Sardaukar language (2020s film series)

This article or section refers to elements from Expanded Dune

Mixed Canonicity This article refers to elements from both Original Dune & Expanded Dune

The "Sardaukar language" heard briefly on a few occassions in the 2021 Dune film adaptation, is a fictional constructed language used by the Sardaukar soldiers of the Imperium, servants of the Padishah Emperor.

Spoken examples

There are two different and distinct spoken variations of the language. One seems to be the usual spoken version, whereas the second one seems to be reserved for rituals of the sardaukar armies' grim warrior religion (this second variation is used for throat singing accompanying the rituals).

Conversation between the bashar and Piter de Vries

Ta abula kamanzi. At sa da. ("The Emperor commands it. It is done.")

In a scene where the sardaukar bashar (Neil Bell) is negotiating with Piter de Vries (David Dastalmachian), the mentat of the Harkonnens, the bashar utters the following sentences to de Vries at the end of their conversation:

Na ! Shaduka, ki ukabaade. Sakusa akista faade. Ta abula kamanzi. At sa da.

The subtitles render the sentences as:

“No ! We are the Sardaukar. The Emperor’s blades. Those who stand against us fall. The Emperor commands it. It is done.”

Attempted execution of Dr. Kynes

In the scene where a handful of surviving sardaukar soldiers at the botanical research station catch up with Dr. Liet Kynes, wound her and attempt to execute her on the spot, we can hear several new sentences in the usual version of the language.

The vocabulary in the sentences seems to indicate the sardaukar have several different terms they use to refer to the emperor. This isn't surprising, given that their lifelong training and purpose-made warrior religion is meant to instill a sense of fanatical loyalty to the emperor.

Throat singing during sardaukar military rituals

The ritual involving an individual performing throat singing has a very particular, perhaps somewhat alternate or "special occassion" variation on the language.

Ts’om brovüch’on gokhulzhon dzoq’ayh qaldayh gum.
Hölgör römbözh åzqådözh t’urukh sündukh gun.
Mandon gözdöl våbrukh shok’ubukh qotskå gur.
P’an ts’ayzuvöl sat ro’ayqözh hölubözh guz.
Khannon bülnon sat k’åröt’özh åtsürözh guz.
Jovayh söklöl gådzunöl sat nuvåqözh gur.

Phonetic rendering:
TS’OM bro-vü-ch’on go-khul-zhon dzo-q’ayh qal-dayh guuuuuum.
HÖL-gör röm-bözh åz-qa-dözh t’u-rukh sün-dukh guuuuuun.
MAN-don göz-döl vå-brukh sho-k’u-bukh qots-kå guuuuuur.
P’AN ts’ay-zu-völ sat ro-’ay-qözh hö-lü-bözh guuuuuuz.
KHAN-non bül-non sat k’å-rö-t’özh åt-sü-rözh guuuuuuz.
JO-vayh sök-löl gåd-zu-nöl sat nu-vå-gözh guuuuuur.

The throat singing chant's phonology and lyrics were developed by Dune's linguistic and constructed language advisor, David J. Peterson.

Phonology

To quote David J. Peterson's notes:

"Sardaukar Pronunciation Guide

The Sardaukar language will be featured in a chant used by a priest blessing a battalion of troops. The language is meant to sound both fierce and ritualistic. It should sound very off-putting. In addition to the pronunciation guidelines below, note that your voice should sound like a drone, at as low an octave as you can safely produce. For a detailed description of how to voice it, listen to the .mp3 entitled SPRIEST_DUNE_8_EXP.mp3. That will explain it in detail. For the particulars of how each letter is pronounced, see below:

Romanization and Pronunciation
This is the romanization system, which will be used to spell the language using the Roman alphabet. I'm going to describe the full system in detail below:

