Contact with the substratum languages of the expansion zone produced dialect growth, as did conti-nous contact with the steppe nomad (graizuh) tongues and the Minztan language group to the east and north. Also, the original “Granfor” dialect was the main source of innovation, and the western and northern versions are more archaic.
Dialects: All the Zekz Kommanz, the Six Realms, speak mutually comprehensible dialects of Kommanzanu. The northwesterly dialects are “old-fashioned” to the ear of someone from eastern core area. E.g., Granfor (Red River) mitch’mi, “with/for me,” is pronounced hard m—eht—ch (as in child), then ‘ (glottal stop combined with “click” sound) and “mi”— with a nasal sound. Kai-Gara equivalent, whitch-me.)
Area: Northern tall-grass prairie zone of Almerkun (N. America) in an arc from roughly northwestern Iowa through south-central Alberta.
Description: To outsiders, Kommanzanu sounds choppy and guttural, with the hard “click” sounds breaking up the flow. Stress rises rapidly at the beginning of a sentence and falls slowly; stress accent is used to indicate mood and voice (e.g., interrogative).
Sample Vocabulary:
naik
horse
zteaz
cow
zhiv
knife
bannaf
sword
s’tyka
lance
whul
sheep
gakk
stranger/enemy/slave/spy
moi
to me, mine
mi
I, self
yoi
to/toward/conceming you (singular)
a
prefix, to/toward/concerning
fut
castle, keep
ztun
stone
ahrappan
berserk, mad with anger
ahKomman
High Gods
kh’utz
axe
zhop
cut
Number of Speakers: c. 1,500,000
Fehinnan
Origin: English, Tidewater Virginia, nuclear area between Iamaz and Hannosc rivers.
Earliest written form: Old Fehinnan, c. 3000 AD.
History:
Old Fehinnan, roughly from the origins of the language through its first thousand years. At this stage the language (always very conservative) was closely similar to English, differing mainly in developing a five-case declension system for nouns and an inflected verb, combined with a noun-adjective-verb word order.
Old Fehinnan (probably originally spoken by no more than 10,000 to 20,000 people) spread through developing trade contacts to much of the old coastal plain and piedmont areas of the eastern seaboard, from the Delaware south to Georgia. The northerly areas remained in fairly close contact with the central dialect, but the southern—Kai-Lun as they came to be called—diverged, under the influence of the Palach highlands tongues. Fehinna at this time was a loose, mainly religious confederation of tiny village republics, feudal estates and fishing/trading towns, centered on Willzburh (later Illizbuah). Large areas of wilderness separated the inhabited areas, and there were probably wide divergences of dialect. Little knowledge of these has survived. The Willizburh dialect was used for ritual purposes.
Middle Fehinnan (or the High Speech) emerged as the urban and upper-class language of the First Teck-tahate (First Kingdom) of Fehinna, established in roughly 3100 AD and enduring, gradually declining, until 3800 AD, centered on Illizbuah. At its height the First Tecktahate absorbed most of the eastern coast of the continent, but it was loosely organized, feudal in its core and surrounded by lightly governed vassal states, some still tribal. Characteristic features were the acquisition of a tonal (sung) accent system to accompany the already elaborate inflections, and absorption of vocabulary elements from other languages. The written language was gradually modified to accommodate changes, especially by the development of diacritical marks to indicate tone.
Modern Fehinnan emerged after the 100-year interregnum following the Penza conquest of Fehinna during the lifetime of the Malificent (fl. 4000 AD). At the same time, much of western Fehinna was overrun and occupied by tribal peoples from the Palach highlands. The establishment of the Second Tecktahate and the gradual reconquest of the piedmont zone saw also the gradual establishment of a new literary standard, based on the speech of Illizbuah and the surrounding area. This incorporated further syntactic changes, primarily the development of differential inflections based on social status. (For an unrelated but analagous development, see Arkan.) In addition, there was a massive influx of loan-words from the Penza language, particularly with regard to commerce, administration and war. A more conservative dialect, closer to Middle Fehinnan, remained in use for liturgical purposes. Modern Fehinnan is very stable, due to the spread of literacy and printing; there is an “accepted dialect and pronunciation, common to the upper and middle classes throughout the realm.
