The allure of con langs

Athchomar Chomakaan (Hello to a non-Dothraki), Hrazef dik (a fast horse), Khaleesi zheanae (the beautiful queen)  while this may sound like gibberish to some, youngsters in the city would recognise it as Dothraki, a language spoken in the hugely popular series Game of Thrones, adapted by David J Peterson from George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Welcome to the world of con languages, or languages which have been painstakingly constructed for a particular purpose, complete with vocabulary and grammar.

Other popular examples of con languages include J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elvish, which also spawned similar interest, which he created for the Lord of the Rings series. Star Trek fans are known for their fascination for the language Klingon which was further popularised through the TV series, Big Bang Theory in which the lead characters spoke it. Closer home, the recently released superhit Baahubali too features a con language  Kiliki, created by lyricist, Madhan Karky.

Madhan, the brain behind Kiliki which has more than 700 words and 40 grammar rules, is happy that people are trying to speak the language. “S.S. Rajamouli wanted a language that was rough and would incite fear in the battlefield. I told him about Cliq, a new language I created, when I was in Australia doing my PhD. Rajamouli really liked it. The key aspect of Kiliki is the two additional sounds ‘ik’ (as in click) used to denote plural nouns and a ‘ta’ sound for possessive nouns. I created the vocabulary and grammar along the way,” he said.

Madhan added that his objective was to bring the language alive. “We wanted it to be a proper language. And for me, the biggest challenge was to add emotion to the language. Since there were no subtitles, the words had to translate the emotion to the audience,” he said, adding that he plans to launch an app, where people can learn the language. “Maybe after the second part of the film is released,” he hinted.

Entrepreneur Anjana Palepu, a fan of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, recalled a time when she learnt Elvish. “Back in the day, there was an online course where they taught us to write Elvish. My friend Maisam and I would write letters to each other in Elvish. The language was very difficult to master since we had no phonetics to go on.  I love the idea of fictional languages - the fact that an author has taken so much effort to create a new language is amazing,” she remarked.

Dothraki, spoken by a race of nomadic horse-mounted warriors in Essos, is popular among Chennai’s GoT fans. And now, with the launch of an app as well as a Dothraki language course, Living Language Dothraki, they can now learn the nuances of this fictional tongue. Kevin Philip, a 21-year-old who works in an audit firm, said he loves the idea of fictional languages. “While watching the characters speak Dothraki, the idea of not understanding the language added mystery. And, it is a very early civilization — so the language is rustic. I would surely try my hand at learning Dothraki and showing off to my friends,” he laughed.

Neelesh Balakrishnan, an SAP programmer and a huge GoT fan, said he would love to learn High Valyrian, another language in the series. “High Valyrian is the base of all other languages. Fictional languages add more fun to the series, especially for hardcore GoT fans,” he concluded.