Islands, People and Language
Welcome to my website which is focussed on the archipelago of Mohai, its people the Romohai, and their language Lemohai. Mohai is a large island nation off the continent of Aheku, on a fictional world called Tekuo.
Tekuo is an Earth-like planet, inhabited by a race of sentient hominids called the Ike. They share their home planet with a range of supernatural beings.
I hope you enjoy your visit.
The strange sound of Mohai’s island neighbours.
Unified Senduri is the standard version of Senduri, the native language of the Thuri (or Turi) archipelago. It has a total of twenty-three phonemes. Their sounds vary a little according to their phonetic environment. They are arranged in simple syllables.
Continue reading “What does Senduri sound like?”A distant cousin of Lemohai, yet so unlike it.
Senduri is a contemporary language from the planet Tekuo with deep historical roots. Its speakers are a race of Ike, who call themselves and their language Senduri. They call their home the Turi archipelago. In Lemohai it is known as Thuri.
Senduri is a fascinating language and was long thought to be a linguistic isolate. However, it has now been shown to be a particularly deviant descendant of Proto-East-Aheku. It is therefore a distant relative of the Cismontane and Transmontane languages and of Maritime languages like Lemohai.
Continue reading “Senduri: a linguistic overview”The sound of Öklane’s distant relative.
Modern Ezenii is the language of the small nation-state of Ezekaa on the continent of Umãka to the north of Aheku. It has a total of twenty-nine phonemes. For the most part, these do not vary according to their phonetic environment. They are arranged in moderately complex syllables.
Continue reading “What does Ezenii sound like?”The language of Ökla’s longstanding colony.
Ezenii is a contemporary language from the planet Tekuo. Its speakers are a race of Ike, who live in Ezekaa, a small nation-state on the continent of Umãka, to the north of Aheku. Like the people of Mohai and most of the rest of Aheku, they belong to the Utai race (or, Copperfolk).
They call both themselves and their language Ezenii. For much of the modern era, Ezekaa was part of the Öklane Empire. Ezenii has therefore been strongly influenced by Öklane.
Most Ezenii speakers live in Ezekaa though a few live in border regions of neighbouring countries. Five percent of the population of Ezekaa is first language Öklane and nowadays, the two language enjoy co-offical status. Historically though, Öklane was the prestige language and Ezenii seen as somewhat lower class and rustic.
Continue reading “Ezenii: a linguistic overview”The language of Mohai’s rival power.
Öklane is a contemporary language from the planet Tekuo. Its speakers are a race of Ike, who call themselves and their language Öklane. Like the people of Mohai and most of Aheku, they belong to the Utai race (or copperfolk).
The language originated in Ökla, the largest nation-state on the continent of Umãka, to the north of Aheku. Ökla built an Empire in the early modern era, conquering much of South-East Umãka and North-East Aheku, but not Mohai.
Most Öklane speakers live in Ökla though there are sizeable minorities scattered across Ökla’s former empire. In Ezekaa for example, 5% of the population speaks Öklane and the language enjoys co-offical status with the local language Ezenii. Öklane is studied as a second language in many countries.
Continue reading “Öklane: a linguistic overview”The tongue of a northerly empire.
Modern Öklane is the language of Ökla, the largest nation-state on the continent of Umãka to the north of Aheku. It has a total of thirty-one phonemes. Their sounds vary surprisingly little according to their phonetic environment. They are arranged in moderately complex syllables.
Continue reading “What does Öklane sound like?”Classical Letepi was the language of the ancient Empire of Tepi. It had twenty-eight phonemes. It was characterised by five points of vowel articulation, a plain/aspirate contrast and the prominence of velar and palatal sounds. Syllables were simple or moderately complex.
A wide range of writings in Classical Letepi have survived to the modern era. These range from the popular and practical to the advanced and academic. They even include grammars of C Let written by native speakers. We can, therefore, describe the formal registers of the language with confidence.
Continue reading “What did Classical Letepi sound like?”What can we know about the planet’s first language?
In our world, those who think there was once a Proto-Human language have a tough time of it. They are told there is no reason to assume such a language ever existed. They are told they cannot say where or when it existed.
Supporters of the theory are also said to read what they want into the data when deriving words for the purported language. Some world-wide similarities, it is said, might be better explained as onomatopeia or sound symbolism.
Continue reading “In search of Proto-Tekuo”