Atlantean: Difference between revisions

 

 

 

 

 

The '''Atlantean language''' is a [[constructed language]] created by [[Marc Okrand]] for the [[Disney]] film ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]''. The language was intended by the script-writers to be a possible "mother language", and Okrand crafted it to include a vast [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] word stock with its very own grammar, which is at times described as highly [[Agglutinative language|agglutinative]], inspired by [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] and [[North American languages]].

The Atlantean language (''Dig Adlantisag'') is a historically constructed, artistic language put together by Marc Okrand for Disney's 2001 film ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' and associated media.<ref name=prodnotes>"Production Notes."  Atlantis-The Lost Empire.  Ed. Tim Montgomery, 1996–2007.  The Unofficial Disney Animation Archive.  13 January 2007.

[http://animationarchive.net/Feature%20Films/Atlantis-The%20Lost%20Empire/Production%20Notes Animationarchive.net]{{Dead link|date=May 2012}}</ref> The Atlantean language is therefore based both on historic reconstructions as well as on the elaborate [[fantasy]]/[[science fiction]] of the ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' mythos. The fictional principles upon which the Atlantean language was created are: Atlantean is the “[[Tower of Babel]] language”, the “root dialect” from which all languages descended; it has existed without change since sometime before 100,000 B.C., within the First or Second Age of Atlantis until the present.

To accomplish this, Dr. Okrand looked for common characteristics from various world languages and was also heavily inspired by the [[Proto-Indo-European language]]. His main source of words (roots and stems) for the language is Proto-Indo-European,<ref name=prodnotes/> but Okrand combines this with Biblical [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], later Indo-European languages such as [[Latin language|Latin]] and [[Greek language|Greek]], and a variety of other known or reconstructed ancient languages.<ref>Kalin-Casey, Mary.  “Charting Atlantis the crew behind Disney’s latest animated adventure takes you behind the scenes.”  Features Interviews.  17 January 2007 [http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features/interviews/atlantis Reel.com]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060118045634/http://www.reel.com/reel.asp?node=features%2Finterviews%2Fatlantis |date=January 18, 2006 }}</ref><ref>Murphy, Tab, Platon, David Reyolds, Gary Trousdale, Joss Whedon, Kirk Wise, Bryce Zabel, and Jackie Zabel.  Atlantis the Lost Empire: The Illustrated Script [Abridged Version with Notes from the Filmmakers], 55.</ref><ref name="FilmJournal">{{cite web|first=Peter|last=Henn|url=http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000692578|title=Finding Atlantis|date=June 1, 2001|accessdate=August 30, 2011|work=[[Film Journal International]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116180317/http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000692578|archive-date=January 16, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Atlantean has its own script created expressly for the movie by [[John Emerson (Atlantis)|John Emerson]] with the help of Marc Okrand, and inspired by ancient alphabetical scripts, most notably Semitic. There are, however, different kinds of transliteration into the [[Roman script]].

[[File:Atlantean.png|thumb|The Atlantean script and numerals]]

There is no punctuation or capitalization in the native Atlantean Writing System. Okrand based this on ancient writing systems. The Atlantean Script is normally in [[boustrophedon]], that is to say it is written left to right for the first line, right to left the second, and left to right again the third, to continue the pattern. This order was also suggested by Okrand, based on ancient writing systems, and it was accepted because, as he explained, "It's a back-and-forth movement, like water, so that worked."<ref name=prodnotes/><ref name=lingo>Wloszczyna, Susan.  “New movie trek for wordsmith.”  USA Today Online.  24 May 2001.  12 Jan. 2007. [https://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/2001-05-24-atlantis-lingo.htm USA Today]</ref>

Atlantean's phonetic inventory includes a vowel system with five [[phoneme]]s.  Most vowels have two prominent [[allophone|allophonic]] realizations, depending on whether it occurs in a stressed or unstressed syllable.

|+[[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]] chart of Atlantean vowels

|colspan=2 | [[Front vowel|Front]]

|colspan=2 | [[Central vowel|Central]]

|colspan=2 | [[Back vowel|'''Back''']]

| [[Close vowel|High]]

| [[Close-mid vowel|Mid]]

| [[Open vowel|Low]]

Vowels in stressed syllables tend to be [[tenseness|tense]], and likewise unstressed ones tend to be more lax.  Thus, for example, {{IPA|/i/}} is realized as {{IPAblink|i}} or {{IPAblink|ɪ}} in stressed and unstressed syllables, respectively. Likewise, {{IPA|/e/}} is realized as {{IPAblink|e}} or {{IPAblink|ɛ}}, and so on. There are three diphthongs, namely ''ay, ey, oy''.

Aside from the stressed-syllable-based vowel system, the only other example of prominent phonological phenomenon seems to be a special kind of [[sandhi]] occurring in verbs, when the pronoun is combined with the aspect marker.

Atlantean has a very strict [[subject–object–verb]] word order, with no deviations from this pattern attested. Adjectives and nouns in the genitive case follow the nouns they modify, adpositions appear only in the form of [[postpositions]], and modal verbs follow the verbs that they modify and subsequently take all personal and aspectual suffixes. However, adverbs precede verbs. The language includes the use of an interrogative particle to form questions with no variation in word order.<ref name=prodnotes/>

In the example above there is no actual mention of the consequences for outsiders, yet the subtitle in the movie translates it as a warning even without any mention of living or dying. A possibility exists that, in order to match the lip movement of the characters in the movie and the time of the dialogue, the language had to be shortened, often leaving out key parts of the sentence. It is known that the Atlantean lines in the movie were [[ad-libbed]] afterwards.

Atlantean has seven [[Grammatical case|cases]] for nouns, five for pronouns and two for [[Grammatical number|numbers]].

| [[Nominative case|Nominative]] || no suffix || yob || the crystal (subject).

| [[Accusative case|Accusative]] || -tem || yobtem || the crystal (object).

| [[Genitive case|Genitive]] || -ag || yobag || of the crystal

| [[Vocative case|Vocative]] || -top {{r|footnote1|group=decimal}} || Yobtop || O Crystal!

| [[Instrumental case|Instrumental]] || -esh  || yobesh || using crystal

| [[Essive case|Essive]] || -kup {{r|footnote2|group=decimal}} || yobkup || (as, composed of, being) crystal  

| [[Dative case|Dative]] || -nuh {{r|footnote3|group=decimal}} || yobnuh || (for, to, on behalf of) crystal  

There are five [[Grammatical case|cases]] for pronouns.

| [[Nominative]] || no suffix || kag || I  

| [[Accusative]] || -it || kagit || me, whom was (sent), etc.

| [[Dative]] || -ib || kagib || (to) me

| [[Genitive]] || -in  || kagin || my (my heart, karod kagin)

| [[Instrumental]] || -is  || kagis || by my means, with (using) me, via me, etc. {{r|footnote1|group=decimal}}