Whether or not you are a fan of Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire, you’ve probably heard the word “Dothraki” before. If not, “Dothraki” refers to a fictional people and language from the popular book and TV series. Dothraki started out as a few words in the book series written by George R.R. Martin and became a whole language that was created by a man named David J. Peterson. You can even buy a language guide, created by Peterson himself, that comes with an audio CD to help with pronunciation.
Peterson is a linguist and conlanger, which is a person that makes conlangs (constructed languages). He has studied many of the world's languages and has a bachelor's degree in both English and linguistics, along with a master's in linguistics. He has not only created Dothraki, but also the other languages that are spoken on Game of Thrones, such as High Valyrian and all other variations of Valyrian. Anytime you hear someone speaking a language other than English on Game of Thrones, you are hearing a language created by Peterson.
(Peterson with Game of Thrones actor Jason Momoa)
Game of Thrones isn't the only media that Peterson has created a language for. He made four languages for Syfy’s Defiance. Defiance is a show that had three seasons about aliens that came to Earth searching for a new planet to make their home. Since there are many species of aliens on this show, all of whom already had a long history with each other before coming to Earth, they needed their own languages to help immerse the audience in this world.
(Peterson with Defiance actress Stephanie Leonidas)
For Defiance, Peterson created Kastithanu, L'Irathi, Indojisnen, and Kinuk'aaz. All four of these languages are quite different and have their own writing systems. Only the first three were featured in the first two seasons, with Kinuk'aaz being added for the plot of the third season.
(The word "Defiance" in Kastithanu, L'Irathi, and Indojisnen)
Peterson has also made languages for other shows, as well as movies and a book, including The CW’s The 100, Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World, and Nina Post's Zaanics Deceit. I recently attended his lecture at Georgia Southern University where he spoke about his process of creating each of these languages, with a healthy sprinkling of pictures of his cat. His lecture was both funny and informative. When he was done speaking, he was happy to answer any audience questions from "Were you inspired by Tolkien?" to "What's the funniest thing your cat has done?" After the lecture, he was great about interacting with fans, taking photos and signing copies of his book.
In addition to the Dothraki language guide, Peterson has also written a book titled The Art of Language Invention in which he goes into great detail about his process and how he became a conlanger. If you still have questions after reading his book, he's happy to answer questions on social media, particularly tumblr where many people ask him for translations of different words and phrases in his languages.
If you have the chance, be sure to check him out here:
February 24: Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival, Plymouth, Devon, UK
March 3: Pragyan 2017, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India
March 24-26: Conbust, Northampton, Massachusetts
March 30: Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas
April 4: Victoria College, Victoria, Texas
April 6: Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, New Jersey
April 13: Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky
April 28-30: Yallwest, Santa Monica, California
June 30 – July 2: Con of Thrones, Nashville, Tennessee
July 19-23: San Diego Comic-Con, San Diego, California
August 6-13: Worldcon 75, Helsinki, Finland
