Languages: Pricklish

Language setting elements.

We have already covered the more obscure, dead, rare or secret languages of the human cultures of Aporue, in the Orbis Furum.

We shall now loook at the often very different-sounding languages of the various beastpeople species of Aporue and the languages and dialects of their particular cultures. Today: The languages and dialects of the hedgefolk.

It's still disputed among emerging professional linguistic scholars (one of the few people who bother with beastpeople languages or dialects at all, besides some stalwart beastpeoples themselves), whether the languages of the different species emerged entirely naturally, or were more of a byproduct of social and political pressures on beastpeople species, including pressures caused by fear or bigotry of humans towards beastpeople species.

The proponents of the "ancient natural origin hypothesis" (or "natural evolution" hypothesis) tend to reject this suggestion wholesale, or at least in most cases. In turn, the proponents of the "Archontian experimentation origin hypothesis" (or "magical evolution hypothesis") maintain that it is one of the most sensible explanations for the emergence of distinct and unique beastpeople languages. The latter argue that the very nature of these languages is a priori, that is, made from wholecloth, to prevent or at least mitigate the risk of outsiders finding out about the contents of conversations, correspondence and various writing.

Note that none of the known Aporuean beastpeople languages use tonality in their vowels, and only use short and long vowels or vowels with umlauts. This is likely due to the influence of the human languages they coexist with.

All of the pronunciations in each of the following sections are approximations of pronunciation in contemporary English.

Pricklish

Similarly to Common Martish, the language known as Pricklish [2] is a general common language, a lingua franca of the hedgefolk of Aporue. Originally something of an ironic nickname, used for this particular language by both the hedgefolk and by humans, the name was gradually adopted as a badge of honour by the hedgefolk, who found it endearing and accurate, rather than offensive. Certain dialect varieties of Pricklish are known as Spiny dialects.



Glossary of some common Pricklish terms you might hear on the street

Ük, Ék, Ók - "I" (masculine), "I" (feminine), "I" (neuter/common)
Ülak, Élak, Ólak - "Me" (masculine), "Me" (feminine), "Me" (neuter)
Krü, Kré, Kród - "Thou" / "You" (masculine), "Thou" / "You" (feminine), "Thou" / "You" (neuter)
Müg, Mél, Mót - "He" (masculine), "She" (feminine), "It" (neuter)
Ükim, Ékim, Ókim - "We" (masculine), "We" (feminine), "We" (neuter/common)
Ülimk, Élimk, Ólimk - "Us" (masculine), "Us" (feminine), "Us" (neuter)
Cerü, Ceré, Cród - plural "You" and formal "You" (masculine, feminine and neuter)
Vüg, Vék, Vóla - "They" (masculine), "They" (feminine), "They" (neuter)

The "c" is read like a "ts" or a German "z" (Zeit, Zitrone).




Example of a popular old folk song in Pricklish

Haga, hal óli Ajójn mómu

Jara óli cirlamül kulí
Ók galu plad pirva rütika
Jara mlón kulí aca bamlur
Ók verütu lij óli nají najínca

Tirnól emélur, tirnól ajójur
Ók dorgalu haga, hal óli Ajójn mómu
Ók labíjam calaju motól nagéva
Gac mót monru pa pümbur

Ók tékbu fufuljí pa lakól derkur
Ók tavalu óli teva rütibínca

Tirnól emélur, tirnól ajójur
Ók dorgalu haga, hal óli Ajójn mómu

Ók tékbu fufuljí pa lakól derkur
Ók tavalu óli teva rütibínca


There, Where the Sun Sleeps

Under the light-blue sky
I walk across a vast land
Under a sky without clouds
I search for the miracle of miracles

Seven nights, seven days
I will go there, where the sun sleeps
I'll gladly believe that truth
That it lies down on duvets and pillows

I catch the wind in my palms
I sing the song of cotters

Seven nights, seven days
I will go there, where the sun sleeps

I catch the wind in my palms
I sing the song of cotters



(The term translated as "cotters" can also be translated as "rural people". Unlike Pricklish and some real world languages, English doesn't have an all-encompassing word for duvets and pillows, so consider the original Pricklish lyrics as using sparser vocabulary to describe the same thing. This is an old folk song, either of hedgefolk origin, or of a shared origin between humans and the hedgefolk. Yes, siree, ancient. Very old, yeah.)



