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 Weldyn and Elensefar have managed to assemble impressive archives full of manuscripts on the various languages of Irdya. Most of them date 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 among the scholars seen before only during the Golden Age of Wesnoth (200-350 YW).
Anthropic Languages
Anthropic language family includes human languages that originate from the Old Continent as well as the Green Isle. Merfolk language tends to be included as well, although it's status as a member of the anthropic family is not universally accepted and some scholars consider it to be a language isolate.
Wesnothian Language
Wesnothian language is the most well-studied one of all the languages of the Great Continent. It can be said to have the highest number of speakers as well, if one doesn't count the vast diversity of orcish dialects as one language.
Phonology
Notable phonological features of the wesnothian language include the isolated voiced stops, lack of fricatives (although intervocalic lenition is widespread, when voiceless consonants undergo spirantization), a voiceless liquid series as well as complete lack of [j] and [w], even in diphthongs.
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |
| Obstruent | b | t d | k g gʷ |
| Fricative | s | ||
| Approximant | ʋ | l̥ l | |
| Trill | r̥ r |
| Front | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tns. | lax | tns. | ||
| Close | i | ɪ | ʊ | u |
| Mid | e | ɛ~æ | ɞ | o |
| Open | a | |||
Phonemes /t/, /k/ and /l̥/ lenite intervocalically, turning into [θ], [x] and [ɬ] respectively. /r̥/ only occurs word-initially. /k/ has an allophone [kʷ], which occurs after a liquid and before a back vowel (including /a/). Vowels next to each other are in hiatus and are never pronounced as diphthongs.
Orthography
The main writing system used to write wesnothian is the steel-hand alphabet implemented during the reign of Haldric II and later adopted by many other races to write their own languages.
| Wesnothian alphabet | |||||||||
| A a | B b | C c | D d | E e | G g | H h | I i | K k | L l |
| /a/ | /b/ | /k/ | /d/ | /e/ | /g/ | ∅ | /i/ | [kʷ] | /l/ |
| M m | N n | O o | R r | S s | T t | U u | V v | W w | Y y |
| /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /ʊ/ | /ʋ/ | /u/ | /ɪ/ |
Digraphs ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨eo⟩ are used to represent /ɛ/ and /ɞ/ respectively. Voiceless liquids /l̥/ and /r̥/ are written as ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨rh⟩. Despite not being full-fledged phonemes, allophones [θ] and [kʷ] tend to be written separately as ⟨th⟩ and ⟨k⟩ respectively. ⟨th⟩ also appears word-finally, where it's read as a normal [t] (the orthographic tradition of Wesnoth tends to prefer historical spellings instead of phonetic ones).
Merfolk Language
Language of the merfolk is primarily spoken in the Bay of Pearls and the area around Jotha and Tirigaz, although minor merfolk settlements can be found all over the shores of the Great Continent from the Far North to the deserts of the south.
Phonology
Notable features of the merfolk language's phonology include the four long vowel variants, widespread vowel hiatus, a large amount of fricatives as well as a voiceless approximant series (/ç/ and /h/ are considered to actually be [j̊] and [ʍ] by some scholars).
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Stop | p b | t d | c | k g | |
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ç | h |
| Approximant | l̥ l | j | w | ||
| Trill | r |
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| unr. | rounded | ||
| Close | ɪ iː | ʏ yː | ʊ uː |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a aː | ||
| Diphthong | ai̯ | ||
Orthography
Most mermen live in isolation in the shallow waters of the Great Ocean and use their own script. During the Turmoil of Asheviere, however, many coastal merfolk picked a side in the conflict and integrated into human 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/ | |
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.
Elven Languages
Elven language family includes two major branches: southern and northern elvish, commonly referred to as the Aethenwood and Lintanir Elvish respectively.
Aethenwood Elvish
This elvish variety is spoken by the elves of Aethenwood and its surrounding areas, which include the Southwood and the Black Forest.
Phonology
Aethenwood Elvish posesses a unique unstable vowel system, characterised by an ATR distinction instead of length, which is more common in the sprachbund of the Great Continent.
