Vilani (language)
The Vilani (language) is primarily used by the Vilani race throughout the Third Imperium supra-polity.
- It is a supercentral language.
Description (Specifications)
Vilani (more formally known as Standard Vilani, or SV for short) is the language of the Vilani people, and the descendant of Old High Vilani, the language of the First Imperium.
Structure
No information yet available.
Morphology
Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words.
- morpheme, inflection, paradigm, declension, derivation, compound, etc.
Phonology
Phonology, the study of the sound systems of a language.
- phoneme, allophone, segment, mora, syllable, foot, stress, tone, etc.
Grammar
Grammar is the structure of a language.
- tense, aspect, mood and modality, grammatical number, grammatical gender, case, etc.
Syntax
Syntax is the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences.
- phrase, clause, grammatical function, grammatical voice, etc.
Meaning
No information yet available.
Lexicology
A lexicon is the word supply of a language.
- word, lexeme, lemma, lexicon, vocabulary, terminology, etc.
Semantics
Semantics is the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences.
- meaning, sense, entailment, truth condition, compositionality, etc.
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the study of how language is used by its speakers.
- presupposition, implicature, deixis
History & Background (Historical Linguistics)
Archaic Vilani became the dominant language of Vland long before the Vilani began interstellar travel. Over the course or millenia, the language developed as the Vilani consolidated their holdings into the First Imperium, and the language adapted to some degree to non-humans as well.
Possessed by a grand sense of purpose, grammarians in the Ziru Sirka codified the language, removing or absorbing grammatical differences into the language of the First Imperium, now known as Old High Vilani. Standard Vilani is the formal commercial language of the Vilani worlds and megacorporations. In the Third Imperium, its status is second only to Anglic.
Etymologies
Vilani is the only surviving member of the only surviving branch of a typical human language tree.
Elements of extinct languages from Vland can be detected in the Vilani lexicon today. For example, words with syllables ending in /b/ or /l/, are almost all borrowed from Chekaal, a cousin of Archaic Vilani. Words with an /h/ (except for /ch/, /kh/, and /sh/) and words ending in /z/ are borrowings from the extremely ancient and long extinct Dirmani people. Finally, words with syllables ending in /kh/ are borrowings from the Sazrak language family.
Words which have /t/, /ch/, and /o/ in them are Archaic forms of modern Vilani words (which usually use /d/, /kh/, and /aa/ respectively).
Of particular interest is with words with the syllable /-khal-/, which appear to have originally been Sazrak words which were borrowed by the conquering Chekaal, which were then borrowed into Archaic Vilani.
Language Families of Vland
All dates are 3rd Imperium baseline
- Dirmani (-15,000?)
- Bolsa (-13,500?)
- Sazrak (-12,000)
- Bholrak (-12,000)
- Orrakil (-10,000)
- Kaalan (-13,000)
- Chekaal (-11,000)
- Umshi Chekaal (-9,500)("West Chekaal")
- Chekaalseras (-9,000) ("North Chekaal")
- Chekaal (-11,000)
- Archaic Vilani (-11,000)
- Old High Vilani (-5,000)
- Khal (substrate I)
- Standard Vilani (-2,500)
- Khal (substrate II)
- Old High Vilani (-5,000)
Pre-Vilani Borrowings
Chekaal:
amusement rishnub archive; data library (official) dub-lar fabric palkhur flock, group, herd ? khaalab help, to_ khuulab house, dwelling sakhal < Sazrak new khal < Sazrak incisor dakhaamab jet akhrul < Sazrak language pukhal < Sazrak material palkhur name (esp. of non-human objects?) sakhel < Sazrak scar, to_ khul sharp makhbil < Sazrak tusk dakhammab tree, willow-like_ khaluppu
Dirmani:
duke 'under-king' sarpuhii subordinate khaz beautiful, be_ lamaz
Sazrak:
close (of distance? opposite of open?) akhlu error riikh fold, to_ akhlaash form (existential) adrakh fume, to_ akhrula hammer, to_ duraakh hand naakh house, dwelling sakhla new akhla idiot pakh jet akhlu language pukhla man, male nidakh name (esp. of non-human objects?) sakhle quick, be_ dekh repay, to_ mukh repeat, to_ dakh sharp makhbi splendid, magnificent, be_ makh syllabary, traditional Vilani_ Ruuraakh thin bakh untie, to_ dukh vat or vessel for beer lakhdan yield, to_ gaakh grasslike plant, desert/dryland_ dikh
Archaic Vilani:
fanatic khutak
Grammar
Vilani is ergative and agglutinative, with some synthetic aspects, and basically has a Verb – Subject – Object (VSO) word order.
