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Chakobsa is a fictional language spoken by the Fremen in Frank Herbert's novel Dune (1965). The language was further developed by David and Jessie Peterson for the films Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024). Because of the substantial changes made by the Petersons, the language used in the films is sometimes referred to as Neo-Chakobsa.

Development

Herbert's original language

Herbert took the name for his language from Chakobsa, a language spoken in the Caucasus. He may have learned of the language from Lesley Blanch's book The Sabres of Paradise (1960). Blanch described Chakobsa as a "mysterious tongue":

They laughed derisively, speaking among themselves in that mysterious tongue, Chakobsa, 'the Hunting Language', which the rulers and Princes used when they wished to converse in secret, and of which no more than a few words have been discovered.

The original language created by Herbert was strongly influenced by Arabic. The Fremen use at least eighty terms derived Arabic, many of which are related to Islam. Words of Arabic origin include ayat ('signs'), burhan ('proof'), ijaz ('prophecy'), ilm ('theology'), istislah ('natural law'), and karama ('miracle').

Subsequent development

David Peterson worked on the Chakobsa language alone for the first film, but for the second film he collaborated with his wife, Jessie (née Sims).

For the films, the Petersons created a language that eschewed Arabic influence. David Peterson argued that Dune was set so far in the future that Arabic would have changed beyond recognition (as a result of natural language change): "The time depth of the Dune books makes the amount of recognizable Arabic that survived completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) impossible." One example is the Chakobsa phrase translated as 'Long live the fighters'. In Herbert's novel, the phrase is Ya hya chouhada, which is derived from an Arabic celebratory chant used during the Algerian war of independence. However, in the film Dune: Part Two, the phrase is Addaam reshii a-zaanta (lit. 'lives long to-the-fighters').

The decision to move the language away from its Arabic and Islamic roots was criticized by a number of commentators.

Linguistic structure

Phonology and orthography

Chokobsa has five short vowels, three long vowels, and twenty-three consonants.

• Short vowels:
  • i /i/
  • e /e/
  • a /a/
  • o /o/
  • u /u/
• Long vowels:
  • ii /iː/
  • aa /aː/
  • uu /uː/
• Consonants:
  • b /b/
  • t /t/
  • d /d/
  • ch /tʃ/
  • j /dʒ/
  • k /k/
  • g /ɡ/
  • q /q/
  • ’ /ʔ/
  • f /f/
  • v /v/
  • th /θ/
  • dh /ð/
  • s /s/
  • z /z/
  • sh /ʃ/
  • h /h/
  • m /m/
  • n /n/
  • r /ɾ/
  • l /l/
  • w /w/
  • y /j/

The consonants /t/, /tʃ/, and /k/ are unaspirated.

In some environments, such as before /s/, /b/ is devoiced to [p].

Chakobsa has consonant gemination. This is indicated in the romanization by the doubling of the consonant. For the digraphs ⟨ch⟩, ⟨th⟩, ⟨dh⟩, and ⟨sh⟩, only the first letter is doubled.

In addition to the system of romanization, the Petersons created a Chakobsa syllabary.

Morphology and syntax

Chakobsa nouns have six cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, locative, allative, and ablative.

Adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify:

addaam

adˈdaːm

lives

reshii

ˈreʃiː

long

a-zaanta

aˈzaːnta

to-the-fighters

addaam reshii a-zaanta

adˈdaːm ˈreʃiː aˈzaːnta

lives long to-the-fighters

'Long live the fighters!'

Constituent order is verb–subject–object:

qaubaka

ˈqaubaka

warned-they

kaalik

ˈkaːlik

mothers-your

akaa

aˈkaː

you

rii

riː

about

hurayi

ˈhuraji

coming-my

qaubaka kaalik akaa rii hurayi

ˈqaubaka ˈkaːlik aˈkaː riː ˈhuraji

warned-they mothers-your you about coming-my

'Your mothers warned you about my coming.'

Verbal inflection means the subject can be omitted:

zaihaash

ˈzaihaːʃ

drink-you

lek

lek

sand

zaihaash lek

ˈzaihaːʃ lek

drink-you sand

'You're insane.'

Sometimes a prepositional phrase is used with the infinitive:

oma

ˈoma

on-us

hiila

ˈhiːla

to-collect

ekker

ekˈker

water

is-thanaha

isˈθanaha

from-body-his

oma hiila ekker is-thanaha

ˈoma ˈhiːla ekˈker isˈθanaha

on-us to-collect water from-body-his

'We must get his body's water.'

There is no copula:

shaidish

ˈʃaidiʃ

today

fizib

ˈfizib

day

shaidish fizib

ˈʃaidiʃ ˈfizib

today day

'Today is the day.'

ho

ho

he

jedhii

dʒeˈðiː

fat

omaiz

oˈmaiz

too-much

ho jedhii omaiz

ho dʒeˈðiː oˈmaiz

he fat too-much

'He's too fat.'

Negation is by the particle so:

kaah

kaah

they

so

so

not

is-reshma

isˈreʃma

from-desert

kaah so is-reshma

kaah so isˈreʃma

they not from-desert

'They are not of the desert.'

so

so

not

nifriyi

ˈnifriji

can-I

jila

ˈdʒila

go

a-noqchom

aˈnoqtʃom

to-south

so nifriyi jila a-noqchom

so ˈnifriji ˈdʒila aˈnoqtʃom

not can-I go to-south

'I can't go south.'

References

1. ^ Singh, Manvir (28 February 2024). ""Dune" and the Delicate Art of Making Fictional Languages". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 19 March 2024.
2. ^ Tracy, Marc (23 March 2024). "The Invention of a Desert Tongue for 'Dune'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 March 2024.
3. ^ Shachat, Sarah (1 March 2024). "Constructed Languages Don't Always Make It Into a Finished Film — but 'Dune: Part Two' Shows Why They Should". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 8 January 2025.
4. ^ "Neo-Chakobsa". Omniglot. Archived from the original on 9 January 2025.
5. Collins, Will (16 September 2017). "The Secret History of Dune". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 8 January 2025.
6. Blanch, Lesley (1960). The Sabres of Paradise. London: John Murray. p. 21.
7. ^ Drury, Sharareh (26 March 2024). "'Dune 2' Criticized for Lack of Middle Eastern and North African Inclusion and Influences: 'A Missed Opportunity'". Variety. Archived from the original on 27 March 2024.
8. ^ Durrani, Haris A. (28 October 2021). "The novel 'Dune' had deep Islamic influences. The movie erases them". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 December 2023.
9. ^ Karjoo-Ravary, Ali (11 October 2020). "In Dune, Paul Atreides led a jihad, not a crusade". Al Jazeera English. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
10. ^ Peterson, David J.; Sams, Jessie (20 November 2022). "Dune 2: Language Translations" (PDF). Dedalvs.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2024.
11. ^ Peterson, David J. "Chakobsa Pronunciation and Romanization" (PDF). Dedalvs.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2021.
12. Peterson, David J. "The Chakobsa Orthography" (PDF). Dedalvs.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2021.
13. Peterson, David J. "Chakobsa Reference Grammar" (PDF). Dedalvs.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2024.
14. ^ Peterson, David J. (27 September 2020). "Dune: Language Translations" (PDF). Dedalvs.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 October 2021.

• Constructed languages
• Fictional languages
• Verb–subject–object languages
• Dune (franchise)
• Islam in popular culture