Introduction
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What is the Dragon Language?
The dragon language is a constructed language featured in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It was spoken by dragons and ancient Nords who learned to harness its power against their dragon masters. In the time that Skyrim takes place, the dragon language is known and spoken by a rare few, including the remaining dragons and the Greybeards who follow the Way of the Voice.
The language is known by many names among fans: Dragon, Draconic, Dragontongue, Dovah, Dovahtinvaak ("Dragon-Speech"), and most commonly Dovahzul ("Dragon-Voice"). These lessons will use the official terms "dragon" and "dragon language".
The following lessons will take you through pronunciation, sentence construction, grammar, the alphabet, common phrases, and other topics to help you learn the language. These lessons use official, in-game examples to explain each rule.
Why learn the dragon language?
Several constructed languages have gained widespread use in their fan communities, most famously Star Trek's Klingon, and J.R.R. Tolkien's Quenya and Sindarin elven languages. We have similar goals for the dragon language, and hope that you can enjoy using it in writing, works of art, roleplaying, or everyday conversation.
Skyrim itself is rich with dragon writing and dialogue, and even a basic understanding will flesh out the game's experience even more. Do you want to know what the dragons say when they speak? Have you ever wanted to read the Word Walls? These lessons will help you accomplish that and more.
Canon & Non-Canon
The term canon refers to any word or part of the dragon language that comes from Skyrim and is part of the official language. Some grammatical rules or expressions have been invented by the community to answer questions that are left untouched by the canon material. These additions are referred to as non-canon.
Throughout the lessons, each topic is marked with an arrow for whether it is canon or non-canon information:
- Canon topic
- Non-canon topic
This way, you can distinguish between the rules of the canon language, and the rules that have been invented by the community.
You may also come across tips written in boxes like this. These contain trivia, tricks, or other information related to the topic.