Languages in the Starfire Era

SOL

Anglesh: Spoken by 99.98% of the people in the Sol system, Anglesh can be traced back to the 22nd century dialect of English spoken on Luna, itself descended from 21st century American English with extensive grammatical borrowing from Chinese and lexical borrowing from Russian, Chinese, and Japanese. Modern Anglesh has a number of distinct dialects, though most have assimilated to the Martian standard in recent centuries, the exception being the Belt dialect which continues to drift away from standard Anglesh and in its most extreme forms is almost unintelligible to non-Belters.

Hindai: A descendant of Hindi, Hindai is still spoken in certain regions of Luna.

Arabic: Little changed from its classical form, Arabic is spoken in a number of Muslim Habber communities.

KUISTI AND ATHENE

Kuistic: Kuistic is descended from 23rd century Eastern American English, but has changed drastically over the years. Extensive borrowing has been made from Arabic and Hebrew, especially in religious terminology. A number of archaic English constructions were also resurrected and have since evolved and become imbedded in the grammar.

Athenean: Though they give it a different name, Athenean is little changed from Kuistic, though many irregularities have been removed.

CIMMER

Cimmerian: The sole language on Cimmer, Cimmerian is little changed from its ancestral language, 22nd century Norwegian.

KALAHARI

Ezbana: Though the most common language on Kalahari, Ezbana is still only spoken by 26% of the population. It is a drastically changed descendant of 21st century Mexican Spanish. A pidgin form of Ezbana is commonly used as the trade language among the Outlanders.

Inglish: The language of the corporates, Inglish is based on 23rd century Australian English.

Tajao: The dominant language of Kalahari's southernmost continent, Tajao is spoken by 11% of the Outlanders. It derives from Brazilian Portuguese.

Nihongo: Outlanders of Japanese descent form a distinct ethnic group on Kalahari, remaining culturally isolated from the others though they are scattered over most of the planet. They speak a language little changed from their ancestral Japanese.

Other Outland languages: English (from California English), Ru Ther (from Thai), Miraq (from Egyptian Arabic), Tagal (from Tagalog), and Arenti (from South American Spanish).

TYRELL

Ingliss: While Tyrell once had a number of languages, Tyrell Corporation ruthlessly stamped them out in favor of their own language, the dialect of English spoken in 23rd century California, with heavy grammatical and lexical borrowing from Spanish and Japanese. Ingliss has further changed through the centuries as computer jargon came to dominate the language. (Eg. People on Tyrell don't talk, they "interface".) There is also significant lexical borrowing from computer languages.

BENEVOLENCE

Little is known of the actual vernaculars spoken in the Benevolence system, since most communications are coded military transmissions. It is believed that there are four chief languages.

Han: Very similar to its parent, Mandarin Chinese. Spoken in the People's Republic of Benevolence.

Uharbr: A drastically changed descendant of Oirope, an artificial amalgam of German, French, English, and Italian which was invented in 22nd century Western Europe. Spoken in the Eighth Reich.

Russo: A form of Russian, it is spoken in the Centauran Soviet Socialist Republic.

Newspeak: A form of American English altered and simplified by social scientists. Spoken in the United States of Benevolence.

What language, if any, is spoken in the Martin Empire is unknown.

BELLA NOCHE

Espanyol: When last heard from, the Nochenos spoke a language almost exactly like its parent, 23rd century American Spanish.

AURORA

There is no way to possibly list all of the languages spoken by the 50 billion Aurorans. Aurorans languages change and multiply almost as quickly as their governmental systems. The typical Auroran adult uses at least six languages fluently and is conversant in a dozen others. New languages are constantly appearing, either modifications of old ones, dead languages revived from historical records, or completely artificial ones made up by creative linguists (a highly respected profession). The following languages each have at least one billion speakers:

Latin: Ciceronian Latin is the language of media and government in the Republica Aurora. The original Auroran colonists spoke a language descended from French, but in 2706 the Republican Senate decided to start holding its sessions in classical Latin, and it soon spread to all corners of society. Today's Republic citizens take pride in their language and hold oratory, rhetoric, and drama in high regard.

Francey: The original Auroran tongue, it is still spoken by many people and is the official language of Imbri and Nerendra.

Techlish: The chief language of science and engineering, Techlish is descended from American English, but has been reduced almost completely to technical jargon. Using Techlish in normal conversation is considered gauche and/or nerdy.

Xhosa: A revived and modified African language which has enjoyed popularity on Cithara for almost two centuries. Its distinctive click phonemes are a mark of planetary pride among many Citharans.

Tok: An amalgam of Spanish and Chinese, Tok is an artificial language devised solely for business negotiations and has become the universal language of finance and commerce. Designed for speed, Tok's simple phonology and syntax allow very high rates of speech, and proficient Tok-speakers can carry on detailed business discussions at speeds which baffle the uninitiated. A more complex form of Tok known as Tok II is used as the official language of the Presidium.

Hierogia: Hierogia is solely a written language, having no spoken form. A mixture of Chinese characters, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and other pictographic writing systems, Hierogia is widely used by poets and artists. A more advanced form of Hierogia known as Meta-Hierogia uses non-linear syntax, allowing the spatial relationships between words on a page to determine their syntactic relationships. An experimental three-dimensional version of Meta-Hierogia, requiring years of training to fully understand, is used by a small but dedicated following of artists.

Nihongo: In many social circles, the ability to compose on-the-spot haiku poetry in the original Japanese is highly esteemed. Even those with no poetic aspirations learn the language to be able to understand this art form.

Ido: A modified version of Esperanto, Ido keeps popping up in Auroran society and then dying out again. Ido recently gained wide usage when it was used on a highly popular comedy series, but has begun to decline since the series was cancelled.

Cimmerian: Cimmerian recently caught on in many communities on Marsellium. There are currently more speakers of Cimmerian on Marsellium than there are on Cimmer.

Nythelk: A descendant of Ukrainian spoken in regions of Nubila, Aurora, and the Isis Moons.

Sanskrit: A reconstructed and enhanced version of the ancient Indian tongue, Sanskrit is spoken regularly in many communities in the Isis Moons and Marsellium. It is also a popular language for written and oral literature, even where it is not regularly spoken.

Terrestrial Worlds | Starfire Home | Military Technology and Strategy in the Starfire Era

Enigma Home Page | enigma@ucla.edu | Updated 12/22/98 | Credits