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Belter Creole, also simply known asBelter (Belter Creole:lang belta), is aconstructed language developed by thelinguist andpolyglotNick Farmer forThe Expanse television series. In the story's universe, it is spoken by Belters, the inhabitants of theasteroid belt and the moons ofouter planets of theSolar System.^[1]

Farmer was commissioned to create the language during the productions of the first season of the show, between 2014 and 2015. While developing the language, he had modeled it as acreole based onEnglish, with influence from other languages from all around the world, includingRomance languages such asSpanish,French,Portuguese andItalian,Germanic languages such asGerman,Dutch andSwedish,Slavic languages such asPolish,Russian andUkrainian, as well asJapanese,Chinese,Persian,Arabic,Hebrew,Zulu and others.^[1][2][3] As a result of his work, Farmer had created over 1000 words for his language, adding more to the list if requested by the show's producers and fans.^[1]

The concept of the language had appeared for the first time in the bookLeviathan Wakes (2011), the first book inThe Expanse series, published under thepen nameJames S. A. Corey that has been used by the collaboratorsDaniel Abraham andTy Franck. Following that, Belter Creole continued to appear in the subsequent books in the series. The language presented in the books greatly varied from the one later developed by Nick Farmer. It lacked developedvocabulary as well asgrammar,phonological, andorthographic systems. It was a mix of words taken from various languages and was mostly presented as a dialect mixed in the English dialogue,^[2] "to give the reader a sense of being excluded from this culture".^[4]

The vocabulary used in the books was chosen by the authors on the basis of aesthetics and was not originally intended to form a real language. As the language was later developed forThe Expanse television series, the authors of the novel series discouraged fans from learning their version of the language in favor of the television one.^[5]

Nick Farmer, alinguist and apolyglot, was commissioned to develop the constructed language for the television series, during the production of its first season between 2014 and 2015. Farmer was recommended for the job byTy Franck, a co-author of the series of books that the TV series was based on, as both had worked together before.^[1][6]

Inside the universe ofThe Expanse, which is set around 200 years in the future,^[2] the language is used by Belters, the inhabitants of theasteroid belt and the moons ofouter planets of theSolar System. The language had developed during the colonization of the Asteroid Belt, firstly starting as thepidgin spoken by people who came to the colonies fromEarth speaking in various languages from all around the world. With next generations, the language had developed into thecreole.^[1] The language had various dialects and accents, that would vary from one location to another. According to Farmer, the vocabulary and grammar rules, present in the show, and revealed by the author himself, were a dialect used onCeres.^[7]

Developing the language, Farmer had modeled it as a creole based onEnglish, with influence of other languages from all around the world, includingRomance languages such asSpanish,French,Portuguese, andItalian,Germanic languages such asGerman,Dutch, andSwedish,Slavic languages such asPolish,Russian, andUkrainian, as well asJapanese,Chinese,Persian,Hindi,Arabic,Hebrew,Zulu, and others.^[1][2][3] As the result of his work, Farmer had created over 1000 words for his language, adding more to the list if requested by show's producers and fans.^[1]

The pronunciation of the language was developed by Nick Farmer and Eric Armstrong, adialect coach. During development, they came to the conclusion that the language's pronunciation and tone had become too similar to that ofJamaican English. As a result, Armstrong suggested that Farmer make various modifications to the phonological,morphological, andlexicological characteristics, such that the language's overall sound gave an impression that it derived via an amalgamation of several existent languages and cultures of a near-future, homogeneous working-class population. They accomplished this goal by fusing together various elements of multiple real-world cants, dialects, and accents to form distinct types of Belter drawls or sounds and then encouraged the actors to choose one which fit their character. Additionally, the producers were advised to deliberately create a cast of actors and actresses who spoke in varying accent types so as to illustrate real-world concepts observed in societies and cultures where creole and pidgin languages are spoken.^[2][3] For example, inSeason 3, actorsDominique Tipper andCara Gee would introduce to the show the concepts ofcode switching and English spoken as a second language as paradigms of Belter Creole and culture.^[8]

