Posted by Christopher O'Regan on 22:58 12/11/01
In reply to: (none)
My, two posts in one day, i am feeling energetic.
Just a quick one: is Axunashin the sole representative of the Axunaic branch of the Eastern languages, or were there other Ezichimi languages (that we have records of?)
Ai santélece licre sefo, rho silorai suim chivinyát . . .
(please excuse my sloppy Verdurian . . .)
--Rhisto Filipei
Oh, there were plenty. You can pretty much figure that each of the states on the map for Z.E. 600 (Axuna, Ran, Jenevi, Tannaza, Yewor, Van, Gotanneli) had their own language.
The records are difficult. A good part of the script, after all, was logographic, and was thus largely the same for all the languages. We can find differences in words written phonetically, of course. On the other hand, when they're written as in Axunashin, we can't say that they were pronounced that way, since even in early times the writing of the delta (which became Axunashin) was quite prestigious.
The best attested languages would be those of the middle and upper Xengi, the regions with populous states rivalling Axuna.
Axunashin largely replaced the other Axunaic languages during the imperial era, rather as Latin replaced other Italic languages in Italy.
(There may be some remaining influences, but one should always resist the easy tendency to assume that modern dialects are simply survivals of ancient ones.)