GOV.ALT // Language

Alteran are the names given to the language spoken and written by ethnic citizens of the Confederation of Altera. Whilst it is the language of most citizens, it is not the primary language taught - Noronican Nyssic is the defacto language; though education reforms since the mid-1910s has reintroduced Altera as a primary language in the curriculum. Many citizens are bi-lingual, with an increasing number speaking both Alteran and Nyssic.

The language was first recorded around 200 B.C.E., where it eventually evolved into Vulgar Alteran and later in its modern iteration Reformed Alteran.

The alphabet and numeral system used by Alterans are identical to most western-style languages; however, earlier versions of the language used runes to depict numbers and characters.

Similar to the Nyssic languages, the Alteran style of writing is largely based on the use of characters to represent letters and numbers.

Like most western languages, Alteran is written and read from left to right with. However, Vulgar Alteran was more chaotic and less uniform in its presentation.

Since its first creation, there have been two types of Alteran, Vulgar Alteran and Reformed Alteran.

Vulgar Alteran was used by the Alterans from 200 B.C.E and was the more common spoken variety used by the Alterans until around 1,100 C.E.. Vulgar Alteran was the most important language in the region in the between 900 and 1,200 C.E.

Reformed Alteran first appeared around 600 C.E., but did not come into common use until 950 C.E. As the language evolved through its use, interaction with other cultures and new words added to the language, the language eventually evolved into its current form; known as Modern Alteran.

It was taught in many Alteran schools until Reformed Alteran and the secondary teaching language in Altera with the establishment of the Alteran School of Enlightenment and Knowledge. Some written literature, such as road signs, food labels and television adverts; are bi-lingual - written in both Alteran and Nyssic; though this tends to be less commonplace in the south of the country.

After 1910, the Alteran Government set up a central organisation to monitor and regulate Modern Alteran, in a bid to give concessions to the growingly irate ethnic Alteran community.

Vulgar Alteran was a very complex language compared to the Reformed Alteran. There were seven classes of strong verbs and three of weak verbs with their ending changing in many situations. Nouns had three different genders that could inflect up to five cases and adjectives could have eleven forms. It seems completely different from the Reformed Alteran language but once the pronunciation and spelling rules are explained, the current Alteran does not look so different from the old one.

By the 12th Century, the region began to gain more and more visitors from both Gael and the Nyssic speaking work. The visitors spoke a rural dialect of Nyssic with Gaelic influences that mixed with Altera, became the language of the high nobles in Altera for over 300 years. This form of Altera would push the development of Reformed Alteran. The lower classes kept speaking Vulgar Alteran.

The Noronican Nyssic influenced the Alteran language with many words and important changes. The words castle, crown, prince, parliament, city, judge, court, appeal, verdict, army, soldier, peace, obedience, mansion, beauty, many, literature among others, were included in the Alteran language during this period. Some Alteran words were the composition of Alteran and a Nyssic word, for example, dryhtbearn (gentleman).

One of the greatest influences from the Noronican Nyssic at this time was the spelling changes. Vulgar Alteran letter patterns, such as “hw” changed to “wh”, so words like hwaer and hwil became where and which. Additionally, words related to medicine, literature, law and religion, such as legal, private, history, library, tolerance, infinite, solar, recipe were included in the vernacular.

Two historical moments during this period were important for the Reformed Alteran language renascence. The first one was the Freogan Wars (Liberation Wars) against both Angevine and the Hangates and the second moment was the 1432 plague, known as the Reód Plague, that killed hundreds of thousands of the Vulgar Alteran population including a high number of the clergy. After the plague, Reformed Alteran grew in importance - gaining status as the official language by the end of 1456; barring the use of any other language in legal documentation.

Alphabet (Vulgar Alteran)



In its rune form, Vulgar Alteran first translated itself into its written form.
Similar to our early languages, its crude format allowed it to be easily carved into
clay, wood and rock; but did not translate onto ink and parchment well.

Alphabet (Reformed Alteran)



Based upon idea imported from overseas, most notably from traders
and religious clerics from Noronica, Reformed Alteran was far easier to transcribe.

Merito non pareret. | By merit, not birth.