Gurvin (language)

Gurvin or Gurviotic is the language of the Hive Federation.

Description (Specifications)

Gurvin is an idographic language in both written and spoken form. It has a regular, inflected grammar. Each word has a single unambiguous meaning. There are no synonyms and a quantitative measure replaces the concept of metaphor.

The Hive Federation uses Gurvin in its written and spoken form as the standard language for all official documentation and signage.

Changes to the language, including the addition of vocabulary, requires approval by a committee, a Hiver Embassy devoted to ensuring communication throughout the Federation is maintained.

History & Background (Dossier)

The Hiver are mute and their language has no spoken form. As the Hive Federation expanded the Hiver found the Gurvin. The original Gurvin language has been long lost, but the core ideas of a small, regular vocabulary and regular symbology has been replaced by the Hiver's and their requirements for a universal trade language.

Because of the lack of synonyms and metaphor, many Federation races adopt Ithklur for philosophy and other uses which require metaphor.

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 Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Dave Nilsen, David L. Pulver, Andy Slack, David Thomas. Alien Races 3 (Steve Jackson Games, 2000), 28-32sb.