Sangheili (language)
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- "Their language doesn't translate in a literal manner, and each word has multiple meanings."
- — Cortana[1]
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Sangheili describes multiple dialects of a language spoken by the species of the same name. Though the member species of the Covenant had their own unique languages, an advanced dialect of Sangheili, known as basic Sangheili,[2] came to serve as the lingua franca throughout the entire Covenant Empire.[3] And as such, many names of member species are derived from the Sangheili.[4] Even after the fragmentation of the Covenant, many former client species of the Covenant continue to use the Sangheili language in lieu of their native tongues; Sangheili has even replaced their native language for many.[3] A specific trade pidgin also existed within the Covenant fringe.[5]
Description[edit]
Text, or writing, in Sangheili appears to be mostly triangle shapes and composed almost completely of equilateral triangles. The triangular characters have been seen oriented both in the horizontal left-to-right direction and in a vertical right-to-left direction.[6]
Though originating with the Sangheili, an advanced dialect of their language has come to be the Covenant lingua franca, used to connect the different races and species.[3] Curiously, in several instances of Forerunner-related terminology, the Sangheili appear to use the English translations of the original Forerunner terms, as for "Forerunner", "Requiem", "Reclaimer", "Didact", and "Librarian".[7][Note 1] During the San'Shyuum-Sangheili War, the San'Shyuum obtained a comprehensive understanding of the Sangheili language by brutally torturing and interrogating prisoners of war. After establishing peace with the Sangheili, the San'Shyuum of the fledgling Covenant relied on translation software built into their anti-gravity chairs to understand the language.[8] The Ussans developed in isolation from other Sangheili, and their language evolved into a different form of the Sangheili dialect. It possessed similarities to Old Sangheili,[9] but the language developed into a new dialect that could not be readily understood by the "average" Sangheili.[10] While speaking with Sali 'Nyon, the Banished War Chief Severan was able to address him in perfect Sangheili despite being a Jiralhanae.[11]
Structure[edit]
Sangheili words generally consists of simply structured syllables. Most syllables consist of a single consonant (e.g. /s/) or a consonant complex (e.g. /t͡s/) followed by a long vowel or a diphthong or in rarer cases a short vowel or a short vowel followed by "n". Other types of syllables include a moraic "nn", a short vowel, a single diphthong, a triphthong, or a long vowel. Finally, some syllables in the middle or, more commonly, at the end of their word might have their vowel component devoiced.
Intonation[edit]
Sangheili generally seems to possess word stress, though the possibility of dialects featuring pitch accent shouldn't necessarily be excluded. Sangheili words usually possess only a primary stress with longer words sometimes possessing a secondary stress in the first syllable. The primary stress usually falls on the penult (second from last syllable). However, in many words the stress might fall on the ultima (last syllable) or antepenult (third from last syllable).
Phonology[edit]
The Sangheili language includes 8 main vowels (/ä/, /ɑ/, /i/, /ɪ/, /e̞/, /ɔ/, /o/ and /u/) and 18 main consonants (/s/, /z/, /ʂ/, /ʐ/, /q/, /ɢ/, /ʈ/, /ɖ/, /f/, /b̪/, /ħ/, /j/, /ɰβ/, /ɱ/, /ɳ/, /ɴ/, /ɻ/ and /ʔ/). Three more consonants also appear in words borrowed from other Sangheili dialects or alien languages. These are /p̪/, /ɺɽ~ɭ/ and /ʋ/. In certain instances, the sounds /o̞/, /ɕ/, /ʑ/, /w/ and /ɽ/ can appear as allophones of /ɔ/, /ʂ/, /ʐ/, /ɰβ/ and /ɻ/ respectively. Furthermore, /ɯβ/ and /ʊ/ are allophones of /u/ while /ə/ can serve as allophone of /ä/ and /e̞/ when those two sounds are weakened.
