Lately, I have taken renewed interest in the Invincible franchise due to the release of Season 4. Wanting to reinvigorate my interest in conlanging, I decided to explore what a language spoken by Viltrumites might look like and how it might have evolved. I took creative liberties by deriving meanings and root words from the names of attested Viltrumites in both the show and the comics. From there, I devised a brief grammatical and phonological sketch to give an idea of what this language looks and sounds like. This page is still being developed and will likely include more details in the future.
Introduction
Vilbrog (Vilbrog: Vylbrog) is the language spoken by the Viltrumite race. It is considered an endangered language due to the dwindling population of the Viltrumites, of which there are only 37 left. These 37 also constitute the last known native speakers of the language. Viltrum was likely home to many languages and dialects in its glory days, perhaps comparable in diversity to the languages of Earth. However, the consolidation of rule by Emperor Argall and the arrival of the Great Purge resulted in the swift reduction and homogenization of Viltrum’s population. This eventually resulted in a trend towards linguistic unity, with Vilbrog becoming the dominant language of the Viltrumites. This trend was further accelerated by the Scourge virus, which killed 99.99% of the planet’s population.
Today, Vilbrog, along with the UGL (Universal Galactic Language), is the only language regularly used by Viltrumites. Of course, after the destruction of Viltrum, many have also made an effort to learn English to facilitate communication with the people of Earth.
Phonology
/m n/ – <m n>
/b t d k g ʔ/ – <b t d k g ‘>
/f v θ s x/ – <f v th s h>
/l r/ – <l r>
/j w/ – <i u>
/i u ɪ ʊ e o a/ – <i u y w e o a>
/Vj Vw/ – <Vi Vu>
Syllable structure is (C₁)(C₂)V(G)(C₃)(C₄)
- (C₁) = any consonant
- (C₂) = /l r j w/ (permitted only when previous consonant is an obstruent)
- V = any vowel
- (G) = /j w/
- (C₃)(C₄) = any consonant cluster where sonority(C₃) ≥ sonority(C₄). Sonority scale for Viltrumites is stops < fricatives < nasals < liquids < glides
Grammar
Syntax
Vilbrog has an OVS word order with strict verb-final placement. Thus, the object of an action always lies at the beginning of a clause, and the superhuman speakers of Vilbrog are adept at utilizing memory recall to understand the context and underlying meaning of long sentences and paragraphs. Adjectives and genitives follow the noun they modify. Likewise, subordinate clauses precede their respective main clauses, and are also strictly verb-final. Thus, Vilbrog is a heavily left-branching language.
Pronouns
| Person | Singular | Plural |
| First | ul | lur |
| Second | van | vur |
| Third | an | nur |
Nouns
Vilbrog nouns are marked for rank, case, and number, with rank being a sort of honorific or classification category that can introduce both positive and negative connotations.
Rank
| Rank | Affix | Meaning | Gloss |
| I – Dominant | -wr | The noun outranks or is equivalent to the subject. | I |
| II – Subordinate | -yn | The noun is subordinate to the subject. | II |
| III – Negligible | -0 | The noun is beneath meaningful acknowledgement or of an unknown rank. | III |
| IV – Absent | -ha | The noun has been defeated, destroyed, or removed from relevance. | IV |
Case
| Case | Affix | Meaning | Gloss |
| Ergative | -u | Object of transitive verb, subject of intransitive verb | ERG |
| Absolutive | -0 | Subject of transitive verb | ABS |
| Genitive | -ia | Possession, association, origin | GEN |
Number
| Number | Affix | Meaning | Gloss |
| Singular | -0 | One X | SG |
| Paucal | -ta | A few of X | PAUC |
| Plural | -ra | More than one X | PL |
Here is an example of both noun categories and verbs being put into action, using some quotes from Season 4 of Invincible.