Some Pricklish grammar

The letter "j" is always pronounced like the "y" in "yellow", "yeah", "yard". The "c" is read like a "ts" or a German "z" (Zeit, Zitrone). Unlike many of the already discussed mustelid languages, Pricklish doesn't seem to have the vowel á (long "a").

Verbs, unless specified otherwise due to more unique circumstances, end in the vowel -u. The plurals of nouns are created by appending the ending suffix -ur. Note that some of the singular forms have irregular declension into plurals.

In contrast to many of the mustelid-folk family languages, Pricklish is far more complex in terms of pronouns, based on grammatical gender and other details. Some non-hedgefolk people joke that the hedgers are so polite, they have pronouns even for non-living things or various monsters of dubious sex (often undead monsters or elementals). You could argue that Pricklish is either a highly gendered language, or a language so gender-encompassing it becomes almost gender-neutral in terms of practical use. In an interesting twist, a person talking about themselves colloquially, or talking about a mixed group of men and women, might utilise the neuter first person in both singular and plural.

The indefinite article mlón tends to be used only when describing a noun that directly follows, or emphasizing the indefinitiveness of a noun. The definite article óli is also not used as often as in English, and is mainly used to emphasize the specificity or uniqueness of something, such as an individual object or person being pointed to or referred to, especially if it's important to the overall point and content of a sentence. Therefore, jara mlón kulí ("under a sky"), but only plad pirva rütika ("across a vast land" - no emphasis on "a"/"an" as in English, the adjective already implies "some" land).

Quick Pricklish vocabulary summary

Pricklish pronouns
Listed earlier. See above.

Pricklish nouns
ajój, ajójur - pron. ayooy, ayooyur (-oo- as in "door") - "day", "days"
Ajójn - pron. ayooyn - "Sun"
bamal (sg.), bamlur - pron. bum-ul, bum-lur - "cloud", "clouds"
derkur - pron. der-kur - "palms" (of the hands, not the trees)
emél (sg.), emélur (pl.) - pron. em-él, em-él-ur - "night", "nights"
fuful - pron. fu-ful - "wind"
fufuljí - pron. fu-ful-yee - declension of "wind" (something is being done to the wind)
kulí - pron. ku-lee - "sky"
nagéva - pron. nug-é-va - "truth"
nají - pron. na-yee - "miracle", "miraculous occurence"
rütika - pron. rü-ti-ka - "land"
rütibín - pron. rü-ti-bean - "rural people", "rural folk", "village folk", more loosely "cotters"
teva - pron. tev-uh - "song", "ditty"

Pricklish verbs
calaju - pron. tsal-ayu - "(to) believe"
dorgalu - pron. dor-ga-lu - "(to) go"
galu - pron. ga-lu - "(to) walk"
labíjam - pron. la-bee-yum - "will gladly"
mómu - pron. moo-mu (-oo- as in "door") - "(to) sleep"
monru - pron. mon-ru - "(to) lie down"
tavalu - pron. - ta-va-lu - "(to) sing"
tékbu - pron. ték-bu - "(to) catch"
verütu - pron. ve-rü-tu - "(to) search"

Pricklish adjectives
círlamül - pron. ceer-la-mül - "light blue"
pirva - pron. pir-vuh, pir-va - "vast", "sprawling", "enormous", "very large"

Pricklish numerals
tirnól - pron. tir-nool (-oo- as in "door") - "seven"

Pricklish prepositions, conjunctions, particles, onomatopoiea, etc.
aca - pron. a-ts-a - "without"
haga - pron. hug-uh - "there"
hal - pron. hull - "where"
jara - pron. yara - "under", "beneath"
lakól - pron. luck-all - "my", "mine"
lij - pron. liy - "for"
mlón - pron. mloon (-oo- as in "door") - "a/an", "some" (indefinite article)
nij - pron. niy - "and"
óli - pron. oo-li (oo- as in "door") - "the", "that specific person/thing" (definite article)
plad - pron. plud - "across"
-nca - pron. -ntsa - used as an ending suffix for nouns in genitive, the "of" equivalent (e.g. najínca, "of miracles", rütibínca, "of cotters")

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