Languages of Dimension XI

Mariana

Dimension XI is home to a hidden plane of reality called the Crossroads. It's inhabited by two sentient races, one peaceful and one imperial.

Yakka Speech

The language of the Yakkoh is ugly to the ear and sour to the lips, but it was not always this way. To understand its progression to its present state, some context is required.

Their world was a tropical planet with ample resources. They were graceful and lovely to look upon, their technologies unparalleled.

But greed is a monster whose eyes are bigger than its stomach. Soon enough the Gmoniz, as they called themselves, bled their home dry of its bounty, and their cities collapsed. In time their star also died and they were forced to find shelter elsewhere.

Being space travellers, they moved from realm to realm, pillaging and plundering to sustain their communities. They soon encountered Deywos, a being of exceptional cruelty and remarkable intelligence who replaced their old gods Rath and Hatta (equivalent to our Apollo and Artemis) and gave them dark secrets. Secrets that bend the laws of nature.

With their new master the 'Gniniz' became more and more savage, their language too devolving to fit with their changing anatomy.

Their speech originally had twenty-four distinct sounds. With gradual linguistic decay and the assimilation of certain sounds with each other, the present tongue retains three vowels and twelve consonants: G, D, H, V, Z, Ks (like the 'x' in 'saxophone'), L, N, S, F, R, and Th (like the 'th' in 'thin').

So what once sounded like this:

'Mando hethros murin mirin anglip yath,
Waniwulike yarum Hatta talath,
Nisso rello kukin zalin delof Rath,
Gamobeburim psakso psamas psanath.'

Became this:

'Nondo hthros nrin nirin onglf ioth,
Vonivolikse ioron Hotho thloth,
Nisso rllo kokin zolin delof Roth,
Gonobeborin sokso sonos sonth.'

The language relies heavily on consonant clusters, and is agglutinative. It has no written records and not much is known of its rules.

Apigekata

The language of the Minisoh, or Giethesnthgliz (Rat-Headed People) as the Yakkoh call them, has also been significantly impacted.

Greek and Latin are like old neighbours sharing recipes, but the Minisoh and Yakkoh have had no such linguistic exchange. The burning of thousands of Minis libraries has led to their speech losing most of its core vocabulary, with only the root words and personal names preserved from its original state.

Plural terms are formed by the suffix '-oh' (e.g. gonoh, land beasts, pirimiyoh, males). Words can be made animate by the suffix 'aettoh' (e.g. dadayaettoh, hunter), the plural of which is 'aettaneh' (e.g. awussaettaneh, warriors). There is no grammatical gender.

The language has six short vowels: A, Ae (like the 'a' in 'ant'), I, U, E, O. Six long vowels: Aa, Aeh, Ee, Oo, Eh, Oh. And eighteen consonants: K, G, Ng (like the 'ng' in 'sing'), C ('ch' as in 'church'), J, T, D, Nd ('nd' as in 'candle'), N, P, B, M, Y, R, L, W, S, and H.

Complex terms are formed from intuitive combinations of root words (e.g. 'Day' and 'Night' are 'Irakaala' and 'Handakaala', 'Sun-Time' and 'Moon-Time'). The past, present and future tenses can be determined from context, as the language's small vocabulary covers a broad range of ideas.

The following is a list of all root words in the Minisoh language, called Apigekata (Our Language), from which every other word is derived.

Root Words:

• Aadara: love, affection, compassion, respect.


• Aasaawa: want, desire, wish, hope.


• Aendum: clothes, fabric, cloth, cover, layer.


• Aenga: body, form, physical state.


• Aesa: eye, see, observe, understand.


• Ahasa: shell, dome, sky, outside.


• Akunu: lightning, energy, capability, potential, possibility.


• Akura: writing, script, letters, language.


• Angkaya: number, quantity, many, a lot.


• Antima: finish, end, age, complete, stop.


• Api: us, we.


• Ata: arm, hand, grab, hold, carry.


• Awussa: fight, arouse, challenge, war, argue, rebel.


• Bima: earth, land, ground, outdoors, country, nature, beginning, start, origin.


• Bindu: circle, ball, sphere, round, wheel, yearly cycle.


• Citta: art, image, game, music, architecture, entertainment.


• Dadaya: to hunt, forage, search.


• Danna: wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, sentience, to know.


• Datta: teeth, bite, tear.


• Dehwal: property, possessions, stuff.


• Deyya: divine, sacred, deity, uppermost.


• Diga: long, stick, branch, limb, beyond.


• Diviya: truth, life, reality, true.


• Diya: water, body of water, fluid, liquid.


• Eka: joined, united, combined.


• Gaehni: woman, female, wife.


• Gaeta: rope, hair, string, thread, net.


• Gala: stone, metal, solid, hard, pebble, etc.


• Gan: feel, touch, sense, emotion.