| Kankuestynu mosak ulwr, vanu thau mosiak ulwr! – Mark Greisan |
| “I killed Conquest, I’ll kill you too!” – Mark Grayson |
| Conquest-II-ERG-SG kill-IND-PFV 1.SG-I-ABS, 2.SG-III-ERG too kill-COM-PFV 1.SG-I-ABS |
| Byrt Argalwru, vanwru gavaliak ulyn! – Thragal Thrag |
| “Lord Argall, you have been avenged!” – Grand Regent Thragg |
| Lord Argall-I-ERG, 2.SG-I-ERG avenge-COM-PFV 1.SG-II-ABS |
Verbs
Vilbrog verbs do not distinguish between tenses. Due to the long lives of Viltrumites, their superhuman abilities, and their excellent memory recall, they do not have a need for them. They are adept at discerning whether an event happened in the past, present, or future, and there are so few of them left that they have an intimate understanding of the lived contexts of their peers. Vilbrog verbs distinguish between two broad categories (status and aspect) which are defined as follows:
- Status: Akin to grammatical mood, it discerns the connotation of a verb and its reality.
- Aspect: This category defines the grammatical aspect of a verb.
These categories combine with the verbal root via suffixations, with the general construction of (root + status + aspect) being employed.
Status
| Status | Affix | Meaning | Gloss |
| Indicative | -a | Action is unmarked or neutral. | IND |
| Commissive | -ia | Action is a threat, promise, or any emotional assertion. | COM |
| Directive | -thu | Action is a command to someone or something. | DM |
Aspect
| Aspect | Affix | Meaning | Gloss |
| Perfective | -k | Action is complete and irreversible. | PFV |
| Continuous | -0 | Action is ongoing or habitual. | CONT |
| Conditional | -r | Action depends on conditions or is hypothetical. | COND |
| Counterfactual | -b | Action did not occur or cannot occur. | CNTF |
These suffixes are used to conjugate all Viltrumite verbs, which do not distinguish between person and number. Here are some examples of how the same phrase can change meaning when using different verbal conjugations.
- Thrak Thragu. “Thragg had ruled, and the matter was settled.”
- Thraiak Thragu. “Thragg threatened to make his rule a settled matter.” (i.e., Thragg threatened to establish his rule without dispute.)
- Thrar Thragu. “Thragg would rule, if conditions are met.” (i.e., Thragg would rule under certain conditions.)
- Thraiar Thragu “Thragg threatens to rule, if certain conditions are met.”
- Thrab Thragu. “Thragg did not, or cannot, rule.”
Interestingly, the verbs of Vilbrog do not have any means of distinguishing a passive voice. If the agent is unknown or irrelevant, the verb takes a null-agent construction where the object is automatically fronted. It is inherently assumed that agency can always be attributed. Thus, if an agent is left out of the phrase, it is seen as a significant omission, implying that either the speaker is the agent or they are protecting said agent. For example:
- Vaidwrha mosak. “Vidor was killed (by whom?)”
- Compare with: Vaidwrha mosak Nolanwru. “Vidor was killed by Nolan”.
There is also a negative morpheme doh that precedes the verb in a statement. For example, one could say Doh Vaidwrha mosak “Vidor was not killed.”
