The Ozolithian Language

The Eldritch Language

I welcome any feedback on this. It's been rough getting it all together and it is still missing so much. I've neglected words in the dictionary as many of these things are still a work in progress. Any problems, contradictions, or even general "Hey, that won't work" kind of issues would be more than appreciated.

A language of small words

The Ozolithian Language is one that started out artificial, naturally evolving as time went on. It was a gift to the people of Ozlith from their gods. Few speak it in the present, but those that do find it to be a fascinating subject of study. The language was created to be efficient, containing few words that have more than one syllable. The language featured two written form, one for formal use and the other for all other situations. The former is far more interesting as it is an eldritch language that embeds itself in the mind. One doesn't always need to know the language to understand it when read.

With functions like flux vowels and syllabic emphasis, Ozolithian has an emphasis on simplicity and efficiency. Syllabic emphasis is the major contrast between this language and others. Words are broken down into individual syllables which can be used on their own or with other single syllable words that create a new word entirely when combined. When written, the language does not put spaces between words and instead puts spaces between key parts of a sentence or between two complete thoughts.

An example:
Oz: god or gods
Lith: general, often Platonic, love. Usually reserved for family (see Fun Fact: Let Me Count The Ways)

Fun fact: the lands that the gods love

The term "Ozlith" is the only time you will see the word "lith" used in the language. The people of Ozlith simply didn't use it, constructing a new word to mean platonic or familial love. This decision came from the desire to honor the The Living Gods of Ozlith who the people worshipped heavily in their earlier years. The word also drops the Ozolithian word for land, which is even more peculiar for a language devoted to specifics. "Ozlith" is unique and the only word of its kind in either version of the language.

The basics

Sentence clusters

Sentence clusters are what the language revolves around. Many words nails with your language have one syllable. Many other words in the language have multiple syllables and can be created by combining single syllable words to create a new word, the word Ozlith being a prime example. Ozlith can be spaced from other sentence clusters without punctuation or capitalization because it is not only a complete sentence, but is also a single word that can be used as a noun.

Ozolithian has two different sets of both written and spoken language. Formal Ozolithian is the language in its purest form, being the form handed down by the gods of Ozlith. The informal was created due to a combination of changes, both intentional and naturally occurring, that altered the language's original form for many reasons.

Informal

At the height of the Empire, the informal form of both spoken and written language were far more common, the formal being problematic in many ways. The informal is often easier to learn because it relies on fewer abstract concepts, and can be written using standard forms of text using the Ozolithian alphabet.

The informal is far less focused on contextual information, making conversations easier to have because you can say exactly what you mean, instead of having everything you say and what is spoken to you become a puzzle that needs to be solved by those who don't speak the language.

It's more adaptive and evolved much in its time, later becoming the basis for most human language in the present and is a fundamental ingredient in Com'mon, the most widely spoken language in the world.

Differences

• Has no Arcane effects

• This allows for variations and dialects since you don't have to be as precise with the rules.

• This does not have any freeform qualities.

Pros

• It's much easier to learn, especially since most languages spoken in the present have evolved from it.

• Not Hazardous

• This continues to grow and evolve in Lartasia where the language is still spoken.

• This features a much more diverse and complex lexicon where new words can be added, often borrowed or vaguely altered from other languages.

Cons

• This cannot be used to achieve Arcane effects.

• Evolves rapidly to the point where a dialect can often appear like an entirely different language.

• Rarely used in the present day outside of Lartasia and The Provinces of Mhirriah .

Formal

Formal Ozolithian has a different set of rules, as well as a different set of symbols representing letters. It allows for personalized forms of those symbols in one's own writing. These personal symbols would later be known as sigils and can bring forth arcane effects in speech as seen with Ozolithian Axioms.

The formal language is cumbersome and in some cases unhealthy to use. Formal Ozolithian is the only other form of viral language seen in the history of the world, the first being the language of the Alfen Ancestors.

One can understand the intention behind Formal Ozolithian words and feel the emotions behind them, but cannot understand what it means without knowing how to read and speak the language, causing mental strain that can result in insanity.

Differences

• Free form for those who are fluent,

• This relies heavily on accuracy in the rules of the language

• This has arcane effects

Pros:

• When heard or read by somebody who is equally fluent, you will never find your words taken out of context or misunderstood.

• This can be used to achieve more powerful Arcane effects in axioms and sigils

• Personalized alphabets, so long as they are kept consistent with next to no variance when writing, can almost guarantee that whatever is that you are writing is going to be kept secret and can be used as a cipher.

Cons

• Difficult to learn

• Potentially dangerous when heard or read by those not fluent

• Becomes stagnant overtime due to its inability to grow and evolve, making translation difficult.

