Atlantean language

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

Atlantean
Dig Adlantisag
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	Boustrophedon
Sources	constructed languages  A posteriori languages
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

The Atlantean language is a constructed language created by Marc Okrand for Disney's 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 languages.

Concept/Origin

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 or realities as well as on the elaborate fantasy/science fiction of the Atlantis: The Lost Empire mythos. Here are the fictional bases upon which the Atlantean language was created: 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. This is when the Mother Crystal (Matag Yob) descended to Earth and brought enlightenment to the Atlantean people. It is preserved by the presence of the Mother Crystal in the same way that The Shepherd’s journal, the City of Atlantis (Wil Adlantisag), the Atlantean people (luden), and especially its royalty (yaseken) are preserved, healed, and given extended blissful life.

To create this, Dr. Okrand took common characteristics of all world languages and applied them to the Proto-Indo-European language. His main source of words (roots and stems) for the language is Proto-Indo-European, but Okrand also uses ancient Chinese, Biblical Hebrew, Latin and Greek languages, along with a variety of other ancient languages or ancient language reconstructions.

Writing systems

The Atlantean alphabet and numbers

There are three identified writing systems for Atlantean:

1. Writer's Script
2. The Atlantean Alphabet
3. Reader's Script

They are listed in order of creation. Okrand originally put together the language in Writer’s Script. For those many parts in the movie for which it was written, the filmmakers wrote it using the Atlantean Alphabet, created by John Emerson with the help of Marc Okrand. For those fewer parts of the movie for which it is spoken, Okrand devised a Berlitz-style notation which he hoped would make the Atlantean easier to read for the actors.

Example:

1. Spirits of Atlantis, forgive me for defiling your chamber and bringing intruders into the land.
2. Nish.en.top Adlantis.ag, Kelob.tem Gabr.in karok.li.mik bet gim demot.tem net getunos.en.tem bernot.li.mik bet kag.ib lewid.yoh. (Okrand's original wouldn't have had periods; these are used for the translation below.)
3. 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.Plural.Vocative Atlantis.Genitive, Chamber.Oblique you-plural-familiar.Genitive defile.Past-Perfect.1st-Person-Singular for and land.Oblique into intruder.Plural.Oblique bring.Past-Perfect.1st-Person-Singular for I-Dative forgive.Imperative-Plural.)

(Written boustrophedon, as if in Atlantean alphabet: )

NISHENTOP ADLANTISAG KELOBTEM
MIG TEB KIMILKORAK NIRBAG
DEMOTTEM NET GETANOSENTEM
BIGAK TEB KIMILTONREB
LEWIDYOH

Atlantean alphabet: use and sources

Writing systems correspondence

Here’s how they all correspond to one another. For sake of standardization, they are arranged according to a fan-composed alphabet. It is based on the oldest example of the Northern Semitic Abecedary as found in the Ugaritic language.

The Atlantean Alphabet as Used in the Movie

Writer's Script

a

b

g

d

e

w

h

i

y

k

l

m

u

n

o

p

r

s

sh

t

Reader's Script

uh ah

b

g

d

eh e

w

kh

ee ih

y

k

l

m

oo u

n

oa,oh

p

r

s

sh

t

20 letters of the Atlantean alphabet are used to write Atlantean in the media of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The letters c, f, j, q, v, x, z, ch, or th have likewise been acknowledged by the filmmakers as not being used. They were created so that Atlantean might be used as a simple cipher code. They are all also based on diverse ancient characters, just like the rest of the alphabet.

Atlantean alphabet: use

There is no punctuation or capitalization in the Atlantean Writing System. These characteristics are based by Okrand on ancient writing systems. The Atlantean Alphabet is written in normal boustrophedon writing order. 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."

Atlantean numerals and numbers

Atlantean numeral system

Joe 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.

Atlantean numbers and suffixes

Cardinal numbers

Numeral	Atlantean root	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
30	sey dehep	thirty

Ordinals are formed with the suffix (d)lag: sey 'three', sey.dlag 'third'. The d is omitted if the root ends with an obstruent or nasal consonant: dut 'two', dut.lag 'second'.

Fractions are formed with the suffix (d)lop: kut 'four', kut.lop 'quarter', sha 'five', sha.dlop 'fifth (part)'.

Distributives are formed with the suffix noh: din 'one', din.noh 'one at a time, one each'.

Grammar

Vowels and diphthongs

Chart of Atlantean vowels

IPA Symbol	Reader's Script	Writer's Script	Example in IPA	Meaning	Example in IPA	Meaning
/i, ɪ/	ee, ih, i	i	ti'kʊdɛ	to be located	ˈalɪʃ	child
/e, ɛ/	eh, e	e	we'sɛr	marketplace
/eɪ/	ay	ey	ba'dɛɡbej	best
/a, ə/	ah, uh	a	ma'kɪtəɡ	of the king
/aɪ/	i	ay	kaj'tən	7 cm
/o, ɔ/	oh, o, oa	o	o'bɛs	lava
/oɪ/	oy	oy	ri'sojba	squid
/u, ʊ/	oo, u	u	ku'nɛt	surface	kʊt	four

Atlantean's phonetic inventory includes a vowel system with the above five phonemes, a system common to many languages, such as Spanish. Most vowels have two prominent allophonic realizations, depending on whether it occurs in a stressed or unstressed syllable. 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.

