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David Joshua Peterson (born January 20, 1981) is an American language creator. He came to prominence after creating the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for the television series Game of Thrones. He has subsequently worked on a number of other projects, including the films Dune and Dune: Part Two, for which he created the Chakobsa language. He has written a book on language construction entitled The Art of Language Invention.
Life
Early life
David Joshua Peterson was born in Long Beach, California, on January 20, 1981, to a father of German descent and a mother of Mexican descent. Studying at University of California, Berkeley (1999–2003), Peterson received BA degrees in English and in linguistics. He received an MA in linguistics from University of California, San Diego (2003–2006). He had his first contact with constructed languages while still at Berkeley, after attending an Esperanto class in 2000.
Language creation
In 2007, he co-founded the Language Creation Society with nine other language creators and served as its president (2011–2014).
In 2009, the television network HBO needed a fictional language (Dothraki) for the Game of Thrones television series and turned to the Language Creation Society for help. This resulted in a contest, which Peterson won.
He produced a number of videos on YouTube, in a series called The Art of Language Invention, and published a book of the same title in 2015. Peterson also worked as an executive producer on the 2017 documentary film, Conlanging: The Art of Crafting Tongues.
In 2019, Peterson created a free High Valyrian course on the Duolingo website/app and expanded the course in conjunction with the House of the Dragon series premiere in August 2022.
Personal life
Peterson was previously married to Erin Peterson, but the marriage ended in divorce. They had one daughter together. In 2023, Peterson became engaged to and subsequently married linguist and fellow conlanger Jessie Peterson (née Sams).
Languages created
Television
| Year | Title | Language(s) / role | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–2019 | *Game of Thrones* | * Dothraki (*Lekh Dothraki*), the language of the eponymous people | * High Valyrian (*Valyrio Udrir*), a literary language once spoken in Valyria | ** Astapori Valyrian, a descendant of High Valyrian spoken in Astapor | ** Meereenese Valyrian, a descendant of High Valyrian spoken in Meereen | * Mag Nuk ("great tongue"), the language of giants. It was only used for one line. | * Skroth ("ice"), an unused language that was meant to be spoken by the White Walkers | * Asshai, an unused language that was meant to be spoken by the Asshai'i | * Lhazareen, an unused sister language of Dothraki that was meant to be spoken by the eponymous people | * Gerna Mohr (or Gerna Moussha), an unused language that was meant to be spoken by the Children of the Forest |
| 2013–2015 | *Defiance* | * Castithan (*Kastíthanu*), the language of the eponymous species. It has its own abugida called Fajizwalino. | * Irathient (*Thwelu l'Irathi*), the language of the eponymous species. It has its own abugida called Izra. | * Indojisnen, the language of Indogenes. It has its own syllabary called Hazugimari. | * Kinuk'aaz ("our language"), the language of the Omec. It has its own alphabet called Zaduusel. | * Yanga Kayang, an unused language that was meant to be the Liberata's | ||||
| 2014 | *Star-Crossed* | Sondiv, the language of the Atrians. It has its own abjad called Kwandon. | ||||||||
| 2014–2015 | *Dominion* | Lishepus, a language invented by the angels to prevent humans from understanding them. It is based on Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Afroasiatic roots. Peterson also translated a few lines into Akkadian for one episode. | ||||||||
| 2015–2020 | *The 100* | * Trigedasleng ("forest language") or Trig, the language of the Grounders. It is a descendant of a cryptolect based on American English. | * Ripasleng ("Reaper language"), the language of the Reapers, a modified version of Trigedasleng with additional sound changes. | |||||||
| 2015 | *Penny Dreadful* | Verbis Diablo (or Verbis Diabolo), the language of witches and demons. Its vocabulary is based on Classical Arabic, Akkadian, Middle Egyptian, Attic Greek, Latin, Persian and Turkish. | ||||||||
| 2016 | *Face Off* | Guest judge | ||||||||
| 2016–2017 | *The Shannara Chronicles* | Noalath ("great tongue"), the language of druids | ||||||||
| 2017 | *Emerald City* | * Inha ("we"), the language of witches. It has four varieties (referencing the four countries of the Land of Oz), called Water Inha, Fire Inha, Wind Inha and Stone Inha. | * Munja'kin, the language of the eponymous people | |||||||
| 2017 | *The Defenders* | Written Tibetan translation | ||||||||
| 2018 | *Into the Badlands* | Azrán, a descendant of Mexican Spanish spoken in Azra | ||||||||
| 2018 | *Iron Fist* | Written Tibetan translation | ||||||||
| 2019, 2021 | *Another Life* | Achaian, Tala and Decuma, three asemic syllabaries. Peterson worked on this show with Claire Ng. | ||||||||
| 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025 | *The Witcher* | Hen Linge ("elder speech"), the language of elves and mages. It has its own alphabet called Hen Wökina. | ||||||||
| 2019 | *Euphoria* | Dothraki lines | ||||||||
| 2020–2022 | *Motherland: Fort Salem* | Méníshè ("mother tongue"), the language of witches. A language derived from Méníshè and spoken by Camarilla members was also used for one line, and an ancient form of Méníshè appears in season 3. Peterson created all three languages with Jessie Peterson. | ||||||||