Derivational Morphology
- agentive nominalizer: -g (on verbal roots)
- animate nominalizer: -an (*-aan)
- attributive suffix: -dwr (bearing the quality of X), has dignified counterpart -dws
- diminutive suffix: -i
- feminine suffix: -a
- inanimate or general nominalizer: -s
- inchoative prefix: rau- (ex. rauthra- “to begin ruling, to ascend)
- intensive prefix: wr- (ex. wrvyl- “to be very strong”)
- perfective suffix: -k
- titular suffix: -al (*-aal) (the [root])
Lexicon
Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs
- ancestral home: wrtrum
- ancient, primordial: wr
- beard: tu’lak
- blood: vaia
- champion: uest
- calm, steady: nol
- capable, able: eldwr
- civil conflict, civil war: vaikan (blood-war)
- craftsman: elan (skilled one)
- damn, fucking (emphatic expletive): gard (**Otgald~Otgard < *Otagal-da “like the Great Betrayer”)
- domain, dominion: thrada
- elder, sage: sal (*saal)
- elderly person: wran (ancient one)
- emperor: byrtal (titular lord)
- enemy, betrayer, foe: otag (*otalg)
- face: tu’
- fate, destiny: on
- first: rau
- fool: nosg
- foolishness, stupidity: nos (*nods)
- ginger, red hair: vailak
- grace: anys
- Great Betrayer (Thaedus): Otagal
- guard, guardian: thon (*thoan) (he who guards)
- hair: lak
- hard, solid: kre
- home, house, noble house: trum
- honor, virtue: thei
- justice: theia
- lady, matriarch: byrta
- light: luk
- lightbearer, radiant: lukan
- like, as, similar to: da
- lord, chief: byrt
- lordling, minor noble: byrti
- man: vylan
- mustache: vyllak (originally mustache-hair)
- nobility, high rank: thul
- noble, of noble bearing: thuldwr
- nobleman: thulan
- noblewoman: thula
- of, from: ga
- one: rab
- quick, swift: rand
- red: vai
- regent: thrag (the ruler)
- resident, dweller: truman
- revenge, vengeance: gavla (*gavyla “from strength”)
- royal: argdwr
- royalty: arg
- royal family: rautrum
- skill: el
- steward: thontrum (*tho-an-trum)
- stone, rock: ad
- strength: vyla
- strong: vyl
- subject: thral (that which is ruled)
- subordinate, lesser being: grwdag (literally crawler, a disrespectful form of subject)
- to: ak
- to avenge: gaval- (from gavla “revenge, vengeance”)
- to be: am-
- to be strong: vyl-
- to betray: otal-
- to crawl: grwd-
- to do, act: fei-
- to guard: tho-
- to kill: mos-
- to lick: bro-
- to neglect, disregard: nod-
- to rule, command: thra-
- to shatter: dak-
- to turn: uat-
- tongue, language: brog (that which licks)
- too, as well: thau
- two: thab
- venerable: wrdwr
- Vilbrog: vylbrog (Viltrumite tongue)
- Vilg: vylg (honorific, succeeds the agent’s name)
- Viltrum: vyltrum (home of the mustached)
- Viltrumite: vyldwr (the mustached one, the mighty)
- war that is won, victory: kank
- war, battle: kan
- warrior: kankan (kank-an)
- white: lukdwr (bearing the quality of light)
- wisdom: sala
- wise: saldwr
- woman: ‘yk
Names
- Anissa (f): Anysa (the graceful one)
- Argall (m): Argal (titular royalty)
- Conquest (m): Kankuest (kank “victory” + uest “champion”)
- Elix (f): Elyks (el “skill” + ‘yk “woman”)
- Kradd (m): Krad (kre “hard, solid” + ad “stone, rock”)
- Kregg (m): Kreg (kre “hard, solid” + -g “-er”)
- Lucan (m): Lukan (lukan “lightbearer”)
- Nolan (m): Nolan (nolan “the calm one”)
- Onaan (m): Onaan (on “fate, destiny” -an “nominalizer”)
- Randee (m): Randi (rand “quick, swift” + -i “diminutive”)
- Rawbert (m): Raubyrt (rau “first” + byrt “lord”)
- Thaedus (m): Theidws (theidws “embodying honor”)
- Thragg (m): Thrag (thrag “regent”)
- Thula (f): Thula (thula “noblewoman”)
- Ursaal (f): Wrsaal (wr- “old” + sal “sage”)
- Vidor (m): Vaidwr (vaidwr “embodying redness”)
Word Generator Rules
These are a set of rules based on the phonotactics of Vilbrog that can be input into the Zompist word generator. This is a tool that I and other conlangers have used for many years, and predates the advent of generative AI. It runs on Javascript, as do other language construction tools on the Zompist site.
C=mnbtdkgfvθsxlrʔ
O=btdkgfvθsx
N=mn
P=btdkgʔ
F=fvθsx
V=aeɪʊoui
R=lr
G=jw
CV
CVC
V
ORV
CVG
VC
ORVC
CVFP
CVNP
CVRP
CVGP
CVNF
CVRF
CVGF
CVRN
CVGN
CVGR
Raymond Puentes 