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Labio- velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Obstruent | p b | t d | k g | kʷ |
| Fricative | f v | s ð | x ɣ | |
| Sonorant | ɾ l | j | w |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ɪ | ʉ | ʊ |
| Close-Mid | e | ɵ | o |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Open-Mid | ɛ | ʌ | |
| Open | a | ||
Orthography
Elves, just like dwarves, use two writing systems: one in dealings with the humans and another domestically.
| Elvish alphabet (steel-hand) | |||||||||
| A a | Á á | B b | C c | D d | E e | É é | F f | G g | H h |
| /ʌ/ | /a/ | /b/ | /k/ | /d/ | /ə/ | /e/ | /f/ | /g/ | /x/ |
| I i | Í í | L l | M m | N n | O o | Ó ó | P p | Q q | R r |
| /ɪ/ | /i/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /ɵ/ | /p/ | ∅ | /ɾ/ |
| S s | T t | U u | Ú ú | V v | W w | Y y | Ý ý | Æ æ | |
| /s/ | /t/ | /ʊ/ | /ʉ/ | /v/ | /w/ | /ɪ/ | /i/ | /ɛ/ | |
| Elvish alphabet (elvish) | |||||||
| ა | ბ | გ | დ | ე | ვ | ზ | ჱ |
| /ʌ/ | /b/ | /g/ | /d/ | /ə/ | /v/ | /ð/ | /ɛ/ |
| თ | ი | კ | ლ | მ | ნ | ო | რ |
| /t/ | /ɪ/ | /kʷ/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /ɾ/ |
| ს | ჳ | უ | ფ | ქ | ღ | ხ | ჶ |
| /s/ | /w/ | /ʊ/ | /p/ | /k/ | /ɣ/ | /x/ | /f/ |
| ჼ | /◌˖/ | ||||||
Digraphs ⟨th⟩, ⟨qu⟩ and ⟨ae⟩ are used to represent /ð/, /kʷ/ and /ɛ/ in the steel-hand alphabet. The latter can also be written as a single letter ⟨æ⟩. /g/ and /ɣ/ are in complementary distrubution and are therefore written as ⟨g⟩. ⟨y⟩ and ⟨ý⟩ are used instead of ⟨i⟩ and ⟨í⟩ if there is a front vowel in the next syllable, showing a historical distinction that has since vanished. ⟨ჼ⟩ is a so-called "fronting sign", playing the same role as the acute accent in the steel-hand alphabet, which fronts the vowel it is after, turning /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /ə/, /o/ and /ʌ/ into /i/, /ʉ/, /e/, /ɵ/ and /a/ respectively.
Dwarven Languages
Knalga Dwarvish
Knalga Dwarvish is spoken by the dwarves of the Heart Mountains and is one of the most well-documented languages of the Great Continent, along with the Wesnothian and Aethenwood Elvish languages.
Phonology
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Dorsal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
| Obstruent | p b | t d | t͡s | k g |
| Fricative | f | θ | s | |
| Sonorant | ɫ | r | j |
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a | |
| Diphthong | ai̯ au̯ | |
/ɫ/ is always a dark l and /r/ is always a trill.
Orthography
The dwarves use two writing systems: a native runic one, the usage of which goes back to times long forgotten, when dwarves still lived underground, and a steel-hand one, adopted fairly recently. Runes are usually carved into architecture and used on special occasions, while the steel-hand alphabet is used in the daily life and on paper.
| Dwarvish alphabet (steel-hand) | ||||||||
| A a | B b | C c | D d | E e | F f | G g | H h | I i |
| /a/ | /b/ | /k/ | /d/ | /ɛ/ | /f/ | /g/ | ∅ | /i/ |
| L l | M m | N n | O o | P p | R r | S s | T t | U u |
| /ɫ/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ɔ/ | /p/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ |
| Dwarvish alphabet (runic) | ||||||||||
| ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚨ | ᚱ | ᚲ | ᚷ | ᚾ | ᛁ | ᛃ | ᛈ |
| /f/ | /u/ | /θ/ | /a/ | /r/ | /k/ | /g/ | /n/ | /i/ | /j/ | /p/ |
| ᛋ | ᛊ | ᛏ | ᛒ | ᛖ | ᛗ | ᛚ | ᛜ | ᛟ | ᛞ | |
| /s/ | /t͡s/ | /t/ | /b/ | /ɛ/ | /m/ | /ɫ/ | /ŋ/ | /ɔ/ | /d/ | |
⟨h⟩ is only used in the digraph ⟨th⟩ to represent /θ/. /t͡s/ and /ŋ/ are written as ⟨ts⟩ and ⟨ng⟩ in the steel-hand alphabet. /j/ only appears in diphthongs and is represented by ⟨i⟩ and ⟨ᛃ⟩ respectively.
