Table of Contents
Dragonspeak
Dragonspeak (“Dranoskh” in the native tongue to be verified) is a Languages that some Dragons speak in the Suocéverse. It is intimately tied to the contact some draconic communities have made with mid- or high-tier Dragon Legendaries such as the Tao Duo. The language draws directly from Dragonspeak which is the language the Dragons of the First Brood and some of their descendants speak in Squaresoft's Final Fantasy XIV; it has been further adapted for use in the Suocéverse.
Official sources:
- Dragonspeak (contains links to the two main loreposts on the language)
- "A Lesson in Dragonspeak" (lore post)
Reddit user /u/Lazzitron is the more or less official Dragonspeak translation / proofreading assistant for Suocéverse Dragonspeak as of 2023.
Usage
The language is first introduced in Tastes Anew as the draconic language Reshiram and Zekrom speak in Dragonspiral Tower. Future stories in the setting would indicate Necrozma and Rayquaza also speak it.
Sentence structure is Verb-Subject-Object.
The source language derives various terms from English roots but changes sentence structure and cultural semantics.
Glossary
This section describes canon and fanon terms and how they are used. It focuses on terms that have special or extended meaning in a setting of Pokémon.
Canon Terms
| Dragonspeak | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| drań | dragon | The (Pokémon) draconic species. |
| draĥorĥ | “Dragoon” (the class) | In the source uses “dra[h]” rather than “dra[n]” to evoke that the dragons they relate to are devoid of life. In Suocéverse this term would have to be completely recontextualized. |
| ehsk y ań | pillage, steal (v) | Used with specific negative connotations in the source, but can also be used for other sorts of appropriation or acquisition. In the literal it means “make mine”. |
| esĥ eĥd | “god” | Lit. “high(er) spirit”, as Dragons in the source do not truly believe in gods; to be recontextualized in the Suocéverse. |
| fouń | bird, chicken (n) | |
| ńeest | “wild beast” | (Check pending) Meaning an animal or a wild / lesser beast; pending recontextualized definition in the Suocéverse. |
| rhe | red (adj) | The color; the only color given a word in the source. |
| seĥth | give, inflict (v) | Used with specific negative / combative connotations in the source; here it would be slightly refocused on causing lingering damage or effects (eg.: Status Effects). |
Adaptations
In the source, there are two special sounds for h and n which are rendered in writing as [h] and [n]. To simplify rendering, make it feel more “international” and to avoid clashing against code tags that use brackets, those two sounds are in most circumstances rendered here in writing as ĥ and ń respectively; most notably, when they occur at the end of a root.
There is also a special s sound that denotes an action taking place in the future; here colloquially termed “future-hiss”, and rendered in the source as [s]. Because future tense is *usually* deducible in written sentences it is not differentiated here for the most part, but if needs to be done it can be via ś.
Some terms need adaptation to work in a Pokémon setting. Here are some examples:
esĥ eĥd: In the source, dragons do not really believe in gods and thus the term that translates to “god” “downgrades” them to the literal significance of “high(er) spirit”. In Tastes Anew , Reshiram and Zekrom use it to point to themselves as “higher calling dragons” or “dragon lords”. Consequently, a new term would be needed for creatures of actual divine power in the Suocéverse, which would be mostly limited to The Sextet.
Personal names: canon proper names (persons, location) would not translate to the Suocéverse: they'd lack adequate context (eg.: “Elezen”, “Garlean”). However the structure for creating names is transferable. For example, dragons call themselves with their full names, but “lesser creatures” such as humans would have their names translated as eg.: “{first syllable(s) of name}+ń”, and places as eg.: “{first syllable(s) of name}+ĥ”. The version of the names that is translated would be, in general, the one localized to the language their “region” refers to:
- Alder → eg.: Aldń , as a character from Unova.
Rendering
Up to 2023, when used in stories, Dragonspeak is rendered as normal dialogue marked, where possible, with italics. Translation is provided inline via Furigana where possible, or via an imitation of okirigana otherwise.
In the renders that allow it the dialogue is also marked with the classname language code art-x-dranoskh.
Sample dragonspeak rendering:
HTML code span with a drańoskĥ language tag.
Ruby fragment with the language tag.
> HTML code <html>span with a <span lang="art-x-dranoskh"><ruby>drańoskĥ <rt>dragonspeak</rt></ruby> language tag</span></html>. > Ruby fragment <html><ruby lang="art-x-dranoskh">with the language tag<rt>annottation</rt></ruby></html>.
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