Consonants

IPA chart of Atlantean consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Alveolo- palatal	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar
Plosive	p   b	t   d			k   ɡ
Nasal	m	n
Fricative		s	ʃ		x
Approximant				j		w
Trill		r
Lateral		l

Where symbols occur in pairs, the left represents the voiceless consonant and the right represents the voiced consonant.

Notes:

Phonology

Aside from the stressed-syllable-based vowel system, the only other example of phonology found in the entire language may be expressed as:

∅ → [m,n] in the context of [i,o/e]_-Person/Aspect Suffix

/bernot-o-ik/
/bernot-o-mik/
[bernot-o-mik]

n → [k,t] in the context of _[i,o]

/bernot-e-ik/
/bernot-e-nik/
/bernot-e-kik/
[bernot-e-kik]

Word order

Atlantean has a very strict subject–object–verb word order. There is never any deviation from this pattern. Adjectives and nouns in the genitive case go after the nouns which they modify, post-positions go after the nouns or clauses that they modify, and modals go after the verbs that they modify and subsequently take all agglutinative suffixes. However, adverbs go before their verbs. Last of all are the interrogative particles. The given order of all parts of speech and particles is as follows in both an interrogative and declarative statement (a little redundant in order to use the whole sentence):

Sentence Order

Word	Example	English gloss
Adverbs of time, manner, location	Log	What
Time, manner, location adverbial nouns	darim	time
Nouns in the instrumental case	shayod.esh	using.hands
Adverbs	ser	just
Adjectives	gwis.in	our
Nouns in the nominative case	weydagosen	Visitors
Post-positional objects/nouns in the oblique case	keylob.tem	(in) the chamber
Adjectives	ta.mil	royal
Possessive pronouns	tug.in	his
Post-position	net	in
Nouns in the dative/oblique case	makit.tem	The King
Nouns of relation in the genitive case	Adlantis.ag	of Atlantis
Post-positions	gom	to
Nouns in the accusative case	neshing.mok.en.tem	great contrivances
Adverb	gawid.in	joyfully
Verb with modal verb	bernot	to bring
Modal verb [stem.mood.tense/aspect.person/number]	bog.o.mkem	we will be able
Interrogative particle	du	eh? (North Central American English / Canadian English)
Final explanation
At what time will we visitors be able to use our very hands to joyfully give our great contrivances to the King of Atlantis in his Royal Chamber?

There are two given variations on the simple sentence order involving sentence connectors, also called connective particles. These are grammatical particles whose particular roles seen here occurs in Native American languages, among other languages. These Atlantean sentence connectors relate two clauses in a logical yet idiomatic manner which produces a complete thought in the same way that the equally complicated English sentence does. English doesn't use sentence connectors in the following ways, however:

Clause order 1, Example 1

Clause or Particle	Example	English Gloss
Initial Clause	"Wil.tem neb gamos.e.tot..."	"He sees this city..."
Sentence connector 1	deg	(roughly) "for"
Modifying Clause	duwer.en tirid.	all foreigners.
Final Explanation
No outsiders may see the city and live. More literally, " 'He Who Doth the City See...' is meant for ALL foreigners.'

Clause order 1, Example 2

Clause or Particle	Example	English Gloss
Initial Clause	Tab.top, lud.en neb.et kwam gesu bog.e.kem	Father, we cannot help these people
Sentence connector 1	deg	(roughly) "and yet"
Modifying Clause	yasek.en gesu.go.ntoh.	they will help the Royalty.
Final Explanation
Father, these people may be able to help us. More literally, "Father, we can't help these people and yet they will help us, the King and Princess."

Clause order 2

Clause or Particle	Example	English Gloss
Descriptive Clause	Ketak.en.tem obes.ag sapoh.e.kik	I view the lava whales
Sentence connector 2	yos	(roughly) "then"
Action Clause	lat nar badeg.bey tikud.e.tot dap?	where is the best place?
Final Explanation
Where is the best place from which to view the lava whales?

Nouns

There are seven cases for nouns.

Grammatical cases

Grammatical Cases

Number	Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
1	Nominative	no suffix	yob	crystal
2	Oblique	-tem	yobtem	the crystal give, in the crystal, to the crystal, etc.
3	Genitive	-ag	yobag	of the crystal
4	Vocative	-top	Yobtop	O Crystal!
5	Instrumental	-esh	yobesh	using crystal
6	Unknown 1	-kup	yobkup	(something) crystal
7	Unknown 2	-nuh	yobnuh	(something) 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

There are five cases for pronouns.

