Minbari - Language

Language

The Minbari have three main languages, referred to as Light, Dark, and Grey, a language for each caste. The languages are Lenn-Ah or "Light" (Worker Caste), Adrenato or "Grey" (Religious Caste), and Vik or "Dark" (Warrior Caste). All three languages are based on a root language of Adrihi'e. In common speech all three languages are used, as each is designed for a different purpose. The language of Lenn-Ah is technical in nature, filled with adjectives, and is used when one discusses mathematics or sciences. Adrenato is euphonic in tone and usually slow in delivery. It is the only one of the three with words for spiritual and philosophical abstracts. Vik is concise and sharp-sounding. It is designed to convey orders with few words and no ambiguity. Examples:

  • Adrihi'e: Nu'zen Fel'ani in-a lis'e medran
  • Adrenato: Na'chea, Duvea na

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