Drake Languages
Drake languages form a dialect continuum stretching from the volcanic islands of the Great Ocean (urheimat to the drake languages as a whole) to the eastern reaches of the Heart Mountains, with a fairly high level of mutual intelligibility in the Far North of the Great Continent.
Continental Drakish
The umbrella term "Continental Drakish" refers to all the varieties of drake languages spoken on the Great Continent.
Phonology
| 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.
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/ |
Herpetic Languages
Herpetic language family includes two major branches: sauric and ophidic, commonly referred to as the "saurian" and "naga" branches respectively.
Saurian Language
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Stop | p b | t d | k | |
| Affricate | t͡s d͡z | |||
| Fricative | f v | s z | x ɦ | |
| Sonorant | ɾ l | j |
| Front | Mid | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Non-High | e | a | o |
| Diphthong | ai̯ | ||
Orthography
Saurian language is not written natively. A steel-hand alphabet devised by the scholars of Wesnoth is used to write the language down for research purposes.
| Saurian alphabet | ||||||||||
| A a | B b | C c | D d | E e | F f | H h | I i | K k | L l | M m |
| /a/ | /b/ | ∅ | /d/ | /e/ | /f/ | /ɦ/ | /i/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ |
| N n | O o | P p | R r | S s | T t | U u | V v | X x | Y y | Z z |
| /n/ | /o/ | /p/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /ʋ/ | /t͡s/ | /ɨ/ | /z/ |
Digraphs ⟨zz⟩ and ⟨ch⟩ are used to represent /d͡z/and /x/ respectively. /j/ only appears in diphthongs and is written as ⟨i⟩.
Naga Language
The naga language is particularly widespread in the regions of the Sleepless Sea and the Bay of Clouds, far beyond the reach of the Kingdom of Wesnoth. Substantial naga populations can be found in the Far North as well, particularly in the Black Marshes and the river delta of the Bork River, where they consistently clash with the local merfolk.
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]. 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.
Language Isolates
These languages either do not belong to any known language family in Irdya, or are too unstudied to confidently group them together with other languages.
Troll Language
Troll language is spoken by the trolls of the Heart Mountains and the Far North.
Phonology
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obstruent | pʰ p b | tʰ t d | kʰ k g |
| Affricate | t͡s | ||
| Fricative | f v | s z ʃ | χ ʁ |
| Approximant | ɫ |
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ʌ ɔ |
| Open | a | ɒ |
Orthography
| Troll alphabet | ||||||||
| A a | Ä ä | B b | D d | E e | F f | G g | H h | K k |
| /a/ | /ʌ/ | /b/ | /d/ | /e/ | /f/ | /g/ | /χ/ | /k/ |
| L l | O o | R r | S s | T t | U u | Ü ü | V v | |
| /ɫ/ | /ɒ/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /ɔ/ | /v/ | |
⟨h⟩ after a stop consonant represents aspiration. Digraphs ⟨ts⟩, ⟨sh⟩ and ⟨gh⟩ represent /t͡s/, /ʃ/ and /ʁ/ respectively.
Gryphon Language
The gryphon language is spoken by the gryphons of the Gryphon Mountain and the surrounding gryphon populations nearing Knalga.
Phonology
Due to the biological constraints the gryphons possess, the diversity of sounds they are able to make appears to be quite limited.
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | q ɢ | ||
| Fricative | short | s z | ʂ |
| gem. | sː zː | ʂː | |
| Sonorant | short | j | r |
| gem. | jː | rː | |
| Front | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | overl. | |
| Close | i | iː | u | uː | uːː |
| Mid | e | eː | o | oː | |
| Open | a | aː | aːː | ||
The rhotic /r/ varies greatly in pronunciation, but is pronounced as [ɰ] by most of the speakers outside Gryphon Mountain, despite being analysed as a trill.
Orthography
The gryphons themselves do not write their language down. For the purposes of keeping records and writing down names, the following alphabet is used in Wesnoth.
| Gryphon alphabet | |||||||||
| A a | E e | G g | I i | K k | O o | R r | S s | Y y | Z z |
| /a/ | /e/ | /ɢ/ | /i/ | /q/ | /o/ | /r/ | /s/ | /j/ | /z/ |
The digraph ⟨sh⟩ is used for /ʂ/. Vowel length and gemination are represented by doubling/trippling the corresponding letter (/ʂː/ is written as ⟨sshh⟩).
See Also
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