, the decorative header script on Peterson's site adopts visual elements from Devanāgarī but employs a distinct abugida-like arrangement for Dothraki syllables.[12] In conlanging communities, these and similar scripts have inspired discussions on potential digital encoding, though no formal Unicode proposal for a dedicated Dothraki script has advanced as of recent years.Grammar
Nouns and Pronouns
Dothraki nouns are classified into two genders: animate and inanimate, a distinction that is largely lexical rather than strictly semantic, with animate typically applying to humans, animals, and certain personified entities, while inanimate covers objects, places, and abstract concepts.[30] This gender system influences declension patterns, particularly in the accusative case, where animate nouns take a distinct ending to mark direct objects, reflecting their perceived agency.[22] Nouns inflect for five cases—nominative, accusative, genitive, allative, and ablative—and, for animate nouns, number (singular and plural). Inanimate nouns do not distinguish number, treating plurals as unmarked collectives.[30] Plural formation in animate nouns generally involves suffixes like -i in the nominative and genitive, with variations in other cases to accommodate vowel harmony and stem changes.[22] The case system serves to indicate grammatical roles without relying on strict word order. The nominative marks subjects, the accusative direct objects (with animate nouns showing -es in singular), the genitive possession or origin, the allative direction toward or benefit (often functioning dative-like), and the ablative direction away from or separation.[30] Definiteness is not marked by articles; instead, context, demonstratives, or possessive pronouns specify whether a noun refers to a particular entity.[31] Representative declension paradigms illustrate these patterns. For an animate noun like verak ("traveler"):| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | verak | veraki |
| Accusative | verakes | verakis |
| Genitive | veraki | veraki |
| Allative | verakaan | verakea |
| Ablative | verakoon | verakoa |
| Case | Form |
|---|---|
| Nominative | olta |
| Accusative | olt |
| Genitive | olti |
| Allative | oltaan |
| Ablative | oltoon |
Verbs
Dothraki verbs are synthetic, primarily employing suffixes to mark person and number in certain tenses, while prefixes indicate future tense and negation in specific contexts. The language features three main tenses—present, past, and future—with conjugation patterns that vary by the verb's stem type (consonant-initial or vowel-initial). Most verbs follow regular paradigms, with infinitives typically ending in -at (for consonant stems) or -lat (for vowel stems), such as tihat ("to see") or dothralat ("to ride").[22][33] In the present tense, verbs conjugate for person (first, second, third) and number (singular, plural), distinguishing positive and negative forms through distinct suffixes. For example, the consonant-stem verb tihat conjugates as follows in the positive present:| Person/Number | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | tihak (I see) | tihaki (we see) |
| 2nd | tihi (you see) | tihi (you all see) |
| 3rd | tiha (he/she/it sees) | tihi (they see) |