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Info about languages (was: Translation Project! (was Re: Let the hammer fall!))

From:Andrew Chaney <adchaney@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 24, 2001, 15:54
Eruanno said:
> I would like some background on everyone's language, > like who would have used it? Where? and When?
1) Ihro & Ethia are two of six (planned) languages spoken by humans transplanted to Lhowam by two pretty advanced alien races -- who were later scared off by a third even more advanced alien race -- leaving the humans to fend for themselves and me with a convenient way to get a bunch of humans very far away from Earth while leaving them at a relatively low level of technology (roughly late-medieval or early-renaissance) and allowing me to make arbitrary genetic modifications to them. :) While the languages (Ihro and Epthia (sometimes Ethia -- perhaps even Epþia if you have Unicode)) are in a constant state of flux, the cultures & backstory (at least for Ihro/The Ihri/Ihrovians) are pretty stable... The Ihri/Ihrovians have a long history of trade and commerce with the Epthia who live just across the sea to the south. In fact, the Ihri have pretty much a monopoly on sailing right now. There is no strong centralized "government" as such, most of the power is held at the regional level. And they would certainly never put up with anyone trying to declare himself king. AIUI, most Ihri would probably register as Libertarians. (www.libertarian.org) To borrow a term from (IMS) Orson Scott Card, the Ihri are Necessarians: Should diplomatic relations fail, the Ihri are pretty good at defending themselves, but they try to avoid (open) conflicts and battles. Ihrovian cuisine involves lots of rice and seafood. Most clothes are made from cotton. Most people are farmers. Most cities are on the coast and grew up around seaports. Most children get at least some schooling and most people can read fairly well. 2) I was thinking about doing a alternate-history where the Angles et al. did not displace the Celtic languages when they moved to Britain but instead absorbed the indigenous lang. and were later conquered by the Normans; resulting in a Celtic-Germanic mix with Norman French influence. But I really need to brush up on historical linguistics, phonology, etc to do it with any realism... Andy http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~adc7593/ adchaney@louisiana.edu