Editing Languages (section)

==Portrayal==
Unlike [[w:J. R. R. Tolkien|J. R. R. Tolkien]], who created entire languages with grammar, syntax, and tenses, [[George R. R. Martin]] has created only a few words from each language in his world, and his languages are not conveyed in any great detail. Instead, the tongue in which they are speaking is noted but rendered in English, with added characteristics and flavor portrayed through out the text. As Martin explained,

{{quote|Tolkien was a philologist, and an Oxford don, and could spend decades laboriously inventing [[w:Elvish languages (Middle-earth)|Elvish]] in all its detail. I, alas, am only a hardworking SF and fantasy novel, and I don't have his gift for languages. That is to say, I have not actually created a [[High Valyrian|Valyrian language]]. The best I could do was try to sketch in each of the chief tongues of my imaginary world in broad strokes, and give them each their characteristic sounds and spellings.<ref>[[So Spake Martin]]: [http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/1250/ Yet More Questions (July 22, 2001)]</ref>}}

[[w:David J. Peterson|David J. Peterson]] developed spoken [[Dothraki language|Dothraki]] and High Valyrian for HBO's television adaptation, ''[[Game of Thrones]]''. The languages expand greatly from Martin's few created words. A website, [http://www.dothraki.org/ dothraki.org], helps teach and spread the constructed tongues. The popularity of the Dothraki language has led it to be called "the new [[w:Klingon language|Klingon]]".<ref>[http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/17/dothraki-new-klingon Entertainment Weekly: Is Dothraki the new Klingon? (April 17, 2015)]</ref> 

Peterson was given considerably leeway, as he was not strictly hired as linguist for just TV adaptations but also for place name adaptations used in ''[[The Lands of Ice and Fire]]'' map book. He worked on these projects in consultation with Martin, thus several worldbuilding points about how languages are related to each other might be regarded as semi-canon. 

Peterson inferred that the Dothraki and Lhazareen share common ancestry, given that the Lhazareen are said to closely resemble the Dothraki but are generally shorter. Thus he developed an outline for an ancestral "Proto-Plains" language which their current languages branched off from. Peterson likened the relationship between Dothraki and Lhazareen to the difference between English and Swedish.<ref>https://wiki.languageinvention.com/index.php?title=Proto-Plains_language</ref>

Similarly, Peterson developed an outline for how the different Low Valyrian dialects that diverged from High Valyrian are related to each other, much like how the real-life Romance languages diverged from classical Latin. There are three broad groupings or branches:<ref>[https://dedalvs.com/work/game-of-thrones/misc/valyrian_tree.jpg Peterson's personal website]</ref>

*Ghiscari Low Valyrian (or Eastern Low Valyrian) - spoken in Slaver's Bay, and thus the only branch Peterson was able to develop for ''Game of Thrones'' itself. This group was heavily influenced by the extinct Old Ghiscari language. 
*Southern Low Valyrian - spoken in the southern Free Cities, from Volantis to Myr. These dialects are the least divergent from High Valyrian, and fairly similar to each other. 
*Northern Low Valyrian - spoken in the northern Free Cities, which due to their geographic isolation at the distant frontier of the Valyrian Freehold and disparate origins are quite divergent from High Valyrian as well as from each other. Norvos, Qohor, and Lorath were founded by religious dissidents from Valyria who struck out on their own, Pentos had strong influence from local Andals; most of all, Braavos was founded by a hodge-podge of escaped slaves taken to Valyria from across the world and thus had many disparate influences (thus while Volantene is closest to High Valyrian, Braavosi is the most divergent). 

Peterson also made a brief outline for Old Tongue, a thin gloss for a simplified version spoken by the Giants called "Mag Nuk". Peterson actually developed a fairly detailed version of the language used by the Children of the Forest, originally meant to be used in ''Game of Thrones'' Season 6 but which ultimately never appeared on-screen.

Peterson continued to expand on High Valyrian for ''House of the Dragon'' - and starting in its first season also developed a complex glyph writing system that appears on-screen.