Cerian: Difference between revisions

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==External History==
==External History==
The name Ceria (and therefore Cerian), as with many major Calémerian, particularly Evandorian, peoples and places, dates back to my first proto-conworlding projects, and I simply imported it into Calémere - something that meant justifying the very-IE-looking ''-ia'' ending in a Calémerian linguistic perspective.<br/>Cerian itself is the main lingua franca of Calémere, a role equivalent to that English has on Earth, and to some extent English is one of my inspiration, although only as far as Cerian, just like English, has a large number of dialects spoken in many countries across the world. Aesthetically, my main inspirations behind Cerian are Latin, Japanese (mostly in the syllable structure), and to a lesser extent also Norwegian and Swedish. Grammatically I wanted a mostly analytic language, even though in the end it is not as analytic as other Evandorian languages (such as [[Nordulaki]], to name one) and with some SAE traits, most notably phonology (even though that lack of a distinction between /r/ and /l/ is not SAE at all), mixed in with a few non-European traits (such as the tense system).
The name Ceria (and therefore Cerian), as with many major Calémerian, particularly Evandorian, peoples and places, dates back to my first proto-conworlding projects, and I simply imported it into Calémere - something that meant justifying the very-IE-looking ''-ia'' ending in a Calémerian linguistic perspective.<br/>Cerian itself is the main lingua franca of Calémere, a role equivalent to that English has on Earth, and to some extent English is one of my inspiration, although only as far as Cerian, just like English, has a large number of dialects spoken in many countries across the world. Aesthetically, my main inspirations behind Cerian are Latin, Japanese (mostly in the syllable structure), and to a lesser extent also Norwegian and Swedish. Grammatically I wanted a mostly analytic language, even though in the end it is not as analytic as other Evandorian languages (such as [[Nordulaki]], to name one) and with some SAE traits, most notably phonology (even though that lack of a distinction between /r/ and /l/ is not SAE at all), mixed in with a few non-European traits (such as the tense system).
==Dialects==
Due to being one of the most widespread native languages on the planet and having an extremely large number of L2 speakers, with at least one Cerian-speaking country on each continent, there are multiple Cerian dialects.
Evandorian Cerian is the macro-variety with the most dialects, as it is spoken in the area where Cerian first originated; today, no linguist accepts "Evandorian Cerian" as a single variety, as the individual dialects in this area often show more variation between them than Cerian variants spoken on different continents; the term remains valid as a purely geographical grouping.
Evandorian dialects include:
* West Cerian, spoken mainly in the plain along the Cáteron river; this area was one of the centers of Íscégon civilization and it maintains great cultural prestige to the present day, due to the presence of Mánébodin, capital of Ceria. This area is divided between the western regions of Ceria, most of Ótéa, and northeastern Corevía.<br/>West Cerian, and in particular a refined form of the Mánébodin dialect, is the basis of the so-called Standard Evandorian Cerian, the Cerian dialect most commonly used in media and teaching materials in Ceria and most Cerian-speaking countries in Evandor.
* Central Cerian is a macro-variant spoken in the hilly areas of Čióro, Fútare, and Holázion, which have different dialects (more generally known as ''čióronen'', ''fútarizen'', and ''holázinen'') with various common features.
* Northern Cerian is a collective term for the dialects of the plains of Northern Ceria (and minorities in the bordering areas of Nordûlik), which form a dialect continuum from the Čifa spit in the west to the foothills of the Carodázo hills in the east.
* Carodájen is the dialect spoken in the Carodázo hills in northeastern Ceria, on the border with Nordûlik; it shares some features with Northern Cerian, but also has its own peculiarities as well as multiple influences from Nordûlaki.
* Úrofen is the dialect spoken mostly in the sovereign country of Úrofa, in the southeastern corner of the Cerian lowlands, and adjoining areas in Ceria.
* Southeastern Hilly Cerian is a common term for the dialects spoken in the hilly areas along the mid course of the Šerézo and Halone rivers, between Úrofa to the east and the northern Barotáči mountains to the west. It is a peculiar conservative dialectal area, with various archaic lexical elements from Íscégon and - alongside the adjoining dialects of the northern side of the Barotáči - maintains the distinction between {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/r/}}.
* Barotáčízen is the name for the dialects spoken in the Barotáči mountains, an important mountain ridge dividing Central and Southern Evandor. They are a group of very conservative dialects, maintaining many features of Íscégon that have been lost from other Cerian dialects.
* Southern Cerian or Vétanízen is the group of Cerian dialects spoken south of the Barotáči, in the modern country of Vétaní; the city-state of Noméde Ínema a thousand of kilometres away near the southwestern tip of Evandor was a former maritime colony of Vétaní, and its dialect to this day pertains to this group, even though in the last two decades there has been a notable influence from Standard Evandorian Cerian.
* Šáritunen is the group of Cerian dialects spoken in the modern-day country of Šáritun; having both transitional traits between Cerian and Péigu, some archaisms (shared with Vétanízen) and heavy Auralian influence, it is generally considered the most divergent Cerian variant, and rural Šáritunen is often hardly intelligible to speakers of other Cerian variants (especially some non-Evandorian ones) not used to it.
* Bárogention is the dialect group of the Bárogente valley, west of the West Cerian area; the area corresponds to most of Rocoma, most of Corevía, and western Ótéa.
* Čátiron - taking its name from the Čátiro region and the Čátiro Strait - is the name of the dialects spoken in the littoral northwest of the West Cerian area, that is, all of Čaga, the northernmost parts of Rocoma, and the Cerian-speaking part of Sternia (Seténía).


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
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