Hu language

The Hu language is the native language of the Hu archipelago.

Writing System

Beginning in the Naja Dynasty, the Hu aristocracy and educated classes began to learn and speak the Long language, thus largely relegating Hu to communication among the peasantry and the uneducated. Many artisans, provincial aristocracy and city dwellers also speak Hu exclusively or almost exclusively. Hu is written using the syllabary writing system.

Variants and Dialects

Felidian Hu

Sometimes called "Standard Hu" this is the language spoken in Middle and Northern Felidia and, with some local variations, throughout eastern Hu including Ursidia and Canidia. Felidian Hu has undergone changes in modern times as a result of heavy influence from the Long language. As a result, Felidian Hu recognizes all the distinct consonant phonemes used in Long.

Lynx Dialect

The city of Lynx in southern Felidian is famous for its distinct local dialect with more nasal consonants, sibillants and consonant-colored vowel sounds than Standard Hu. In addition to the accent, Lynx Hu has its own colloquialisms.

Central Hu

Between Felidian Hu in the east and Cetacian Hu in the west are several closely-related variants of Hu spoken in Chiroptera, Muridia and Herpestes which are characterized by paucity of consonant phonemes with the most extreme example being a variant spoken in parts of southern and western Chiroptera with seven consonants.

Cetacian Hu

Some linguists consider Cetacian Hu to be a distinct language closely related to Hu. As with Felidian Hu, Cetacian Hu embraces all of the consonants found in Long however it evolved independently due to the two duchies' proximity to Long and their long history of international maritime trade.

To the ear of many outsiders Cetacian Hu sounds "colorful" or humorous. Cetacian Hu is 80% intelligible to other Hu speakers; Cetacians are likely to be acquainted with Felidian Hu and generally have less difficulty in comprehension. Some merchants purposely employ Cetacian Hu when speaking among themselves in order to elude comprehension by outsiders.

History

The origins of the Hu language as we know it dates back at least as far as the Proailurus period. Due to the fact the territory in which it is spoken is an archipelago, variations of the language arose on different islands and island clusters. Oral and written artifacts show that early Hu was more similar to modern-day Central Hu with a paucity of consonants phonemes. The set of consonant sounds differed however in different parts of Hu as the same phoneme came to be pronounced differently in different variants (e.g. /f/, /w/ and /v/).

Colonial Hu

There is an endangered variation of Hu spoken in the Cetacian city states in southern Long which is closely related to Cetacian Hu.