Covenant languages



The Covenant has their own unique language, which is heard in Halo: Combat Evolved. In Halo 2, their words are translated for the convenience of the player. Elites in Halo 1 spoke a deep, warbling tongue. This was achieved by playing in reverse the voice acting of David Scully. The ever popular "Wort wort wort!" shouted by many Elites during gameplay is actually "Go go go!" reversed and sped up. The hissing-like language of the Jackals is actually the English language reversed. This, and the other Covenant languages (Drones, Hunters), have remained the same since Halo 2.

Translation software is used on Covenant ships to desipher words. Why the races don't speak the same language is by evolutionary design, for example: the Kig-Yar cannot speak anything other than a hissing sound.

Howether, the main Covenant language seems to be Sangheili, as most of the Covenant names are Sangheili words - ie. Unggoy. It is mentioned in Halo: Ghosts of Onyx

Written Language
Conversations from the Universe contains letters written by the Prophets of Truth and Supposition. The writing in these letters resembles English, with various alterations.

Before the release of Halo 2, the official website was made to look like a Covenant computer complete with a Covenant language. This language was a simple cipher with characters made from triangular shapes.

Text, or writing, in the Covenant appears to be mostly triangle shapes and composed almost completely of equilateral triangles, except for a single shape so far. It has been noted that this form of text was used by both Brutes and Jackals in Halo: Uprising Issue 1 so far. Whether all of the species that are or were in the Covenant use this form of text is currently unknown.

Unggoy
Their native language is composed of dog-like barks, squeaks, and grunts. Though largely unintelligible to most humans, translation software is able to decipher the meanings of these. The word "Unggoy" itself is not a word from their vocabulary - rather, it is the Sangheili name for their species. Unggoy are also fully capable of speaking a variety of human languages, a fact that they take great pride in.

Sangheili

 * Sharquoi - (unknown)
 * Unggoy - Grunt
 * Kig-Yar - Jackal
 * Sangheili - Elite
 * Yanme'e - Drone
 * Jiralhanae - Brute
 * Lekgolo - Hunter
 * San'shyuum - Prophet
 * Huragok - Engineer (adapted from Forerunner name "Huragok")

San'shyuum
From the holograms of the Prophet of Regret in Delta Halo and Regret, the San'shyuum language is similar to gregorian chant.