Grammatical cases

Grammatical Cases

Number	Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
1	Nominative	no suffix	kag	I
2	Accusative	-it	kagit	me, whom was (sent), etc.
3	Dative	-ib	kagib	(to) me
4	Genitive	-in	kagin	my ( my heart, karod kagin)
5	Unknown	-is	kagis	not translated

Notes:

Verbs

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

Tense/aspect suffixes

Tense/Aspect suffixes

Number	Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
1	Simple Present Tense	-e	bernot.e.kik	I bring
2	Present Perfect Tense	-le	bernot.le.kik	you have brought
3	Present Obligatory Tense	-se	bernot.se.kik	I am obliged to bring
4	Simple Past Tense	-i	bernot.i.mik	I brought
5	Immediate Past Tense	-ib	bernot.ib.mik	I just brought
6	Past Perfect Tense	-li	bernot.li.mik	I had brought
7	Simple Future Tense	-o	bernot.o.mik	I will bring
8	Future Possible Tense	-go	bernot.go.mik	I may bring
9	Future Perfect Tense	-lo	bernot.lo.mik	I will have brought
10	Future Obligatory Tense	-so	bernot.so.mik	I will be obliged to bring

Further Examples of Tense/Aspect suffix morphology

-e	sapoh.i.mik (SJ:10)	I viewed	sapoh.e.kik (ST)	I view
-le	yube.in/yugeb.le.tot (IS)	strangely/he is being strange	panneb.le.nen (IS)	you are knowing	peren.le.mot (DVD:MURAL)	Untranslated.	pasil.le.tot (IS)	it is being sufficient
-se	kaber (SJ:789)	warn!	kaber.se.kem	we are obliged to warn
-i	es.e.tot (ST)	it is	es.i.mot (SJ:10)	it will be
-ib	bernot.li.mik (IS)	I had brought	bernot.ib.mik (IS)	I just brought
-li	bernot.ib.mik (IS)	I just brought	bernot.li.mik (IS)	I had brought
-o	komtib.lo.nen (SJ:5)	you will have found	komtib.o.nen (SJ:5)	you will find
-go	satib.yoh (IS)	move along!	satib.go.ntoh (SJ:89)	they may move along	gesu.go.ntoh (IS)	they may help
-lo	komtib.o.nen (SJ:5)	you will find	komtib.lo.nen (SJ:5)	you will have found
-so	komtib.lo.nen (IS)	you will have found	komtib.so.nen (SJ:5)	you will be obliged to find

Mood suffixes

Mood suffixes

Number	Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss
1	Imperative Mood Singular	no suffix	(Tok.it) Bernot!	Bringest (it, thou)!
2	Imperative Mood Plural	-yoh	(Tok.it) Bernot.yoh!	Bring (it, you)!
3	Passive Mood	-esh	(Im.tem shib.an) bernot.esh.ib.mik.	I just was brought (something).
4	Infinitive	-e	bernot.e	to bring

Further Examples of Mood suffixes

Number	Name	Suffix	Example	English Gloss	Example	English Gloss	Example	English Gloss	Example	English Gloss
no suffix	nageb.o.ntoh (SJ:789)	they will enter	Nageb.yoh (ST)		Enter, you!	Nageb!	Enter!
-yoh	gamos.i.mik (DVD:TRAVEL)	I saw	Gamos.yoh! (DVD:MURAL)	May ye behold!	gamos.e (DVD:MURAL)	to see	Beket! (ST)	Thou art begged!	Beket.yoh! (ST)	You are begged!
-esh	pag.en (ST)	thou (art) thanked (short form)	pag.esh.e.nen (ST)	thou art thanked	dodl.esh.mik (DVD:MURAL)	Untranslated.	kobden.en/hobd.esh.e.tot (IS)	command / he has doomed
-e	wegen.os/wegen.e (IS)	traveler/to travel	wegen.os/wegen.e (IS)	traveler/to travel	gamos.yoh (DVD:MURAL)	May ye behold!	gamos.e (DVD:MURAL)	to see	gobeg.en/gobeg.e	arms/to be an arm

Person/number suffixes

Person/number suffixes

Person	Number	Familiarity	Independent Pronoun	Suffix	English Gloss
1st	Singular	–	kag	-ik	I
2nd	Singular	–	moh	-en	thou
3rd	Singular	–	tug tuh tok	-ot	he she it
1st	Plural	–	gwis	-kem	we
2nd	Plural	Unfamiliar	gebr	-eh	you (unfamiliar)
2nd	Plural	Familiar	gabr	-eh	you (familiar)
3rd	Plural	–	sob	-toh	they

See also

• Atlantis: The Lost Empire, the film for which the language was created.
• Constructed language
• Marc Okrand, creator of the Atlantean language.

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 Tiwanese 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 Old Introduction to the Language (archive)
• Atlantean alphabet on Omiglot