Thri-Kreen language

The Thri-Kreen language, referred to simply as Thri-Kreen or Kreen, was the racial language of thri-kreen. Though believed to originate alongside the race on the world of Athas, the language was also spoken by thri-kreen on Toril and those across the wider reaches of Wildspace.This article is written under the assumption that Thri-Kreen is uniform across all settings. This is due to a lack of sources distinguishing between the "thri-kreen language" of Athas, detailed in Thri-Kreen of Athas and other Dark Sun sources, with the "thri-kreen language" mentioned in Core or Forgotten Realms sources, as well as the fact that the language is stated on pages 70-71 of that book to be largely static and unchanging over the course of centuries.
==Description==
The Thri-kreen language was composed of a series of buzzes, clicks, glottal stops, pops, rasps, a rush of air from the lungs accompanied by the gnashing of jaws, snaps, and whistles.
Most other creatures found the various sounds of the language to be difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate or imitate and difficult to interpret. This lead some to mistakenly believe that Thri-Kreen was a language without words.As other cited sources show that Thri-Kreen most certainly has a large selection of words, the statement "...a language without words." in the 5 edition Monster Manual is taken to be a misunderstanding on the part of non-kreen.
Knowledge of the Kreen tongue was inherited by all thri-kreen through means of a shared racial memory. This was the primary means by which the language was learned, rather than being taught by others over time like other languages. As a consequence, this made Thri-Kreen mostly static as a language, changing little over the course of centuries. It could take many generations before changes in the language, such as new words, became widespread in the racial language. Until such a time occurred, changes would have to be manually taught and passed down to children.
==Phonology==
The Thri-Kreen language was phonetically structured around thri-kreen physiology. A mouth structure that lacked any lips, had lateral jaws (mandibles) that could not completely close, an esophagus longer than those of demihumans and humans, and a different sort of tongue than most humanoids and demihumans. Together these factors, but most especially the lack of lips, rendered thri-kreen unable to effectively reproduce certain sounds that were employed in the languages of many other races. These sounds were the consonants p, b, f, v, and m.
These sounds could be somewhat approximated by thri-kreen through the use of other sounds in their language. However, many lacked the temperament necessary for such a slow process, and would instead opt to use some innate form of telepathy (if available)The thri-kreen presented in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space are detailed to have an innate form of telepathy that they use to overcome communication barriers. In most other iterations, thri-kreen lack any such innate telepathy. or prefer that non-kreen made an effort to learn their language. In turn, the Kreen tongue utilized sounds that were difficult or impossible for many other races to reproduce, as well as a few sounds that were merely uncommon in other languages. These sounds, and their symbols, are described below.
Thri-kreen sound	Symbol used to represent the sound
Click 	qh
Glottal stop 	*
Grind 	xh
Hum 	m m
Pop 	•
;Click: A sound produce by thri-kreen clicking their mandibles together, it was relatively uncommonly in the language. Alleged by some to be impossible for all but the most accomplished demihuman and human speakers to reproduce, due to their lack of mandibles, and even then it was noticeably different from a true thri-kreen "click". Nonetheless, many non-kreen found ways to approximate this sound. The most commonly accepted ways included clapping hands, snapping fingers, quickly closing one's mouth to cause a clashing of teeth, hitting stones together, or even using psionic powers to imitate the sound. Among the more lazy non-kreen attempting to speak the language, the sound would simply be substituted with a "ch" sound. Though all were noticeably different, with the exception of psionic duplication, thri-kreen still appreciated such attempts.
;D & K: The "d" and "k" sounds in the thri-kreen language were often used by less accomplished kreen in place of any of the sounds that were impossible for their race to reproduce.
;Glottal stop: Rather than being a specific sound, this referred to a brief, almost soundless or nonvocal pause between syllables. This was among the sounds of the language more easily reproducible by other humanoid races, simply requiring one to close the glottis at the back of their throat. Glottal stop were most apparent in words where two consonants would put together together when they typically wouldn't be in other languages. For example, the name "Ka'cha" which would be pronounced "Kah-(stop)-CHAH". Whenever non-insectoid races tried to speak Thri-kreen, such as humans opr demihumans, they neglected the use of glottal stops or tried to substitute the sound with either "uh" or "ah".
;Grind: Described by some as more of a "rush/grind", was a growling sort of sound, consisting of an audible blast of air from the lungs followed by the gnashing of the jaws and manible parts. It was a relatively rare sound within the Thri-kreen language, primarily used in derogatory terms or insults, and was physiologically impossible for non-insectoid races to imitate. At best, a rough approximation could be achieved by growling.
;Hum: Referred to by some as buzzes, it was most accurately described as an open-mouthed hum with a bit of a buzzing quality to it. It was a relatively rare sound within the Thri-kreen language, sometimes used to approximate the consonant "m". It was reproducible by non-insectoid races by making an open-mouthed hum whilst simultaneously making a light "Z" sound. But more often, non-kreen speakers would simply compromise by using the "m" sound.
