Karrakêsh

Karrakêsh
aȝāl karrakēš;
Pronunciation	[/a'ɣaːl kara'keːʃ/]
Created by	Nicolás Campi
Date	2018
Setting	Lovecraftian
Ethnicity	Unknown
Language family	Aklo languages Karrakêsh
Early form	Old Karrakêsh

Karrakêsh (aghâl karrakêsh [a'ɣaːl kara'keːʃ], or aȝāl karrakēš), sometimes also known as "Aklo", or Karkêsh is an isolated language of unknown origin. Some have theorized it may have sprung from a neighboring area to both Sumerian and Elamite, but no linguistic relationship could be proven as no material remains could be found. The language was created for the Argentine 2017 lovecraftian film "Necronomicón: El Libro del Infierno" (Necronomicon: The Book of Hell) by BarakaCine.

Introduction

Within the setting of the film, the language is used by an occult sect who once guarded and now pursue the location of the infamous book, the Necronomicon. Its origin is entirely unknown, being speculated either to have come from the stars or invented on Earth. Some are divided between the idea of it being based on the whispers of the Old Ones (Ancient cosmic deities) to humanity since prehistoric times, and others who think it was brought from the stars (the Pleiades, or maybe Aldebaran) by another race. The language is often confused with Aklo, first mentioned by Arthur Machen. Machen only mentioned the language in passing and it was H. P. Lovecraft who integrated Aklo in his Cthulhu Mythos stories "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Haunter of the Dark". However, it is clear the two are different languages, and Aklo has always belonged to a particular sect through the ages.

Outside the fictional setting, the language was developed by conlanger Nicolás Campi for the film. There it was used by various characters and also as sounds and whispers throughout the film.

Goals

The goal was to produce a language that would feel ancient and mystical, alien to the audience but evoking certain sensations on the viewer. It had to be used in a dialogue between two members of the cult to speak among themselves in a language all their own that would mark them as part of the same order.

Setting

The setting is our own world, but clearly based on a Lovecraftian version of our time. One where the Necronomicon exists and a copy has been found in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as described by Lovecraft himself.

Inspiration

To produce the idea of a "dark", mystical, magical language of the occult many inspirations were used. One such inspiration was Sumerian, Akkadian, and even going as far as Tolkien's Black Speech.

Phonology

Orthography

The official orthography used for the script was made simpler for the actors. So, for instance, the name "Karrakêsh", should actually be rendered more properly Karrakēš. In the script many digraphs were used instead of one-characters for the sounds that were more unfamiliar to the actors. These include «th, kh», for θ, χ, or «dh, bh, gh», for ð, β, ɣ, and of course «sh, zh, ch» for ʃ, ʒ, t͡ʃ.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p b	t d	ch [t͡s]	k g
Fricative	ph [ɸ] bh [β]	th [θ] dh [ð]		kh [x] gh [ɣ]	h
Sibilant		s z	sh [ʃ] zh [ʒ]
Nasal	m	n
Liquid		l r
Approximant			y [j]

Notes

• A nasal «n» will assimilate to «ŋ» before a velar consonant, but will not assimilate to «m» before a labial. Likewise, «m» will not assimilate to «n, ŋ» before either dental or velar consonants.

Vowels

Aklo distinguishes between long and short vowels. Often the long vowels are the result of a series of vowel contraction from verbal and declensional paradigms.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i, î [iː]		u, û [uː]
Mid	e, ê [eː]		o, ô [oː]
Open		a, â [aː]