Continuation Languages

Languages spoken in the Continuation derive from two roots, Ra-Ledis and proto-Dabunè, the languages spoken on Daughter.

Given that the colonists on Daughter came from Earth, it is surprising that these languages are not direct descendants of Earth languages, though they include recognizable grammar (almost all Indoeuropean) and some vocabulary that appears etymologically linked to a variety of Earth languages. Evidence emerging well into the Continuation Era suggests that these languages originated as artificial languages designed for coded communication.

Vunizh Letters
The international form of written language is Vunizh letters, an alphabet. It does not distinguish between capital and lower case letters, but it has separate forms for initial vowels, which stand as full-sized letters and medial or terminal vowels, which are small marks above the consonant they follow.

Ash'torian:
A derivative of Ránlan and Vunizh, much of the vocabulary of the language was purposefully altered from its parent languages as part of the early Ash'torians' (Aejdarians') efforts to build their own separate society. It typically uses Vunizh letters but adapts them into runes for certain religious writing.

Dabunè:
The language of the Samas. Unlike Ra-Ledis-based languages, Dabunè has an extensive system for declining its nouns. Its grammar is highly Latinate. Its writing system, however, is pictographic with grammatical functions incorporated into the pictograms. Its later derivatives (often called Dab) generally switched to the more standard Vunizh letters, retaining a few of the older characters for symbolic purposes.

Keshnul:
The language of the Kiris, a Ra-Ledis-based language. Keshnul always stresses the first syllable in two-syllable words. It uses accent marks to indicate stress in words of three or more syllables. Keshnul has its own alphabetic writing system and rarely uses Vunizh letters. It has many dialects since many Kiri peoples live in communities considerably isolated from each other.

Ránlan:
The language of the Ránlans is Ra-Ledis based. It uses many vowels and dipthongs and is generally considered hard to pronounce by non-native speakers. It is a very regular language and indicates stress by accent mark on all but one-syllable words. Ránlan is typically written in Vunizh letters, but it has a secondary phonetic alphabet for enhanced clarity. This alphabet is sometimes used with other languages to clarify pronunciation.

Tapanayn:
The language of Perdita, a variant of Dabunè, heavily inflected by influences from Keshnul. In addition to some Keshnul vocabularly, Tapanayn is marked by phonetic shifts via Keshnul from voiced to unvoiced consonants: B to P, D to T. It often also shifts both B and V to W. It uses Vunizh letters.

Vunizh:
The language of the Leddies, a Ra-Ledis language. Vunizh generally stresses the first syllable of all words, with some exceptions, mainly in words of foreign origin. It uses many aspirated consonants. Its speakers developed and use Vunizh letters.