The Dialects of the Kingdom

The languages of the Kingdom

Although this is a single spoken language, spoken by all citizens of The Kingdom, it consists of two different methods of writing.

The Spoken Word

The Spoken Word has evolved as a combination of the languages of the previous era. As such, it allows for villages and societies separate from the Kingdom to quickly establish sufficient communications quickly, even if they have largely remained isolated until contact and are still using a language from the previous era. It also allows for a quicker acclimation for newly integrated people. Although many of the words are from previous languages, the meanings of the words may have deviated or shifted. For instance, Technology has grown to mean a magical artifact. Although the word may be the same, the understanding, context and culture interpreting and using the word has drastically changed, therefore so too the connotation of the word.

The Written Word

The two written forms of this language are known as 'adminican' and 'signpostage'.

Adminican

This is the language used in official documents. It most closely resembles the writings of the language 'English' of the previous era. This means that those educated in this language can generally make sense of the writings that are still often found buried within the ruins. Most citizens cannot read or write in this language. This language is generally only taught to priests and people in charge of governance. Whether or not it is intentional, the fact that most citizens cannot read this language is fully taken advantage of, and any documents that are classified or are simply not intended to be read by the average citizen are kept in this language.

Signpostage

This is a fairly simple written language that all citizens are taught to understand. In the earliest years of this era, when the world was in chaos, a language of simple, universal symbols was used as graffiti in order to communicate simple ideas to people who may not have spoken the same language. Simple pictures were used to convey ideas: 'danger', 'disease', 'supplies', 'friend'. A general series of accepted markers were used, universally recognizable, and they naturally became standardised as time passed. Eventually generations grew who were never taught any other form of writing.

This language eventually grew more complex to serve the more complicated messages that needed to be provided. It is still mostly a series of simple pictures akin to hieroglyphs, but many new ones have been added to reflect the changing times, and some of the more abstract concepts have necessitated the development of symbols to represent various sounds - now possible due to the standardisation of spoken language.