This document catalogues the general linguistic themes and possible sounds available to the native inhabitants of Tirpazk. As with all categorical overviews, exceptions will occur, particularly where groups and cultures overlap, but these will set the general tone of the languages and baseline ideals defined by the archetypical member of each species/culture.
Elephant Folk (Name TBD)
Gargantuan, four-armed Elephant-folk. Their strength and constitution is incredible more or less by default, but due to their land's preponderance of vicious predators and a more brutal than usual strain of Reekin in the region, their culture has trended towards a reliance and devotion to shows of strength in all its forms. While this is most
readily seen in their physical prowess and martial customs, they employ a significant degree of skill with social pressures as well.
Common Sounds
The most prominent features of the [Elephant] face - the trunk and tusks - also play a significant role in the dominance of certain sounds within their language. Nasal sounds (N and M) take center stage, while sounds that require a certain amount of air flow control through the lips and teeth (V, F, T, D, Th, Sh) are softened out by the presence of the tusks. Vowels sounds trend towards those that emphasize the back of the throat (Oh, Ah, Uh) over those towards the sides and front (Oo, Ee, Ay).
Concepts and Foci
As a culture dominated by perceptions of power and comparisons between systems and individuals, much of the [Elephant] vocabulary deals in comparatives and superlatives. One is not merely
strong, but either
stronger or
strongest, depending on one's level of confidence or the context of the description. This extends to titles and nouns, which are often treated as nearly meaningless without specific purviews being applied. There is not merely a 'overseer'; most would ask that you specify whether they're an overseer of workers, of their family, or of the nation at large.
Writing System
The [Elephant] writing system largely represents the fact that their language if focused on how things relate to one another. Individual letters are written in a looping, interconnected script that sometimes bleed into one another to represent where two letters working together augment the pronunciation of the whole. Full sentences, however, begin with the drawing of a horizontal line starting from the point where it's expected the sentence will end. From there, the basic structure of the sentence - the nouns and verbs - are written along the top of the line, while adjectives and adverbs get joined to them
below the lines, making it clear what each word is augmenting even as sentences grow more complex. It's considered an important life skill for younge [Elephants] to be able to properly estimate the required line length for a written sentence, including factoring in the necessary extra space required for words that will have multiple modifiers stacked below them.
Naming Conventions
[Elephant] names are frequently chosen at or shortly after birth, based upon traits that the parents believe or hope for a child to have. These names are then appended to a larger family name that lists an individual's parentage and potentially also a further lineage beyond. However, it is not uncommon for [Elephants] to intentionally remove the family tree from their name as a show of individuality or - more cynically - the fact that they 'no longer need' their family to support them. In these cases, further traits the individual believes themselves to have or the name of their place of origin will often replace the family as the remainder of their full legal name.
Dialects and Secondary Languages
Despite covering much of mainland Tirpazk, the [Elephant] Empire remains a rather tightly-knit and communicative society, leading to most linguistic drift being the formation of various accents and regional word choices more than the development of entirely new dialects. Exiles
from the Empire do tend to develop their own forms of their mother tongue, however, depending on where they end up. Most often, this takes the form of incorporating standalone adjectives and nouns from their new neighbors, effectively 'diluting' the language in the eyes of the Empire by allowing themselves to describe things without the necessity of comparing them to others.
The one other language commonly used by [Elephants] is a form of four-armed sign-language designed for the hard of hearing and for use in cases where discretion or silence are required. It primarily focuses on using one set of hands to make basic shapes and symbols while the other set applies modifiers or indicators of intent and target to the main set. Whether the upper or lower set of hands is used tends to depend upon the speaker's personal hand dominance and opinion of the topic of discussion. Where opinion is not a factor, however, the default hand usage mirrors that of their writing system, with structure above, modifiers below.
Examples
| Molak |
King, Ruler, or Commander |
| ... ung Thalosh |
"... of Our People" |
| ... ung Dangalosh |
"... of an Army" |
| Loh |
Person or Being |
| Losh |
People or a Group |
| Dang |
Violence or Battle |
Secretary Bird Folk (Name TBD)
Bipedal bird-folk build for running and peering over the tall underbrush of the Tirpazki grasslands. Though they are fairly tall by human standards, they are much smaller than the [Elephants] who have taken them on as laborers and archivists. In the early days of mortal life's development, the [Elephants] leveraged this size discrepancy to impose their will and culture upon the [Birds] before either group had developed any particularly concrete culture. As such, the two developed concurrently, with [Elephant] needs and influences often taking precedent in wider usage.
Common Sounds
While beaks make it difficult for them to provide much distinct shaping of sounds within their mouths, the [Birds] share the trait of many bird species of complex sound mimicry through their throat muscles. This has the effect of limiting their clarity for certain sounds often made with the tongue or lips (L, M, P, W, etc.) without rendering them utterly incapable of replicating words that make use of them.
Words developed for their own personal use, irrespective of the [Elephants]' capacity to pronounce them, often gravitate more towards open-throated vowel sounds and consonants from the back of the throat (K, Ch, Q, G), augmented with whistles, clicks, and trills.
Concepts and Foci
Though in public, much of the [Bird] culture is imposed upon them by the [Elephants], in private there are strong undercurrents of seeking freedom from and/or equality within their society. Many of these concepts required their own words to be developed by the [Birds] as the [Elephants] lacked the context necessary to seem them as even being worth their own words in the first place.
