Speaker Quest/Gevron language
Alien language notes for Speaker Quest.
Transcript of known vocabulary and grammar, as well as dialog with hints of context.
Confidence and possible meanings are based on Aeris's conclusions. Please do not add your own theories to this page; use the discussion thread instead.
Vocabulary
High Confidence
- hoomon : loanword, "human"
- Gevron : native sapient quadrupeds
- vassilob : sun
- Xrionan : black quadrupedal-plus-arms creature; not encountered
- domo : being, imitating, being similar to, or something of the sort.
- doog : "Huh?", when used by itself.
- goram : house/building
- Goa : the name of the 'princess', or maybe its role or something.
- Bonrevol : the name or maybe the role of the Gevron that brought Goa to us.
Low Confidence
- buv : I
- rol : no
- vur : yes
- dar : alien
- gor, ger : Gevrons?
- ziro : ground
- zur : another term for a house?
- joom : a tile
- wrav : a container
- nobbid : some conjunction
- oboga: take(imperative)/I offer
- Gobol : a particular Gevron, possibly a leader
Grammar
Sentence Structure
Simple sentences seem to be constructed in the following manner:
- [Noun] [Verb] [Noun] ([Optional string of mystery words]).
The aforementioned mystery words also can be used without a sentence preceding them.
Occasionally, the second noun is either omitted or replaced with a mystery word. This appears to be the case in all sentence structures that include the [Noun] [Verb] [Noun] construction.
The following structure has also been observed:
- Oboga [Noun] ([Mystery Words]).
More complex sentences of the following structure have been observed twice:
- [Noun] [Verb] ([Mystery Words]) nobbid [Noun] [Verb] [Noun] ([Mystery Words]).
It is, however, possible that nobbid is yet another mystery word and this repetition was coincidental.
Two other sentences with more than one verb have been observed, they are as follows:
- Wrav domen Gevron dillena boromen vur doog.
- Vod boga-a goram vur ebbino jugoa.
Verbs
Verbs consist of a prefix and a suffix. It is yet unknown which part of the word is the root verb and which is the conjugation, or if they work in some other, more unusual way.
Observed prefixes:
- do-
- obo-
- budo-
- yodna-
- yuva-
- jorre-
- gonda-
- boga-
- jugo-
- meli-
- vogiyo-
Observed suffixes:
- -men
- -mo
- -a
- -ga : an unusual case, since it has only been observed in conjunction with obo-, and always with the initial noun skipped.
- -de
- -do
Observed Sentences
With Context
Initial conversation
(Bonrevol leads Goa towards Aeris by a chain) A: Hello. B: Doog. A: Hello, I'm Aeris. A human. B: Dool! Goa domo hoomon! Oboga ger! (thrusts chain) (34V07 lowers himself to ground and approaches) 3: Greetings! This unit desires peace! B: Doog! Dar gonda-a buv! Oboga goa vul! (Aeris approaches) G: Bonrevol! Dar domen hoomon rol! Dar domen Xrionan vur! B: Vall! Gor oboa rol doog! G: Rol! B: Dar yuva-a ziro vall... Dar yuvade zur doog dool! A: Okay... it's okay... we don't need gifts. B: Doog. Dar obomo gobol vur doog. G: Dar obomen gobol rol! Dar domen hoomon! B: Dar jorrea gobol vur doog! G: Gobol budomen gevron rol! Gobol budomen hoomon vur! B: Dool. A: Hoomon (points to chain) Rol. B: Dool! Oboga ger vul! (shoves chain into Aeris's hand) Hoomon yodnamen gevron vur dool! (leaves)
Response to Aeris removing chain
G: Zor. Hoomon domen Xrionan vur.
Introducing Goa to flashcards
A: (points to human flashcard) Hoomon.
G: Dar domo joom zog!
(Aeris points to Gevron card)
(no response)
A: (points to human card again) Hoomon.
G: Hoomon obomo gobol vur doog woog.
(Aeris points to quadruped card)
(Goa makes odd noise, removes dress)
G: (points to human card) Hoomon (Gevron card) Gevron ("princess" card) Gevron domo hoomon (sun card) Vassilob.
A: (points to chest) Aeris
G: (points to head) Goa
Introducing Goa to tablet
(Goa plays with tablet) G: Joom obomo wrav vall jeen! Hoomon obomen bom gloo rol! Mi jorremen meejol mool. (no response) G: Zor. (points to sun card) Vassilob. A: Tablet. G: Dablid. Dablid. G: Dablid doa bom jeen. A: (points to tablet) Gobol. G: Doog. A: (points to Gevron card) Gevron. (points to tablet) Gobol. G: Doog vur. Vod oboa vur zor nobbid wrav domen gobol rol. (Aeris attempts to take tablet) G: Oboga dablid vur. Vod bogala rol nobbid wrav domen gobol doog. (Goa draws picture of... gevron with moustache?)
Drawing "Dar"
A: Dar. G: Dar vogiyodo wrav golov zor. (Goa draws human and Xrionan)
Identifying Bonrevol
(Aeris shows Goa a picture of Bonrevol) G: ...Gevron. A: I know it's a Gevron, I mean which Gevron.(sighs, points to Goa) Goa. (points to self) Aeris. G: Wrav domen Gevron dillena boromen vur doog. Gevron doog zor. (Aeris adds Goa, being led, to the picture and shows Goa again) G: Doog vur. Bonrevol.
Gevron Houses
A: (Shows Goa a picture of a Gevron house) Zur? G: Doog, rol... vur... doog, goram. Goram budomen orona. A: Doog? G: (points at tablet) Goram
After the Gunshot
(Goa is panicked and digging) A: (bunch of English) uhhhhh Goa rol, ziro rol? goram rol? (Goa does not pause in digging, says sentences in rapid succession while Aeris is saying more in English) G: Doog. Vod boga-a goram vur ebbino jugoa. Dar jugoa vur doog. Dar melido meejol vur doog. A: Goa. Goa! (Goa turns to face Aeris) G: Aeriz vul! (Aeris beckons; when Goa does not respond she attempts "finger walking") G: Doog (Goa is still digging) A: Goa! (Aeris picks up and rattles the chain, then beckons, then leads Goa towards the ship.) G: Aeriz gondamo buv vur rol doog.
Leaving medbay
(Goa is in quarantine; Aeris is leaving) G: Aeriz yuvala meejol mool joluv.
Possible Meanings
- Goa domo hoomon! Oboga ger!
Goa is(/variants) human! I offer them/Take them!
- Dar domen hoomon rol! Dar domen Xrionan vur!
Humans are not aliens! Xrionans are aliens!
- Hoomon domen Xrionan vur.
Humans are Xrionans....???? seems unlikely, and yet...
- Oboga dablid vur.
Take/I offer tablet....?? That doesn't seem to fit in context...
