Inkling (language)

Inkling, also referred to as squid language, is the language in which Inklings in the Splatoon series communicate. While individual letters, words, and the occasional phrase are often similar to real-life languages, Inkling as a whole has been confirmed by Splatoon developers to be almost entirely random.

Inkling is also sometimes referred to by fans as "Inklish", which is a combination of the words "English" and "Inkling".

Appearance
The Splatoon series feature various glyphs that make up the Inkling language or other species' language. There appears to be glyphs that can be grouped together into various scripts, as they follow a certain style in their appearance. What is in common between these scripts is that each glyph can be rotated or mirrored. Much of the Inkling language seems similar to the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. Many letters also resemble Japanese characters.

Some of these scripts appear more consistently for certain occasions.

Inkling speech may occasionally sound and in some ways look like real words, but for the most part, it is indecipherable high-pitched gurgling.

Readable words
Some Inkling words are clearly readable as English or Japanese words.

Words within the Splatoon universe

 * Octopus-style posters near the Deepsea Metro read "Octavi", similar to "octavo" which means "eighth", along with a faded picture of an octopus. It is possibly a movie poster.
 * MakoMart posters have oranges on them and read "StVy Fresh", which is very similar to "Stay Fresh". This implies that the slogan was adopted as a food motto as well, also a pun for the real-life term fresh fruit.

Splatfest shirts
Nearly all Splatfest Tees have readable words. A few examples are listed here. For more images of Splatfest Tees, see Splatfest team tees from Splatoon and Splatfest team tees from Splatoon 2.

Decoding
There have been many attempts at decoding the Inkling language, and while it appears to be largely gibberish with instances of using glyphs to make words that resemble existing English and Japanese words, the usage of those glyphs have been inconsistent. Though there have been instances where certain scripts are used more consistently throughout the game and has allowed people to decode them when used as such.

Others believe that, since Nintendo has made previous languages with some translatable words before, such as the Hylian language from the Legend of Zelda series, it could be possible that Inkling can be translated.

Official lyrics for songs by Off the Hook and the Squid Sisters have been distributed with merchandise, such as albums and piano sheet music. An in-universe interview with Wet Floor also disclosed a couple of lines for the song Inkoming! that incorporate sounds resembling English words. Lyrics for Ebb & Flow (Octo) are also shown to incorporate the word "splatoon", albeit slightly deviated from how it is normally spelled in katakana.

Octoling language
The Octolings seem to have their own language seen in Octo Valley and Octo Canyon. It has many similarities to the Inkling language but seems to be in a more box-style font unlike the Inkling language, which can be in a variety of fonts. The Octoling language seems to have two dialects similar to Japanese: the normal Octolings make Inkling-esque sounds, while Octosnipers, Octocommanders and all varieties of Octotrooper make groaning sounds that mimic the noises Inklings and Octolings make when they take damage or are splatted. The noises Jellyfish make (Jelonzo and Jelfonzo, as other Jellyfish are never heard talking) seem to speak in the same "groaning" dialect, implying that some Jellyfish speak Octoling.

In the Japanese versions of both Splatoon games, Inklings talk in hiragana, and Octarians in katakana (along with a brainwashed Callie and Marina, occasionally; detailed in The Art of Splatoon 2). In Japanese media, a character's dialogue being written with katakana can also imply a foreign accent of some sort. Off the Hook's songs are bilingual, with both Pearl and Marina singing portions in Octoling. An Inkling's experience listening to them has been compared to Japanese people listening to English-language songs without an understanding of the language, but an appreciation of the melody.

Audio

 * [[Media:Female inkling sounds.oga|Female Inklings' voice clips.]]
 * [[Media:Male inkling sounds.ogg|Male Inklings' voice clips.]]
 * [[Media:Squid sisters sounds.ogg|Squid Sisters' voice clips.]]