Imperial language

The lingua franca of The New Empire of Belyos, Imperial has been spoken throughout the Empire since its foundation two thousand years ago. Scholars have postulated that it is merely a continuation of the language spoken prior to the Inheritance War, as the tongues spoken by the various Sakamohr and Dwellers tribes have some similarities in both grammar and vocabulary.
Formal Imperial is the dialect spoken by Imperial Bureaucrats, the Imperial House, the noble houses and the Elector Lord houses. It is understood by all within the Empire with minimal effort, and is considered the 'base' dialect from which all others are derived. In the early days of the Empire, Imperial scholars ensured coherence across the land, but after the secession crisis, it's influence waned and some variation crept in, particularly in the north. When Til-Yaltur re-unified the land, the Imperial Language Bureau was created, and Formal Imperial was once more homogenised.
Local Imperial varies across the Empire, with regional variations in vocabulary and pronunciation. Dialects are localised and change slowly over distance, with one's origins in the Empire easily identified by one's accent and dialect. In some rural areas, away from central influence, the language spoken is almost unintelligible to those from more distant parts. In parts of Arall and Lorsund the accent is very mixed as a result of migration from the north into the largely empty lands, with a similar process in the northern nations.
Written Imperial has remained as unchanged as possible since the Empire's founding, although literacy rates amongst all but priests and the most educated of nobles is quite low.

---

Phonology

Consonants

Manner/Place	Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Stop	b p	d t		k
Affrictive
Fricative	f	z s				h
Approximant		l	j		w
Rhotic		r

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	ɪ	iː	ʊ	uː		ɔː
Mid	e	eə	ə	ɜː	ɒ
Open	æ		ʌ			ɑː

---

Morphology

Syllable structure: (C)(V)(C)
Stress pattern: Stress is on the first syllable

---

Syntax

Main word order: Verb Subject Object - 'Opened Mary the door with a key.' Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun. Adposition: prepositions

---

Vocabulary

Nouns

Nouns have three cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Ergative	Suffix: -ɪa
Absolutive	No affix
Genitive	Suffix: -ʌ

Singular	No affix
Plural	Suffix -æ

Articles
Imperial has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.
Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive
1st singular	ai I	ae me, I	aun mine
2nd singular	ti you	to you	tor yours
3rd singular (masc)	maw  he, it	maw  he, it	maw  he, it
3rd singular (fem)	hew she, it	hew she, it	hew she, it
1st plural	le we	le us, we	le ours
2nd plural	ti you all	to you all	tor yours (pl)
3rd plural	ha they	ha they	ha they