Structure
Vilani is basically head-initial and right-branching. There are two basic sentence types: transitive and intransitive. Transitive sentences consist of a Verb, an Agent which performs the action of the verb, a Patient which is the recipient of the action, and an optional dative or benefactive Object (for use with things like prepositional phrases). Intransitive sentences consist of a Verb, a Subject to which the verb applies, and the optional dative or benefactive Object as mentioned above. In both cases, the verb contains much of the information regarding the relationship between the subject and objects of the sentence.
Ergativity
Vilani is ergative in its surface structure as well as its underlying syntax structure, meaning that its grammar treats the object of transitive verbs and the subject of intransitive verbs the same, while the subject of transitive verbs is marked in a different fashion.
This is in contrast with Anglic and most other commonly known Terran languages (one widely-spoken exception being Hindi), where the object of transitive verbs is marked in one way (”accusative”) and the subjects and agents of both transitive and intransitive verbs are lumped together into another grammatical category (”nominative”). Ergativity may also be viewed as treating agenthood, rather than patienthood, as the noteworthy or “marked” category.
The person, proximity, and animacy (but not number) of the “theme participant” (i.e., subject of intransitive verb, object/patient of a transitive verb) are encoded in the verb itself. In addition, the relative degree of animacy between the patient and the agent is also marked in transitive verbs (only).
Tone
Vilani is a tonal language, meaning that tone patterns make specific changes to words. In particular, tones effect both nouns and verbs. Tone patterns represent combinations of high and low pitched syllables within the Vilani word. There are six tonal patterns used in the Vilani language.
Certain physical structures and tone are often interchangeable, and usually represent registers of speech rather than grammatical differences.
Examples: Intransitive sentences
1. Leshaa Eneri. Eneri runs.
Leshaa: he-runs
le-: he/she does it
shaa: runs
2. Leshaana Eneri ka duraag. Eneri runs to market.
Leshaana: he-runs-to
-na: ‘to’ prepositional marker
ka duraag: (to) market
ka: flag indicating the start of a dative or benefactive object phrase.
Examples: Transitive sentences
1. Kikdishaa Enerigim argu. Eneri eats argu.
Kikdishaa: he eats it
ki-: it is being eaten
-k-: he/she is doing the eating
Enerigim: Eneri-does-it
-gim: Eneri is the agent, performing the action
2. Kikdishaani Enerigim argu ka duraag. Eneri eats argu at (the) market.
Kikdishaani: he-eats-it-at
-ni: ‘in, at, on’ prepositional marker
ka duraag: (at) market
ka: flag indicating the start of a dative or benefactive object phrase.
Example: Using Topicalization to Answer Questions
Q. Kikhugashna baan ka Eneri? What happened to Eneri?
Ki-khugash-na: it-happened-to
ki-: done by an inanimate thing
khugash: intransitive verb ‘to happen’
-na: ‘to’ prepositional case
baan: what?
Ka Eneri: (to) Eneri
ka: relational case marker.
A. Liraamgim leskhugash. An air/raft hit (the person in question).
Khal
Khal is a "Trade Vilani" language dialect.
Also called Karak Bilanidin ('Trade Vilani'), Gurek, Segureke, and even the Old High Vilani word Gurib, this is a broken form of Vilani used on the "frontier" (i.e. any town or world which doesn't have an indigenous Vilani population).
Khal isn't any one particular entity; it describes a number of pidgins and simplifications of Vilani which are found scattered across the Imperium. Therefore, it's more of a descriptive term than a language name. However, since all varieties of Khal share the Vilani lexicon, they tend to be at least somewhat mutually decipherable.
In its purest form, Khal uses actual Vilani words, in very simple sentences, with an Anglic grammar. In its basest form, Khal uses Vilanicized Anglic-derived words.
Khal is by its very nature primitive and functional.
Example
Menerii karak shalap. "We trade shalaps" or "Let's trade shalaps."
Menerii: we (you and me) karak: to trade shalap: a shalap (a pig-like animal)
Vilani words, but Anglic grammar (of a sort).
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)
This language is primarily in use in the following areas:
- The areas of the former Ziru Sirka
References & Contributors (Sources)
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