Päfan

There's not much to look at in a swamp. That is why, I believe, the Kivans got so bored they kept adding more letters to their words to pass the time.

— Kannan Zakaré, Hosque writer

Päfan is notoriously difficult to learn for outsiders. The language is full of long words, doubled-up letters, accent marks, and a case system that means every word has 8 variations that all affect the grammar around it. Although Jausai, the major settlement of the Kivan people, is a major trade hub, most Kivan merchants have learned Hosqun or Baanang, the major langauges nearest them, rather than hoping any travellers have learned their language.

Geographical Distribution

Päfan is spoken only in the Forest of Stars, by the Kivan people. It is very uncommon as a second languge, and the Kivan diaspora is not large.
When it pops up in distant locations, it often is used as a form of code. Scholars who learned the language as an intellectual pursuit might write private notes in it, confident that their peers will be unable to decipher it.
In surrounding regions, the name of the language is sometimes used as a shorthand for "something confusing and hard to understand". For example, a lengthy technical explanation in Aralia might be responded to with, "Sorry, I don't speak Päfan."

Syntax

One of the tricky aspects of Päfan is the loose sentence structure. The meaning of a sentence depends on conjugation and cases, and word order is used to demonstrate importance rather than meaning. An idea that would take multiple words in many other languages could be expressed with just one in Pafan - for example "vökoeis" means "child" on its own. "Mösvökoeis" means "You are a child".

Common Phrases

Insults

Toetaatri

Literally, "Fire speader". In a civilization based in the forest, wildfires are a deadly danger and arson is one of the gravest crimes. Accusing someone of being a toetaari is a serious insult, and when it isn't used literally, it means the person is irresponsible, unfit to live in their community, and stupidly careless.

Toefäetualmai

Literally, "bone fucker". A more poetic way of calling someone a whore, and a cheap one at that. The Lord of the Dead demands a gift from a deceased soul to be allowed into the afterlife, and a toefäetualmai is someone who has nothing worthwhile to give the skeletal god than a quick screw.