Atlantean language

For the language from the Stargate franchise, see Ancient (Stargate).

The Atlantean language is a constructed language created by Marc Okrand specially for the Walt Disney Feature Animation 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 word stock with its very own grammar, which is at times described as highly agglutinative, inspired by Sumerian and North American Indigenous languages.

Atlantean
Dig Adlantisag
Pronunciation	diɡ ɑdlɑntisɑɡ
Created by	Marc Okrand
Date	1996–2001
Setting and usage	2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire and related media
Users	None
Purpose	constructed languages Artistic languages Fictional languages Atlantean
Writing system	Atlantean Script
Sources	Constructed languages  A posteriori languages
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None
IETF	art-x-atlantea

Creation

Linguist Marc Okrand was hired by Disney to create the Atlantean language.

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. 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., in the First or Second Age of Atlantis until the present.

To accomplish this, 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, but Okrand combines this with Biblical Hebrew, later Indo-European languages such as Latin and Greek, and a variety of other known or reconstructed ancient languages.

Writing systems

Atlantean has its own script created expressly for the movie by 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.

Atlantean Script

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."

The Atlantean script includes more characters than are actually employed in the language itself. These letters being c, f, j, q, v, x, z, ch, or th, they were created so that Atlantean might be used as a simple cipher code in the media and for promotional purposes. They are all also based on diverse ancient characters, just like the rest of the alphabet.

Roman Script

Apart from the native Atlantean script created for the show, the language can be transcribed using the Roman script. There are two versions for doing so:

1. Standard Transcription, how the language is transliterated by Marc Okrand himself.
2. Reader's Script, a Berlitz-style notation devised by Okrand, which he hoped would make the Atlantean easier to read for the actors.

Example sentence, broken down:

Nishentop

NEE-shen-toap

spirit-PL-VOC

Adlantisag,

AHD-luhn-tih-suhg,

Atlantis-GEN,

kelobtem

KEH-loab-tem

chamber-ACC

Gabrin

GAHB-rihn

2.PL.FAM-GEN

karoklimik

KAH-roak-lih-mihk

defile-PPERF-1.SG

bet

bet

for

gim

gihm

and

demottem

DEH-moat-tem

land-ACC

net

net

into

getunosentem

GEH-tuh-noh-sen-tem

intruder-PL-ACC

bernotlimik

behr-NOAT-lih-mihk

bring-PPERF-1.SG

bet

bet

for

kagib

KAH-gihb

1.SG-DAT

lewidyoh.

LEH-wihd-yoakh.

forgive-IMP-PL

Nishentop Adlantisag, kelobtem Gabrin karoklimik bet gim demottem net getunosentem bernotlimik bet kagib lewidyoh.

NEE-shen-toap AHD-luhn-tih-suhg, KEH-loab-tem GAHB-rihn KAH-roak-lih-mihk bet gihm DEH-moat-tem net GEH-tuh-noh-sen-tem behr-NOAT-lih-mihk bet KAH-gihb LEH-wihd-yoakh.

spirit-PL-VOC Atlantis-GEN, chamber-ACC 2.PL.FAM-GEN defile-PPERF-1.SG for and land-ACC into intruder-PL-ACC bring-PPERF-1.SG for 1.SG-DAT forgive-IMP-PL

"Spirits of Atlantis, forgive me for defiling your chamber and bringing intruders into the land."

The following is a table that shows the correspondences between the different modes of transcription and also provides the probable IPA values.

Correspondences

Standard Transcription	a	b	g	d	e	u	w	h	i	y	k	l	m	n	o	p	r	s	sh	t
Reader's Script	ah, uh	b	g	d	eh, e	oo, u	w	kh	ee, ih	y	k	l	m	n	oa, oh	p	r	s	sh	t
IPA	[ɑ, ə]	[b]	[g]	[d]	[e, ɛ]	[u, ʊ]	[w]	[x]	[i, ɪ]	[j]	[k]	[l]	[m]	[n]	[o, ɔ]	[p]	[r, ɾ]	[s]	[ʃ]	[t]

Numerals

John Emerson, Marc Okrand, and the filmmakers also created numerals for 0–9. They are stacked horizontally, however, and hold place values of 1, 20, and 400. Their components are based on Mayan numerals and internally composed for the font (example above) like Roman numerals. If used according to the now-offline Official Website's directions, they are used, alternatively, like Arabic numerals.

