Covenant languages

Members of the Covenant collective speak a plethora of languages, the most notable of which are listed below.

Known languages
There is no one language in the Covenant Empire. There are thousands. The client species and the guilds and the traders and the holy orders all speak their own tongues, and one cannot hope to learn them all. To facilitate communication between member groups, the Covenant adopted the prominent Sangheili language Qers'noki as their lingua franca.

Sangheili
Like all sapient species, the Sangheili have a variety of independent languages and language families within their civilization, and there are many colonies, states and clans where such languages are predominant. For historical reasons, the Qers'noki language emerged as the most prominent Sangheili language, and is thus often colloquially referred to as Sangheili.

Qers'noki
Qers'noki, commonly known as Sangheili, Pan Sangheili, Covenant Standard, or Common Speech, acts as the Covenant's lingua franca. Modern Qers'noki is one of many descendants of from the ancient Qers'noki, the Sangheili language chosen as the Covenant's common language at the time of the Writ of Union. Today, not all members of the Covenant can speak Qers'noki, but it is highly useful for dealing with the empire-wide institutions of High Charity.

There was always a strong case for a widely-spoken Sangheili language to be chosen as the Covenant's common tongue. There were only so many San'Shyuum, and it was much easier and more palatable for them to learn a new language than the other way around. But when it came to the language they should present to the San'Shyuum as their common tongue, the choice wasn't fully obvious even to the Sangheili themselves. Up to seven languages each put forth as viable candidates, and while the debates were at times heated, one eventually won out. Qers'noki was a popular language of culture and trade with venerable historical roots and a widespread speaker base; even many Sangheili population that didn't speak it as their primary tongue did learn it for trade and higher learning. Thus, the ancient Qers'noki became the basis of what is now known as Sangheili, or Common Speech.

In theory, Common Sangheili is the lingua franca of the entire Covenant Empire. But languages shift, and they shift faster the further they are from the Arterial Network of major trade routes. Nowadays, two individuals from far-flung corners of the Holy Ecumene can both speak "Qers'noki", and be mutually unintelligible to each other. The current form of Imperial Sangheili, the main dialect spoken amongst the high society and ecclesiastic authorities of High Charity is regarded as the "standard" version of the language, and is the dialect used as the standard for formal literacy throughout the Covenant.

Zhakhan
Zhakhan is an ancient language considered as having originated in the Thar'shi Sphere. Variants of the language are still spoken today on Sanghelios as well as many worlds, though they do not enjoy the official empire-wide status of Standard Qers'nok.

B'rinnu
B'rinnu is likewise an old language (or language family) among the Sangheili. Although it originated on Sanghelios, it has since become marginal on the homeworld, though it is widely spoken particularly in some of the more remote colonies located on the trailing and coreward sides of the Covenant Sphere.

Unggoy
Unggoy languages are numerous, with most populations outside Balaho speaking some form of pidgin derived from their local Sangheili dialect with some native words added in for good measure. Native languages are still spoken despite multiple suppression attempts by the Covenant, either in response to rebellion or under the guise of "educating" the population.

Today, the most notable Unggoy language is Pana Koto, originating in the urbanized nation of Stoom, which spread its influence throughout Balaho in the early years of Covenant-Unggoy contact. While not all Unggoy learn Pana Koto, most Unggoy names, for example, are traditionally in the style of the language (even if they do not always follow its original phonotactics). Due to their natural lingual skills, many groups of Unggoy would also develop their own secret languages to communicate amongst each other, despite attempts by their masters to curtail this.

Kig-Yar
Kig-Yar languages are many and varied, and there never has been a universal common language among all Kig-Yar due to the lack of a unifying cultural ethos. This is partly a consequence of the species' eclectic psychology; the Kig-Yar, by and large, are not predisposed for identifying with large collectives, e.g. nation-states or species, and even cultural practices can be easily changed to suit different conditions. Likewise, language only has a largely instrumental value to them; although most Kig-Yar on Eayn and the colonies around Chu'ot can likely speak at least one common tongue (often Qers'noki nowadays) for reasons of trade and diplomacy, languages across the Y'Deio system are much more diverse, and the development of machine translation from early on has largely eliminated the need for lingual homogeneity.

