Sfuizia

Sfuizia (translated as "InterLanguage" but usually referred to as S'mrii) is the primary language of the S'mrii, used throughout the S'mrii ConSentiency polity.

Description

Research into the glottochronology of the S'mrii language is ongoing, but it is believed that they spoke a single, global language as early as -12,000. This language, Sfuizia, is particularly rich in sibilants and explosive consonants. It is decidedly difficult for humans to pronounce. S'mrii are, however, all fluent in Anglic, so communication problems are rarely encountered. One interesting point concerns the pronunciation of the S'mrii phoneme iskaee, usually referred to with an asterisk (*) in Galanglic texts. The phoneme is properly pronounced as a rapidly frequency-modulated sound -- iiiiu. It is believed that the asterisk representation derives from the "phoneme untranslatable" error symbol produced by early Solomani computer language translation units.

Written S'mrii occurs in two primary forms. The first is Old Written InterLanguage, which has direct roots in the languages of ancient Mimu. Its use presently is primarily ceremonial; it is used for artistic inscription, the text of official treaties, etc.

Sounds

• Initial Consonants: C, CH, CHZ, K, KH, KK, KRS, M, MR, R, RM, S, SF, SK, SKR, SS, TKR, TR, TZ, V, Z, ZSS

• Final Consonants: CH, CK, K, KH, KJ, KR, L, LL, M, MR, R, SH, SK, SS, T, V

• Vowels: (*), ('), A, AA, E (rare), EE (far more common than the single), I, II, U, UA, UI

Grammar

Possession is described through altered noun forms. Mikmui, for example, defines something as belonging to Mimu, the planet. Chee'mrskur Mikmui is "the World's Naval", or "naval of Mimu". Similarly, Mima indicates that something encompasses the planet, e.g. "global".

An example sentence:

Zuka s'mrii*ruar sk*aaseesk ssiakhiss kh'mee: "One sentient race understands not the pleasures (of) another".

Lexicon

The names of the following corporations are Sfuizia:

• Akui Miasksk*k SIA
• Ia'mruk SIA
• Kiaatrutkr SIA
• Mikhss*rii
• Skuissa'mr-S'mak SIA
• U'Chakzii-Ziask SIA

A-J

• Chaaka: Magical revelations of times long past. This concept has meaning because S'mrii previously experienced a collapse from spacefaring technology and an eventual rise back to advanced civilization.

• Ikriss u'mra Iikh*: “Project Dawn”

K

• Ka'usui: "Family", consisting of a mated pair of S'mrii, their offspring, and attendant Kiakh'iee.

• Kakh'*chiatkr: Broadly translated as "what might have been", an important concept to S'mrii cultural identity.

• Kiakh'iee: Smart animals domesticated by the S'mrii early in their history, used by them to nurse their eggs and infant young.

L-R

• Miak'sh: The Grand Senate of Akimu

• Reeskia'mrassa: The S'mrii ConSentiency

S

• Satkrsach*'m*iassiisk: "Day of Dying", the long-ago collapse of the first S'mrii advanced civilization

• Sfa: "Dominant", the state of pre-eminence. The Sfa-phylum is a region's dominant social grouping. (See: Zuichee)

• Sk*khua: "Circle", a social grouping. A broader concept than the Human extended family, as it might include individuals with no blood ties.

• Skai'i'uss: Interphylum Congress, a standing conference of a world's leading phyla

• Skuaask'uiss: "Guardian Response", a S'mrii defensive state shunned by modern members of the race for its primal capacity for violence

• S'mrii*ruar: Sapient races in general

• Ssiiku Mima: The InterPhylum World DataNet

T-Y

• Tree'chuakh: Broadly translated, "Pitchdark". The name was given to a colony world (Dagudashaag 0405)

• Uichi: A food crop

Z

• Z*ssr'chaa: Broadly translated as "phyla"; less common than zuichee’.

• Zeessia'mr: "Well of Souls"

• Zirmuik: A type of tree

• Zuichee’: "Phyla", social groupings. These embody aspects of both nations and corporations.

• Zukchurukh: Best translated as "Navigational Error". A S’mrii colony was named this (Dagudashaag 0108).

Historical Linguistics

New Written InterLanguage is a rationalized and simplified version of the earlier form, more suitable for computer data entry. Its use was reasonably universal by about -1400, during the early years of the S'mrii Consentiency.

There are still a number of uncertainties regarding S'mrii language development, and politics often complicate its study. For example, a small time capsule was discovered in 552; inside was a newspaper article written in ancient Ssiarkuku. In 654, a Vilani clerk named Shenar Kuggukhe claimed to have discovered a Ssiarkuku-to-Iakzikhhu dictionary in the Vilani embassy library. Here was a known language, a recognisable ancestor to New InterLanguage. At a subsequent conference he publicly translated several passages of the newspaper, which proved to be a scientific review. However, he subsequently took fright at the political implications of what he translated, and the matter was quietly buried.

Astrography

This language is primarily in use in the following areas:

• S'mrii ConSentiency

References and contributors

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Jae Campbell, Leighton Piper. "Contact: S'mrii." Signal-GK 05 (1992): 9,17. via HIWG
• Jae Campbell. Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag (Signal-GK, 2017), 310.