Cardinal numbers

Numeral	Atlantean	English
1	din	one
2	dut	two
3	sey	three
4	kut	four
5	sha	five
6	luk	six
7	tos	seven
8	ya	eight
9	nit	nine
10	ehep	ten
20	dut dehep	twenty
30	sey dehep	thirty
40	kut dehep	forty
50	sha dehep	fifty
60	luk dehep	sixty
70	tos dehep	seventy
80	ya dehep	eighty
90	nit dehep	ninety

Numeral suffixes

Ordinals are formed adding the suffix -(d)lag: sey 'three', seydlag 'third'. The d is omitted if the root ends with an obstruent or nasal consonant: dut 'two', dutlag 'second'. Fractions are formed with the suffix -(d)lop: kut 'four', kutlop 'quarter', sha 'five', shadlop 'fifth (part)'. And finally, distributives are formed with the suffix noh: din 'one', dinnoh 'one at a time, one each'.

Phonology

Consonants

IPA chart of Atlantean consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Fricative			s	ʃ	x
Approximant		w	l	j
Trill			r

Vowels

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

IPA chart of Atlantean vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	Tense	Lax	Tense	Lax	Tense	Lax
High	i	ɪ			u	ʊ
Mid	e	ɛ			o	ɔ
Low			a	ə

Vowels in stressed syllables tend to be tense, and likewise unstressed ones tend to be more lax. Thus, for example, /i/ is realized as [i] or [ɪ] in stressed and unstressed syllables, respectively. Likewise, /e/ is realized as [e] or [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.

When the suffix for the first person singular -ik combines with tenses that employ -i, -o (Past and Future tenses), it becomes -mik.

bernot-o-ik → bernot-o-mik

But when combined with suffixes that feature -e (Present tenses), the same suffix becomes -kik.

bernot-e-ik → bernot-e-kik

Grammar

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.

Some sentences appear to employ some kind of particles sometimes termed "sentence connectors". These particles are of obscure meaning but are theorized to relate two clauses in a logical yet idiomatic manner. The exact meaning and usage of these particles is not known, but without them sentences are difficult to reconcile with their translations.

ex:

Wiltem

city-ACC

neb

DEM

gamosetot

see-PRES-3SG

deg

PART

duweren

outsider-PL

tirid.

all.

Wiltem neb gamosetot deg duweren tirid.

city-ACC DEM see-PRES-3SG PART outsider-PL all.

"No outsiders may see the city and live."
(But more literally: "He sees the city PARTICLE all outsiders.")

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.

ex:

Tab.top,

father-VOC,

lud.en

person-PL

neb.et

DEM-PL

kwam

NEG

gesu

help

bog.e.kem

be able-PRES-1SG

deg

PART

yasek.en

noble-PL

gesu.go.ntoh.

help-FUT.POSB-3PL

Tab.top, lud.en neb.et kwam gesu bog.e.kem deg yasek.en gesu.go.ntoh.

father-VOC, person-PL DEM-PL NEG help {be able}-PRES-1SG PART noble-PL help-FUT.POSB-3PL

"Father, these people may be able to help us."
(But more literally: "Oh Father, we cannot help these people PARTICLE they will help the nobles."

In this example the sentences seem to be better connected, and the particle is rendered as almost "but, yet". It is difficult to reconcile the two, however.

Nouns

Atlantean has seven cases for nouns, five for pronouns and two for numbers.

Grammatical cases

Grammatical Cases

Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
Nominative	no suffix	yob	the crystal (subject).
Accusative	-tem	yobtem	the crystal (object).
Genitive	-ag	yobag	of the crystal
Vocative	-top	Yobtop	O Crystal!
Instrumental	-esh	yobesh	using crystal
Essive	-kup	yobkup	(as, composed of, being) crystal
Dative	-nuh	yobnuh	(for, to, on behalf of) crystal

Notes:

Other suffixes

Other Noun Suffixes

Grammatical Function	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
Plural	-en	yoben	crystals
Augmentative	-mok	Yobmok	The Great Crystal

Nouns are marked as plural with the suffix -en. Case suffixes never precede the -en plural suffix. "-Mok" occurs after it.

