Skarhan Vostan

If you stand tall, others will follow.

— Skarhan proverb

There are many dialects of the Vostan language, and the Skarhan family is the second most widely spoken, only after those spoken in the Eastern Abravosti group.

History

Western Abravost has been home to the Skarhan people for thousands of years, and they spoke their own languages that were only loosely related to the others on the continent. Vostan, the native language of the Vosti people, was forcibly introduced to them during the 600s BC as part of the Vosti Conquest.
Even once the Skarhans began to speak Vostan natively, their pronunciation had some quirks that separated them from the eastern speakers. Most notably was their tendency to aspirate consonants, and to add /h/ at the end of vowels. These were both hold-overs from their native languages, which had an aspiration contrast and very few vowels which were not followed by a consonant of some kind.
The largest developments in a uniquely Skarhan sound came with The Collision, which separated the west from the east and left both sides convinced the other was gone forever. With this isolation, as well as the introduction of elves with their own language, the Skarhan dialect evolved further. Even once contact was re-established between Skarhu and Abravost, their dialect only strengthened.

Key Differences

Aside from the aspiration contrast and /h/ in the syllable coda previously mentioned, there are many differences between the dialects of Vostan. One difference is actually due to a lost Eastern Vostan feature - rhoticism. In the east, due to interaction with the largely Zaimyalkee elf population who found themselves there, Abravosti Vostan slowly became non-rhotic. While Skarhu also had interaction between their Vostan speakers and the elves who appeared there, Skarhu's rhotic remained firmly intact and even became stronger, to the point where the Elven languages spoken in the region gained a rhotic.
Of course, phonemic differences are not the only ones that exist. Skarhan Vostan also has a varied vocabulary, taking some root words from the Skarhan languages as well as from the Elven languages spoken by the Lialpumpámtii. A fun example of this difference is what name humans call elves. While Eastern Abravost calls them 'Elves', the Skarhans call them 'Lihalpum', due to having only interacted with the Lialpumpámtii for many years. There is also the case of the Kiingtaalwi, creatures native to the elven world, who the Skarhans call 'Kinposi', a corruption of the Lialpumpámtii Elven 'Kiingpoisi'.

Root Languages

• Tengirhu
• Vostan

Spoken by

• Lialpumpámtii
• Skarhan

Popular Sayings

If they will not work, let them starve

Having been previously reliant on imperials for many things prior to the Collision, Skarhu had to adapt quickly. They soon developed a strong culture of self-reliance - if you didn't do something yourself, it would not be done.

Kill a person, you kill a family. Kill a family, you kill a community. Kill a community, you kill a country.

This is not to say Skarhans are universally selfish. As this saying shows, they recognised the knock-on effects that letting another fall by the wayside would cause, and helping others is encouraged. That comes with the caveat that such aid should not come at your own expense, or prevent you looking after you and yours.

Dead as a river

This saying references the drying up of the western portion of the Medura River, which left many properties on the (now eastern cliffs) without water. If you are dead as a river, you suffered an initial bad blow and slowly went downhill from there. Even if you're still alive, you might as well not be.