Gosiu language

**Gosiu** (Gosiu: *Gosieu*) is a Daric language spoken mainly in southern Dara. The language is spoken by 2.6 million native speakers and 357,425 second language speakers. Gosiu is written in the Vovin script and is also a co-official language of Dara and the official language in the Gosiu Language Region.

The language is used as a ceremonial language during the inauguration of a new Magister, due to the language's affiliation with the Magistrate of Gosi, whose leaders and people spoke Gosiu and were influential in unifying Dara in -12,320, and introduced the magistrate system, which is still in use today. Though the language saw a decline in speakers, reaching a low of 124,000 from 4,305,648 in -1,511 due to the Erysian-led genocide, the language was revived and is today one of the co-official languages of Dara.

## Etymology

Gosiu comes from the Gosiu word for the language, Gosieu. The etymology of Gosieu is, however, unknown. There is speculation that Gosieu comes from the Shakan words for Language of the Mountains (*Gos' odu esapek*). Kadusi Venasu, a native Gosiu speaker and 6th century BSD linguist who studied the Gosiu language for all his life confirmed the theory to be true. Others believe that Gosiu has no etymology and is simply something that evolved over time.

## History

### Ancient

The oldest written records of Gosiu are dated to -55,000 and use the Vovin script. They were translated by Gosiu speakers and were almost the same as the Gosiu spoken during the discovery in -10,963. The ancient language was found next to Shakan tablets that when translated said the exact same on the Gosiu tablets. It is presumed that around this time Gosiu split from Shakan, and that the Gosiu on tablets later discovered, which were closer to Shakan but also had Gosiu words written, was a dialect of Shakan. Tablets discovered in -9,812 that dated to -34,000 confirmed a slow split from Shakan and into its own language.

### Magistrate Era

Gosiu was the official language of the Magistrate of Gosi, and thus it began being used more commonly in written texts. The first government of the magistrate made a reform to Gosiu, changing words and rules that they felt made the language too barbaric, and would attempt to Siralli-fy it, remnants of which remain in words such as *Souk* (Gosiu) and *Sok* (Siralli), both meaning table, while the pre-reform Gosiu word for table was *kalan*, which is closer to Daro *kolan* and Vovinish *kalorn'*. During the later years of the magistrate era, many of these changes were altered to stay closer to the original Gosiu, but not many words were changed to be the same.

### Independent Dara

Gosiu saw little changes during this period, except for some more language reforms. Gosiu was chosen to be one of the three co-official languages of Dara. The Gosiu Language Region was also created for the Gosiu speaking Darovs. The language continues to prosper today.

## Official Status

Gosiu is a co-official language of Dara and the official language of the Gosiu Language Region, including its government. The Constitution of the Magistrate (Gosiu: *Konstutyil lont Magisyil*), Dara's constitution, gives Gosiu a high and official status within the Gosiu Language Region and as a co-official language of Dara, due to its importance in Dara's history.

### Outside of Dara

While Gosiu is not the official or co-official language of any region or country outside of Dara, the language is recognized by the Cyorsian Empire as a major migrant language in Kolatronda.

### Geographic distribution

Gosiu is spoken mainly in the so-called Gosiu Valley in south-western Dara, where 2.4 million of its speakers reside. The Gosiu Valley area is where the Gosiu Language Region is also located, including the majority of all Gosiu speakers within its borders.

In Northern Kolatronda, an estimated 21,000 Gosiuans live. Villages with Gosiuan-majority populations often have their main everyday language as Gosiu, being used in town hall meetings and everyday life for the inhabitants. The town of Godakh in Kolatronda, with a population of 10,000, is inhabited mostly by Gosiuans, and uses Gosiu as the main language. The migration of Gosiuans to Kolatronda was fueled mostly by the occupation and genocide commited against them by the Erysians.

## Script

Gosiu is written in the Vovin script, and is written from left to right.