Heptapod languages

The Heptapod languages are two constructed fictional languages used in Ted Chiang's novella, "Story of Your Life", as well as its later film adaptation, Arrival. In-universe, they are used by the "heptapods", an alien race that makes contact with humanity.

The languages are classified by two separate names, "Heptapod A" and "Heptapod B", as the species uses two separate languages; the former is a spoken language, and the latter a semasiography. These two languages together encapsulate two different concepts of time—Heptapod B presents time as synchronous, while A presents time as sequential, with causality. The two languages are grammatically unrelated.

A written form for Heptapod B was developed for Arrival by production designer Patrice Vermette and his wife Martine Bertrand, based on the descriptions in "Story of Your Life".

Heptapod language in Arrival

Heptapod A

During the development of the film Arrival, director Denis Villeneuve and sound designer Sylvain Bellemare wanted to deviate from the typical electronic sounds used in many science fiction films and instead wanted the sound of Heptapod A to be "very organic."

Sound design for Heptapod A initially began with Dave Whitehead, a sound designer who had previously worked on several Peter Jackson films. Whitehead used animal sound recordings, such as whale songs and cat purrs, along with altered recordings of his voice to create the sounds of Heptapod A. He worked alongside McGill professor Morgan Sonderegger, who served as a linguistics consultant and assisted in splicing the sounds during the development of the language.

Heptapod B

While Martine Bertrand and Patrice Vermette are given credit for the creation of Heptapod B in Arrival, the language was a collaborative effort of the crew. Conceptualization began with screenwriter of the film, Eric Heisserer, who decided to base Heptapod B's circular script on the etchings in the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings.