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Venture

The Meruvian Languages

The Meruvian languages are a very broad category, used by contemporary scholars to identify any language that is primarily spoken in the Imperial Mountain range. Several scholars have argued that the so-called Meruvian family is, in fact, several constituent families, pointing to the vast differences between, say, the speech of Lord’s Crossing, the speech of Juche, and the speech of Mnemon-Darjilis. However, contemporary scholarship largely groups the “mountain languages” into one large family.

The Meruvian languages do not particularly resemble any of the other language families on the Blessed Isle. They feature a voicing distinction like the western languages, but have tones like an eastern language. They also have several traits that they inherit from the Shogunate period.

Characteristics of the Meruvian Languages

The Meruvian family is so broad that it is hard to generalize, but a few trends emerge that are worth noting. First, Meruvian languages usually, but not always, prefer to distinguish voiced/unvoiced from aspirated/unaspirated. This tendency becomes a rule as one moves west, but aspiration distinction becomes more common as you move east across the mountains.

Some Meruvian languages have an unusual series of sounds that almost resembles the tense series of the Radimeli family – although they are such different families that it is unlikely they are related. This series of “ejective” consonants is found almost exclusively in the heart of the mountains, away from the primary contact points with the outside. Meruvian languages usually don’t allow finals except for -n.

Meruvian languages usually have the five vowels, although u is often very, very weak and sometimes disappears, especially at the end of words. Most only have 2 tones, if they have tones at all. The vowels i and u often make changes in the preceeding consonants, like si becoming shi. Other Meruvian languages do away with tone and use length instead.

The grammar of the Meruvian languages is really all over the place, and the primary reason why a minority of linguists believe the Meruvian family to be several families. In general, the Meruvian languages have a politeness system, extensive use of clitics and marker words, and a strong preference for the SOV word order. The Chiya language and the associated dialects, in and around Lord’s Crossing, are unusual in that they mostly use VSO order.

Status of the Meruvian Languages

The Meruvian languages are mysterious and old-fashioned for most of the Isle. They sound like mountains and the old Shogunate. They also sound educated and archaic, like a moment out of time. In general, the Meruvian accent isn’t very common, since the mountain peoples don’t travel far and wide. The exception, of course, is Dynasts; many Houses have extensive holdings in the mountains and travel back and forth reasonably often.

Accent Features of Meruvian Languages

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

  • You drop your u sound sometimes, especially at the end of the word;
  • You have a tendency for si and su to become shi and shu;
  • When you have a High Realm syllable that ends in an l or an r, and a tricky consonant at the start of the next syllable, you add a ghostly i vowel to make things easier to pronounce.

Meruvian accents are relatively common in the Dynasty; House Tepet, House Mnemon, and House Nellens all have their seats within the Meruvian language band. Many of the Shogunate’s government languages were Meruvian, so lots of Meruvian words have ended up in general High Realm vocabulary for things like bureaucracy and military structure.

Making a Meruvian Name

Meruvian names usually have a couple of syllables, all of which are open – this gives them a distinct patter.

The Sounds

For consonants, make use of the following: p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, s, z, h, r, w, l, and y. Before an i or a u, make the following changes:

ti/tu -> chi/chu,
di/du -> ji/ju,
ki/ku -> kyi/kyu,
gi/gu -> gyi, gyu,
si/su -> shi/shu,
zi/zu -> zhi, zhu
hi/hu -> fi, fu

For vowels, use i, e, a, u, o. The vowel u is super quiet most of the time, so you might want to remove it if it’s at the very end of a word; Pik’ instead of Piku.

I would completely ignore length. If you want to show off length, you can use a macron: ā for long a.

The Shape

CV is the name of the game for these names. Avoid final consonants. If you absolutely must make a syllable closed, use n.

Throw in a couple syllables – they’re short and easy to pronounce, so you can have a couple and it’ll still be a reasonable name.

Example Names

Ruyo, Minlo, Azoē, Nairo, Shiu, Aseni, Jishin, Tehou, Jonyon, Zhiruko, Soza.