Language development

[jamescfm]

For a period of time, I have been working intermittently to improve the classification of languages in the game. Previously the classification of languages had been a mixture of real-life language families and fictional language families based on factors other than genetic relation between languages. For a well known example of the latter, see the Gao-Indralan languages.

In my work on Particracy languages, I have focused mainly on grouping languages together based on real-life language families. The most important exception is the Jelbo-Tukaric languages because the Jelbic languages are a constructed fictional language. A few other exceptions exist too. For in-game purposes, I have been referring to my proposed system of classification as the "Guo-Wolf classification". Up to this point, I have mostly been doing this informally and consulting other players along the way.

I thought it might be a good idea to share an overview of the key language families and a selection of subfamilies under this system. Please note that I did not create most of these in-game equivalents. In the long term, I would like to have an agreed-upon system that we can use on language pages on the Particracy Wiki. If anybody has any feedback or suggestions about this, please let me know.

Language families

Afroasiatic: Qedarite
Austronesian: Nautic
Dravidian: Vanashishu
Indo-European: Heludic
Japonic: Kunikata-Sekowan
Koreanic: Kyo-Changt'ae
Kra–Dai: Hanzenic
Sino-Tibetan: Xsampan-Yingdalan
Turkic: Jelbo-Tukaric (includes the fictional Jelbic languages)
Uralic: Makonic

Language subfamilies

Celtic: Celda
Finnic: Sullestic
Germanic: Dundorfic
Indo-Aryan: Kalkali
Iranic: Ezadi
Polynesian: Tropican
Semitic: Khamatic
Slavic: Delic

[Auditorii]

I like it. Good work, I'd like to get Polties opinions on it considering hes done a lot of work on the games sort've background history.

[Polites]

I like it as well, and I think this should ultimately replace the Terran Language Families scheme.

I agree on the need to maintain real life language relationships as much as possible, but we should allow for exceptions where required by RP. For instance I think the Jelbo-Tukaric family is more akin to the (unlikely to ever be seriously considered) Altaic language family due to its inclusion of Mongolic (and maybe we could expand this to add Kunikata and/or Kyo?). Since language history is closely linked to the history of everything else, it makes sense for Terra's language history to differ from real life historical linguistics. Though it is better if we kept the exceptions to a minimum.

[jamescfm]

I think including the Mongolic languages in the Jelbo-Tukaric family makes sense because Jelbic has taken inspiration from those languages too. Is there an established in-game equivalent for the Mongolic languages? If there is not, would Panmuanic suffice? I am less convinced about the inclusion of Kunikata or Kyo but it might be better to hear from the players in Dankuk, Seko, and Hulstria and Gao-Soto. Realistically there would be in-character controversy about language families on Terra, of course. For that reason, we might say that disagreement exists about the classification.

At present, the largest, well-established language family I don't have an in-game equivalent for is the Atlantic–Congo languages. In the Terran Language Families, they are called "Ezintsundu". Does anyone know much about where this term originated? As I understand it, the term is a variation of "Esinsundu". Both terms effectively mean "brown people" and recently appear to have been used to refer to black people, regardless of cultural background.

[Auditorii]

The “ Esinsundu” is relatively recent and doesn’t seem to have much else besides references that are largely outdated. As I’ve said before, maybe on Discord, when I was updating some of the African ethnicities and groups I was met with vast differences in naming. For instance Asli is West African but has also been referenced as African or African Arab, Kitembo is Swahili but Watembo is Somali, with a reference in the Zardic CP to something else. The African languages are generally pretty messy.

[jamescfm]

The first reference to "Esinsundu" on the forum is 2014. While that is not that recent, I am not convinced it is a great term for a language family. "Asli" is a meta-ethnic term that includes the various West African groups that exist principally in Talmoria and Statrica. Not all of these groups would speak a language in the Atlantic–Congo language family, so I don't think that would be an appropriate equivalent.

"Kitembo" and "Watembo" are both in-game equivalents for Swahili. The reason for the existence of multiple terms is related to the grammar of Swahili. I am not sure when it happened that people began to use mistakenly use "Watembo" as an equivalent for Somali. The mistake was corrected when we updated the cultural background of Statrica in 2020 though. The in-game equivalent for Somali is "Adijiri". As you mention, this term has been included in the cultural protocols of Zardugal dating back several years.

[Auditorii]

Considering that the RP done in Statrica has utilized Watembo as Somali and its been referenced several times, I think it presents an issue. "Adijiri" is referenced in the Zardic cultural protocol and almost no where else that I can find. I don't think that citing Adijiri as Somali makes much sense.

[Polites]

Maybe we can take as granted the RL Niger-Congo proposed family, which would effectively group most African languages spoken in Dovani. We could use the Asli languages as the Niger-Congo A (i.e. non-Bantu) languages, which means we'd have to come up with terms for the wider family as well as for the Bantu languages.

I think Adijiri is a far more appropriate term for Somali than Watembo. The latter is in Swahili, and is very clearly derived from Utembo and Kitembo. I really think Watembo should never have been used to mean Somali, and since it has it needs to be retconned.

[jamescfm]

I don't have a problem with adopting the proposed Niger-Congo language family in-game, that sounds like a sensible idea. Likewise, I do not think there is any problem using the term "Asli languages" for the non-Bantu languages within that group.

Whether or not we specifically use the term "Adijiri", it seems obvious that "Watembo" is not appropriate as an equivalent for Somali. As Polites explained, it is derived from Swahili based on the "noun class" system that characterises certain Bantu langauges. Somali is not a Bantu language, nor is it part of the wider Atlantic–Congo language family. Somali is a Cushitic language, which places it in the Afroasiatic family alongside languages like Arabic, Amharic, Coptic and Hebrew. Since almost all of the other Afroasiatic languages are represented in Majatra, it makes sense that Somalis would be represented in Zardugal.

According to the Forum-Based Information thread, the majority of the population in Statrica is composed of West African peoples. In the Statrica news thread, I was only able to find three posts using the term "Watembo". As long as I have been playing the game, I have always understood Statrica as being based upon West Africa (like neighbouring Talmoria). As a result, I think it is reasonable to conclude that a mistake was made in including Somali in Statrica. Fortunately, it would not be difficult to fix.

[Polites]

I second the above.

On an unrelated note, I think the term for Germanic should be Dunic and for Celtic it should be Dradic. Let me explain:

Dunic has been RPd for some time now as the name for Ancient Germanic peoples, and is the origin of both "Dundorfian" and "Duntrekker". It's currently being used in Deltaria to mean exactly that, Ancient Germanic, comprising the Goths and Anglo-Saxon. With Deltaria updating its cultural protocol it makes less sense to use Dunic with that meaning, especially since Gothic and Old English do not form a valid clade within the Germanic languages. Since the term has a history of use, I think it would be reasonable to apply it generally to all Germanic languages.

Celda or even Celdic is a terrible idea, it's too obviously based on "Celtic" and too little different from it. The term Dradic, while derived from Draddwyr, is distinct enough from it that it can refer to the broader group. It's been used occasionally, so far only in this post, but based on that I've introduced it to some wiki articles as well. It's a simple term and, due to its similarity to "Draddwyr", easily understandable.