• A, a: Pronounced like the “a” in “sofa”, but with lips fully rounded.
• Å, å: Pronounced like the “a” in “father”, but with lips fully rounded. It rather sounds like the English pronunciation of the “o” in “Harry Potter”.
• Ay, ay: Pronounced a little like the “oy” in “boy”, but a little more centrally (more like “uh” followed by a “y” sound).
• B, b: Pronounced like the "b" in “bad".
• Ch, ch: Pronounced like the "ch" in "each". Unlike the sound "ch" in English "chair", there is no discernible puff of air that accompanies this sound. If one holds one's breath while pronouncing the "ch" in English "chair", one will pronounce this sound correctly.
• Ch', ch': There's no English equivalent to this sound. This is an ejective consonant. In the case of ch', it's pronounced just like ch, but with one's breath held. The result is a little "popping" sound that immediately follows the production of the ch. You can think of it as a ch that's followed by a glottal ' sound. Producing those two sounds in short succession will result in a sound very close to ch'. Continue to practice and you should be able to get it.
• D, d: Pronounced like the "d" in "diet".
• Dz, dz: Pronounced like the "ds" in "kids".
• G, g: Pronounced like the "g" in "goat" (never like the "g" in "genius").
• H, h: Pronounced like the "h" in "hop". This sound is always pronounced, even if it comes after another consonant, or at the end of a word. (Do note where it occurs in digraphs, though. Ch, ch’, kh, sh, and zh are all single sounds.)
• J, j: Pronounced like the "j" in "jam".
• K, k: Pronounced like the "k" in "sky" (this sound features no aspiration. Aspiration is the puff of air that occurs in the "k" in "kite". Compare the "k" in "kite" and the "k" in "sky" [try holding your hand in front of your face when pronouncing both]. The Sardaukar k should always be pronounced like the "k" in "sky"; never like the "k" in "kite").
• K', k': There's no English equivalent to this sound. This is an ejective consonant. In the case of k', it's pronounced just like k, but with one's breath held. The result is a little "popping" sound that immediately follows the production of the k. You can think of it as a k that's followed by a glottal ' sound. Producing those two sounds in short succession will result in a sound very close to k'. Continue to practice and you should be able to get it.
• Kh, kh: Pronounced like the "ch" in the German pronunciation of "Buch". In English, this sound is commonly used with onomatopoeic words associated with disgust, like "blech!" or "ich!" To pronounce it correctly, put your tongue in position to pronounce a k, but release it slowly; allow the air to pass through the constricted space. The result should be a sound like white noise.
• L, l: Pronounced like the "l" in "love".
• M, m: Pronounced like the "m" in "matter".
• N, n: Pronounced like the "n" in "never".
• O, o: Pronounced like the "o" in "tote".
• Ö, ö: Pronounced like the "œu" in French "sœur", or the "ö" in German "hören".
• P, p: Pronounced like the "p" in "spike" (this sound features no aspiration. Aspiration is the puff of air that occurs in the "p" in "pike". Compare the "p" in "pike" and the "p" in "spike" [try holding your hand in front of your face when pronouncing both]. The Sardaukar p should always be pronounced like the "p" in "spike"; never like the "p" in "pike").
• P', p': There's no English equivalent to this sound. This is an ejective consonant. In the case of p', it's pronounced just like p, but with one's breath held. The result is a little "popping" sound that immediately follows the production of the p. You can think of it as a p that's followed by a glottal ' sound. Producing those two sounds in short succession will result in a sound very close to p'. Continue to practice and you should be able to get it.
• Q, q: This is likely the most difficult sound in Sardaukar for an English speaker to master. The sound is produced by touching the back of the tongue to the uvula and making a constriction as one would for a k. One pronounces this sound like any other stop (p, t, k), it's just pronounced further back in the mouth than an English speaker is used to. Think about when the doctor asks you to go, "Ahhhhhhh..." Try doing that, and as you're doing it, take the back of your tongue, without moving it, and plug up the opening in the back of your mouth. That should put you in perfect position to pronounce q.
• R, r: Pronounced like the "r" in French "rouge". It's a nice trilled "r" pronounced at the back of the throat (like a purr or a growl), so be sure to get the trill in there. It should always be rumbly and roll; it should never be harsh.
• S, s: Pronounced like the "s" in "sad".
• Sh, sh: Pronounced like the "sh" in "shade".
• T, t: Pronounced like the "t" in "stake" (this sound features no aspiration. Aspiration is the puff of air that occurs in the "t" in "take". Compare the "t" in "take" and the "t" in "stake" [try holding your hand in front of your face when pronouncing both]. The Sardaukar t should always be pronounced like the "t" in "stake"; never like the "t" in "take").
• T', t': There's no English equivalent to this sound. This is an ejective consonant. In the case of t', it's pronounced just like t, but with one's breath held. The result is a little "popping" sound that immediately follows the production of the t. You can think of it as a t that's followed by a glottal ' sound. Producing those two sounds in short succession will result in a sound very close to t'. Continue to practice and you should be able to get it.
• Ts, ts: Pronounced like the "ts" in "cuts".
• Ts', ts': There's no English equivalent to this sound. This is an ejective consonant. In the case of ts', it's pronounced just like ts, but with one's breath held. The result is a little "popping" sound that immediately follows the production of the ts. You can think of it as a ts that's followed by a glottal ' sound. Producing those two sounds in short succession will result in a sound very close to ts'. Continue to practice and you should be able to get it.
• U, u: Pronounced like the "u" in "ruminate".
• Ü, ü: Pronounced like the "u" in French "rue", or the "ü" in German "für".
• V, v: Pronounced like the "v" in "van".
• Y, y: Pronounced like the "y" in "yet".
• Z, z: Pronounced like the "z" n "zebra".
• Zh, zh: Pronounced like the "z" in “azure" or the “s” in “measure”.
• ': This is referred to as a glottal stop, and is pronounced just like the catch in one's throat that occurs in between the "uh" and "oh" in English "uh-oh". This isn't a difficult sound to produce; it just requires a bit of practice to insert it into words. It will occur naturally in a string of vowels pronounced separately in English (e.g. if one were to say "A A A A A A A" [saying the actual name of the letter each time] over and over, a glottal stop will naturally occur before each instance of the vowel). If one simply stops pronouncing a word mid-vowel and starts again, it will naturally occur. (Note: It is important to remember that this apostrophe is not a stray mark, and not simply there for decoration. The apostrophe stands for a consonant which has the same status as g or k or any other consonant.)
• Double Consonants: Doubled consonants, or geminates, occur frequently in Sardaukar. To pronounce a doubled consonant, simply pronounce it twice. You might think of it as lingering over the consonant. Think of the "s" sound you pronounce in "Miss Sally". It's a longer "s" than if you pronounce the similar phrase "Miss Ally"."

