Languages of Elwynn
The Elwynnese people have no majority language. Rather, different languages are dominant in different areas. Elwynnese law commands that any government division where more than 20% of the population speak a given language, that language shall be an official language of that division. A division is allowed to bring any other language to official status too. Istvanistani is a general working language throughout the entire Republic. Other official languages of the Republic are Elw and Babkhi.
Proportion of native language in Elwynn, Congress Elwynn, and the Alalehzamini Autonomous Republic (AAR).
| Elwynn | Congress | AAR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Babkhi | 32% | 10% | 56% |
| Elw | 26% | 31% | 22% |
| North Amokolian | 7% | 14% | < 1% |
| Istvanistani | 6% | 8% | 5% |
| Norse | 6% | 9% | 3% |
| Præta | 6% | 7% | 6% |
| Mishalanese | 4% | 8% | < 1% |
| Agnesian | 3% | 4% | 2% |
| Cimmerian | 1% | 2% | < 1% |
| Kalasperin | < 1% | 1% | <1% |
| Lengish | < 1% | <1% | < 1% |
| Other | 4% | 4% | 4% |
Elw
The Elw language is the historically aboriginal language of Elwynn. It is an agglutinating language of several dialects, of which Caligaean, Utasian, Alalehzamini and Iserdian are the largest. The written standard uses the Cyrillic alphabet (historically a syllabic script) and is based on the Caligaean dialect with large influences from the other dialects. Considered a language isolate, Elw has, however, a large number of loans from other languages, such as Treesian, Elfinshi, Babkhi, Norse, and Præta.
The modern Caligaean dialect uses more Norse words, Utasian is heavily influenced by Præta, Alalehzamini by Babkhi, and Iserdian by Tapferite and Bovic terminology.
Elw is a dominant language in the arts and social sciences.
Elw is an official language of the Elwynnese Republic.
Babkhi
The Babkhi language arrived to Elwynn during the 1490s during the Ardashirian immigration wave. It is the largest spoken language in Elwynn, but is concentrated largely in the south of the country. Related to Agnesian, and more distantly to Istvanistani and Norse, it is a dominant language in the arts, the military, and the engineering sciences.
The Babkhi language in Elwynn is traditionally written in the Arabic script, but the Cyrillic script provides a popular alternative, especially for second-language speakers. See Cyrillic Babkhi for more information.
The Babkhi of Elwynn is influenced in vocabulary by Elw, Mishalanese, Præta and, in terms of grammar, Istvanistani. As such the Babkhi of Elwynn is considered a distinct dialect of the world-wide Babkhi language (from Babkha), and since the Euran holocaust in 1599, it is the largest Babkhi dialect in the world.
There are no major regional differences in Elwynn in how Babkhi is spoken by the native Babkhi-speaking population.
