Language

Language is the totality of sounds and symbols used to communicate thoughts, facts, and feelings. Linguistics, the science of language, recognizes the development of some 5000 different human languages over the course of human history, two or three thousand of which are still spoken today.

According to the Old Testament book of Genesis, all people originally spoke the same language. When the people of Babel attempted to construct a tower that would ascend all the way to heaven, God prevented them from completing it by making the workers' language incomprehensible to one another and scattering the tower builders around the world.

Language and the capacity for abstract thought probably evolved together as out distant Homo hablis ancestors evolved into modern humans, but we may never know whether the diversity of languages in the world today evolved from a single common language, or if multiple languages arose independently in different parts of the world.

The Yautja have a complex verbal and written language. The script is expressed through written patterns of dashes. These written symbols appear on the creatures' gauntlet displays, their helmets, architecture, and many other surfaces. The most common vocalizations of the Yautja consists of a series of clicks, roars, snarls, and growls. They will mimic human language on occasion, and have been shown to use their helmets to understand and speak human languages.

They have developed their own form of sign language, and they are willing to teach this sign language to humans in order to better facilitate contact between those who are welcomed into their clans. (AvP: Three World War).

Dictionary

The following are Yautja words and their English translation. The Hish-Qu-Ten (a variant of the Yautja) also have their own language with unique words.