Terran Language Families

This page lists language families in Terra and their members. For a simple list with no explanation, see Project Language.



Superseleyan
Probably the largest superfamily is Superseleyan. Superseyelan languages are largely Ergative-Absolutive, in contrast to the Subject-Object form of such families as Rhaetan and Deltaro-Jelbic. It is based on the "pulse" theory for the origin of the Seleyo-Artanian language family. The theory states that a group of people in Artania sent out a number of pulses of their people and language eastward across northern Seleya and into Dovani. The most recent of these produced Anantonese; earlier ones created the Seleyan, Likaton and Gao-Indralan language families (working backwards). Thus, Superseleyan is actually a misnomer: the family originated in Artania, not Seleya.

Seleyo-Artanian
Seleyo-Artanian consists of two main branches, normally called "Artanian" and "Seleyan".

Artanian
The Artanian branch is spoken largely in central and eastern Artania.

Kundrati was probably the first language to split off of Artanian, followed by Hobrazian.

The remaining two languages, Luthori, and Anantonese, are closely related. They are notable for their merger of the Seleyan vowels /u/, /e/ and /a/: into /a/ in Anantonese, and into /u/ in Luthori. Anantonese, spoken in Kalistan and as a minority language in Sekowo, are both altered versions of imported Ikradonian and Luthori, respecitvely: Anantonese was influenced by nearby lanugages of Seleya.

The Highland Malivian languages are normally considered Artanian; the Lowland Malivian languages are Makon-Keris. (Additionally, Bahasa Maliv, the Pidgin language of Malivia is partially based on the Highland Malivian languages.)

Seleyan
The Seleyan branch is largely spoken in northern Seleya, most notably Valruzia and mainland Kalistan. Related languages may have been spoken in Lodamun, Baltusia and Tukarali, but these have all been replaced by English.

Seleyan languages include the following:
 * The largest of the Seleyan languages is Valrizen, which is notable in that it is the only known Seleyan language that is not Ergative-Absolute. Instead, it is a Trigger language, a detail it does not share with any other Terran language.
 * The Kaenirelona Languages, spoken in Dugathan, southeastern Valruzia, were probably closest to the languages of Baltusia and Tukarali. They are all small, with some in danger of extinction, and have been swamped by the spread of Valrizen. They are notable for being rather close to the Artanian languages, due to their merger of /u/, /e/ and /a/ into /a/; this is one of the things that was used to unite the Seleyan and Artanian families.
 * Zuman is the predominant language in northern Valruzia. It shares some notable features with Likaton.
 * Jahmakian, the language of Jahmakia in northern Kalistan and southern Lodamun.
 * Borkistani, formerly the predominant language of mainland Kalistan.
 * Probably Ulshuri, althoughthis may be closer to the Tze languages (see Gao-Indralan).

Likaton
There are two major Likaton languages, Likaton (spoken in Likatonia) and Telamonese (spoken in Telamon and Keymon). The Likaton language family is one of the things that proponents of Greater Likatonia use to claim that Likatonia, Keymon and southern Telamon should be united into one country. Likaton is the game worlds equivalent of Latvian.

Luthorian
Luthorian (OOC: English) is one of the most dominant languages on Terra. Developed by the Luthorians and spread through their conquests around the globe, the language quickly picked up.

Rhaetan
The Rhaetan superfamily encompasses the Romance and Dundorfian language families. It probably began somewhere in southwestern Artania. Different groups moved north into northern Artania and south into Seleya, becoming the Dundorfian and Romance families. These languages tend to be Subject-Object, as opposed to the Ergative-Absolutive of Superseleyan.

Dundorfian
The Dundorfian language family migrated south from northern Artania to other areas of Terra.


 * Dundorfian (Dundorfische) proper


 * Hulstrian:
 * Modern Hulstrian is very similar to Dundorfian except for minor dialectical differences.
 * Dundorfian - Es hat die ganze Nacht geregnet ("It rained all night").
 * Hulstrian - Es haut die ganse Nacht geregnt ("It rained all night").


 * Darnus and Narik in Darnussia.
 * Darnus is the dominant language of Darnussia and is considered to be very similar to Dundorfian, but, like modern Hulstrian, has dialectical differences, mostly influenced by Deltarian.
 * Dundorfian - Die Kinder spielten. ("The children were playing.")
 * Darnus - Die kinder meespeler. ("The children have been playing.")


