D'ni

Facts

  • Language: D'ni
  • Created: 1994
  • Alternate names:
  • Language code:
  • Language family: professional fictional language
  • Script:

A constructed language by Richard Watson.

The D'ni language comes from the Myst series, created by the computer game company Cyanworlds (formerly Cyan). It is the primary language of the D'ni civilization, an ancient culture living deep below the deserts of New Mexico that was able to write books that literally transport readers to other worlds. Though D'ni has significant similarities with English and other European languages, it presumably was developed to reflect the long history of the D'ni people, which long predates modern civilization.

Language sources: Unknown, although some vocabulary is similar to Hebrew (Yavo, YHVH; Shorah, Shalom)

SVO language. Particles play a significant grammatical role; articles, prepositions, pronominal possession, verb forms, and conversion between parts of speech are all indicated through affixes.

A significant fan community has developed around the language, devotedly researching the language and mining the few known resources for information. Little of the language is known, since nearly the only Rosetta stones are a map from Myst: The Book of Ti'ana (one of three Myst novels), a few inscriptions from Riven: The Sequel to Myst (1996), and newly discovered texts from Uru: Ages Beyond Myst (2003).

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