Sondamian
Sondamian or Sǫdáám Iʻtlédyę or Ñimáthópek Kutlédyę is spoken in Sondamia. It is a koine language based primarily on the dialect of Nimat'opek. All of the other languages spoken in Sondamia are referred to as dialects but most are so distinct that they would be better classified as separate languages; this distinction is more political than linguistic, the Empire would rather limit the recognized regional languages to one.
Geographical Distribution
Sondamian is the most spoken language in the state of Sondamia, it acted as the lingua franca among all Sondamic groups during the Imperial Age. The higher classes and aristocrats of Sondamia learn to speak Old Havlic like the rest of the Empire; they see Sondamian as peasant speech. But certain learned Sondamians are proud of their language, these were the ones who first standardised and developed a written form; they wanted to show that their language can be viable, that it is not mere "peasant speech".
Phonology
Morphology
Sondamian, like other languages spoken by Havleans, features an extensive noun class system. Nouns are grouped into "classes" based on what suffix they have. The class a given noun belongs to generally pertains to the characteristics of the noun, for example: nouns in Class I usually have to do with people and nouns in Class IV usually have to do with trees and wooden objects, but there are exceptions. There are a total of twelve noun classes in formal Sondamian, each with separate singular and plural forms.
A feature unique to Sondamian among Havlean languages is the extensive use of classifiers. Not only are nouns divided into classes, but different nouns make use different "classifiers" or "measure words" which are special morphemes that give more context to the noun, they are used as demonstratives and in counting. Different types of nouns use different classifiers, for example: the word tlédyę (speech; language) and other words relating to speech use the classifier shed (lit. mouth). Verbal classifiers are also used to measure occurrences.
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