Writing System
Even with the words they developed for the [Elephant] language, the [Birds] write with the same over-under writing system used by the rest of the joint society. For their own personal language (described below), they instead opt for something not immediately recognizable
as writing to the [Elephants]. Starting from a consistent top bar, sounds are represented as vertical lines of varying length that describe the notes being made. Different effects added onto sounds, such as warbles or clicks, are denoted as shapes branching off of the ends of the previous notes. Its similarity to musical notation has thus far allowed it to remain beneath the [Elephants]' notice, as they believe it to be nothing more than a way for the [Birds] to share the songs they sing to themselves.
Naming Conventions
[Bird] names tend towards being innocuous and generically 'pretty', either tonally as words or in the concepts they convey. Names based upon local wildlife are also common, as it's believed sharing a name with the creatures may make them more willing to accept a [Bird] as one of their own, making hunting or domesticating them somewhat easier. There has been an upswing in secondary, more secret names in recent decades, where young adults will take on revolutionary or aspirational names that would see them punished or ostracized by [Elephants] for their 'dangerous' ideals.
Dialects and Secondary Languages
In addition to the inherited language of the [Elephants], the [Birds] have developed a language of almost entirely nonvocal sounds that are impossible for the [Elephants] to replicate. Made up primarily of chirps, clicks, and growls, it functions as something closer to a code system than a language. Still, the [Birds] have currently managed to pass it off as nothing more than bird-like singing to occupy the mind, and as its lexicon grows, its flexibility as a means of covert communication in public spaces grows too.
Examples
Because the personal language's sounds can't be represented by letter, the examples shown here will be words developed for the [Elephant] language.
| Kaasik |
One in Need of Aid |
| Quisiloh |
Sibling (No Comparison) |
| Keenah |
"Towards Freedom" or "To Life" |
| Dangkeen |
Revolution or Uprising |
Giant Spiders (Name TBD)
Gigantic, sapient spiders who live between and within the forest of stony pillars at the center of Tirpazk's ringed bay. Because females of their species are significantly larger than males, who are significantly more numerous, they are a matriarchal society centered around two things: Sustainability in keeping the Mothers fed and comfortable in a fairly inhospitable environment, and competing for resources with the damnable [Sharks].
Common Sounds
[Temp] Chittering, clicking, and hissing. Majority of language actually involves dancing/leg waving.
Concepts and Foci
[Temp] A division of concepts between 'For the Mothers' and 'For the Rest'. Emphasis placed on this not being social stratification so much as a vast difference in physical needs. Constant skirmishes for survival with the [Sharks] has led to something of a disdain for water in general and fish in particular.
Writing System
[Temp] Combinations of lines and dots, easily written with a tool or a leg. Singular words/concepts contained within a single drawing/shape, while full sentences are multiple shapes joined together. Perhaps orientation of joined shapes changes meaning?
Naming Conventions
[Temp] Names for males imply intended labor force later in life, but are not necessarily enforced. Names of Mothers are generic at birth, with long, dramatic names self-applied at maturity. Mother name appended to all males in her brood as a means of tracking family lines across massive families.
Dialects and Secondary Languages
[Temp] Possible language developed between small clans of [Spiders] and [Sharks] who have learned to cooperate on the fringes of society? Something that could be easily mimicked by both spider-legs and humanoid hands.
Examples
[Temp] Examples may not be possible here by nature of languages? Possible physical descriptions of actions, but that could be awkward...
Semi-Amphibious Sharks (Name TBD)
Shark-folk with a very loosely humanoid upper half of the body and the capacity to inhale large amounts of air or water to slowly process for oxygen over time. They are rather awkward in the open water, and as such have taken to living around the base of the Pillar Forest and along the walls of Tirpazk's ringed bay. Their culture is divided by food source and the difficulty involved in acquiring larger amount of food. Not necessarily vertically structured, but some are inherently viewed as being more skillful and prestigious than, say, collecting mollusks and plants from the floor of the bay. The
most prestigious are those who are able to successfully hunt the damnable [Spiders]
Common Sounds
[Temp] Able to make minimal sounds with their mouths aside from some wheezing and shrieks by inhaling and exhaling air in large gulps. Language is primarily based on movements of the hands, tail, and mouth.
Concepts and Foci
[Temp] Quite a lot revolves around food. A division exists between objects found above and below the water. There may even be specific branches of language relating to the [Spiders] due to the length and prevalence of their conflict?
Writing System
[Temp] Cuneiform-esque use of shark-tooth shapes in various arrangements. Sentences can actually be formed with their lost teeth, making use of those they lose on a constant basis.
Naming Conventions
[Temp] Wide variety of names based on concepts parents find engaging or endearing. 'Family Name' is based on the current food-gathering method of the parents, but does not actively impede transition into alternative methods should they occur.
Dialects and Secondary Languages
[Temp] Possible language developed between small clans of [Spiders] and [Sharks] who have learned to cooperate on the fringes of society? Something that could be easily mimicked by both spider-legs and humanoid hands.
Examples
[Temp] Examples may not be possible here by nature of languages? Possible physical descriptions of actions, but that could be awkward...
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