Tellusian

The name "Tellusian" is given to the the language spoken by the original inhabitants of Johorne, before the Global Cataclysm occurred. It is clear that many languages were present on Johorne, by both the archaeological evidence and the linguistic evidence at hand. However, there seems to have been a language used globally above the other languages. This language seems to have shared some characteristics with the other languages on Johorne and probably came from off planet as a language used in administration throughout Humanity's realms. Much data has been found about the language from what archaeology has uncovered, and so the language has seen some success in its decipherment.

Theories

There exist several theories about this language. One is that it is the progenitor of the other languages that were found on this planet, before they, too, developed into the languages that now litter the linguistic landscape. This is one of the earlier of the theories and came about only shortly after it was discovered that Johorne is a Colony. For those at the time, it presented a reasonable explanation for the similarities seen between the many languages on Johorne. In the modern day, however, the theory has been largely abandoned.
A second theory suggests that the language in question is the dominant language of the homeworld, from which the colonists who arrived on Johorne were from. Further elaboration suggests that the homeworld is, or was, home to several, or even multitudes of, languages. Through linguistic genetics or from contact with one another, these languages came to share many features with each another. Of these, this so-named "Tellusian" language was the dominant one on the planet and was thus used for administration and inter-linguistic dialogue as a sort of lingua-franca.
The third major theory about "Tellusian" is that it is some sort of amalgam of several languages, or even a pidgin or creole. This theory is currently the strongest as it has some advantages over its fellows. The first theory, that being that "Tellusian" is some sort of progenitor language of all of the other evidenced languages is largely now abandoned, overcome by the other two. The second theory meanwhile, that the "Tellusian" language is, or was, simply the dominant language among the many other languages doesn't account for the strange similarities that the other languages evidenced languages share with it. It clearly share greater similarities to a more limited number of these languages, however it seems almost as if it had drawn out certain parts from even the more dissimilar ones. That those languages also share particular vocabulary with "Tellusian" might also evidence towards this theory. Some, on the other hand, claim that this may simply be the borrowing of certain new words between all of the languages as new words are needed for interstellar life.