Guild of Linguists (restored)

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For the D'ni Guild of Linguists, see Guild of Linguists.
Guild of Linguists (restored)
Short D'ni name telmEs
D'ni name telok mEscUrtantE
Established 1998 CE (9654 DE)
Guild color white

The study of the D'ni language began after the release of the Book of Ti'ana, which included the reproduction of Aitrus's map From D'ni to the Surface [meD'nE bretalEo].[1] A website [2] made by Cyan, Inc. included English translations of the texts on the map.

A handful of fans, including Telanis, Erithan, Sne'vir, and Coronus, deciphered the alphabet and derived the first elements of the grammar.

History[edit | edit source]

The Circle of D'ni[edit | edit source]

The early linguists organized themselves into an exclusive group, the Circle of D'ni[3], in 1995. To be admitted into the group, new candidates needed to demonstrate a genuine interest in the language.

When rumors of a sequel to Myst began to emerge, one of the members posted the Circle's wordlist on a public website. Simple, often incorrect D'ni phrases became common, and the Circle eventually dissolved.

The Guild of Linguists[edit | edit source]

When Riven was released in 1998, incorporating D'ni writing into the game, fans wanted to understand their meaning and interest in the D'ni language exploded.

The actual D'ni script was first transliterated by Project Translatam in February 1998.[4] Only a few nouns, verbs, and other forms of speech were known, but almost none of the alphabet. An unknown source supplied a partial list of D'ni–English letters; by analyzing text in Riven and in the Book of Ti'ana map,[2] undertanding of the script and the grammar quickly grew.

Since November 1998, Simon and Josef Riedl's Guild of Linguists[5] became a center of learning and a reference for the second 'generation' of linguists. The Writers of D'ni MOO[6], an interactive role-playing environment based on the D'ni world of 7500 DE, also became popular, under Guild Master Do'vahth.

Coronus, Tekis, and Jehon designed the D'ni Script typeface[7]. A new transliteration (the NTS) was devised[8], to eliminate the ambiguities of the more common standard used by Cyan. The relation between the alphabet and the numbering system was discovered.

The Rivenguild[edit | edit source]

Gordon Currie, founder of the Rivenguild website, mentioned details about his visit to Cyan and about the MUDPIE project in his GRID web series[9], based on a number of puzzles in D'ni. Kh'reestrefah released the first version of his D'ni Dictionary[10].

The release of Exile in 2001 spurred the formation of a sub-group, the Narayani Collective[11].

However, once the texts in Riven and its soundtrack were thoroughly digested, few new discoveries were made and interest began to fade. Rivenguild closed.

The languagelyst[edit | edit source]

In 2003, invitations from a 'Jeff Zandi' began to appear in random email inboxes. Members of the fan community were being invited to test Cyan's new game, Uru, which included new texts. A number of testers pointed out errors and offered corrections, which were accepted before the public release.

A new venue was founded by linguist Leenay, the languagelyst[12], where many of the Uru texts were first publicly discussed.

The D'ni Linguistic Fellowship[edit | edit source]

In-game, neighborhoods and organization centered around common interests began to emergence, the first being the Guild of Greeters[13] under Guildmaster Tijara, which became a model for many others. The linguistic community adopted the model in 2004 with the D'ni Linguistic Fellowship[14].

Co-founded by Jerle and Domahreh, the DLF aimed to be a community for all those interested in the D'ni and ahrotahn languages, offering in-Cavern classes and online learning resources.

Unfortunately, once again Uru Live was closed in 2008, DLF activities were put on hold, and eventually the forums were closed[15].

The Guild of Instructors[edit | edit source]

With the Cavern closed, many explorers found new homes in other Virtual Worlds such as Second Life. Explorer r'Tayrtahn, host of the Story Nights in Tsahno's Bevin, started holding D'ni lessons in November 2008, under the name of shokhootahn Rehn. In March 2009 he started to promote some of his students as instructors, under the banner of the Guild of Instructors[16].

The (New) Guild of Linguists[edit | edit source]

On April 23, 2013, the Guild of Linguists was once again founded, by Guild Master KathAveara.[17]

Getting involved[edit | edit source]

The Guild currently doesn't have a central website; most discussions are held on the Facebook group or in the #linguists-pub channel of the Chat Discord server. Many former linguists are no longer active.

Membership is open to all interested in learning the D'ni language and extrapolating new grammar rules, but also to those interested in Bahro glyphs, Narayani symbols, or languages in general.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Domahreh. "History of D'ni Linguistics", The D'ni Student, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "D'ni Maps", Riven.com, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from riven.com the original on April 10, 2004.
  3. ↑ "Form register", The Circle of D'ni, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on January 19, 2001.
  4. ↑ "PROJECT: Translatam", The D'ni/Riven Information Source, accessed September 20, 2022. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Homepage", Guild of Linguists, accessed November 15, 2019.
  6. ↑ "Nemeton Erithan", Writers of D'ni MOO, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on December 7, 2003.
  7. ↑ "The new D'ni Script 2.2", Guild of Linguists, accessed November 15, 2019.
  8. ↑ "The New D'ni Transcription Standard", Guild of Linguists, accessed November 15, 2019.
  9. ↑ Gordon Currie. "Welcome to the GRID", Gordon’s Really Incredible Discoveries, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on October 12, 2001.
  10. ↑ Kh’reestrefah. "A Dictionary of the Language of D’ni", Eldalamberon, accessed November 15, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Home", The Narayani Collective forums, accessed November 15, 2019.
  12. ↑ "languagelyst", Yahoo Groups, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Home page", Guild of Greeters, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on June 1, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Home", D’ni Linguistic Fellowship, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on July 16, 2020.
  15. ↑ The last capture on the Wayback Machine is from January 2012.
  16. ↑ "About Us", Guild of Instructors, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on December 5, 2021.
  17. ↑ "Home page", Guild of Linguists, accessed November 15, 2019. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015.
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