Gargish
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Gargish is the fictional language used by the gargoyle race in the Ultima computer game series. It is also the language used in magic spellcasting within the game. The language is remarkably complex for one that arose out of a game. However, the vocabulary is prohibitively small, limiting its use.
The Gargish language has its own alphabet, although it can also be expressed using ASCII characters. The language is very flexible. The difference between nouns, verbs, and adjectives is expressed through intonations and gestures. Because of this, written Gargish uses suffixes to denote part of speech, grammatical tense, and grammatical aspect. In some cases, these suffixes are also used as independent words.
Gargoyles avoid using pronouns or verb tense unless it is crucial to comprehension; therefore the language is often spoken in the infinitive.
Examples of Gargish
- Gargish (Gargoyle): gargl
- hello: kal
- goodbye: an kal
- thanks: grat
- that one: esta áilem
- I love you: i ámo ú
- person: lem (e.g. "Beh Lem" = "just one")
Note that this the same language is used for the mantras of Virtue, and for the words of power for magic. For instance, "Kal" means "invoke", and "An" is a word of negation.
External links
Tales of a Roleplayer in Ultima Online (http://traveller.rper.org/lore/gargish.shtml) Contains a small Gargish dictionary and numerous examples of the language.