Some of the most prominent native Kig-Yar languages include Darsik (prominent among spacers) and Nirch (one of Eayn's most widely-spoken languages). Many Kig-Yar colonies and crews outside the Y'Deio system are quick to adopt not only Common Sangheili, but also the local dialects and languages spoken in their home domains, and associate little to no pride with holding onto their original native languages.

Jiralhane
The Jiralhanae speak many languages, not all of them related. At the time of the First Immolation, the ethnic nations of Doisac spoke numerous and often unrelated tribal languages amongst themselves, but the master-packs and skeins had their own lingua francas for command and coordination. Of these languages, the one called "Proto-Jiral" is best documented as it served as the root language for the dialects spoken by the master-packs that surrendered to the Covenant and would later form the basis of Tartarus' coalition.

The "standard" dialect among the hegemony enforced by Tartarus and his allies is formally called Thalstron, though like most of its related languages, it is often known colloquially as Jiral. Thalstron originated in the Rh'tol skein, though it has not been widely spoken until Tartarus' rise to power. Other languages include Tremac and Braknosi, the former being a prominent Vheiloth language and the latter a trade language spoken among parts of the colonial diaspora. In the wider Jiralhanae diaspora, many more languages are spoken, some of them descending from Proto-Jiral while others trace their origins to more obscure tribal languages that have long since disappeared on Doisac.

During their interactions with the Covenant, many Jiralhanae adopted Qers'noki as a second language, with some fringe communities even transitioning to using it exclusively due to extensive trade and other cultural exchanges. By and large, however, most Jiralhanae are still brought up speaking their native tongues, and with the fall of High Charity, Qers'noki is unlikely to take root among them.

San'Shyuum
The San'Shyuum Reformist language emerged from Luwani, the language spoken by most of the Reformists who boarded the Anodyne Spirit. Several loanwords and foreign structures would enter the language from the non-Luwani speaking members of the group. This hybrid dialect was spoken by most of the Reformist refugees even as the Liturgical Language, Dai'nos Yll, emerged aside it as an ecclesiastic language. Due to the small size of the Reformist group, Luwani remained a relatively homogeneous language.

Though Qers'noki became the Covenant's lingua franca soon after the Writ of Union, Luwani never fully disappeared, though the low numbers of the San'Shyuum and the spread of Qers'noki over the generations saw it marginalized. It remained as a domestic language among the San'Shyuum, and its popularity has seen phases of ebb and flow over the generations. San'Shyuum sometimes use Luwani as a secret language, as most outsiders never learn it.

Liturgical Tongue
Dai'nos Yll, the Liturgical Language, is reserved solely for public worship throughout the Covenant Empire, for theological discussion, and the communication of the clergy with their parishes; it is forbidden to use for mundane purposes. Not that many would want to. Dai'nos Yll is a language of poetry and imagery, steeped in ponderous tradition. Merely saying "hello" requires very formal use of metaphor. It is a fine language for the Covenant's top-down theocracy, but unsuitable for everyday use. The finer points of Covenant theology can only be expressed in the Liturgical Tongue, for they are too esoteric and complex to be adequately discussed in more "mundane" languages. When it comes to the nature of godhood, transcendence or the divine harmonics of the Great Journey, most languages run out of words and ways to express e.g. locality, dimensions and time; the Liturgical Tongue has impressive ways to discuss phenomena in "no-time", in more than 3+1 dimensions, or in acausal relation to one another, for example.

These peculiarities are partly the result of the language's origin. Dai'nos Yll is derived from the Forerunner archival language on the San'Shyuum's keyship, albeit translated, often incorrectly, adjusted, refined and added to many times over. Terms and concepts from other Forerunner languages or ciphers encountered on various reliquaries would be introduced to its lexicon, making it increasingly complicated and flowery. Likewise, it is only permitted to be written using a particular holographic logogram system derived from Forerunner symbols.