The show's producers had emphasized that they did not want to use subtitles for Lang Belta, but rather wanted the audience to be capable of dialogue comprehension via recognizable phonological similarities to English words/phrases and contextual inference. Due to that, for most of its appearances, the language was presented only as various words mixed in the English dialogue. During the show production, Farmer would always make three versions of the lines for the script, one entirely in the Belter, one with medium Belter influence, and one with light usage of the Belter. Then, actors would learn and shoot all three variants of the scenes, and later the producers would choose which version they wanted to use.^[2][3]

The language had appeared for the first time in "Dulcinea", thepilot episode ofThe Expanse, that premiered in 2015, and regularly appeared in the show throughout its six seasons.^[9] Since the production of the pilot,loopingvoice actors were taught belter language by Armstrong.^[10]

As the language gained popularity, Nick Farmer had started regularly revealing new words and grammar functions on hisTwitter account.^[2] He also had given language lessons to the fans during meet-ups.^[11]

According to the creator of the language, Nick Farmer, in the universe ofThe Expanse there's no standardized orthography of the language; variants are used in different parts of the asteroid belt and the outer planets.^[12] Additionally, although all of Farmer's posts, and all the appearances of the language in written form in the TV series, are written in theLatin script, according to Farmer Belter Creole can also be written with other writing systems.^[13]

The standard alphabet used by Nick Farmer to write down Belter Creole in the TV series script and hisTwitter posts includes 24 letters of theLatin script. The letters are:

Additionally, Farmer's script includes fivedigraphs,⟨ch⟩, ⟨ng⟩,⟨ny⟩, ⟨ow⟩, and⟨sh⟩, as well as onetrigraph, ⟨dzh⟩. Letters⟨c⟩ and⟨h⟩ are present only in the digraphs ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨sh⟩, and in trigraph ⟨dzh⟩, while⟨j⟩ and⟨q⟩ are present only in theloanwords. As an exception, the letter ⟨c⟩ is sometimes used in place of ⟨k⟩, for example in words such ascopeng ("friend") andcondenashang ("condemnation"), which usually are spelled, respectively, askopeng andkondenashang.

Farmer also uses theturned alpha (capital: ⟨Ɒ⟩, lowercase: ⟨ɒ⟩) as an alternative spelling of the digraph ⟨ow⟩, which is used to represent theopen back rounded vowel sound. For example, the alternative spelling of the wordowkwa ("water") would beɒkwa.^[14]

Theacute accent placed above the letters ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩ and ⟨u⟩ is used to indicate different than usualstress in the word pronunciation.^[17] Example of such are⟨á⟩ inámolof (/'æmo.lof/) which meanslove,⟨é⟩ inidzhifobék (/id͡ʒi.fo'bek/) which meansweak,⟨ó⟩ inbelówt (/be'lɒt/) which meansblood, and⟨ú⟩ ingútegow (/'gut.te.gɒ/) which meansready.

When forming compounds,epenthetic vowels are sometimes added to the words. Such vowels are ⟨a⟩ and, less commonly, ⟨e⟩. Examples of such changes are:

• bek +da +bush →bekedabúsh
• na +kang +pensa →nakangepensa
• tung +ting →túngeting
• im +lowda →imalowda

Consonants at themorpheme boundary can be alsoelided instead. Examples of such changes are:

• kowl +mang →kowmang
• zakong +mang →zákomang

In most cases the primary stress falls on thepenultimate syllable of a word. For example, in:

• showxa (/'ʃɒ.xæ/)
• seteshang (/se'te.ʃæŋ/)
• gufovedi (/gu.fo've.di/)

If the stress for a particular word is on a different syllable, this is indicated with an addition of theacute accent above the letters ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩ and ⟨u⟩. Examples of such words are:

• ámolof (/'æ.mo.lof/)
• idzhifobék (/id͡ʒi.fo'bek/)
• belówt (/be'lɒt/)

When forming compound words, the stress often remains on the head of the compound, which sometimes requires the addition of an accent mark:

• zakong (/'za.koŋ/) →zákomang (/'zako.mæŋ/)
• gut (/gut/) →gútegow (/'gut.t.egɒ/)
• tung (/tuŋ/) →túngeting (/'tuŋ.e.tiŋ/)

Nouns are not inflected forgrammatical number. For example,mang can mean both aperson andpeople. The quantity is instead determined by the presence of quantifiers or numerals, or inferred from context. For examplewang mang meansone person andtu mang meanstwo people. The exceptions are the pronouns, which have both singular and plural forms.^[18]

Adjectives are placed after the nouns they modify, for example insetara mali, which meanslittle star.

