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DF2014:Goblin language

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This article is about an older version of DF.
Not to be confused with Black Speech.

The Goblin language is one of the languages the player will come across. This language is used in-game for the names of the universe, continents, rivers, goblin governments and settlements, goblins, artifacts and engravings. However, as of yet, it lacks everything necessary for proper conversation, like grammar or personal pronouns.

Alphabet[edit]

The letters of the Goblin alphabet are:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)
A Â Ä Å B D E Ê Ë G H K L M N O Ô Ö P R S T U Û X Z
Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)
a â ä å b d e ê ë g h k l m n o ô ö p r s t u û x z

Of these 26 letters, 12 are vowels (A, Â, Ä, Å, E, Ê, Ë, O, Ô, Ö, U, Û); the 14 others are consonants.

The letters C, F, I, J, Q, V, W, and Y of the ISO basic Latin alphabet do not occur in the Goblin alphabet.

Letter frequency[edit]

N Letter Frequency
1 A 671 6.43%
2 Â 29 0.28%
3 Ä 27 0.26%
4 Å 1 0.01%
5 B 265 2.54%
6 D 280 2.69%
7 E 312 2.99%
8 Ê 15 0.14%
9 Ë 24 0.23%
10 G 577 5.53%
11 K 306 2.93%
12 L 436 4.18%
13 M 550 5.27%
14 N 754 7.23%
15 O 1292 12.39%
16 Ô 59 0.57%
17 Ö 70 0.67%
18 P 271 2.6%
19 R 384 3.68%
20 S 1523 14.6%
21 T 650 6.23%
22 TH 6 0.06%
23 U 1296 12.43%
24 Û 66 0.63%
25 X 262 2.51%
26 Z 302 2.9%

Graphemics[edit]

  • Digraph th.
    • h only occurs in the digraph th. h is a rare letter in Goblin.
    • p only occurs in the digraph sp.
  • Common consonant clusters st, sp, sm, sl, sn, and str.
  • Goblin has no diphthongs.
  • Syllable structure (C)3V(C)3.

Diacritic meaning[edit]

The Goblin language has three diacritics (◌̂, ◌̈, and ◌̊) used on four vowels (a, e, o, and u). It's probable that this is just a simpler version of the Dwarven language's system, keeping the mid, falling, and rising pitch contours.

It's interesting that the diacritics used here are the exact ones not used in Elven (and vise-versa).

Vocabulary[edit]

Main articles: Noun dictionary, Verb dictionary, Adjective dictionary, and Prefix dictionary

The average word in the Goblin language is 4.815 letters long. The longest known word is snosstrosp, meaning "clout".

The average word has 1.878 syllables. Words either have one or two syllables.

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Races
Divine · Dwarven · Elvish · Goblin · Human · Kobold
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