Captain Anorak's Guide to Gaming
The Orc Language
The Orc language differs from human languages in that it has almost no grammar. Words do not change in form, but can be freely arranged in any order to convey meaning. This gives Orc much less power to express clear meanings than human languages have: it is barely sufficient even for their brutal purposes. But there are some conventions of word order that add a degree of clarity.

Orc speech is usually a stream-of-consciousness, without the clear divisions into intonational units (sentences) seem in human languages. Pauses normally only occur for breathing, to think about what to say next, or for effect to emphasise what has gone before (this is marked here with an exclamation mark).

An Orc utterance begins with a main topic or theme. This is what is being talked about during a prolonged stretch of speech, and the thing uppermost in the speaker's mind. It is usually a person, an important object or an event such as a battle. Much of Orc speech consists of either boasting by dominant Orcs, or flattery by subservient Orcs. The the most common main topics are the person being praised (self for boasting, or adressee for flattery).

This is an example of a typical Orc stream-of-speech, which would be told either by the boastful Balog himself or by some snivelling flatterer who courts Balog's favour.

Balog Balog chaka muga chaka Balog jibiija Mazosh Uga!
BALOG BALOG VICTORY PERSONAL.COMBAT VICTORY BALOG DEFEAT MAZOSH UGA!
"The mighty Balog won the fight and defeated Mazosh and Uga!"

Bishaan chaka Balog muga garad jibiija Mazosh,
HEAT.OF.BATTLE VICTORY BALOG SLAY SWORD DEFEAT MAZOSH,
"In battle Balog slew Mazosh with a sword,"

Uga tandak limbaato muga Mazosh jibiija umbag Uga,
UGA COWARDICE SEE SLAY MAZOSH DEFEAT COWARDLY.FLEE UGA,
"Uga in his cowardice seeing the slaying of Mazosh ran away,"

Balog chaka fuwaara jibiija Uga
BALOG VICTORY SEIZE DEFEAT UGA
"Balog caught Uga"

nentak vaab muga jibija Uga saruta zuul chaka Balog Balog!
BITE THROAT SLAY DEFEAT UGA SWALLOW BLOOD VICTORY BALOG BALOG!
"The mighty Balog killed him by biting his throat and drank his blood!"

The word chaka 'victory' is used as a marker of entities that win, succeed or prosper and jibiija 'defeat' of those that lose, fail or do badly.

VOCABULARY

Bishaan: clash of arms, din or thrill of battle, glory
Chaka: victory, good fortune, success, gain, prosperity
Dajaan: withdraw, retreat (not cowardice)
Fuwaara: take by force, seize, capture, carry off
Garad: sword
Jibiija: defeat, bad fortune, failure, loss, lack
Limbaato: see, witness, sense, realise, believe
Tandak: fear, cowardice, weakness, lack of agression, lack of prowess in battle
Muga: violent death, slaying
Nentak: tooth, teeth, bite, chew, eat
Saruta: swallow, eat, drink, consume, take into self
Umbag: run away, retreat (cowardice)
Vaab: throat, neck
Vonga: personal combat, duel
Zuul: blood, bleed