Languages of Wesnoth
The world of Wesnoth is as rich in languages as it is in all sorts of creatures and races that inhabit it. Although fieldwork in distant lands is never easy, many mages from the Great Academy on Alduin as well as other scholars from Weldin and Elensefar have managed to assemble impressive archives full of manuscripts on the various languages of Irdya. Most of the information provided dates back to the Silver Age of Wesnoth (628-673 YW) and the peaceful reign of Konrad II, which sparked a minor scientific renaissance in the kingdom, reviving the level of interest in linguistics seen before only during the Golden Age of Wesnoth (200-350 YW).
Drake Languages
Continental Drakish
Phonology
According to the game files, Continental Drakish phonology consists of the following phonemes:
| Labial | Coronal | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Obstruent | b | t d | t͡ʃ | k g | ʔ |
| Fricative | v | θ s | ʃ | ||
| Liquid | r l |
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Open | a | |
| Diphthong | au̯ | |
Presumably, all consonants can be geminated and all vowels have a corresponding nasal variant due to the outlined spelling peculiarities.
Orthography
- All phonemes are orthographically represented the same way they are in english, except for /ʔ/, which is written as an apostrophe ⟨'⟩.
- Final ⟨hn⟩ serves as a nasalization marker.
- Final ⟨é⟩ indicates the vowel is spoken rather than modifying a medial vowel (there is no silent final 'e' in the language).
- Word-final ⟨ck⟩ has the value /k/.
| Drake alphabet | ||||||||
| A a | B b | C c | D d | E e | G g | I i | K k | L l |
| /a/ | /b/ | /k/ | /d/ | /e/ | /g/ | /i/ | /k/ | /l/ |
| M m | N n | O o | R r | S s | T t | U u | V v | Z z |
| /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /v/ | /z/ |
Oceanic Languages
Oceanic language family includes two major branches: northern and southern oceanic, commonly refered to as the "merfolk" and "naga" branches respectively.
Merfolk Language
Phonology
Notable features of the merfolk language's phonology include the four long vowel variants, widespread vowel hiatus, a large ammount of fricatives as well as a voiceless approximant series (/ç/ and /h/ are considered [j̊] and [ʍ] in some analyses).
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Stop | p b | t d | c | k g | |
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ç | x~h |
| Approximant | l̥ l | j | w | ||
| Trill | r |
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unrounded | Rounded | ||
| Close | ɪ iː | ʏ yː | ʊ uː |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a aː | ||
| Diphthong | ai̯ | ||
Orthography
Most mermen live in isolation in shallow ocean waters and use their own script. During the Turmoil of Asheviere many coastal merfolk were made to join the sides of the conflict and integrate into army structures, adopting the wesnothian steel-hand with it.
| Merfolk alphabet (steel-hand) | ||||||
| A a | Ā ā | B b | C c | D d | E e | G g |
| /a/ | /aː/ | /b/ | /c/ | /d/ | /ɛ/ | /g/ |
| H h | I i | Ī ī | J j | K k | L l | M m |
| /h/ | /ɪ/ | /iː/ | /j/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ |
| N n | O o | P p | R r | S s | T t | U u |
| /n/ | /ɔ/ | /p/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /ʊ/ |
| Ū ū | V v | W w | Y y | Ȳ ȳ | Z z | |
| /uː/ | /v/ | /w/ | /ʏ/ | /yː/ | /z/ | |
| Merfolk alphabet (merfolk script) | |||||||
| Α α | Ᾱ ᾱ | Β β | Γ γ | Δ δ | Ε ε | Ζ ζ | Θ θ |
| /a/ | /aː/ | /v/ | /g/ | /ð/ | /ɛ/ | /z/ | /θ/ |
| Ι ι | Ῑ ῑ | Κ κ | Λ λ | Μ μ | Ν ν | Ο ο | Π π |
| /ɪ/ | /iː/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ɔ/ | /p/ |
| Ρ ρ | Σ σ/ς | Τ τ | Υ υ | Ῡ ῡ | Φ φ | Χ χ | |
| /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /ʏ/ | /yː/ | /f/ | /h/ | |
The digraphs ⟨ll/λλ⟩, ⟨ββ⟩, ⟨ph⟩, ⟨th⟩, ⟨dh⟩, ⟨ch/χι⟩, ⟨kh⟩, ⟨κι⟩, ⟨μπ⟩, ⟨ντ⟩, ⟨ου⟩ and ⟨οῡ⟩ are used to represent the phonemes /l̥/, /w/, /f/, /θ/, /ð/, /ç/, [x], /c/, /b/, /d/, /ʊ/ and /uː/ respectively. The grapheme ⟨ι⟩ is also used to represent /j/, as well as palatalization.
Naga Language
Phonology
The phonology of the naga language appears to be typologically unusual in comparison to other languages of Irdya. It has several laterals, but no voiced [l]. The voicing distinction among obstruents is missing as well, unlike in its sister language. Details of the fortis-lenis distinction are still a matter of debate among the scholars of Wesnoth, as fieldwork in naga territory comes with considerable risks.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Dorsal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Obstruent | Fortis | b̥ | d̥ | ɡ̊ | |
| Lenis | p | t | t͡ɬ | k | |
| Sibilant | s̻ | s̺ | ç~ɕ | ||
| Fricative | ʋ | ɬ | x | ||
| Sonorant | ɾ | j | |||
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | o |
| Mid | e | |
| Open | a aː | |
| Diphthong | eɪ̯ aɪ̯ i̯a | |
The dorsal sibilant varies in pronunciation depending on the dialect. Voiced variants of lateral consonants appear intervocalically as allophones, as does the phone [v] as an allophone of /ʋ/ before an onset of a syllable.
Front vowels /i/, /e/ and /a/ tend to lenite into [ɪ], [ə] and [ɐ] when unstressed.
Orthography
Although the majority of the naga prefer to use the script of the dunefolk, learned from them due to years of coexistence, several communities in the Far North tend to use the wesnothian steel-hand as well.
| Naga alphabet (steel-hand) | ||||||
| A a | Ą ą | B b | D d | E e | G g | H h |
| /a/ | /aː/ | /b̥/ | /d̥/ | /e/ | /ɡ̊/ | /x/ |
| I i | Į į | K k | L l | M m | N n | O o |
| /i/ | /iː/ | /k/ | /ɬ/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ |
| P p | R r | S s | T t | V v | X x | Z z |
| /p/ | /ɾ/ | /s̺/ | /t/ | /ʋ/ | /ɕ/ | /s̻/ |
| Naga alphabet (dunefolk script) | ||||||||
| ص | ش | س | ر | د | خ | ت | ب | ا |
| /s̻/ | /ɕ/ | /s̺/ | /ɾ/ | /d̥/ | /x/ | /t/ | /b̥/ | /aː/ |
| ي | و | ە | ن | م | ل | ك | غ | ط |
| /iː/ | /ʋ/ | /e/ | /n/ | /m/ | /ɬ/ | /k/ | /ɡ̊/ | /t͡ɬ/ |
The digraph ⟨ll⟩ is used to represent /t͡ɬ/ in the steel-hand alphabet. Vowels /i/, /o, /a/ are typically not written in the dunefolk script, but can be represented with the diacritics ⟨ــِـ⟩,⟨ــُـ⟩ and ⟨ــَـ⟩ respectively. ⟨i⟩ and ⟨ي⟩ also represent /j/ in diphthongs.