Asermian languages
| Asermian | |
|---|---|
| Regulated by | Katie Fishman |
| Family | Rakwietrab†
|
| Type | Constructed Language |
The Asermian languages are not a true language family. They are more so a way of organizing the stages in the development of what would become Rikutsaren. The original language created during the Union of Asermia was called Rakwietrab. The official language of Huro-Atlantica was Rakwiktrab, and by the creation of Rikuchar it had evolved into Rikutśreb.
Additionally, a revival of the older variants called Ivugantab was created in April of 2020, though it has seen slow development and scarce usage.
Orthography and Script
The original Asermian Script and its orthography were complex, consisting of 30 "primary characters" and 20 "accented variants" or, in linguistic terms, 14 phonemic vowels and 26 phonemic consonants. The script was derived from a cursive version of the Immajer Simlish Alphabet.
Today, a revised orthography is used with all Asermian languages. It is as follows:
| Letter | IPA | Old spelling | Sounds like | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | [a~ɑ]
[æ] before plosives |
a | bat | |
| aw | /ɑu/ | [ɑː] | ă | saw | |
| é | /eː/ | [ei] | ä | say | |
| e | /ɛ/ | e | bet | ||
| ew | /eu/ | [eu~iu] | ĕ | few | |
| ø | /ø/ | [y~œ] | ø | French bleu | |
| i | /i/ | ï | see | ||
| ı | /ɪ/ | i | fit | ||
| o | /o/ | [oʊ]
[ɒ~ɑ] before plosives |
o | home
spot |
|
| ow | /au/ | ŏ | how | ||
| ú | /u/ | ü | sue | ||
| u | /ʊ/ | [ə] before /r/ | u | book
burr |
|
| y | /y/ | [ʏ] | German süß | a newer sound from the modern language | |
| Letter | IPA | Old spelling | Sounds like | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| b | /b/ | b | bone | ||
| c | /k/ | k | car | ||
| d | /d/ | d | day | ||
| dź | /dʒ/ | j | June | ||
| f | /f/ | f | find | ||
| g | /g/ | g | gone | ||
| h | /h/ | h | high | ||
| j | /j/ | y | yes | ||
| l | /l/ | l | love | ||
| m | /m/ | m | mine | ||
| n | /n/ | n | no | ||
| nj | /ɲ/ | [ɲ~nj] | ñ | Spanish baño | |
| p | /p/ | p | pet | ||
| r | /r/ | [ɹ] | r | real | |
| s | /s/ | s | sigh | ||
| ś | /ʃ/ | share | a newer sound from the modern language | ||
| t | /t/ | t | time | ||
| tś | /tʃ/ | ç | choose | ||
| v | /v/ | v | vine | ||
| w | /w/ | w | wild | ||
| ẃ | /ʍ/ | ẘ | when | ||
| x | /x/ | ḥ | Scottish loch | ||
| z | /z/ | z | zebra | ||
| ź | /ʒ/ | j
jj (rare) |
beige | thought to be an allophone of /dʒ/ after vowels, possibly only in syllable coda | |
Development
In 2010 during the development of what would become the Union of Asermia, Net Vrocaw derived a simple "language" from English by reversing each word but keeping the last letter at the end. Examples of words include oinun (union) and Imresaa (Asermia). This language had no independent grammar and was generally identical to English in all but spelling. The language is today referred to as Aimresan.
Sometime in January 2012 a simple substitution cipher was used to create a new "language" for use in the Asermia. The name Rakuietar became associated with Asermia, and the language was known as Rakuietrab.
Rakuietrab
Rakuietrab was written primarily in the Latin alphabet, though a "script" of sorts did exist in the form of the immajer-Simlish font. Initially consisting only of 26 letters, the orthography (and the script along with it) soon became enormous. Along with the base 26 letters, many vowel diphthongs had their own symbols and new phonemes made even more new symbols necessary.
At this stage the language's grammar closely resembled English.
Though referred to as Rakuietrab in micronational contexts, in other contexts it's referred to as Early Archaic Rikutsaren and its cipher as the Progenitor or PROGEN cipher.
Rakwiktrab
By December 2013 the language had entered a new stage of development. With the implementation of a new cipher on May 13th (hence May 13th or MAY cipher), the language's vocabulary changed significantly and opened doors to the addition of even more new phonemes.
At this time the language became known as Rakwiktrab and is also referred to as Middle Archaic Rikutsaren.
Rakwiktrab was a variety of different revisions to Old Rakwiktrab. It saw the addition of the original “TVZ” verb conjugation system (which was replaced later in the same period by the “NTK” system and then the modern “NVK” system) and the complete overhaul of the Rakwiktrab script. This transition also saw the foundations of later grammatical structure take form.
Rakjiehrab
Rakjiehrab, formerly called Dezisabek Rakwiktrab, was a relatively unused dialect of the Asermian language family. It was created in October 2013 while Vrocaw was still attempting to memorise his own language. He found himself without the sheet that allowed him to translate his words into Rakwiktrab. In response, he reconstructed the cipher as best he could using words he remembered in Rakwiktrab. However, this cipher was not exact, and upon realising this, Vrocaw named it Faouarese Asermian, after a former Huro-Atlantic territory in the north of Israel. This name was later changed to Dezisabek Rakwiktrab, and then finally to Rakjiehrab.
The Rakjiehrab Alphabet was very small compared to the Rakwiktrab alphabet at that time, just 30 or so letters. It was originally intended for scientific use, then for residents of Dezisab, then for scientific use again. It was never used for any of those purposes though, aside from a vague sheet of paper outlining the structure of DNA. Rakjiehrab never expanded as Rakwiktrab did during the transition, and even by then, it had faded into disuse.
Rikuchreb
Rikuchreb was created in late December 2014. Its major difference from Rakwiktrab was that it now used a complicated substitution cipher in which letters have anywhere from 2 to 7 tiers into which they can be translated. This system was called the Rikuchreb Cipher. Many words were unchanged between the two languages, especially ones used commonly. Other words were shortened by translating them in various ways, even using Spanish words as bases.
Later, in 2016, Rikuchreb would undergo an immense revamp, largely ditching the cipher entirely and adopting an agglutinative system of roots and derivative affixes.
Rikutsaren
Rikutsaren is the modern form of the Asermian languages. It arose starting in 2018 when case declension was added to the language. Additionally, the formerly undefined root ''rıkutś(a)r-'' was newly defined as ''riku+tsar'', meaning "great land." Thus, the name of the language now means "of the great land." The old immajer-based script was replaced with a completely new script derived from places of articulation. This was inspired by the Korean alphabet.