Language

Most citizens of Trinia speak the Trinian language. A small number also speak a minority language, with the most significant being Arkayan, Aḱănji, Moranguese, and Aigadorenc. The Trinian government employs a policy of tolerance towards users of minority languages.

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Linguistic Geography

In most parts of the country, Trinian is the sole language of daily life for the vast majority of the population. Even in those areas where minority languages are extensively used, the Trinian language will be used as well — there are no regions in which the Trinian language has no effective presence.

There is a significant amount of internal variation within the Trinian language, owing to its origins. This variation can be quite substantial — foreign linguists have occasionally described the major dialects as separate languages in their own right, although this is not a view which would be widely accepted in Trinia itself. Even the Trinians, however, disagree on exactly how the dialects should be classified. It is generally accepted that the Trinian spoken north of the Velamnoćul mountains, in the culturally Tiŕănese province of Melaţin, is different from that spoken in the Quorian provinces to the south. However, it is disputed as to whether the Tiŕănese and Quorian forms of the language should each be said to constitute a single dialect, or several.

The four main minority languages of Trinia are all spoken alongside the Trinian language. They are restricted to certain geographic areas. The Arkayan and Aḱănji languages, naturally, are focused on the provinces of Arkay and Aḱănja — Arkayan is universally understood throughout its province, while Aḱănji is understood only by around a third of the provincial population. The other two languages, Moranguese and Aidadorenc, are both spoken in the southern and eastern parts of Eźuăna province, along Trinia's border with Solelhada. Both languages have the bulk of their speakers on the other side of the border, leading to a certain amount of cultural exchange.

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Linguistic History

Trinian Language

The Trinian language has complicated origins. In essence, it is a mixture of Tiŕănese (the primary language of Trinia's original inhabitants) and Quorian (an evolution of the Liliani which was spoken by the settlers who first arrived in Trinia over a thousand years ago). In linguistic terms, it is a creole language — a "merger" of two previously separate (and in this case, unrelated) languages. The merger was not complete, however — this is why strong dialects remain.

Trinian evolved as a tool for communication between the Tiŕănese and Quorian cultures, particularly for trade — few Quorians learned Tiŕănese, and few Tiŕănese learned Quorian, but both were able to make themselves understood in a simplified trade language that incorporated words from both languages. With an emphasis on functionality rather than purity, early Trinian retained only a little of a grammatical complexity found in its parent languages — it was a rough tool, and was viewed as primative and inelegant by both cultures, but it fulfilled its purpose.

Over time, however, the perceptions of Trinian changed. As the area's economy developed, the trade between Quorians and Tiŕănese ceased to be the domain of peddlers and became the concern of wealthy trading houses, bankers, and moneylenders. It became the standard language in which commercial contracts and deeds were written, and by extention, it began to play a role as a language of law. As such, the terminology and phrasing of the language slowly became more sophisticated. The spread of Trinian to other sectors of society was also accelerated by the growth of Astriŭlism, the Tiŕănese religion — many of the Quorian converts to the faith learned Trinian in order to communicate with priests from the Tiŕănese lands. Finally, Trinian became the lingua franca of the aristocracy, which was increasingly finding it necessary to form alliances (and political marriages) across cultural boundaries. The use of Trinian by the educated classes resulted in a number of finer grammatical structures and items of vocabulary being inserted back into the language.

All this gradually resulted in Trinian coming to be seen as a language of sophistication and knowledge - if someone was powerful or rich, they were expected to speak it. Over time, the number of people speaking Trinian expanded, particularly with the advent of mass education. However, the parent languages did not vanish — often, a person would use both Trinian and their ancestral language in their daily life, with their knowledge of one influencing their use of the other. Even today, most Trinians switch between various "levels" of Trinian — the Trinian they use when making a public speech will draw equally on both parent languages, the Trinian they use when at work will contain a moderate amount of local dialect, and the Trinian they use at home with their family will incorporate so much local dialect that other Trinians might have difficulty understanding it. In a sense, the Trinian language did not replace Quorian and Tiŕănese — it simply prompted exchange of vocabulary and grammar between them, eventually resulting in them growing similar enough that mutual intelligibility was achieved without them actually disappearing. The most mutual intelligibility is achieved when speakers use a form of their dialect that includes as much influence from the other dialect as possible (called "pure" Trinian, despite its distinguishing feature being the extent to which it mixes the two source languages). When they use a form of their dialect which does not make such extensive use of borrowings, but rather rests more on the ancestral languages, the difference between dialects is more visible.