 * Ikradonian (Ichredöne):
 * Highly-influenced by Dundorfian due to history, culture, and proximity.
 * Dundorfian - Das Fahrrad ging zu schnell ("The bicyle was going too fast").
 * Ikradonian (Ichredöne) - De fiets ging te snel ("The bicycle was going too fast").


 * Kazulian (Kazulianisk):
 * Dundorfian-related through colonization and settlement.
 * Dundorfian - Es war ein neues blaues Automobil ("It was a new blue automobile").
 * Kazulian (Kazulianisk) - Det var en ny blå automobil ("It was a new blue automobile").


 * Duntrekaans:
 * Language of the Duntrekkers.
 * Many dialects, depends upon area of Duntrekker settlement.
 * Dundorfian - Er hat ein gelbes Haus ("He had a yellow house").
 * Duntrekaans - Hy het 'n geel huis ("He had a yellow house").


 * Dorvish (Dorvische)
 * Dorvish is a very closely related to Dundorfian with only minor changes due to the influence of regional tribal languages early in the development of Dorvish. Modern Dorvish is often called Lorman due to it's close proximity to the Lorman tribal language which was brought to Dorvik by the Dorvi tribe.


 * Some languages moved west into Dovani, centuries before modern explorers:
 * Although previously thought to be related to the Makon-Keris family (formerly known as the Dranian Exodus family), Dranian is now known to be a Dovani-Dundorfian language that was highly influenced by the Spanish from Egelion.


 * Also, the Dunic family of Deltarian languages, namely Doron and Akigan, are Dundorfian in origin.

Romance
The Romance languages are all descended from one root language, Latin, spoken most directly on several islands in northern Majatra. It is still an official language in Kazulia. It various Romance languages spread to many corners of Terra; most notably to southwestern Seleya, northern Dovani, eastern Keris, and western Artania. Below is a list of the many diverged languages:


 * Selucian is the most distantly related to Latin, the root of the Romance languages. The "high class" language used in universities and government is the closest to traditional Latin, however, the vernacular language spoken by the common people has many English, Dundorfian (German), and Spanish influences with different islands speaking different dialectical mixtures. It is also, curiously, written in the Cyrillic alphabet.


 * Ushalandan, a language of Deltaria, is normally considered a dialect of Selucian with Deltarian influences. It is also written with the Cyrillic alphabet, with some minor adjustments.


 * Alorian in Aloria. Alorian is a very simplified form of Latin, most similar to Selucian.


 * French, spoken in Alduria, Kanjor and Rildanor is one of the major Romance languages. The three French-speaking nations were formerly united in the Union Française, but this alliance is now defunct. In 2392, Jelbania also adopted French. Lourenne, a former Francophonic colony uses French as one of its main languages.


 * Istalian in Quanzar. Istalian was the language of the ruling elite from the third to the seventh centuries CE in Quanzar. Although English and Majatran are now the most prevalent languages, Istalian is still found in some university and business settings.


 * Spanish in Egelion and Davostan. The two nations speak very different forms of Spanish: Davostan's has been influenced by native Macon languages, while Egelion's is closer to Portuguese and Latin.


 * Romanian in New Endralon. In order to show the differences between themselves and the older Endralon, the people of New Endralon adopted a language mixed from Egelion Spanish, traditional Latin, and Endralon English that over the centuries developed into the disctinct Romanian of the country.

Delic
The smallest Rhaetan language family is that of the Delic languages, a group of Deltarian languages originating in Hobrazia including Daralazinder (Daralian and Alazindian), Tokundian, Hobratz Deltarian, and Groznic in Dundorf.


 * Daralizindan (West Slavic)
 * Daralian (Slovak)
 * Alazindian (Czech)


 * Tokundian (Serbian)
 * Kozak-Trigunian (East Slavic)
 * Rodshya (Russian)
 * Kozak (Ukrainian)

Celtic
There are three Celtic languages. The first to be recognised is Brythonic, which was once popularly spoken in Cildania. It is very important to linguists because it is considered very archaic and close to proto-Rhaetan.

Welsh is the other Celtic language, although in truth it bares lttle resemblance to it's Brythonic cousin. The language was first encountered when the continent of Dovani was colonised, and it continues to thrive in the Northern part of that continent. Welsh is believed to have been imported into the Mothin language once heard on Mothar (now a part of Dorvik), however with the death of the latter the extent of the Celtic influence remains unknown.