;Pop: A sound that was produced by thri-kreen popping their tongue against either side of their jaws. It was a relatively common sound in the Thri-Kreen language and sometimes used by thri-kreen to approximate the consonants "b" and "p". It was impossible for demihumans or humans to reproduce effectively, though a tongue-click made for a close approximation. That being, drawing the tongue up against the roof of the mouth (its hard palate) and then releasing it against the floor of the mouth. Alternatively, non-kreen could try flicking their finger against their throat. Much like attempts to approximate the language's "click", these were noticeably different in sound, but their effort was nonetheless appreciated by thri-kreen.
;S: "S" sounds were sometimes used by thri-kreen to approximate the consonant "v".
;Th: "Th" sounds were sometimes used by thri-kreen to approximate the consonant "f".
In addition to these various sounds, it was common for thri-kreen to express their emotions through speaking at different volumes. Generally, soft volumes were used to indicate more passionate emotions, such as admiration, awe, friendship, love, tikchak (hunt mentality), or tokchak (cluch mentality). Whilst speaking at a high volume was used to indicate a state of excitement, whether it be from happiness or sad. Thri-kreen were generally reluctant to alter their tone in light of a given situation, such as a breeze making it difficult to hear a thri-kreen that was being soft-spoken, as the nuances of volume would effect the meaning of words. Non-kreen who interacted with the race frequently enough gradually came to accept this nuanced aspect of the language.
Verbal communication in the language was sometimes supplemented by thri-kreen with the emission of pheromones, This was done in order to help convey emotions, as thri-kreen voices had a dearth of emotional range, and as such always accompanied the aforementioned "changes in volume" so as to further ensure a speaker's intent, These pheromones had their own sort of "vocabulary", but it was only in the sense of vague, general meanings. Non-kreen could generally not detect these pheromones unless they naturally had strong olfactory senses or used some sort of magic or psionics to heighten their senses. Though even if one could detect these pheromones, it took practice to correctly interpret them.
==Grammar==
Similar to a number of languages, sentences in the Kreen tongue were structured in a subject and verb agreement, though there were various aspects of grammar common to other languages that were absent in Kreen. These various differences contributed to its difficulty in being translated or learned by non-kreen. For starters, Thri-Kreen lacked the usage of articles - that being words such as "a", "an", and "the". Articles were occasionally used in the language when thri-kreen attempted to speak with non-kreen, though it was not uncommon for them be used incorrectly, such as saying "look at a running pig" instead of "look at the running pig".
The Kreen tongue featured male and female pronouns, as well as a gender-neutral pronoun ("ker"). However, the language lacked distinct pronouns for nominative and subjective cases, such as "he" and "him". The language also lacked any shorthands for possession, thus instead of saying "Drasna's chatkcha" a speaker might say "that chatkcha belongs to Drasna". Distinct plurals were absent in the language, with every noun being both singular and plural, though in lieu of distinct plurals the usage of numbers was done whenever possible. And similarly, the same words were often used to refer to the verb form of a word and the individual performing the action described by it. For example, the word "ka" had the dual meaning of "to seek" and "seeker".
Some group nouns did exist within the Kreen tongue. One such noun was g', which meant "family" or "of the same blood" and carried an implication of plurality.
Many words within the Kreen tongue were composite or compound in nature, meaning that they were formed from a combination of two or more words. For example, the word "g'tokmma'ak" was a combination of the words "g" (family), "tok" (egg), and "mma'ak" (close companion). The word meant "clutchmate," but when translated more literally from its component parts it meant, "same-egg-family close-companion."
==Speakers==
Beyond thri-kreen themselves, a perfect imitation of the language was spoken by clockwork horrors, a type of interstellar construct.
==Writing System==
There was no single official script for the Kreen tongue. Some thri-kreen felt that the sounds of their language could not be sufficiently conveyed through script, whilst other communities did use some form of writing or another. If a thri-kreen script did exist among a community, basic knowledge of it would be passed down through racial memory and triggered upon first sight of such writing.
==Names==
Unlike some languages, there were no gendered given names in Thri-Kreen. Many names were characterized by glottal stops and hard consonant sounds. Thr-kreen typically possessed only a singular name, lacking any sort of surname. Typical names included the following:
: Cha'ka, Chak-tha, Chit'al, Chuka-tet, Drasna, Drik-chkit, Gulnik, Hakka, Ka'cha, Kacht-ta, Kat'chka, Ka'tho, Kiktul, Klaktuk, Klik-chaka'da, Krik, Lakta-cho Pak'cha, Pik-ik-cha, Pok, Ptekwe, Tak-tha, Tal'tich, Tilnak, and Tik-tik.
==Appendix==
===See Also===
* Thri-kreen dictionary
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===References===
===Connections===
Category:Languages