• Ge: belonging to (e.g. oyaage, yours).


• Gedara: home, building, space, room.


• Gimbaa: reptile, amphibian, insect. Literally 'fire creature.'


• Gini: heat, hearth, warmth, fire, cook.


• Gonaa: land creature, also by extension 'ugly' or 'disgusting.'


• Hada: make, create, produce.


• Haebeh: but, however, because of.


• Handa: moon, star, night object.


• Hita: heart, stomach, core, centre, inside, between.


• Horaa: to get, take, steal, receive.


• Ira: sun, light, shine, brightness.


• Kaala: time, moment, occasion.


• Kaehlla: part, element, piece.


• Kaehma: edible thing, to eat.


• Kaha: yellow, gold, blonde, yellowish.


• Kalu: black, dark, brown, shadow, night.


• Kanda: mountain, hill, bump, wall, mound, nose, smell.


• Kapa: to cut, divide, slice.


• Kara: do, use, practice, choose, activate, decide, be able to do.


• Kata: tongue, speech, taste, mouth, to talk.


• Kiya: read, inspect, interact with.


• Kola: flower, seed, leaf, plant, tree, offspring, etc.


• Koraha: box, cup, bowl, container.


• Kotuwa: square, block, stairs.


• Kurullaa: flying creature, bird.


• Lassana: awesome, epic, spectacular, beautiful.


• Lohku: great, big, strong, heavy, important, exceeding, world.


• Maaluwa: water creature (fish, marine animal, etc.)


• Maeti: paste, clay, powder, mud, semi-solid.


• Maga: road, path, way, custom, tradition, bridge.


• Manda: side, hip, nearby, close.


• Mang: me, I.


• Mara: sleep, rest, freeze, die, kill.


• Meh: this, that, it, he, she, they (general pronoun), the (definite article).


• Minis: community, society, nation, tribe, group.


• Mokaa: what, which, etc. (general questioning particle).


• Muhuna: reflection, echo, face, surface, mirror, name, resemble, word.


• Naaki: ancestor, parent, ruler, old.


• Naeh: no, nothing, empty.


• Nam: if, when.


• Napuru: evil, bad, unnecessary, shame, guilt, lie, untrue.


• Nil: blue, green, grey.


• Okkoma: all, everything, plenty.


• Oluwa: mind, head, brain, skull, lead.


• Oyaa: you (singular/plural).


• Passa: being, rear, back.


• Pawula: family, sibling, relative, friend.


• Pirimi: man, male, husband.


• Podi: small, young, few, to shrink.


• Pojja: thing, being, object, matter, soul.


• Pota: flat object, paper, page, book.


• Ratu: red, orange, purple.


• Rukula: door, window, opening, hole.


• Sadda: noise, sound, listen, ear, to produce sound.


• Saha: along with, or, also, with, and, among.


• Salli: trade, exchange, transaction, money, shop.


• Satu: human, person, animal, somebody.


• Seetala: cold, raw, uncooked.


• Sellam: laugh, happiness, humour, joke, fun.


• Sidu: event, arrival, come, summon.


• Sonduru: good, simple, whole, satisfying.


• Sooniyam: personal name for the Great Deyya. Synonyms: Kabalaehwa, Oddisa, Hooniyan.


• Sudu: white, pale, violet, indigo.


• Sulanga: air, wind, breath, gas, invisible, gone away.


• Tani: alone, only, single.


• Tawa: addition, extra, new.


• Waadi: stay, sit, wait, remain, retain, safe.


• Wacca: waste, dirt, faeces.


• Waeda: work, labour, try.


• Waeraedda: mistake, damage, burden.


• Wanna: colour, flavour, to paint.


• Weda: cure, medicine, to heal, to fix.


• Wenas: different, diverse, other, changed.


• Yakka: spirit, monster, beast, daemon, scary.


• Yamake: device, machine, tool, weapon, sharp, point.


• Yan: move, live, go, enter.


• Yata: below, under, underside, foot, dependent.


• Yawa: sent, released, given, emit.

Numbers are formed by suffixing a numerical particle to the end of certain words: Pojjangka (one), Bimangka (two), Giningka (three), Diyangka (four), Sulangka (five), Sudungka (six), Kahangka (seven), Ratungka (eight), Kalungka (nine) and Nilangka (ten).

For multiples of these numbers contractions of numerical names are combined, e.g. "bimkaha" is fourteen ("two times seven"). For odd numbers or addition in general a word with its suffix is combined with a contraction, e.g. "pojjangkanil" is eleven ("one plus ten").

Higher numbers stem from combinations of these multiplication and addition methods, e.g. "ratungkanilnil" (one hundred and eight, or "eight plus ten times ten").

Recently a new root word for 'hero, heroic, noble' has been added to the vocabulary. Despite its injuries, the Minisoh language is making a steady recovery.

Mariana