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.[1] 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,[1] 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.[2][3][4]
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."[1][5]
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.[1]
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:
Standard Transcription,[6] how the language is transliterated by Marc Okrand himself.
Reader's Script,[6][7] 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.[5][8][9]
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.[1][6][10]
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'.[13] Fractions are formed with the suffix -(d)lop: kut 'four', kutlop 'quarter', sha 'five', shadlop 'fifth (part)'.[14] And finally, distributives are formed with the suffix noh: din 'one', dinnoh 'one at a time, one each'.[13]
^Transliterated as ⟨sh⟩ in Writer's Script and Reader's Script.
^Transliterated as ⟨h⟩ in Writer's Script (bibɪx, inner cover of Subterranean Tours) and ⟨kh⟩ in Reader's Script.
^Transliterated as ⟨y⟩ in Writer's Script and Reader's Script.
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.
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.[1]
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.[1] 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."[1]
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.
^With the exception of "mat", "mother", which takes the special Maternal Filial Suffix -tim. Note that the only other kinship term, "father", "tab", takes the usual -top.
^As discussed in "The Shepherd's Journal" on the "Collector's DVD": ketub-kup (page 4) and setub-mok-en-tem (page 10), setub-mok-en-ag (page 5), and setub-kup (pages 1–4).
^As discussed in "The Shepherd's Journal" on the "Collector's DVD": derup-tem and derup-nuh (page 5).
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.
^ abcdefghi"Production Notes." Atlantis-The Lost Empire. Ed. Tim Montgomery, 1996–2007. The Unofficial Disney Animation Archive. 13 January 2007.
Animationarchive.net[dead link]
^Kalin-Casey, Mary. “Charting Atlantis the crew behind Disney’s latest animated adventure takes you behind the scenes.” Features Interviews. 17 January 2007 Reel.comArchived January 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
^Murphy, Tab, Platon, David Reyolds, Gary Trousdale, Joss Whedon, Kirk Wise, Bryce Zabel, and Jackie Zabel. Atlantis the Lost Empire: The Illustrated Script [Abridged Version with Notes from the Filmmakers], 55.
^Kurtti, Jeff. Atlantis Subterranean Tours: A Traveler’s Guide to the Lost City (Atlantis the Lost Empire). New York: Disney Editions: 2001, Inside Front Cover.
^Hahn, Don; Wise, Kirk; Trousdale, Gary et al. 2-Disc Collector’s Edition: Atlantis: The Lost Empire, especially Features "How to Speak Atlantean", "The Shepherd's Journal".
^John, David. Atlantis: The Lost Empire: The Essential Guide. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc., 2001, 33.
^Kurtti, Jeff. Atlantis Subterranean Tours: A Traveler’s Guide to the Lost City (Atlantis the Lost Empire). New York: Disney Editions: 2001, 60.
^Kurtti, Jeff. Atlantis Subterranean Tours: A Traveler’s Guide to the Lost City (Atlantis the Lost Empire). New York: Disney Editions: 2001, 31.
^ abEhrbar, 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, 01 10 0:50:31.
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.
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