Languages

Each humanoid species has a language native to only them.

• Fauns' native language is Montaran.
• Satyrs' native tongue is Arbur.
• Ipotanes' is Paitarō.
• Humans' is Homonic.
• Nightlings' is Shotali.
• Nix and iarans share a native visual language, Optimana.
• Chimeraes' native language, also visual, lacks a verbal translation and is thus unable to be transcribed.

In addition to native tongues, there are some 'floating' languages that do not have a home species, but are either used widespread across species, or are obsolete in spoken word.

Sign, the telluran linguistic descendant of Optimana, is a visual language used mostly in coastal areas to converse with nix, and by deaf individuals and their communities. As it stems from Optimana, there are many similarities in vocabulary and some in grammar, but it has been shaped significantly by telluran culture and needs, and is mostly illegible to those who only know Optimana. The grammar structure of Sign follows more closely to Solan than Optimana, and there exists a cultural distinction to Sign that Optimana lacks, most notably the use of non-manual markers, such as facial expression, that are mostly absent in Optimana.

There is a mostly-dead version of Montaran that, while not spoken, is used in tattoos, painting, and some writing for artistic purposes. It is phonetically very similar to Montaran, as it is the linguistic precursor to it, but the grammar, writing, and vocabulary is very different. It is an incredibly artistic language, the writing method itself is intricate and calligraphic, and as such it has been preserved for purely aesthetic purposes. Most faun art that contains any kind of written word is most likely written in ancient Montaran.

Solan

Solan is the universal language of nearly every humanoid at the surface. It began as a sort of pidgin language, comprised of words, phrases, and grammar of the languages of its speakers. The etymology of many words can still be traced back to a home species' language of origin.

Solan is taught to younglings alongside their native tongue, but it is nevertheless not considered a language one can be native to. Solan is a communal language, built and spoken to facilitate communication across the world, it has no home species and thus no individual can claim it at their own- preventing anyone from claiming it as a native tongue. It is universal in a way that prevents it being a home language.

It is logographic, each character representative of a meaning rather than a sound. There is no phonetic-based writing system of Solan, as it was built in antiquity from the meanings of its ancestor languages (ie: the old species' tongues). Both old species' languages and Solan have evolved since then, as such, Solan is no longer a pidgin of sunling languages, but its own.

Solan is not English, nor is it written in the latin alphabet, but I style it this way for you and I, the English readers and writers. Any citation to a Solan name, word, or other reference to the language as it functions in the world is 'in translation,' so to speak. Assume anything in Solan has been translated to English for you.