Jump to content

Covenant Language


Noah Elkins

Recommended Posts

Like the Na'vi aliens in Avatar, the Covenant in the Halo series deserve a constructed language of their own. My name is Noah Elkins, and I am a huge Halo fan who believes that the sounds that come out of Sangheilis' mouths should not be just made up, but have a syntax, a grammar, semantics, and more, to further enrich the Halo experience, and to add another layer of depth to the Halo universe. I am doing this for the fans like me and for 343 to see. Maybe hopefully we can get this into something! Attached are screenshots from the brief 18-paged grammar and pronunciation outline, where I teach the basics of the language I've created. I hope everyone enjoys, and maybe someday, the Elites and Grunts in an actual piece of canonical Halo will incorporate it, if it's liked.

post-49059-0-15144800-1354053380.png

post-49059-0-21166200-1354053381.png

post-49059-0-82268200-1354053384.png

post-49059-0-84700700-1354053385.png

post-49059-0-80415000-1354053386.png

post-49059-0-63303700-1354053387.png

post-49059-0-46716600-1354053388.png

post-49059-0-29895500-1354053389.png

post-49059-0-29392500-1354053390.png

post-49059-0-17001600-1354053395.png

post-49059-0-22202300-1354053396.png

post-49059-0-18140400-1354053397.png

post-49059-0-01966000-1354053398.png

post-49059-0-81835700-1354053398.png

post-49059-0-64128700-1354053475.png

post-49059-0-72986600-1354053476.png

post-49059-0-74306800-1354053477.png

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Badass, and well thought out, but the covenant races each have their own base language, and the holy language they all speak. So which is this? Sangelli? or the holy language?

 

Sangheili probably. I figure that, since they are probably the most abundant and powerful (next to the San 'Shyuum) race in the Covenant, so their language is probably understood by all of the races just because of the fact that they are all together in the same space for so long. I modeled the language off of the Sangheili mouth, with a lot of tongue-and-lip sounds, so things that are around the front of the mouth, due to their split mandible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if the Covenant language is similar to the Yaut'ja(Predator for anyone whos never seen this name) There are certain words that we can pronounce with the human mouth, however due to the series of clicks they do they can say things out of our ability. With the mandables i would think it similar to them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if the Covenant language is similar to the Yaut'ja(Predator for anyone whos never seen this name) There are certain words that we can pronounce with the human mouth, however due to the series of clicks they do they can say things out of our ability. With the mandables i would think it similar to them.

 

 

I considered that. However, due to the sounds the Sangheili made during Halo CE, Halo 2, Reach, and now Halo 4, they haven't shown any signs of having those sounds in their language. I can assume by this that they don't exist, like the Yaut'ja.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Noah in the new spartan ops episode. when the main elite (sorry dont know name at the moment) mutters an english word, he has to growl it out, this might be a good sign they use a different method than us because of the biology of the Elites at least. I cant say for the other covies such as the brutes who in your words would fit a lot better than the elites in speaking a speakable language with the human mouth

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think it's about Elites' difficulty when speaking a human language. When the Elite in the Spartan Ops episode says 'progress', he doesn't seem to be trying hard to get it out, rather just saying it threateningly to scare or intimidate the scientist. While I crafted the language from what I think a Sangheili would say, this could be easily applicable to a Brute mouth just the same. I'm not pinning this on any one specific race, although I modeled it after one.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you planning on expanding this anymore?

 

If there is a general public interest in it, then yes. I have already begun making a working vocabulary list, and I can expand more on grammar with a more in-depth outline. If this picks up, I'll make this thing fifty pages if I have to!

 

http://noahelkins.conlang.org/covenantlanguage.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...