Panlaffic languages

General information

The Panlaffic languages are a family of mainly inflected fusional nominative-accusative languages. The language family is found exclusively in the island cluster of the country of Kihāmát. There are seven extant Panlaffic languages. There are a total of just under eight million speakers of Panlaffic languages.

Native name

The language family name comes from the native word for alphabet (Kihā́mmic: pálaf) which in turn is derived from the names of the first two letters of the Panlaffic alphabet - P and L. The letter P began life as a representation of a river (Kihā́mmic: paná) and the letter L as grass (Kihā́mmic: lafá).

• English: The Panlaffic languages
• Kihā́mmic: Lámô palafámatīzô tarakám
• Church Kihā́mmic: Lámô pãlafā́tīzô tařakám

Language tree

Panlaffic languages

Ancient Kihā́mmic

Old Kihā́mmic

Middle Kihā́mmic

Modern Kihā́mmic

Old Church Kihā́mmic

Middle Church Kihā́mmic

Modern Church Kihā́mmic

Old Gánəmannic

Middle Gánəmannic

New Gánəmannic †

Old Kétassic

Middle Kétassic

Modern Kétassic

Old Kyánnic

Modern Kyánnic

Old Lôppic

Modern Lôppic

Old Fnórric

Middle Fnórric

Modern Lower Fnórric

Modern Upper Fnórric

Old Engtáffic

Old Angáttic

Middle Angáttic

New Angáttic †

Old Pōllic

New Pōllic †

Middle Engtáffic

New Engtáffic †

• A language in bold denotes that it is extant.
• A language in italics denotes that it is now extinct (i.e. has no native speakers).
• † denotes the extinction of a linguistic subgroup

Language distribution

File:Kihāmát (Islands, numbered).png

The eight islands of Kihāmát.

• Kihā́mmic is the native language on the main Island of Raibáûī [1], as well as the small northern Rock Island [7] and the Rock of the Church [8]. It is also spoken fluently by almost all other citizens of Kihāmát as a second language. It is the working language of Kihāmát. It is the traditional language of the Kihā́mmic ethnic group.
• Church Kihā́mmic is used primarily as a liturgical language, though there are a very small number who are native speakers.
• Kétassic is the native language of the Kétassic people and of most others on the Island of Tōrnáûī [3].
• Kyánnic is the native language on the Island of Rātəná [4].
• Lôppic is the native language of the Lôppic people who reside predominantly on the Island of Laāláûī [2].
• The Fnórric languages are the natives language on both Upper [5] and Lower Fnórāt [6].
• Gánəmannic was spoken on Raibáûī in the same areas as Engáttic, Engtaffic and Pōllic.
• Engtáffic was the native language of the Engtáffic people, natives of the Island of Raibáûī. The Engtáffic people are now considered a part of the Kihā́mmic ethnic group.
• Angáttic was the native language of the Angáttic people, who are related closed to the Engtáffic and also natives of the Island of Raibáûī and a part of the Kihā́mmic ethnic group.
• Pōllic was spoken on the Islands of Raibáûī and Rātəná, as well as on the Rock of the Church, as a lingua franca.

Circa 1350

File:Kihāmát (language distribution).png

The distribution of the Panlaffic languages, c. 1350.

The statūs of the languages

All of the extant Panlaffic languages, except Church Kihā́mmic, are recognised legally within Kihāmát. The specific statūs are listed below:

Kihā́mmic

The Kihā́mmic language is the official language of the Socialist Republic of Kihāmát, as well as the official regional language of the Island of Raibáûī, Rock Island and the Rock of the Church. It is the most spoken Panlaffic language, with just over five million native speakers and nearly two million others who speak it as a second language as it is taught in all the country's schools to non-native speakers as a second language. Children who do speak it as their first language learn another official regional language instead.

Church Kihā́mmic

Modern Church Kihā́mmic is used primarily as a liturgical language and thus has no official status in the country, the language is kept alive however by this liturgical use and there are a in fact few people who are brought up as native speakers, mainly by intensively religious parents, the current figure stands at around 50,000.

Kétassic

Kétassic is the official regional language of the Island of Tōrnáûī. Kétassic is the language associated with the synonymous ethnic group, it is the third most spoken Panlaffic language.

Kyánnic

Kyánnic is the official regional language of the Island of Rātəná. It is the least spoken official language of Kihāmát.

Lôppic

The Lôppic language is the Island of Laāláûī's official language and is associated with the Lôppic ethnic group. It is the most spoken Panlaffic language after Kihā́mmic, with approximately 900,000 native speakers.

Fnórric

There are two different varities of Fnórric; Upper and Lower, which are the official regional languages of the corresponding islands. The two are distinct languages though they are mutually intelligible. Together they have about 150,000 less speakers than Kétassic. Upper Fnórric has slightly more speakers than Lower Fnórric.

Comparison

Overview

The table below gives a brief overview of the extant languages in the family.

	Kihā́mmic	Church Kihā́mmic	Kétassic	Kyánnic	Lôppic	Lower Fnórric	Upper Fnórric
Type	Fusional	Fusional	Fusional	Fusional	Fusional	Fusional	Fusional
Alignment	Nom-acc	Nom-acc	Nom-acc	Nom-acc	Nom-acc	Nom-acc	Nom-acc
Head direction	Mixed	Mixed	Mixed	Mixed	Mixed	Mixed	Mixed
Tonal	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nasal vowels	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Declensions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Conjugations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Genders	3	3	2	2	3	2	2
Cases	9	12	7	5	7	8	8

Vocabulary

	Ancient Kihā́mmic	Kihā́mmic	Church Kihā́mmic	Kétassic	Kyánnic	Lôppic	Fnórric
alphabet	pã́laf	pálaf	pã́laf	halaf	galaf	hãlaf	kanlaf
language	tářk	tárak	tářak	tôřāk	tôřk	tařak	tořak
stone	dólõ	dól	dólõ	dolom	dolom	dolõ	dolon
water	ográ	ográ	ogéra	ogara	gara	okara	okra

Language tree image

File:Panlaffic tree.png

Panlaffic languages
Kihā́mmic branch	Church Kihā́mmic • Kihā́mmic
Gánəmannic branch	Gánəmannic • Kétassic • Kyánnic • Lôppic • Lower Fnórric • Upper Fnórric
Engtáffic branch	Angáttic • Engtáffic • Pōllic
Other	Panlaffic alphabet • Panlaffic cases