Nouns can also serve as adjectives, and so follow the nouns they modify. For example,diye beref, which meansbirthday, is formed from the wordsdiye, meaningday, andberef, meaningbirth.

Manyverbs can be formed from nouns by addingdu, meaningdo andmake, before of the noun. For example, addingdu before the nounámolof, which translates to the nounlove, will formdu ámolof, which translates to the verblove. Additionally, in a few cases, adding the prefixdu- to a verb can change its meaning. For example, adding it to the verbsensa, which meansfeel, producesdu-sensa, which meansapologize.

Belter Creole has twoarticles: indefinitewa, corresponding to Englisha andan, and definiteda, corresponding to Englishthe.^[19][20]

The indefinite articlewa is used to mark anindefinite noun phrase. A noun phrase with an indefinite article does not refer to a specific entity. For example, the sentenceTenye wa diye beref gut. meansHave a happy birthday.^[19]

The definite articleda is used to mark adefinite noun phrase.^[20] A noun phrase with a definite article refers to a particular member of a group. For example, the sentenceKepelésh da seteshang? meansWhere is the station?. When a noun is marked withda, any attributive nouns or adjectives applied to that noun must also be so marked. For example,da setara da mali meansthe little star.^[21] The definite article is also sometimes used before a person's name, for exampleda Naomi for the nameNaomi.^[22]

The language has two sets of threepronouns, each having singular and plural forms. All pronouns in Belter aregender-neutral. Plural pronouns are formed by adding the suffix-lowda to singular pronouns.

The language has three basictenses which are thepast, thepresent, and thefuture. Sentences without tense indicators are in thepresent tense. For example:mi showxa, which meansI speak. Thepast tense is indicated by addingta after the pronoun. For example:mi ta showxa, which meansI spoke. The future tense is indicated by addinggonya after the pronoun. For example:mi gonya showxa, which meansI will speak.^[23][24][25]

It also has threegrammatical aspects, which are thecontinuous, thehabitual, and theperfective.^[23] Thecontinuous aspect specifies incomplete action or state in progress at a specific time. It is indicated by addingando after the pronoun. For example:mi ando showxa, which meansI am speaking.^[23] Thehabitual aspect specifies an action as occurring habitually. It is indicated by addingtili after the pronoun. For example:mi tili showxa, which meansI regularly speak.^[24] Theperfective aspect specifies an action viewed as a simple whole. It is indicated by addingfinyish after the pronoun. For example,mi finyish showxa, which meansI have spoken, andmi ta finyish showxa which meansI had spoken.^[25]

When indicators of both tense and aspect are present in the sentence, the tense indicator is put before the aspect's one. For example:mi ta ando showxa, which means,I was speaking.^[24]

Thesentence structure of Belter Creole issubject–verb–object, which means that thesubject comes first, theverb second, and theobject third. It also has thezero copula, the phenomenon in which the subject is joined to the predicate without overt marking of this relationship. For example, in the sentence:mi nadzhush, which meansI am tired, but in the literal translation would meanI tired.

The questions are formed by adding the wordke at the end of the sentence. For example, the sentence "To showxa lang Belta", which meansYou speak Belter Creole, after transforming it into the "To showxa lang Belta, ke?", will mean "Do you speak Belter Creole?".

When asking a question on which both speakers agree,keyá, meaningis it not, is used instead. For example, the sentence "To showxa lang Belta, keyá?" means "You speak Belter Creole, do you not?".

