Zompist Bboard Again

How widespread is knowledge of Dhekhnami within Verduria? Could you learn it somewhere? And how would a Verdurian write it, if at all? Using the native alphabet?

I imagine most Verdurians have no idea, even in vague terms, what Dhekhnami writing looks like, since they'd never have the chance to see it.

Running on the intentional correspondences between the Caďinorian Plain and early modern Europe:

1. Not much
2. Yes, from an emigre and/or a scholar, but you'll hard pressed to find a scholar or an emigre who learned Dhekhnami. Even if you do, they probably have better things to do than teach random people the language, even for money.
3. A Verdurian would try to approximate the sounds as closely to their own as possible and then write it with the Verdurian alphabet. A scholar might use knowledge of other Caďinorian alphabets to make a more precise and consistent transcription.
4. Most Verdurians indeed would not even know what Dhekhnami sounds like or what people from there look like, save from racist and outdated religious accounts of the war against Munkhâsh, much less Dhekhnami writing. There would also be little interest in the affairs of the devil-worshipers; anyone who proclaimed an interest would be viewed as a dangerous eccentric or a possible agent of the Dhekhnami government.

These days, you'd have to pick it up at a university, or a military academy. Verdurians aren't even allowed to sail to the gulf east of Demóshimor, which is why it's called the Forbidden Sea. And they rarely go elsewhere.

This wasn't always the case, especially 400 years ago when Estdorot was liberating Sarnáe. There would have been soldiers and traders who acquired some Dhekhnami.

If you want someone who speaks both Dhekhnami and Verdurian, your best bet is Kebri, since it still trades with Dhekhnam. Érenat does also, to a lesser extent.

Dhekhnami ships may go to Verduria or Zeircaln for trade, but to avoid hassle they would probably go to Azgami or Kebri instead, where they can find anything they'd need from the Plain. (Anyway, the sailors would most likely be from coastal Sarnáe and speak Sarroc and likely Verdurian as well.)

To what degree are Sarroc and (say) Erenati Verdurian mutually intelligible?

If I've done it right, not at all.

But Sarroc proper is pretty far down the river. The coast was Mitigaoma, whose language would be somewhere in between.

(And sadly, Sarroc is still classified under "one of these days". It has a large lexicon but very little grammar. And the low fun factor puts it in the queue well below Somoyi or languages of Tellinor.)

On the subject of "one of these days", should the sudden preponderance of Middle East content on the blog be interpreted as a soft announcement of a Middle East Construction Kit?

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Feb 17, 2019 5:07 pm (And sadly, Sarroc is still classified under "one of these days". It has a large lexicon but very little grammar. And the low fun factor puts it in the queue well below Somoyi or languages of Tellinor.)

The exciting bit about either of those is that it would increase our Almean knowledge. AFAIK aside from proper names we know nothing at all about the Ur-Kagöt languages. Ac siča vižimai Sarroc.

Arkasas wrote: ↑Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:49 pm On the subject of "one of these days", should the sudden preponderance of Middle East content on the blog be interpreted as a soft announcement of a Middle East Construction Kit?

I'd like to do one, yeah. But I would really like to have more time to do the research!

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Feb 17, 2019 10:45 pm

Arkasas wrote: ↑Sun Feb 17, 2019 6:49 pm On the subject of "one of these days", should the sudden preponderance of Middle East content on the blog be interpreted as a soft announcement of a Middle East Construction Kit?

I'd like to do one, yeah. But I would really like to have more time to do the research!

Ac siča iler vižimam! /s

In seriousness, it's good to know what the Fortressplex is up to. (Though I would agree with my grey colleague's hopes for some new Almean developments as well, I recognize they don't pay the bills.)