How does Draconic sound?

[Tanager]

It all depends on what you envision a dragon's mouth to be like.
The shape of it's tongue and teeth are going to be major factors.
In my mind, labio-dental fricatives (f and v) would be minimal, if in existance at all, since all them sharp teeth would be killers on the lips. Sibilants would likely be prominent, as would liquids (such as l & r, which could also function as semi-vowels). The flexible tongue and larger interior of the mouth could possibly expand the range of vowels as well.

If you picture the tongue as narrow and snakelike then most stops would be altered (except the plosives) since airflow would carry around the tongue more.

For some reason I also see it as being heavily aspirated.

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[Craer]

If I remember correctly, Dragon had an issue a while back containing a limited dictionary and pronunciation guide to Draconic. Being the ubergeek I am, I went and memorized a phrase or two to shout at players, passerby on the street, etc. Best one: "Renthisj ausir, *pothoc*!" Translation: Depending on the inflection and tone, it can mean anything from "I don't understand" to "Speak more clearly, you blasted fool!" Literally it translates to "speak white, idiot". White being the closest I could find to "clear" or that sort of thing.

But yeah. Lots of gutteral hissing and snarling. Also, it's the only language I've ever heard of to use asterisks as punctuation.

-Craer

 

[Painfully]

I think it sounds snake-like. Although wizards might understand it as one of their language choices, I require a split-tipped tongue for my players to actually speak it correctly. For powerful spells of 7th level and up I require that they speak Draconic, but by that level they can disguise their tongues from townfolk with a simple spell like alter self.

It gives my players something to worry about when they happen to spot somebody with a split tongue. And to this day they still worry when meeting lizardfolk. Hehehe.

 

[Gez]

How about a slithery sounding Chinese-esque Draconic? That's how i've used it. China is the original home of dragons after all.

I hadn't make a choice on how it sounds, but for how it is written, right-o, it's chinese/japanese-looking ideograms. It allows for a complicated language, where a symbol may be a word or a syllable, and where meanings may be different depending on the sense you are reading it (left to right, right to left, up to down or down to up, in diagonal, etc.). No wonder deciphering scrolls and spellbooks is hard!

I had my players pass in front of a huge spellbook once -- a small labyrinth made in thin stone plates, engraved with draconic signs that didn't made any sense. But actually, reading each panel as if following a valid itinerary of the labyrinth (as seen from above) allowed to read the spells inscribed in it.

They didn't guessed that, of course.

 

[Methinkus]

ROOOOOOOAAAAAAR

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I sort of imagine it as something like the Black Speech of Mordor (as written in the books), but with more sibilance and other reptilian sounds like rumblings and bellows, with some bird-like sounds thrown in, from eagle screams to almost songbird-like calls.

 

[Liquide]

How about a slithery sounding Chinese-esque Draconic? That's how i've used it. China is the original home of dragons after all.

Not entirely true.

Almost every mythos have their dragons in some shape or another and almost all dragons were created in about the same time in the diffrent mythosis.

Take for example the Norse Linnorms, first record of them is noted somewhere around 800 AD (might be earlier not quite sure about it).

Parts of the bible make references to dragons in text written around 300 AD (it might also be due to bad translation they are actually referred to as dragons who knows really )

Greek mythos also refers to a a lot of dragon-like creatures, not just the hydra (laernan hydrae), and the first record of this is even before both of the above references (cannot supply any exact year/century though).

Still all of these references are before we the western world had any major contact with any of the eastern cultures, and the dragons referred to in each of the above sources/mythos are a lot more similar to the dragons that were portraid in stories during the dark ages and medieval times then those of asian cultures.

Still for me draconian would be a mix of old norse and Acient Greek. A runic script with a flowing speech, much similar to a melody. (ever listened to how norse langauges sound, do that and you will hear something diffrent our languages actually use a melody when you construct sentences in speech)

 

[Liquide]

I den kraft som kommer från mitt blod skall jag återkalla den kraft som kommer från svunnen tid.

Den kraft som dödliga anammar och kallar magi.


bonus points if you translate the above (or record it in swedish so people can have a sound file to listen to in order for them to hear what swedish sounds like).

 

[333 Dave]

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh cthulhu r'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

 

[Gez]

I den kraft som kommer från mitt blod skall jag återkalla den kraft som kommer från svunnen tid.

Den kraft som dödliga anammar och kallar magi.


bonus points if you translate the above (or record it in swedish so people can have a sound file to listen to in order for them to hear what swedish sounds like).

My knowledge of Swedish is limited to knowing it's the language spoken in Sweden, but I'll try to guess.

I blah blah with blood blah hunt blah blah blah blah. Blah blah enemy blah magic.

Mmh... Havn't rolled high on Decipher Script.