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Writer's pictureAndy McIlvain

Languages in Denis Villeneuve's DUNE Movies

Languages in Denis Villeneuve's DUNE Movies

We take our gifts of language for granted, no matter what country of ethnic origin we have.

It's hard to imagine that all of humanity once had one language (Genesis 11:1).

God has wired us to communicate and to create language. Many lost languages provide only hints of what the people who spoke them were like.

In literature, we also can create language.

Growing up I was spellbound by "Tolkien's" created languages.

Over the years many more fictional languages have been created, the language of the "Heptapods" in the movie "Arrival" is another example of thinking outside the box.

In the current "Dune" movie franchise director Denis Villeneuve has assembled several linguists to help further create the fictional languages that started by author Frank Herbert.

the following articles and video help us understand this creative endeavor



"Constructed Languages Don’t Always Make It Into a Finished Film — but ‘Dune: Part Two’ Shows Why They Should

Linguists David and Jessie Peterson discuss the joys of building out the lexicon of the Fremen language in "Dune: Part 2."

Nerds of a particular disposition once had to seek out a little red book by Ruth S. Noel called “The Languages of Tolkien’s Middle Earth,” from which you could learn two of the seven writing systems and look up definitions in 14 of the 15 languages that J.R.R. Tolkien spent his life inventing. But the internet has increased the accessibility of many things and therefore increased the hunger for many things: among them fan wikis with definitions for every thrown-away word in a made-up language in every fantasy story ever written. Frank Herbert’s “Dune” is no different. 

But it is one thing to pepper in some extra js and dhs and q-apostrophes to make certain words look fantastical to native English speakers and another thing entirely to create a language system that makes sense. This challenge is precisely the task facing linguists David and Jessie Peterson for “Dune: Part 2,” which features a fair bit of dialogue in Chakobsa, the language of the Fremen..." from the article: Constructed Languages Don’t Always Make It Into a Finished Film — but ‘Dune: Part Two’ Shows Why They Should



Video from Secrets of Dune


"Explore the many languages and their inspirations that were shown in Denis Villeneuve's Dune Part One and Dune Part Two." from the video introduction


Denis Villeneuve Had Entire Fremen Language Developed for Dune: Part 2

"Tolkien would be proud.

One of the many claims to fame author J.R.R. Tolkien had - you know, on top of creating a vast fantasy universe that is still beloved to this day - is crafting the unique languages that inhabited it. Now, it seems as though Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve took a page from Tolkien’s book when it came to fleshing out the series’ central language, Chakobsa.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Villeneuve opened up about bringing on an experienced linguist, David J. Peterson (who had previously helped develop the Dothraki language for Game of Thrones), to build out the language, which had only been described in the original books. Author Frank Herbert, who wrote the Dune novels, did not index the language in the way Tolkien was known for with Lord of the Rings, which pushed Villeneuve to work with Peterson on “vocabulary and pronunciations that could actually be used by actors.”

“All the actors went to Fremen school!” the Blade Runner 2049 filmmaker told the outlet. “I’m not joking. They took weeks to learn the language and came on set absolutely fluent. There was even a dialect coach on set. Everybody took it so seriously, and I was so moved to see Timothée [Chalamet] give whole speeches in Chakobsa.”.." from the article: Denis Villeneuve Had Entire Fremen Language Developed for Dune: Part 2





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