The table below demonstrates possible variations within Trinian depending on the dialect used. The specific Quorian dialect chosen is that of Torlon, and the specific Tiŕănese dialect chosen is that of the Black Mountains region of Melaţin. The sentence used comes from the charter of the Association of Neutral Nations of Vexillium.

Translation	All member states must be completely committed to neutrality, and have a history of neutrality.
Strong Quorian Dialect	Estati membralo totalo dedikatiom a neutralio devi havas, et istoranom di neutralio devi havas.
Moderate Quorian Dialect	Estati membralo totalo dedikatiscom rio neutralisci devi vi, it istoranom sil neutralisci devi vi.
Light Quorian Dialect	Estati membrimo totimo dedikatiscan niutraliscai rio vi devi, i istoran niutraliscai sil vi devi.
"Pure" Trinian	Estati membrimu totimu dedikatićan niŭtralićai riŭ vi devi, i istoran niŭtralićai sil vi devi.
Light Tiŕănese Dialect	Vi devi estatei membarimu totimu dedikatićan niŭtralićai riŭr, i vi devi isatoran niŭtralićai sil.
Moderate Tiŕănese Dialect	Vievi membrimu totimu estatei dedikatićanse niŭtralićai riŭr, u vievi isatoranse niŭtralićai siel.
Heavy Tiŕănese Dialect	Viev membrimu kalćesimu ţoredenei rieŭr dedikatićanse niŭtralićai, viev-u siel paruńaşse niŭtralićai.

Aḱănji Language

The only other modern language which is entirely native to Trinia is Aḱănji, spoken in the southwest. The Aḱănji people are essentially the remnants of the ethnically Tiŕănese tribes who lived in southern Trinia before the arrival of the Quorians, and have partially retained their culture due to their relative isolation and their traditionally nomadic lifestyle. The Aḱănji language belongs to the same family as old Tiŕănese, and is therefore related to modern Trinian, but they are not mutually intelligible.

Arkayan Language

The Arkayan language, meanwhile, is unique to Trinia but has its origins elsewhere. Over the centuries, Trinia's border with the neighbouring nation of Angliyaa has fluctuated, and the result was that a significant number of ethnic Angliyaans ended up living under Trinian rule. As they came to adopt Trinian culture, their language absorbed many Trinian words and grammatical forms, eventually becoming distinct enough for it to be recognised as a language in its own right. The Arkayan language is essentially a mixture of Trinian and Angliyaan, just like Arkay province itself.

Moranguese and Aigadorenc Languages

The remaining two significant minority languages are Moranguese and Aigadorenc. Both originated in Solelhada, Trinia's neighbour to the east. The province of Eźuăna was originally colonised from Solelhada, and so the language of Eźuăna, Morangal, and Aigador all derive from a common base — the difference is that Eźuăna was integrated into Trinia, causing its language to become part of the gradual merger which formed modern Trinian, whereas whereas Morangal and Aigador were both outside Trinia's sphere of influence. Because the process of assimilation was not absolute, however, there were always parts of Eźuăna where the language spoken resembled Moranguese and Aigadorenc as much as it did standard Trinian. During Trinia's occupation by foreign forces, most of whom also occupied Aigador and Morangal, there was a significant amount of migration across the border, which reinforced the links.

For a long time, the Trinian did not really have a "border" with Moranguese and Aigadorenc, as the transition between the two was gradual — Eźuănian Trinian, Eźuănian Moranguese, and Eźuănian Aigadorenc were difficult to distinguish, as they all incorporated aspects of each other. It is only in modern times, with the introduction of universal education and mass media, that things have become more codified. In particular, the promotion of standardised Trinian resulted in the Eźuănian dialect losing many of the features which made it similar to Moranguese and Aigadorenc. At the same time, Trinian speakers of Moranguese and Aigadorenc began to be influenced by literature and media originating from Morangal and Aigador, which lacked the Trinian influence that local forms of the language had. These two things both meant that the contrast between Eźuănian Trinian and the two minority languages, which had been blurred for some time, came more sharply into focus. On this basis, both Moranguese and Aigadorenc have gained formal recognition as clearly distinct minority languages rather than simply being lost in the chaos of dialects.

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Details of the Trinian Language

  See: Trinian Grammar, Trinian Script

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