Dialects: There are perceptible differences of accent between the Tidewater and Piedmont dialects of Fehinna proper, but few in grammar. The speech of the northern kingdoms—Mai-Lun and the others—differs more strongly, particularly in the greater Penza influence; a 20th-century analogue would be the difference between, say, Scottish and Texan English—without a unified written form. The Kai-Lun areas have no single uniform speech, and are related to Modern Fehinnan roughly as French is to Latin, having been much influenced by the Palach languages but not by Penza. Modern Fehinnan is having an increasing influence through trade and cultural prestige among the literate classes.
Trade-Fehinnan—a simplified pidgin—is used as a contact language throughout the eastern coastal area of Almerkun, the Carribean, and increasingly throughout the Lannic basin wherever Fehinnan traders have penetrated.
Area: Fehinna, Mai-Lun, Essho, D’wah, parts of Kai-Lun. Recently (4900s) colonies on eastern shores of Lannic, southern continent.
Description: Modern Fehinnan is a soft, musical language, half-sung. Note: Equals or superiors refer to themselves as “I’ and speak in first person to equals or subordinates. Inferiors one caste removed speak of themselves in the third person (s/he) and refer to superiors in the impersonal tense (e.g., “She petitions the lord” for “I (inferior) ask you (superior)”—from a bourgeois to a noble.). Inferiors more than one caste removed, or anyone to the God-King, refer to themselves in the third person impersonal (it) but use the intimate tense (e.g., “It petitions thou for I (very inferior) asks you (exalted superior).”)
Sample Vocabulary:
meh
I, me, mine
yaw
you (singular), yours
yawl
you (plural), yours
y’tem
them, theirs
slaveshaaid
poor, lower caste
olboi
yeoman
illiz-olboi raatah
merchant, bourgeois (literally, city-yeoman) bureaucrat, civil servant
raadha
gentlefolk, upper caste
sarchah
scholar
gawshowta
priest
bayid
soldier/warrior
vakar
herder
gofo
servant
maysil
bodyguard, retainer, vassal
fechta
momah
mother (legal term)
feeda
mother (biological)
sucah
child (infant)
runnah
child (preadolescent)
kinin
youth, preadult
pa
father (either legal or biological)
sis
sibling (either sex)
bro
relative
labro
friend, comrade
getha
family (spouses and children), kinfast
aytatin
&n
bsp; foreigner (savage, barbarian)
palachah
barbarian (specific, Highlander, mountaineer,
westerner)
cosoka
sycophant, flatterer
sahah
spy
ahlina
lover
sowba
hero (implies braving of danger)
ayup
north
sayth
south
ays
east
ways
west
yip
up
daahn
down
waasht
white
nayga
black
ryp
wages
kukas
enslavement, domination
brotaaht
friendship, comradeship
crawch
genitals (both sexes)
fayn
sex (activity)
clama
kiss
maacin
sexual intercourse (reproductive)
ahlin
love
hain
hand
aid
head
ipul
breast
braad
hair
thayng
tongue
chompa
teeth
ted
foot
rigglah
finger(s)
chayc
buttock
buah
city, town
shaaic
house, building
gwin
door
winna
window
oovrin
roof
taals
floor
showah
bath
payle
pool
shaishaaic
latrine
shai
excrement
critah
animal
owse
horse
baahtah
cow
swaitah
sheep
clucah
chicken
wayb
duck
waing
bird
plashah
fish
craicah
shellfish
gawsyn
Sun (god)
olsaytn
devil, demon
tennet
angel
nif
knife
cain
quarterstaff
chayte
sword
stucah
spear
wacah
mace, club
holof
pike (long)
chopah
axe
kowayt
armor
dow
shield
shonim
crossbow
plincah
bow
tic
arrow/bolt
hahayt
helmet
maysh
paper
macah
pen
smowk
ink
cawn
maize
baid
wheat
tawtah
potato
plaic
farm, estate
tunuran
mill, machinery
awda
liquid, water
es
is, state of being
bo
good, fine
chaint
wonderful
facsit
bravery
wai
road
bowai
highway
maarl
cement
raise
grass
tawn
stone
lai
brick
claar
glass
duhut
ceramic, clay
doma
false, fake, fraud
laycin
lick
sain
give, bestow
swap
sell
dayl
buy
porno
insult, denigrate
gaw
go
insh
do
cayt
kill
Number of Speakers: c. 20,000,000
Languages Of The Mitvald Zee Area
Iyesian (LaEnchais)
Spoken circa 3000-4000 ad.
