UFRGS FIS LIT ING ESP 2018

The complex linguistic universe of Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones has garnered 38 Emmy  

awards for its portrayal of a world of sex,  

violence and politics so real that some viewers  

could imagine moving there. Part of that detail  

[5] has been the creation of the richest linguistic  

universe since J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth. 

In the field of language-creation for fictional  

worlds, there is Tolkien, and there is everybody 

else. But David Peterson, the language-smith  

[10] of Game of Thrones, comes a close second for  

the amount of thought put into its two  

languages, Dothraki and Valyrian. The interest  

in these tongues is such that a textbook for  

learning Dothraki has been published, while  

[15] Duolingo, a popular online language-learning  

platform, now offers a course in High Valyrian. 

Inspired by fictional languages such as those  

in the Star Wars films and with a master’s  

degree in linguistics, Peterson made Dothraki  

[20] and Valyrian as rich and realistic as possible. 

Creating words is the easy part; anyone can  

string together nonsense syllables. But  

Peterson, like Tolkien, took the trouble to give  

his words etymologies and cousins, so that  

[25] the word for “feud” is related to the words  

“blood” and “fight”. To make the languages  

pronounceable but clearly foreign, he put  

non-English sounds in high-frequency words  

(like khaleesi, or queen), put the stress in  

[30] typically non-English places, and had words  

begin with combinations of sounds that are  

impossible in English, like hr. 

Armed with a knowledge of common linguistic  

sound changes, he gives his languages the  

[35] kinds of irregularities and disorder that arise in  

the real world: High Valyrian’s obar  

(“curve”) becomes Astapori Valyrian’s uvor.  

Words’ meanings—as in real life—drift, too,  

giving the system more realistic messiness. 

[40] Languages also play a prominent role in the  

storyline. Dothraki is the guttural language of  

a horse-borne warrior nation, but high-born  

Daenerys Targaryen does not look down on it;  

methodically learning it is key to her rise.  

[45] Tyrion Lannister is left to administer the city  

of Mereen despite his ropy command of  

Valyrian, leading to some comic moments.  

And a prophecy of a future hero acquires new  

meaning when an interpreter explains that the  

[50] word in question is ambiguous in Valyrian—it  

could be “prince” or “princess”. 

It might seem odd that a highly sexist society  

like the one of Game of Thrones would have  

languages where sex roles were not clearly  

[55] marked, but languages are not always perfect  

vehicles for a culture. Random change can  

leave them with too many words for one  

concept, and not enough for another. In this  

way, the flawed nature of language reflects  

[60] the foibles of flawed humans and the  

imperfect worlds they strive to create. 

Adaptado de: . Acesso em: 21 nov. 2017.

Considere as possibilidades de reescrita do segmento Inspired by fictional languages such as those in the Star Wars films, Peterson made Dothraki and Valyrian as rich and realistic as possible.

I - Peterson, inspired by fictional languages such as those in the Star Wars films, made Dothraki and Valyrian as rich and realistic as possible.

II - Being as rich and realistic as possible, Peterson made Dothraki and Valyrian inspired by fictional languages such as those in the Star Wars films.

III- Fictional languages in the Star Wars films inspired Peterson to make Dothraki and Valyrian as rich and realistic as possible.

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