Barturi (language)

Geographical Distribution

The language is widely spoken throughout Bartura, Hetmira, Kusbara, and small parts of Kavana. Barturi completely dominates in the Marus of its namesake, while also supplanting the formerly-spoken languages in the urban areas of Hetmira and Alayas. Only the peripheral regions in Kavana does the Barturi language hold sway, mostly among merchants and in towns close to the border with Alayas. Barturi was spread through conquest during the days of the Barturi Empire. Local nobles learned the language to ingratiate themselves with their new rulers better. Barturi was the official language of their army and all soldiers who joined eventually needed to learn it to rise through the ranks. As a result, the tongue spread through both the ranks of the nobility and ordinary people. Most languages formerly spoken Barturi-ruled areas were either diminished in range or eliminated. Merchants trading in the Barturi Empire also picked up its use and spread its use beyond the empire's borders, others deciding it a useful communication medium. After the fall of the Barturi Empire at the hands of a broad alliance of enemies (including the Opani, Satri, Hetmiri, Erabaxi, and some Alayai city-states), its language's importance temporarily withered as the institutions that propped it up disintegrated. The Satri, following their conquest of Bartura and the surrounding areas, adopted Barturi as the official language of their imperial court. After that, every scholar and scribe that wished to obtain a position in the Satri bureaucracy was required to learn to the language. The Satri elite chose Barturi because it would avoid favoritism for their tongue and it already had a substantial number of people spoke it both as part of their daily lives and used it in academic and government contexts.

Spoken by