Origin: French (Alpine dialects); analytical, uninflected language. Spoken as administrative tongue throughout Empire of Iyesi (3100-4000 ad). Extensively used as diplomatic, cultural and religious language in subsequent periods.
Languages derived from Enchian are spoken by many of the tribal peoples of northwestern Europe. Note: Even at its height the Iyesian Empire was thinly populated, with major centers separated by wide areas very thinly settled. Small pockets of unrelated ethnic and linguistic groups persisted throughout the Imperial period, especially away from seacoasts and major trade routes.
Sample Vocabulary:
Genhomm
freeman/woman
Peutr’npeau
perhaps a bit
Paral
speak
doi
you
Direct descendent of Old Iyesian spoken in eastern kingdom of Tor Ench, related roughly as modern Italian is to Latin, although the written form has archaizing tendencies and many Tor Enchian aristocrats would deny that the two are separate languages. More inflections, loan-words from neighboring languages.
Number of Speakers: c. 6,000,000
Lakan
Indo-European language derived from Sinhalese with Dravidian elements; originated in a series of seaborn folk-migrations from roughly Sri Lanka and southern India to southeastern Europe in the period following the breakup of the Iyesian Empire (c. 4000 AD); the proto-Lakans were formally allies and mercenaries of the Empire—in fact forced their way in. The original language was rapidly modified, and the present tongue is derived from a contact-Creole between the tongue of the invaders and local languages—Enchian, and descendants of Albanian. Number of Speakers: c. 5,000,000
Yeoli
Origin: Old Iyesian. Spoken in Yeola-e and (after c. 5000) parts of the former Arkan empire; a closely related language is spoken in the Demarchy of Roskat. Related to Iyesian much as modern English is to Anglo-Saxon.
Number of Speakers: c. 4,000,000 (Roskati c. 1,000,000)
Arkan
Origin: American English. After landing of Ark Corporation (orbital habitat) in 3200 ad the original language underwent little change, as the Arkans remained a small, isolated group (like many in the contemporary Iyesian Empire) but, very unusually, had a written language of their own. After the fall of Iyesi, Arkan expanded as the nascent Arkan Empire did, overruning and replacing the previous tongues of the Italian peninsula and adjacent areas. (Mostly Enchian, but with numerous small relict groups speaking Italian or Arabic-derived languages.)
At the Arkan Empire’s peak in the late 4900s various Arkan dialects were spoken throughout the north-central Mitvald area. Regional accents arose, but the highly centralized Imperial apparatus confined these to lower-class use and the written speech remained very uniform.
Description: The most conservative of all the English-based languages of the Fifth Millennium, Arkan remained an uninflected, positional language. Modifications included sound-groups derived from the “substratum” languages of the central Empire, and vocabulary borrowed from Enchian; there was also a system of class-based pronouns and verb cases governing speech between different castes. A 20th-century English speaker might be able to puzzle out simple phrases in Arkan if the script were Latinized, although the spoken langu
age would be totally incomprehensible.
Number of Speakers: c. 15,000,000
Zak
Origin: Slavic (Russian), Germanic and Turkic influences. Originally spoken along much of Brezhan river; now confined to F’talezon and adjacent areas as a first language, with settlement enclaves in areas downriver to Bravhniki on the Mitvald. A simplified form is widely used as a trade lingua franca on the Brezhan and in adjacent areas.