| Kalopian | |
|---|---|
|
καλοπικά, كلوپيكة kalopiká | |
| Region | Kalopia |
| Ethnicity | Kalopian people |
| Native speakers | 72 million (4222) |
| Language family |
Superseleyan
|
| Standard forms | Classical Kalopian, Common Modern Kalopian |
| Writing system | Kalopian, Majatran |
| Official status | |
| Official language in | Kalopia |
| Recognised minority language in | Jakania |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Kal |
Kalopian (καλοπικά / كلوپيكة kalopiká or καλοπική γλώσσα / كلوپيكي گلوسّة kalopikī glōssa) is the native language of the Kalopian people. Kalopian is an Enetric language, and thus it is distantly related to Selucian, Istalian, or Canrillaise. Kalopian has the oldest documented history of all Superseleyan languages, and plays an important role in Western and Majatran culture as an ancient language of civilization and high culture.
Kalopian was in antiquity the lingua franca of the entire south of the continent of Majatra, and under the Cildanian Hegemony it was the official language of the Empire's southern provinces. The Augustan Empire adopted Kalopian as its sole official language, and the Augustan language is written in the Kalopian alphabet to this day. The "classical" register of the language also became one of the main languages of Hosianism, since much of the religion's scripture is written in Classical Kalopian, and the language was also the liturgical language of the Augustan Church, retaining a central role in Churches claiming descent from it.
Although the language experienced a decline following the Ahmadi conquest, Classical Kalopian retained its role as a vehicle of philosophy and religion, while spoken Kalopian began to diverge significantly from the classical standard. Under Ahmadi rule many Kalopians adopted the new religion, and in subsequent centuries they began to write their spoken Kalopian in the Majatran (OOC: Arabic) script, with the Kalopian script reserved for Augustan Kalopians and the Selucian (OOC: Latin) script used by Selucian-rite Hosians.
In the 25th century the language experienced a revival due to the rise of Kalopian nationalism, and the Kalopian script was gradually adopted by Kalopians of all religious backgrounds. During the following centuries there was also an attempt to adopt Classical Kalopian as the only written and spoken standard for the language, the same way Selucian did in the 19th century. These efforts failed however, in spite of occasionally forceful and repressive government attempts. Unlike the situation in Selucia, the spoken Kalopian varieties did not differ significantly from each other, meaning that Kalopians already had a common language, vernacular Kalopian. Additionally, while in Selucia the classical register was the liturgical language of both major religions, in Kalopia Classical Kalopian was used only by Hosian Churches, while the other religions used different liturgical languages or used the vernacular.
Consequently a new literary standard of written and spoken Kalopian emerged in the 28th century, based on modern dialects and substantially different from Classical Kalopian, but also differing from traditional vernacular speech, called Νεοκαλοπική Κοινή Neokalopikí Koiní, "Common Modern Kalopian". With adaptations taking into account the evolution of the language since then, the Common standard remains the only written variety of modern Kalopian to this day.
OOC
Kalopian is Demotic Greek, and Classical Kalopian is Ancient Greek.