Nomai Language Home

Siwajoo dalté! Hello, friend!

What is this?

Nomai is a constructed language. It is constructed in the sense that a small group of people deliberately created every feature. It is a language in the sense that you can speak any imaginable message in it, just like any human language, but you'll need a dictionary and a textbook, again just like any human language. Constructed languages are called conlangs for short.

Why is this?

Outer Wilds is a mystery action-adventure video game. The player character studies the writings of an ancient alien species, the Nomai. In-game, text is shown in English and any symbols are just repeating placeholders. We like the game and the portrayal of the Nomai so much we decided to change that.

We strive to create a true language that could be what the Nomai spoke, if only we had more information about them. We won't contradict game canon, but any details the game didn't supply are made up. Basically this is a type of very technical fanfiction.

We highly recommend you play Outer Wilds! If you do, be careful, because the game is sensitive to spoilers. This website is safe from spoilers. Our Discord server may spoil the base game, but not the DLC.

Who are you?

We are puzzle game fans, linguistics students, linguistics hobbyists, and various types of nerd. At the time of writing, there are 17 of us. We mostly met on the unofficial Outer Wilds Discord server.

I am KVK, also known as Frin, the creator of the rest of this website including the not-Nomai bits.

How do I learn more?

To get chatting as fast as possible, read the beginner lessons. For a quick and pretty way to find Nomai words, check the interactive dictionary.

Our authoritative resource is the main spreadsheet. Everything else gets information from there, and additions arrive there first.

Everyone is welcome to visit or join us on our Discord server! For any length of question and any depth of answer, that's where we are happiest to talk.

You can reach me by email at [the part of this page's address before the first period]@gmail.com.