Languages of the Mantle

The Mantle, the world below Indratera, had its own various languages that had evolved for hundreds of thousands of years; plus, some surface languages permeated down in a few places. I'm not going to go into massive detail with them, just enough to get a feel for them. Quite a lot of the underground languages developed clicks/plosives (could be heard easier) and also not many consonants (not sure why).
== Major Languages ==
=== Rivenoq ===
Rivenoq /ʁɪvənoǂ/ "Monster Language" was a language spoken by many inhabitants of the Moors and Downs of the central north Mantle. It originated as a creole language of now-forgotten origins, brought about for communication among several monstrous humanoid races, most notably the beastfolk and snakefolk. The Rivenoq alphabet was 23 letters plus the apostrophe. The apostrophe represented a glottal stop (if preceded by a vowel) or transformed a preceding consonant into an ejective:
 a æ e i o œ u þ l t k m s x r v n q z f y ! q '
Contrasting vowels and consonants
Written Letter	Realised (IPA)
VOWELS 	VOWELS
a 	ɑ
æ 	a
e 	ə
i 	ɪ
o 	o
œ 	ø
u 	u
CONSONANTS 	CONSONANTS
þ 	θ
l 	l
t 	t
k 	k
m 	m
s 	ʃ
x 	x
r 	ʁ
v 	v
n 	n
q 	ǃ (dental click)
! 	ǁ (postalveolar click)
z 	ʒ
' 	ʔ - if after a vowel
' 	if after a consonant, turns it ejective
f 	f
y 	j
Generally, the most interesting parts of Rivenoq were the two click consonants and the various ejectives.
Also, Rivenoq used reduplication or even tripling, for emphasis, intensifiers, or urgency. Here are some English examples of the use of reduplication and how they apply to Rivenoq:
* "Eat eat" - eat, quickly!
* "It was big big big" - it was VERY big
* "I no no like eating vegetables" I really don't like eating vegetables
* "Up-up" - far above
=== Zro ===
Zrô ze rêo /ʐɽoʊ ʐe ɽeio/ 'the drow language' was the language that evolved among the Sylph people of the South Mantle, who resembled 'dark elves' from other depictions (lithe, camouflaged black-purple skin, albinism in the hair and eyes). It was a natural trade language which was spread by the Tribunal of Spiders, a merchant empire. It had a fairly limited consonant and vowel inventory, and most words were one or two syllables long. It also didn't contrast voicing. The most notable thing about Zro was that every single consonant was retroflex, so it sounded very 'curled-back'. The alphabet was short:
 o ô z r e ê t l a â x n 
Zro had two registers - Cave (Classical) and Lake (Hunting). Cave Speak was the standard dialect. Meanwhile, Lake Speak was a register used for hunting, secrecy, subtlety, or also formality/rituals/funerals etc. It devoiced all its consonants, so it sounded like a speaker was always whispering enrapt, and it also replaced /ʈ͡ʂ/ with the sound /ɸʷ/, which was added after a vowel with a hat.
Contrasting vowels and consonants
Written Letter	Cave Speak IPA	Lake Speak IPA
VOWELS 	VOWELS 	VOWELS
o 	o 	o
e 	e 	e
a 	a 	a
ô 	oʊ 	oɸʷ
ê 	ei 	eɸʷ
â 	ai 	aɸʷ
CONSONANTS 	CONSONANTS 	CONSONANTS
z 	ʐ 	ʂ
r 	ɽ 	ɽ̥
t 	ʈ 	ʈ
l 	ɭ 	ɭ̥
x 	ʈ͡ʂ 	ɸʷ
n 	ɳ 	ɳ̥
==== Sylph Sign Language ====
Additionally, there was a Sign language form of the Zro language used by the Sylph culture. It was used for subtlety or silence e.g. on hunts or during meetings. It also had a tactile component, so it could be signed on the body of a companion where visual communication was not possible.
=== Woora ===
Woora /wuɹa/ was a language spoken by the Woora, who are hairy, squat, albino Mantle dwellers. Woora had a really weird and rare grammatical word order - Object Subject Verb. It had a pretty small and odd consonant inventory, 
Woora's alphabet had 6 vowels sounds and 8 consonant sounds, written as follows:
 o (oo) e (ee) a (aa) g w y j t p ng r 
Contrasting vowels and consonants
Written Letter	Realised (IPA)
VOWELS 	VOWELS
o 	o
oo 	u
e 	ɛ
ee 	i
a 	a
aa 	ɑ
CONSONANTS 	CONSONANTS
g 	g
w 	w
y 	j
j 	d͡ʒ
t 	ʈ~ɖ
p 	p
ng 	ŋ
r 	ɹ
=== Ikthyian / Eyaxu ===
Eyaxu, or Ikthyian, (Eyaxu /eʄaʔu/) was a very small and isolated language spoken in the southern Mantle which provided loanwords through contact to Woora. An exonym applied by Rivenoq speakers was Ymyrk, from the word Yemyerk /jəmjəʁk/ meaning "thief". Eyaxu contained purely four implosive consonants, the yod and glottal-stop, and four vowels. It was spoken by a lot of aquatic and semi-aquatic Ikthyian people - the implosive sounds (drawing in a gulp of air whilst pronouncing the consonant) reflected how it evolved among speakers who gulped for oxygen during prolonged speech.
 i a u o b d g y j x
Contrasting vowels and consonants
Written Letter	Realised (IPA)
VOWELS 	VOWELS
i 	i
a 	a
u 	u
o 	o
CONSONANTS 	CONSONANTS
b 	ɓ
d 	ɗ
y 	ʄ
g 	ɠ
j 	j
x 	ʔ
=== Xuxxura ===
Xuxxura was a language spoken by the Snakefolk of the Mantle. It was a language of mostly sibilants and unrounded front vowels, because snakefolk lack lips and struggle with non-sibilant sounds and back vowels. Xuxxur's alphabet was: 
 a e i s x ŝ c s' þ ħ h
Contrasting vowels and consonants
Written Letter	Realised (IPA)
VOWELS 	VOWELS
a 	a
e 	e
i 	i
u 	ɯ
CONSONANTS 	CONSONANTS
s 	s
x 	ʃ
ŝ 	ʂ
c 	çʲ
s' 	sʼ
þ 	θ
r 	ɬ
ħ 	x
h 	h
== Minor Languages ==
Name 	Info
Tzero 	A flowing and rich language from the eastern shores of the Sea of Pity, the largest subterranean ocean.
Mantle Creole 	A trade creole of various languages including Woora, Eyaxu, Rivenoq and Zro, among others. Mostly spoken around -1000 to 1000 TE.
Vrei Cave Pidgin	A creole of the Old Vrei language mixed with Zro, it originated in the -2000s to -1500s TE. It was spoken around a few trade settlements like Mir Vorghulis.
Low Rakki 	A mixture of the Darim and Old Rakki languages brought to the Mantle in the early 2nd millennium before 0, it since co-evolved with various other nearby languages. It bore some faint resemblances to modern Rakki. It was spoken near Dain's Helm and the cliffs of the great arterial pits.
Waqaxas 	A click-language distantly related to Rivenoq, with quite a lot of nasals (including nasal clicks). Spoken by some monster-humanoids in the far west caves and rocky landscapes.
Verdis 	Distantly related to Vortai, a language with a lot of contrasting guttural sounds like epiglottals and pharyngeals
Category:Languages
Category:Lore