The questions containinginterrogatives do not require the addition of the wordke. These words are:

• kemang –who
• kepelésh –where
• ketim –when
• keting –what
• kewe –how
• kéweting –what kind/type
• kéradzhang –why,for what reason
• kédawang –which
• kelowda –how many/much

An example of such sentence is "Kepelésh shapu to?" which means "Where is your hat?".

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Numbers with values in both tens and ones are formed by combining ones number with tens number, and joining them with affix-un-. For example:

• 18 =et-un-teng ("eight and ten")
• 81 =wang-un-éteteng ("one and eight tens")

When forming a number with hundreds place, the hundreds number is placed at the beginning of the number, then followed by the one and ten numbers format. For example:

• 281 =túxanya wang-un-éteteng ("two hundred one and eight tens")

When used attributively, numbers come before the noun they count, for example in the sentenceserí buk, which meansthree books.

The concept of the language had appeared for the first time in the 2011 bookLeviathan Wakes, published under thepen nameJames S. A. Corey, used by the collaboratorsDaniel Abraham andTy Franck. Following that, Belter Creole had appeared in the next books fromThe Expanse series. The language presented in the books greatly varied from the one later developed by Nick Farmer. It lacked developed vocabulary as well as grammar, phonological and orthographic systems. It was a mix of words taken from various languages and was mostly presented as a dialect mixed in the English dialogue.^[2] The vocabulary used in the books was chosen by authors on the basis of aesthetics and wasn't supposed to form a real language. The languages used as a basis of the language vocabulary include:English,Spanish,German,Portuguese,Estonian,Esperanto,French,Korean,Chinese,Hungarian,Japanese,Polish,Dutch,Arabic,Catalan,Italian,Serbo-Croatian,Russian,Turkish. Authors kept the original spellings of borrowed words or made a modified version of them. The language was inconsistent and on many occasions used different words for the same meaning. For example, wordslaa andla from Arabic لا (laa, meaningno),na from Englishnah andne from Serbo-Croatianne/не, all meantno, while bothgato fromJapanese ありがとう (arigatō) andaituma fromEstonianaitäh meantthank you.

Tu run spin, pow, Schlauch tu way acima and ido.
Go spinward to the tube station, which will take you back to the docks.

As the language was later developed forThe Expanse television series, novel writers had discouraged fans from learning their version of the language in favor of the television one.^[5] Though the novel and television versions of the language are meant to not be related, some words from the novel version appear in the television version, for example both novelsa-sa and televisionsasa meanto know.

A few songs were written in Belter Creole, which include covers of the "Tighten Up", "Highway Star", and "All by Myself", renamed to "I'm All Alone". The covers were commissioned forThe Expanse television series and had their lyrics adjusted to fit the Expanse universe setting and rewritten in the mix of Belter Creole and English. The songs respectively were used in the first and third seasons of the show, premiering in 2015 and 2018.^[9][26] The full versions of the songs were later placed onThe Collector's Edition version of the TV series soundtrack, which was realized on 13 December 2019.^[27]

The cover of "Tighten Up", originally byThe Black Keys, was performed byJustin Young. It was used in the first episode of the first season, titled "Dulcinea", that had premiered in 2015.^[9][27]

The cover of the "Highway Star", originally byDeep Purple, was performed by Cory Todd. Additionally, as the song was adjusted to the setting of the universe, the references to the car from the original song were replaced with the spaceship.^[28] The cover of "All by Myself", originally byEric Carmen, was renamed to "I'm All Alone", and performed byGhian Wright. Both songs were used in the episode of the third season, titled "Delta-V", that had premiered in 2018.^[26][27]

In January 2022,Twitter accounts of space agenciesNASA andESA posted in Belter Creole.^{[29][30][31][32]}

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in Belter Creole:

Kowl mang fong beref im im ferí unte eka[...]. Imalowda pensa unte sensa we gut unte we mal. Unte im mogut fo manting du wit sif asilik beratna unte sésata.

Article 1 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights in English:^[33]

All human beings are born free and equal[...]. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

• Belter Creole onWiktionary

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