Chakobsa (Dune)

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).^[1][2][3] Because of the substantial changes made by the Petersons, the language used in the films is sometimes referred to as Neo-Chakobsa.^[4][5]

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).^[6] 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.^[7]

The original language created by Herbert was strongly influenced by Arabic.^{[1][2][3][8][9][10]} 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').^[1]

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).^[1]

For the films, the Petersons created a language that eschewed Arabic influence.^{[1][2][8][9][10]} 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."^[1][9] 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.^[1] However, in the film Dune: Part Two, the phrase is Addaam reshii a-zaanta (lit. 'lives long to-the-fighters').^[11]: 52

The decision to move the language away from its Arabic and Islamic roots was criticized by a number of commentators.^[8][9][10]

In the Dune universe, the language was a secretive language created by the Bhotani Assassins using mirabhasa principles during the first war of the assassins. It was later used in the eleventh millenium by the Bene Gesserit and used by the Fremen for rites and incantations.^[12]

Chokobsa has five short vowels, three long vowels, and twenty-three consonants.^[13]

• 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.^[13]

In some environments, such as before /s/, /b/ is devoiced to [p].^[13]

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.^[13]

In addition to the system of romanization, the Petersons created a Chakobsa syllabary.^[4][14]

Chakobsa nouns have six cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, locative, allative, and ablative.^[15]

Adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify:

Constituent order is verb–subject–object:

Verbal inflection means the subject can be omitted:

Sometimes a prepositional phrase is used with the infinitive:

There is no copula:

Negation is by the particle so:

• Argot
• Constructed language