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 was, prior to the Blackfriars Revolt, written in the Zend and Baatharzi scripts. The use of the Baatharzi writing method was subsequently suppressed on account of its association with Umraism. In contemporary Elwynn, Babkhi is usually written in a modified variant of the Istvanistani 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.
North Amokolian
The North Amokolian language is spoken, as implied by its name, in the northern parts of the traditionally Amokolian areas, that is in traditional Amokolian areas that are not Mishalan. It is sometimes referred to as the Amokolian language, and sometimes its main dialects are considered languages themselves. The main dialects are Anunese (in and around Anun), Automatican (Automatica outside Anun), Vaten or Vattnalandic (in Vattnaland), and Oleslaadish in Oleslääd.
The language is closely related to Batavian and less so to Norse and more distantly still to the Babkhi and Agnesian languages.
Istvanistani
The Istvanistani language is the most commonly spoken second language in Elwynn, but only 6% of the Elwynnese population speak it as a first language. Istvanistani has for the last two centuries been a lingua franca in Elwynn and in much of Benacia and the world, yet few people, even to this day, choose to speak to their children in that language. In Elwynn, most native speakers are concentrated in Fieldburg, Wintergleam and Iserdia.
Istvanistani is written in the Latin (also known as the Istvanistani) script.
Norse
The Norse language of Elwynn is largely concentrated around Elwynn's northern Benacian coast. It has several dialects, for example Farewellish in Cape Farewell, Wintergleamish in Wintergleam, and Normark Norse (derived from immigrants from Normark).
Præta
Mishalanese
Agnesian
Cimmerian
Kalasperin
Kalasperin is the vernacular language of Raikoth. Related to Cimmerian, and from which Kadhamic was developed, it is an agglutinating verb-subject-object language. Historically written with its own distinct script, Cyrillic or Latin scripts are preferred these days.
Lengish
The Lengish language is a small phonologically complex language spoken in Leng. Outside of Leng, it has no major presence. In Leng, mainly spoken by the native population. Newer populations tend not to learn it.
Other languages
Kadhamic
The Kadhamic language is an artificial language, not spoken, but used, in Raikoth. It was developed with the aim of having a fully objective language for the use of philosophy, politics, science and statecraft.
Its austere, minimalist structure removes assumptions and value judgments - making propaganda, hate speech, and logical fallacies difficult. For example, a sentence like "Southerners dislike art" would be ungrammatical: the Kadhamic version would come out more like "(I believe with between 50-99% probability) (a majority of) Southerners (have a significantly greater tendency than Northerners to) (emotionally) dislike (what I define as) art", an empirical statement which can then be investigated to determine its truth or falsehood. An absolute taboo on discussing emotional issues like politics in any language but Kadhamic prevents it from becoming a source of division in society and leads to an unusual amount of concord on what would otherwise be controversial issues.
Outside Raikoth, learners can be found in university clubs and in special subcultural groups. Despite its academic nature, it is not used outside Raikoth in any academic, scientific or political setting.
