David J. Peterson

David Joshua Peterson (born January 20, 1981) is an American language creator. He came to prominence after creating the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for the television series Game of Thrones. He has subsequently worked on a number of other projects, including the films Dune and Dune: Part Two, for which he created the Chakobsa language. He has written a book on language construction entitled The Art of Language Invention.

Life Early life David Joshua Peterson was born in Long Beach, California, on January 20, 1981, to a father of German descent and a mother of Mexican descent. Studying at University of California, Berkeley (1999–2003), Peterson received BA degrees in English and in linguistics. He received an MA in linguistics from University of California, San Diego (2003–2006).

Language creation In 2007, he co-founded the Language Creation Society with nine other language creators

In 2009, the television network HBO needed a fictional language (Dothraki) for the Game of Thrones television series and turned to the Language Creation Society for help. This resulted in a contest, which Peterson won.

He produced a number of videos on YouTube, in a series called The Art of Language Invention, and published a book of the same title in 2015. Peterson also worked as an executive producer on the 2017 documentary film, Conlanging: The Art of Crafting Tongues.

In 2019, Peterson created a free High Valyrian course on the Duolingo website/app and expanded the course in conjunction with the House of the Dragon series premiere in August 2022.

Personal life Peterson was previously married to Erin Peterson, but the marriage ended in divorce. They had one daughter together. In 2023, Peterson became engaged to and subsequently married linguist and fellow conlanger Jessie Peterson (née Sams).

Languages created

Television Year Title Language(s) / role 2011–2019 Game of Thrones Dothraki (Lekh Dothraki), the language of the eponymous people High Valyrian (Valyrio Udrir), a literary language once spoken in Valyria Meereenese Valyrian, a descendant of High Valyrian spoken in Meereen Mag Nuk ("great tongue"), the language of giants. It was only used for one line. Skroth ("ice"), an unused language that was meant to be spoken by the White Walkers Asshai, an unused language that was meant to be spoken by the Asshai'i Lhazareen, an unused sister language of Dothraki that was meant to be spoken by the eponymous people Gerna Mohr (or Gerna Moussha), an unused language that was meant to be spoken by the Children of the Forest the language of Kumandra. It was only used for one line and a few untranslated words in English lines. 2021 The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf Hen Linge lines and texts 2021, 2024 Dune Dune: Part Two Chakobsa, the language of the Fremen , as well as the corresponding sign language. It has its own abugida called Dinlih. Sardaukar, the language of the eponymous force. It was only used for meaningless chants. House Atreides' sign language 2023 ElementalFirish (Tsʼítsʼàsh), the language of the fire elements. It has its own syllabary called Ká Khìkhùftò, which was not used in most of the film as a different alphabet was also used more often to write coded English. Peterson created this language with Jessie Peterson.

Books

Year Title Language(s) 2014, 2017 The Zaanics Deceit The Zaanics Pursuit Væyne Zaanics ("God's gift" or "God's curse"), a secret language invented by the Lyrs and the Severns It has its own cipher alphabet called Yesuþoh. Peterson created this language with Nina Post.

Publications