Note: the differences between the formal and informal are not fully expressed in this article. Formal as lithium will get its own article discussing the specific rules of the language as well as its writing. The remainder of this article will only discuss rules that only pertain to the informal variant animals that the two forms share.

Fun Fact: Lartasian Language

In the nation of Nations, commonly referred to as Lartasia, the informal variant of a language grew and evolved to such a degree it's practically a different language in and of itself, although it follows the same rules. Looking at a word in both languages that mean the same thing can sometimes confusing, as it's hard to determine how the word of all the overtime. Some words have nothing in common with their root, and linguists who study both languages refuse to state that Lartasian is a variant of Ozolithian.

Spelling & Phonology

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop				t d			k
Fricative		v	θ ð	s z	ʃ		x
Approximant				ɹ
Lateral approximant				l		ʎ

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid		o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ ʌ
Near-low	æ
Low		ɑ

Phonotactics (WIP)
C= All consonants V=all vowels Possible word structures: CV VC CVC CCVC CVCC CCVCC	Flux Vowels never appear before or after the same vowel phoneme in a word. Words with adpositions must place the adposition next to a consonant.
C= Consonant inventory:d k l m n s t v x z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʎ θ V=Vowel inventory: i o u æ ɑ ɔ ɛ ɪ ʊ ʌ	Illegal Combinations (WIP): (kl), (tv), (tv), (nl), (ml), (dl), (ms), (ns), (ðn), (ðm), (ðk)

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary opened the door with a key.

Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun they reference in a single cluster.

Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable in formal Ozolithian, but Informal Ozolithian varies depending on the speaker as different groups in the empire improvised stressing while learning to speak.

Due to the Vigor Economy Ozlith used for millennia, Ozolithian never developed more than a few ways of adding tense. Formal Ozolithian has no recognition of time, and since people in the empire could potentially live indefinitely, there was no need for placing importance or to indicate their relevance in future events for the informal as well. The culture of Ozlith was heavily focused on the present as well. Past events do have a sense of importance but words were already in place to indicate past events. just as there were for future events. As such all words in both forms of the language are considered present tense unless one of these specific words are present in the statement.

Indicating past- Lox (Losh, like wash): A state of time in the past, used to achieve the same effect as "Before" in English. Attaches to a sentence structure to indicate the sentence is discussing past events.
Indicating future - Borit: (Boar-eat) A state of time in the future, used to achieve the same effect as "later" or any other method of indicating events that occur beyond the present.

Possession

Due to a focus on the non-physical aspects of existence, especially at the height of the empire, the anti-materialistic values of Ozlith are expressed in their language. There is no method used in Ozolithian to indicate true possession and ownership. The closest one has is -in (een as in seen), a sentence specific suffix that is placed at the end of a single thought or sentence to indicate the following sentence is an element or product of the subject in the first sentence. As an example, no Ozolithian would say Ozolithian Language. They would say "Ozolithim Dezon." The term "Ozolithian" was expressed as "Ozlithim." This indicates the following sentence or thought is a product of, or an element of the subject: Ozlith. Dezon is a sentence cluster that means:

Dez(Dehz as in Desire): manner of or method of...
On (Awn as in yawn): speech or speaking

If one was to say "Ozolithim Dezon," they are not saying Ozlith's language nor are they saying Ozolithian language. Both of those statements imply ownership of language. They legitimately believed that the language wasn't theirs. This cultural thinking is what helped them absorb so many different ethnic groups into the empire.

What they are actually saying is hard to translate into English due to the emphasis we have on possession. While you are not wrong in the fact that this is Ozlith's language, the closest translation is by taking the subject and using it In a prepositional phrase but with "in" as "of" indicates possession.
"The way of speaking in the land that gods love." or "The language spoken in the land the gods love."

Spelling

Pronunciation	Spelling (ENG)
u	ú
æ	à
ð	th
ŋ	n
ɑ	á
ɔ	a
ɔ	o
ɛ	e
ɪ	í
ɹ	r
ʃ	x
ʊ	ó
ʌ	u
ʎ	y
θ	th
S	c

Dictionary

6 Words.

Spacing and capitalization.

When writing in either form of the language, there are rules for spaces included, where punctuation is used, and when you would have a "Capital letter."

• Capital letters are simply a slight variance to the original character in the alphabet. This variance is a line drawn through the character indicating the start of a new sentence or a separate thought. Proper nouns are not capitalized automatically.

• Spacing occurs between two sentence clusters or between two specific sentences. "Ozlith" is a complete thought. Due to its peculiarity in the language it means "The land/people the gods love" or "The land/people loved by the gods." Since its meaning is in itself a single sentence it can be kept separate since the entire "word" can be used as a proper noun to create a more complex sentence.

by Nils on Unsplash