Covenant theology is abstruse, even frustrating, to someone not adjusted to the religion's peculiar mindset, which one can only truly learn by becoming fluent in the liturgical tongue. The higher mysticism spawned by the religion is filled with quantum probabilities, different states of being and nonbeing, and potential futures expressed in a flowery, poetic vocabulary. Because of their complexity, such concepts are often simplified in koan-like parables. Indeed, it was the sheer potential of the liturgical tongue that originally inspired many of the higher dimensions of Covenant theology. There are so many more ways to describe probabilities, potentialities, eventualities and outcomes than one might otherwise even think of. It has also resulted in theological questions where two or more answers can be equally "true" at once (which is, incidentally, also a helpful tool for settling disputes between lesser churches). Perhaps the most notable example of this is the question of the inevitability of salvation and the ultimate fate of the universe. There is a pervasive question underlining the Covenant religion of whether or not the Great Journey is the inevitable endpoint of the Covenant civilization, or if there is an equal possibility that they will be undone by Ruination. While schools vary on this, the peculiar nature of Covenant theology effectively enables both possibilities to coexist.

The intricacies of the liturgical language also help explain the complicated nature of divinity as an omni-directional continuum in space-time from the moment of ascension, explaining both how the Forerunners could be both mortal and divine simultaneously, as well as how those faithful who had died in countless past ages still join along on the Great Journey. But the language's possibilities also provoked further, more nuanced questions that can hardly even be discussed in other languages without sounding overly long-winded, confusing, or downright absurd.

Voidspeak
The common trade pidgin spoken across the Covenant, liberally translated to English as Voidspeak, Migrant or Sailors' Tongue, is a creole loosely based on Common Sangheili. However, it has heavy "foreign" influences from various languages spoken across the Covenant, and even some words, grammatical constructions and expressions whose origins cannot be definitely pinpointed to any of the Covenant species but presumably originate from the outside. Most of the alien influence would come from Kig-Yar and some of the regional dialects of more isolated Covenant territories. Naturally, there are several versions and little central regulation of the the Voidspeak and a dialect spoken in one end of the Holy Ecumene may not even be mutually intelligible with one spoken in another. Many traditionalist Sangheili aristocrats scorn the Voidspeak for its purported "debasement" of the "noble" Sangheili language.

Gutterspeak
Gutterspeak is a language which can only be adequately spoken by Kig-Yar and Yanme'e. It is a completely constructed language that uses clicks, whistles, and trills beyond the range of other species in the Covenant. A purely functional language, it is known as "the tongue of laborers and pirates." Structurally derived from Darsik, a prominent Kig-Yar language, Gutterspeak notably lacks personal pronouns or articles, and the functions of those structures are instead expressed through affixes in verbs and nouns. These traits have led to many low-ranked Kig-Yar with an imperfect command of English speaking in a characteristic clipped style, partially or fully omitting pronouns and articles.

Within the Covenant
To facilitate communication across this vast tangled web of languages and dialects, the Covenant has fairly advanced auto-translator technology. The translation disk was a necessary invention. The customs that grew up around them were inevitable in their own way. Many translation disks are embellished with elaborate designs to show the rank and station of a wearer, and are worn across the breast. When worn in this fashion, they are called phalera. Sometimes multiple phalerae are worn, to complement an outfit or to demonstrate the many varieties of traveler that an official must deal with. Such is the importance of phalerae that they have been cited as "the jewelry that holds the Holy Ecumene together".

Because of the Covenant's edict against machine learning, translator disks built for general use are very limited machines. They can parse words within their internal dictionaries and construct sentences in accordance to the rules of grammar and syntax, but they cannot learn new words or new usages. This means that a phalera is locked to a group of dialects at a particular point in time, and as those languages change, the phalera must eventually be replaced. This also means that anyone speaking to an official with a slightly-out-of-date phalera must speak a version of their language that is formal and old fashioned to their ears, which generally suits the Sangheili just fine.

Counterintuitively, however, personal flesh-and-blood interpreters are still favored among those of high rank and status. Where translation disks are mundane everyday objects available to most citizens of moderate wealth, interpreters are both a status symbol and a statement, especially when interacting with those they perceive to be "below" oneself. Because of their natural linguistic skills, it is often the Unggoy who are the most capable and effective interpreters, as long as they are properly educated, and many Sangheili aristocrats' (often fairly sizable) retinues include a trusted Unggoy interpreter. These interpreters are highly valued, and are often accorded honors and privileges most Unggoy can only dream of.

