Daoshin Languages

The Daoshin languages are the family of languages which can mostly be found on the southwestern Daoshin Peninsula and among the trailing islands. It is spoken throughout the peninsula, up to the border regions with the Plains of Rusted Iron where it blends with Arjufi, as well as throughout the Pendant Isles and many of the southwestern island chains.

The prestige language of the Daoshin Languages is quite clearly Myioni, the dominant language of the city of Myion. The Myioni language is the unofficial language of Cathak’s legions, as the majority of the House’s soldiers hail from the Daoshin Peninsula. Many Daoshin languages feature borrowings from the Flametongue languages and from the neighboring Arjufi and Ru language families.

Characteristics of the Daoshin Languages

The Daoshin languages do not distinguish aspiration and function mostly on a voicing distinction. This is a common trait of Western Isle languages, shared with the Ru languages to the north and the Arjufi languages to the east. Many Daoshin languages have a broad/slender consonant distinction which outsiders find baffling.

The Daoshin languages usually have a straightforward consonant system, and many have a distinct feature of approximant reduction. The usual Daoshin r is a throaty fricative sound, and the l is likewise transformed into a kind of lateral fricative. These two sounds are not generally found in the rest of the Isle. Many Daoshin languages, especially at the far west of the peninsula, have the th sound like some Arjufi languages.

Many Daoshin languages have a large number of vowels because of a system called vowel harmony. No documented Daoshin language has phonemic tone. In a given word, all vowels must be rounded vowels or unrounded vowels; the vowel ə is neutral and can go anywhere.

Grammatically, the Daoshin languages show some of the most complicated morphology of the Isle’s languages. They are highly fusional, and make use of a full series of declensions and conjugations which are derived from clitics and short words in Old Realm. The grammar of these languages has very little resemblance to the one-word-per-word rule of the Eastern Isle’s languages.

Status of Daoshin Languages

The Daoshin languages are particularly associated with mercantilism and trade; they sound like money, but not in a respectable upper-crust way as much as in a tense-negotiations-over-the-table way. They also sound like army speak, especially because of their prominent use in the Cathak legions. In general they have a slightly imposing air – a Daoshin speaker is either after your wallet or your land.

Accent Features of the Daoshin Languages

If you want your character to have a Daoshin accent, you might mention some of the following vocal features:

• You might carry over some of your harmony rules into High Realm, pronouncing your u and o as kind of flat when they are surrounded by i and e syllables, or i and e as kind of round when surrounded by u and o syllables.
• You insert a y between consonants and i, like kyi instead of ki or myi instead of mi.
• You might use a sort of French-like r sound instead of a proper r.
• Your f becomes an h in front of u and o.

The Daoshin peninsula is a hub for trade with the west and southwest, so you can find plenty of Dynasts with Daoshin accents – House Cathak, of course, but also Peleps, Ragara, and anyone who has a stake in the trade. Lots of legionary veterans borrow Daoshin words to describe complicated formations, based on General Cathak’s writings and commentaries.

Making a Daoshin Name

Daoshin names almost all end with consonants.

The Sounds

The Daoshin languages are complicated. You should use the following consonants: p, py, b, by, t, ty, d, dy, k, ky, g, gy, m, my, n, ny, th, dh, s, z, sh, j, kh, gh, h, r, and l. The Daoshin inventory is slightly larger because of the -y- sounds; these are actual separate consonants in a lot of Daoshin languages. Dh is like th in there; th like th in thin. J as in French or Turkish.

For vowels, you can use the following: i, ü, e, ö, y, u, o, a. If you don’t care, you can use them in any combination and just ignore the harmony rules; if you actually care about the harmony rules, pick one of the following two groups and only use vowels from within that single group:

One easy rule is just use the same vowel twice – plus, that sounds pretty nice a lot of the time.

The Shape

You can never go wrong with a nice C-V-C-V-C or C-V-C-C-V-C name, especially if the sounds flow nicely. You can end a syllable with any consonant that isn’t a -y- consonant.

Some Example Names

Kathak, Emyek, Ysedh, Özghun, Dhelkan, Üyü, Selta, Tyashi, Lemzi, Konyu, Pyekha,Györun.