Qedarite
OOC: Semitic Languages

The Qedarite language family is the largest language family in Majatra. It originated in Squibble, but in the Qedarite Migrations it crossed southern Seleya and settled in Majatra. (The areas in Seleya they previously inhabited now speak French.) The Qedaritelanguage family contains two branches: Eastern and Western, however, the distribution is not actually along an East-West axis.

The Eastern group is considerably smaller that of the Western and contains three dead languages; the most well known of which is Therakan, which was spoken in ancient Qolshamih and the Kingdom of Karronia in Quanzar from the 25th century BCE to the first century CE.

Linguistically, the Eastern branch is distinguished by two features:
 * 1) A reduction of the number of the largyngeal phonemes; the voiced pharygeal and velar fricatives were lost in all of the languages, and after the 20th century BCE most had lost the glottal stop as well. The loss of these phonemes resulted in a large set of defective verb conjugations and noun declensions and extensive vowel contraction.
 * 2) Unlike the Western branch, there is no suffixing verbal conjugation, and all Eastern-branch languages have an innovative perfect tense, derived from the T-stem conjugation, in addition to the ancestral perfective and imperfective tenses.

The Western branch has three primary languages. The larger of these is Majatran, spoken in Al'Badara, Cildania, Kafuristan, Wantuni and Quanzar. In Quanzar, it became the language of the lower classes when English and then Istalian overcame it as the language of the educated classes in 2110 and 2232, respectively. Beiteynuese and Cildanian, two closely related languages, are the other main Western Qedarite languages. Beiteynuese is spoken in Beiteynu, and has been very much influenced by the Jelbic languages. It has recently come into conflict with Pnték, due to the Pontesi invasion of Tadraki and Endild. Cildanian is the descendent of the Qedarite Languages in Cildania, and it is the country's dominant language. A medieval version of Cildanian, Church Cildanian, is the liturgic language of the Department of Cildania.

The Western branch has several extinct languages as well, including Old South Majtar, which is attested in rock-inscriptions in the deserts of Ingris in Quanzar.

Makon-Keris
Prof. Poeki Znozin, a Pontesian historian, created an idea linking several language isolates, based on the idea of a people from Dranland, who left towards the southwest. Although this idea has now been proved false (Dranian is a Dovani-Dundorfian language), the study of these isolates has created a new theory, based on the idea that the original inhabitants of Makon and Keris spread southwestward towards Majatra before later abandoning their languages and switching to English.

The last vestiges of the original Makon-Keris languages are:
 * Tirgith, a native language of they eponymous island in Trigunia. The island was relatively isolated, and thus preserved its language after it had been lost elsewhere.
 * Davohuac, the native language of Davostan, which has been heavily influenced by Spanish.
 * Hutorian, closely related to Davohuac, wich has been influenced more by English and Telamonese.
 * The now-extinct Telan language (not to be confused with the unrelated modern Telamonese). But the Telan oral history claims they came from the south, i.e. Likatonia, the known location of Telamonese's origin. Due to the lack of written records, the language's history will probably remain a mystery for a long time.

Spreading southwestward, with the more warriorlike peoples moving farther, the following languages were formed:
 * The lowland Malivian languages. The Highland Malivian languages are the southernmost extent of the Artanian branch of the Superseleyan language family. Bahasa Maliv is a trade language used by the various tribal groups that occupy the Malivian sub-continent, as each tribe and region has its own language or dialect that evolved from the language of the original settlers; it is considered a mixture of Highland and Lowland Malivian.
 * The Solentian language family arrived in Solentia from the north, putting it as a likely offshoot of Vanuku-Malivian. There are two subfamilies of Solentian, Telaic and Ulmaic.
 * Vanukuese. The most common story of their origin is that they came to western Majatra from across the sea to the east, a story consistent with the history of the Jelbic languages and the Makon-Keris theory.

Jelbic
The Jelbic languages originated in northwestern Majatra before the year 400. They were subjugated by the Deltarians, and the languages were heavily influenced by them; this led many past linguists to think they were related. When the Vanukuese invaded from across the sea to the west, they split Proto-Jelbic into Jelbék, Pnték and Dissuwan, which are similar, but have slightly different influences: Dissuwan remained closer to Deltarian, while Pnték had some Semitic influences, and Jelbék was influenced by Deltarian and Vanukuese. Recently, Jelbék and Pnték have grown closer through convergent evolution.


 * Northern Jelbic
 * Pnték
 * Brmék


 * Southern Jelbic
 * Jelbék
 * Dissuwan