Pronouns

Independent Pronoun

		Singular	Plural
1st person		kag	gwis
2nd person	unfamiliar	moh	gebr
	familiar		gabr
3rd person		tug tuh tok	sob

Suffix

	Singular	Plural
1st person	-ik	-kem
2nd person	-en	-eh
3rd person	-ot	-toh

There are five cases for pronouns.

Grammatical cases

Grammatical Cases

Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
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.

Notes:

Verbs

Verbs are inflected with two suffixes, one for tense/aspect and the next for person/number.

Tense/aspect suffixes

OBLG:obligatory mood POSB:possible

Tense/Aspect suffixes

	Name	Suffix	Example	Other Examples
Present	Simple Present	-e	bernot.e.kik bring-PRES-1SG bernot.e.kik bring-PRES-1SG I bring	sapoh.e.kik sapoh.e.kik I view
	Present Perfect	-le	bernot.le.kik bring-PRES.PERF-1SG bernot.le.kik bring-PRES.PERF-1SG I have brought
	Present Obligatory	-se	bernot.se.kik bring-PRES.OBLG-1SG bernot.se.kik bring-PRES.OBLG-1SG I am obliged to bring	kaber.se.kem kaber.se.kem we are obliged to warn
Past	Simple Past	-i	bernot.i.mik bring-PAST-1SG bernot.i.mik bring-PAST-1SG I brought	es.i.mot es.i.mot it was sapoh.i.mik sapoh.i.mik I viewed
	Immediate Past	-ib	bernot.ib.mik bring-IMM.PAST-1SG bernot.ib.mik bring-IMM.PAST-1SG I just brought
	Past Perfect	-li	bernot.li.mik bring-PAST.PERF-1SG bernot.li.mik bring-PAST.PERF-1SG I had brought
Future	Simple Future	-o	bernot.o.mik bring-FUT-1SG bernot.o.mik bring-FUT-1SG I will bring	komtib.o.nen komtib.o.nen you will find
	Future Possible	-go	bernot.go.mik bring-FUT.POSB-1SG bernot.go.mik bring-FUT.POSB-1SG I may bring	gesu.go.ntoh gesu.go.ntoh they may help
	Future Perfect	-lo	bernot.lo.mik bring-FUT.PERF-1SG bernot.lo.mik bring-FUT.PERF-1SG I will have brought	komtib.lo.nen komtib.lo.nen you will have found
	Future Obligatory	-so	bernot.so.mik bring-FUT.OBLG-1SG bernot.so.mik bring-FUT.OBLG-1SG I will be obliged to bring	komtib.so.nen komtib.so.nen you will be obliged to find

Mood and Voice suffixes

Mood suffixes

Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
Imperative Mood Singular	no suffix	bernot!, nageb!	bring!, enter!
Imperative Mood Plural	-yoh	bernot.yoh!, nageb.yoh!	(you all) bring!, (you all) enter!
Passive Voice	-esh	pag.esh.e.nen, bernot.esh.ib.mik	you are thanked (thank you), I was just brought
Infinitive	-e	bernot.e, wegen.e, gamos.e	to bring, to travel, to see

See also

• Languages in Star Wars - Another Disney property with constructed languages

Notes

References

• Cynthia, Benjamin. "Atlantis: The Lost Empire : Welcome to my World." New York: Random House: 2001.
• Ehrbar, Greg. "Atlantis: The Lost Empire." Milwaukee: Dark Horse Comics: June 2001.
• Hahn, Don; Wise, Kirk; Trousdale, Gary et al. "2-Disc Collector’s Edition: Atlantis: The Lost Empire."
• "Disney Adventures" magazine, Summer Issue 2001.
• Howard, James N. "Atlantis: The Lost Empire An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack" : Limited Taiwanese Edition. Taiwan and Hong Kong: Walt Disney Records: Represented by Avex: 2001.
• Kurtti, Jeff. "Atlantis Subterranean Tours: A Traveler’s Guide to the Lost City (Atlantis the Lost Empire)." New York: Disney Editions: 2001.
• Kurtti, Jeff. "The Journal of Milo Thatch." New York: Disney Editions: 2001.
• Murphy, Tab et al. "Atlantis, the Lost Empire : The Illustrated Script." New York : Disney Editions: 2001.

External links

• Atlantean Language Institute (archive) – Provides a dictionary, grammar guide, and corpus
• Henning's 2001 Introduction to the Language
• Atlantean alphabet on Omiglot