Languages

In the world of *The Dhavas*, a number of **languages** are spoken. However, the number of languages spoken in *The Dhavas* is significantly-fewer than in the real world. While some languages in *The Dhavas* are real languages, most are fictional languages with bases in real-world languages.

The main language used in the context of the story is *Arberrian*, which is the in-world name for English. As the story proper is in English, this is used for story convenience.

(Author note: the mechanics of mani language, and the communication between manis and humans, is a bit weak a of now and definitely subject to change.)

## Arberrian

Spoken in: Arberre, the Providence Islands

*Arberrian* refers to English, the language spoken in Arberre and the Providence Islands. In-universe, Arberrian is the most widely-spoken native language and is used as the official language of the Mani Taming Association. Many people from other regions speak Arberrian as a second language - especially those who are mani tamers who travel internationally.

Arberrian's status as the international *lingua franca* stems from its victory in all three World Wars (including their occupation of the Providence Islands), as well as the fact that most of the founders of the MTA were Arberrian.

English is the main language of *The Dhavas*, and thus dialogue between humans and between manis (which would not normally be in English) is rendered in English. Most manis speak the Dhavas' Language.

## Dhavas' Language

Spoken in: Heaven, among manis

The Dhavas' Language is spoken among the Dhavas and manis as a whole. Although intelligent colonies of manis tend to develop their own languages, the Dhavas' Language is understood by all manis of basic intelligence, and spoken by those with the capability. Manis are born with the inherent ability to understand the language, but are not aware of it unless they are in a situation where the language is present.

(Humans cannot hear the Dhavas' Language, although the mechanics of manis speaking the language around humans have not been fully figured out. Whoops.)

Other than real-life languages in The Dhavas' universe, the Dhavas' Language is the only fully-developed language from the story. It is actually a conlang developed by the author because he is a nerd with nothing else to do.

## Other Mani Languages

Generally, groups of manis that coexist for long periods of time naturally develop their own languages. The most important examples of this are the languages developed by Courage and Dante's species. Unlike the Dhavas' Language, humans can hear, but not understand, these languages, although they have become a curiosity to mani researchers.

Courage retains relative fluency in his native language, as he spoke it for at least fifteen years. Fatimah has become fascinated by his language and throughout the Arberre Saga, has a personal project of recording and decoding it.

On the other hand, Dante has largely forgotten his native language, although he retains some basic ability in it. Michael is unaware of the language and, when he hears it, dismisses it as Dante attempting to speak Arberrian. Due to his fluency in both, Dante generally speaks (and thinks) in the Dhavas' Language. He can write English, but cannot speak it.