Ursotic

This language is primarily used by the Ursa race throughout Ley Sector, and in parts of Fornast Sector and Corridor Sector.

Description (Specifications)

The language is suited to the snouted mouth of an Ursa.

History & Background (Historical Linguistics)

The "Ursotic" tongue developed during the flight of the Ursa in the waning days of the Rule of Man, as a method of communication that their benefactors, potential captors, or other suspicious parties wouldn't be able to eavesdrop on. Ursotic grew first as a "battle language", becoming a fully featured language -- a true alternative to Rule of Man Anglic -- only after the Ursa arrived in Ley Sector and began to settle in to what they felt were hiding places. Because the Luriani who hosted and protected them remained spacefaring, these Ursa were able to keep Ursotic fairly uniform among the worlds they chose to dwell on.

The exception to this trend was the Ursa who missed the turn toward Ley and continued on to Vland and eventually into Corridor Sector, where they settled two worlds without much outside interference. For the Corridor Ursa, Ursotic remained in its earlier tactical form for far longer, and split into dialects since the two worlds in Corridor didn't communicate regularly for centuries. Eventually, the Corridor Ursa and the Ley Ursa would find each other after both had been contacted by the Third Imperium, and the three dialects would merge to some extent. It is still possible for a trained linguist or a native Ursotic speaker to discern all three original dialects.

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This language is primarily in use in the following areas:

• The Trailing dialect is spoken in Ley Sector, as well as in farther flung colonies in Fornast Sector.
• The Kala Dialect is spoken primarily on Shishkala in Corridor Sector.
• The Tam Dialect is spoken on Tamilaa in Corridor Sector.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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 Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• TBD (Possibly pre-supposed from existing material instead of directly sourced)
• Honorary Ursa, Author, and Contributor: Jim Kundert
• Linguist: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science