Jovian Challenge Solved

The Challenge:

Find a reasonably plausible scenario where the Jovian language could
develop from High Latin, preferably in a hard sci-fi setting.


The Question:

Do you guys consider the following solution-in-a-nutshell plausible?


The Solution:

- Humans colonize planet by means of a sub-light ship carrying a
wormhole terminus.

- Planet gets cut off from wormhole network for some reason
(lack of resources, accident, sabotage, war on Earth, whatever)
shortly after colonization.

- Colony planet regresses in technological level when the settlements
expand more rapidly than the technological infrastructure can.

- Planet possesses a 4th generation AI known as Jovian XIV.

- People are divided in a sophisticated but scantly manned
"foundation" of techs and a general public with very little
scientific education, which starts to think of the AI as a God.

- After unrests bordering on holy civil war, AI finds out that
playing God is easier on the people and on its resources than trying
to pop their soap bubble and get the idea of a mechanical mind into
their heads.

- General public dislikes techs for their respectlessness towards the
AI, and techs consider general public mostly ignorant peasants.

- AI has a knack for antique culture and adopts Latin as its language
of communicating with the people, which helps the mystical deity
image.

- With time, as technology begins to catch up its deficit in the
cities, more and more people want to be educated and understand the
language of God.  Latin becomes High Language of the People.

- Latin quickly wears down in the mouths of the high society,
producing Jovian.

- Jovian, being simpler than Latin, spreads to the middle class and
eventually becomes the lingua franca.

- The people think the AI's inscription "Jovian XIV" is its name...
in the Jovian language, they call him Joevan Xy /"jAjv@n Sy:/.)
Though Joevan itself might use another name when referring to itself.
Gods usually have many names.

- I imagine its relationship to the techs being rather
matter-of-factly.  It's not too fond of them because they don't
worship it like the general people, but appreciates their
maintenance work and their philosophical discussions.  =)

Centuries later, the proliferation of technology and raising of
living standards has long put and end to the notion of Joevan being
a deity.  The language remains though.


-- Christian Thalmann