It is via machine translators that the Covenant normally communicate with humans as well. The Covenant learned the English language early on by intercepting communiques from Harvest, and used it throughout the war largely to hurl curses and insults at their human foes. It largely fell upon the Unggoy to learn human languages and monitor human communications, and though some of their Sangheili and San'Shyuum superiors would also study the basics, few Sangheili would actually try and speak their enemies' tongue. Even after the war, it remains more common for Sangheili to use purpose-built phalerae or rely on human auto-translators; most prefer the former, trusting only their own technology to properly capture the nuances of their speech.

Human translation conventions
The translation of Covenant languages into English is an art of its own. During the Human-Covenant War, the Office of Naval Intelligence developed a standardized system for translating and romanizing native Covenant names and terms, which are often but not exclusively in Qers'noki or some dialect thereof. The language and romanization system humans use for Qers'noki is an approximation of the original language, as we cannot perfectly replicate all the original sounds. This also explains any possible irregularities that may exist between the common names used for Covenant individuals or places, and the phonetic rules of the original language. The romanization system used across the UNSC is meant to be as straightforward and uncomplicated as possible for clarity's sake. The Latin alphabet is used phonetically, and stylistic techniques such as special diacritics or nonstandard capitalization are avoided outside academic contexts.

Consequently, many of the native Covenant names we use are effectively exonyms localized to be more legible for English speakers by substituting sounds deemed too "alien" with familiar ones. Certain themed conventions also apply. For example, early on, ONI xenolinguists picked up on a pattern of certain Jiralhanae names superficially resembling ancient Roman ones, which led to an established convention whereby Jiralhanae names are rendered in Latin or pseudo-Latin, e.g. Castor, Tartarus, or Maccabeus. In many cases, these translations are a definite stretch as far as accuracy to the native form of the name goes, but the Latinized names have been found to be more catchy within the UNSC at large. In addition, terms in the Liturgical Language have been sometimes translated to Latin based on the similar role of the two in their respective civilizations, though this convention is far less fixed. Sangheili names are mostly transliterated accurately to their original form, though some foreign sounds may be substituted for ones found in English.

In some cases, the UNSC terms have little to do with the original Covenant terminology. This is the case with most Covenant starship classifications given by the UNSC; for example, certain older Covenant ship types are named after older maritime ship classes, such as carracks or galleons to evoke their antiquity. Several native Jiralhanae ship classes are also named after ancient Norse ship types.

Writing systems
Numerous types of writing system were in use among the Covenant, with three being formally used by the institutions of High Charity.

Ecumenic Standard
The main writing system used for day-to-day communication within the Covenant's fleets and most commercial entities was the alphasyllabary known as Ecumenic Standard. The alphabet is mainly based on triangle and dot shapes, and is meant to contain most of the sound inventory of standard Qers'noki. It uses a distinct character set to represent consonants and vowels; vowel notation is secondary. Because of its comprehensiveness, the number of characters is fairly large, though many of them are often omitted or substituted with simplified notation in casual use.

There is also a variant known as High Ecumenic or High Covenant, which is a considerably more complex and expressive writing system the current Ecumenic Standard derives from. The vowel markers are not separate glyphs but diacritics added to the consonant/syllabic markers.

Holy script
Words (or morphemes) represented by ideograms based on Forerunner symbols.

Forerunner symbols were largely used as runic characters to indicate blessings given to an individual or even a ship as signs of distinction and merit; a Sangheili warrior, for example, might receive holy symbols on his armor and noncombat livery as signets of bravery, loyalty or skill. These are formally ordained in specific ceremonies and are highly regarded by any who can read the mystical meanings of the symbols.

Har Tanqi
A classical logographic script predominated by curved shapes such as ovals, ovoids, circles, and dots. Popular in calligraphy, poetry, and organization emblems, Har Tanqi has various additional features such as the ability to convey intonation.