| 2020 | *Lovecraft Country* | Language of Adam. Peterson created a writing system for this show in collaboration with Claire Ng, but it was not used. | ||||||||
| 2021 | *Mr. Mayor* | Dothraki lines. Uncredited. | ||||||||
| 2021, 2023 | *Shadow and Bone* | * Ravkan (*Ravkaye Vyechost*), the language of Ravka, which mainly appears in writing as it is rendered as English in most of the scenes where it is spoken. It has its own alphabet called Im Shaliloriyi. An older form of Ravkan was also used for one line. | * Fjerdan, the language of Fjerda. Peterson created this language with Christian Thalmann. | * Kerch, the abugida of Kerch. It does not have an associated conlang, instances of written Kerch are actually coded English texts. | * Kerch sign language | * Zemeni, the language of Novyi Zem. It has its own abugida called Isunuche Zemen. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson. | * Shu, the language of Shu Han. It has its own alphabet called Shighraad Shu. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson, and its writing system was created by Christian Thalmann. | |||
| 2022 | *From* | Background dialogue lines for the creatures. Peterson worked on this show with Jessie Peterson, both are uncredited. | ||||||||
| 2022, 2024 | *Halo* | Sangheili, the language of the Covenant. Peterson created this language with Carl Buck. | ||||||||
| 2022, 2024 | *House of the Dragon* | High Valyrian (*Valyrio Udrir*) lines, as well as a new logoconsonantal script called Nekesse Valyrio for this language | ||||||||
| 2022 | *Paper Girls* | Kezhwa, a creole language spoken by time travelers. It was only used for one line. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson, both are uncredited. | ||||||||
| 2022 | *Vampire Academy* | Aazh Naamori ("Language of the Moroi"), the language of vampires. It has its own abugida. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson. | ||||||||
| 2022 | *The Witcher: Blood Origin* | Hen Linge lines and texts | ||||||||
| 2026 | *A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms* | Dothraki lines |
Films
| Year | Title | Language(s) / role |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | *Thor: The Dark World* | Shiväisith ("soft speech"), the language of the Dark Elves. It has its own alphabet called Todjydheenil, which was not used in the film, Peterson invented it after the film was released. |
| 2016 | *Warcraft: The Beginning* | * Orcish, the language of orcs |
| 2016 | *The Bad Batch* | Dialect coach |
| 2016 | *Doctor Strange* | Nelvayu, a demonic language the Zealots use for incantations |
| 2017 | *Conlanging: The Art of Crafting Tongues* | Executive producer |
| 2017 | *Bright* | * Övüsi (*Övüsi Kieru*, "Elvish tongue"), the language of elves. It has its own abugida. An older form of Övüsi was also used for one line. |
| 2018, 2020 | * *The Christmas Chronicles* | * *The Christmas Chronicles 2* |
| 2021 | *Raya and the Last Dragon* | Kumandran, the language of Kumandra. It was only used for one line and a few untranslated words in English lines. |
| 2021 | *The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf* | Hen Linge lines and texts |
| 2021, 2024 | * *Dune* | * *Dune: Part Two* |
| 2023 | *Elemental* | Firish (*Tsʼítsʼàsh*), the language of the fire elements. It has its own syllabary called Ká Khìkhùftò, which was not used in most of the film as a different alphabet was also used more often to write coded English. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson. |
| 2025 | *The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep* | Roozh Linge ("deep speech"), a sister language of Hen Linge spoken by merfolk. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson. |
| 2025 | *Superman* | Suh Ankripton, the language of the Kryptonians. It has its own abugida called Gwazaks Ankripton. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson. |
| 2026 | *Project Hail Mary* | Eridian, the musical language used by the Eridians. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson. Most if not all of it went unused in the film. |
| 2026 | *Supergirl* |
Video games
| Year | Title | Language(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | *Arena of Valor* | * Veda, the language of the inhabitants of Veda. It has its own abjad called Welqor ("stack-mark"). | * Afata, a descendant of Veda spoken by the eponymous people. It has its own abugida called Thala ("vine"). | * Gandal ("impure language"), a descendant of Veda spoken by humans. It has its own alphabet called Shul ("pure"). | * G'vunna (*Zudǝllǝ g’Vunnǝ*, "language from the abyss"), a descendant of Veda spoken by Lokheim. It has its own alphabet called Oz ("blade"). | The scripts were only made for promotional purposes; none of them were used in the game. |
Operas
| Year | Title | Language(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017, 2019 | * *Vōv* (Eduardo Reck Miranda) | * *Lampedusa* (Eduardo Reck Miranda) | Vōv ("love"), a language spoken on Ariel's island |
Musicals
| Year | Title | Language(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | *WeCameToDance* (Food Tank) | Hanyana, a language spoken by aliens from the eponymous planet |
Books
| Year | Title | Language(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014, 2017 | * *The Zaanics Deceit* | * *The Zaanics Pursuit* | Væyne Zaanics ("God's gift" or "God's curse"), a secret language invented by the Lyrs and the Severns It has its own cipher alphabet called Yesuþoh. Peterson created this language with Nina Post. |
Publications
References
External links
- Previous official website