| Labiodental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Dorsal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | ɱ | ɳ | ɴ | |||
| Flap | (ʋ) | ( ɺɽ ~ ɭ ) | ||||
| Plosive | (p̪) | ʈ | q | ʔ | ||
| b̪ | ɖ | ɢ | ||||
| Fricative | f | s | ʂ [ʂ ~ ɕ] | ħ | ||
| z | ʐ [ʐ ~ ʑ] | |||||
| Approximant | ɻ [ɻ ~ ɽ] | j | ɰβ [ɰβ ~ w] |
| Non-Back | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u [u ~ ɯβ ~ ʊ] |
| Near-high | ɪ | |
| High-mid | o [o ~ o̞] | |
| Mid | e̞ [e̞ ~ ə] | |
| Low-mid | ɔ | |
| Low | ä [ä ~ ə] | ɑ |
| Diphthongs | e̞ɪ äɪ äu ɔɪ ou | |
Consonants /ɳ/, /ɱ/ and /ɴ/ can in some cases be moraic, in which case they are geminated and pronounced as /ɳ:/, /ɱ:/ and /ɴ:/. In addition some consonant complexes can be formed. These are /ʈ͡ʂ/, /ʈ͡ɕ/, /ɖ͡ʐ/, /ɖ͡ʑ/, /t͡s/, /ʈɰβ/, /ɖɰβ/, /ɳɰβ/ and /ɳɱ/.
/ɳɱ/, /ɳ:/ and /ɱ:/ appear only when /ɳ:/ precedes a labiodental /b̪/ or /ɱ/ resulting in /ɳ:/ being pronounced as either /ɳɱ/, /ɳ:/ or /ɱ:/ for phonological reasons.
When followed by /i/, consonants /ʂ/, /ʐ/, /ʈ͡ʂ/ and /ɖ͡ʐ/ can be pronounced as /ɕi/, /ʑi/ /qji/, /ɢji/, /ħji/, /ʈ͡ɕi/ and /ɖ͡ʑi/ respectively.
When followed by /i/, consonants /q/, /ɢ/ and /ħ/ can be pronounced as /qji/, /ɢji/ and /ħji/ respectively. When followed by /e̞/, consonants /q/, /ɢ/ and /ħ/ can be pronounced as /qje̞/, /ɢje̞/ and /ħje̞/ respectively.
/ɴ/ and /ɴ:/ appear before or after the uvular consonants /q/ and /ɢ/ in place of /ɳ/ and /ɳ:/. /ɺɽ~ɭ/ can sometimes be heard as either ɺɽ or ɭ but is generally an intermediate sound. The sound /ɺɽ~ɭ/ itself has no human equivalent. /ɻ/ and /ɽ/ allophones of the same consonant. In reality they are only approximates of the Sangheili r sounds which has no human equivalent. Most users prefer to use /ɻ/. /ä/ is near front and closer to the Japanese /ä/ but some speakers pronounce it as a central vowel like the Italian /ä/. Some speakers use /ä/ insead of /ɑ/. /e̞/ and /i/ are near front vowels and not front vowels. /ɔ/ and /o̞/ are allophones of the same vowel. As such their use depends on the speaker’s preference. /ʊ/ can be used instead of /u/ when /u/ is short only. /ɯβ/ can be used instead of /u/ regardless of whether /u/ is short or long. The sound itself is compressed and neither rounded nor fully unrounded. It is pronounced like the Japanese u. /ɰβ/ is a compressed labiovelar approximant. It can also be symbolized as /wβ/. It is pronounced like the Japanese w.
Sometimes /ɖ͡ʐ/ can be pronounced as /ʐ/ or /ɖ͡ʐ~ʐ/.
Sangheili also makes use of the following diphthongs:
/e̞ɪ/, can be pronounced as /e̞j/ before vowels
/ou/ also pronounced as /oɯβ/, /oʊ/, /o̞u/, /o̞ɯβ/ or /o̞ʊ/
/äɪ/
/ɔɪ/ also pronounced as /o̞ɪ/ and sometimes pronounced as /ɔj/ or /o̞j/ before vowels.
/äu/ also pronounced as /äɯβ/ or /äʊ/ (r