That concludes Peterson's notes and observations on the phonology and pronunciation created for the film's version of the sardaukar language used during the throat singing chant. In the following section, we will delve into select examples of the vocabulary in the spoken (non-chant) sardaukar language heard in the 2021 film adaptation.

Select vocabulary examples

• bāde (baade) - noun, implied as "blades", the plural of "blade"
• kamanzi (kamanzi) - verb, implied as "he/she commands" (also quite similar to English "command(s)")
• Šadukər (Shadukar) - noun, implied as the singular of "sardaukar"
• Šadukə (Shaduka) - noun, implied as the plural of "sardaukar"

A more detailed analysis/discussion can be found behind the link included in External links.

Behind the scenes

Unlike the other fictional languages heard in the 2021 film adaptation, the sound and vocabulary of the usual spoken variation might have been somewhat improvised, with the sound editors distorting originally English-spoken lines to sound like that of a foreign language. Some of the words still vaguely resemble words from real world languages.

The rarer variation, used for throat singing acompaying rituals, was fully designed and developed by David J. Peterson, who also developed the detailed film version of the original novel's Chakobsa.

See also

• "Neo-Chakobsa" (2020s film series) - The 2020s Dune film series' expanded version of the Dune novel series' Chakobsa language.
• Atreides battle language (2020s film series) - Secret sign language used by House Atreides for stealthy communication in espionage, security and combat situations.
• Tamashek

External links

• A linguistics fan examination of the little-heard Sardaukar language in the 2021 Dune film adaptation
• An overview of dialogue in the constructed languages used in the 2021 Dune film adaptation
• Overview of David J. Peterson's constructed language work for the 2020s Dune film series
• David J. Peterson's official website - Focused primarily on Peterson's linguistics work, including work on constructed languages.
• The Art of Language Invention - A website founded by David J. Peterson to provide the public with detailed courses on the process and various aspects of developing constructed languages.
• David J. Peterson's official Youtube channel - Includes information on Peterson's constructed language works and detailed courses on developing constructed languages (the latter affiliated with the Art of Language Invention Website).