MGoT: “Dothraki 101”

In a nice promotional move, catering to the tastes of language lovers like myself, HBO’s Making Game of Thrones offers the first official lesson on Lekh Dothraki, the Dothraki language. You have read it correctly – this is only the first in the series, brought to you by the creator David J. Peterson himself. Here is how he introduces the language:

Dothraki is the language of the nomadic horse warriors who populate the Dothraki Sea: a vast grass plain in the center of the continent of Essos, which lies to the east of Westeros, across the Narrow Sea. Their language differs greatly from the Common Tongue of Westeros and the languages of the Free Cities, which descend from High Valyrian. In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce you to the Dothraki language (or Lekh Dothraki) little by little…

This first lesson gives us information on the basic sentential word order, modification of nominal phrases, and the placement of adverbs, together with a modest glossary of some fifteen items. More fresh lexical material can be deduced from the glossed examples.

Hear Me Roar: Thanks, HBO! I am sure David is happy to be able to share the details openly with the commnunity. I found the presentation very clear and accessible to the general public, while it remains informative and interesting to the linguists as well. Admittedly, I haven’t so far spent much time memorizing the words and rules of the language, beyond the initial cursory glances at what Dothraki is like and which other languages it resembles, but this may change now. And thank you for the plug, MGoT, we appreciate the link to our site.

• Published on 12/15/2010 at 3:19 PM CDT
• Last updated on 12/15/2010 at 3:19 PM CDT