Ovinex Gestural

The unique Ovinex morphology and cognitive set lend themselves to different forms of body language from the human-adjacent sentient species of the Manifold Sky setting. As an example of one such difference, an ovinex's hands each possess two meaty fingers and two thumbs, all of which are ensconced within protective keratinous shells evolved from the hooves of their ovine ancestors. Their feet are similarly articulate, though the digits are significantly stouter, shorter, and less nimble than the ones on their hands. Using these keratinous surfaces, an ovinx can make tapping and scratching sounds much easier than a human might.
In keeping with these differences, the Civil Ovinex in particular have developed a sign language for use when they want to share information that they feel their Rostran counterparts either wouldn't understand or wouldn't appreciate. This language is known as Ovinex Gestural (or Gestural for short).

Writing System

Ovinex Gestural intentionally does not use a writing system in the traditional sense of the term. To transliterate Ovinex Gestural, the speaker will simply write out the content of the conversation in Ba'a. While the language could be feasibly translated into most other languages, including Iuxat, it is generally consider a faux pas in the community of Ovinex Gestural 'speakers' to share messages in the language in any manner other than paraphrasing; the direct message was meant to be private, -perhaps even intimate - and the listener is expected to respect its confidentiality.

Phonology

The phonemes of the Ba'a language can be conveyed through their own set of gestures to 'sound' out words which have no Ovinex Gestural equivalent (see Vocabulary).

Vocabulary

Some gestures found in this language are universal to ovinex, such as a pair of hands held palm-up with thumbs extended meaning that the gesturer both means no harm but can also offer no help. Others are more specific to the language itself. In any event, the actual 'vocabulary' of the language is somewhat limited, with only around 250 unique root 'words' which are agglutinated through rapid strings of gestures to convey more complex topics. In this sense, Ovinex Gestural can be thought of as a mixed ideographic language.

Sentence Structure

The sentence structure of Ovinex Gestural is similar to that of Ba'a, although the ability to sum up concepts with one to three gestures instead of sounding out the words means that the chronological length of 'spoken' sentences varies significantly from the same sentence spoken in Ba'a. Ovinex Gestural is notably more terse than its Ba'a predecessor as well, vigorously paring back any extraneous words and boiling down concepts to single gestures if possible. For example, a speaker of Ba'a might say:

"This food is really good, and I would like some more please."

The same sentence in Gestural might be transliterated into just two gestures:

"Good. More."

Structural Markers

A conver sation in Ovinex Gestural is typically started with a 'lifting' motion made with two open palms. This indicates that the speaker is receptive to what someone else has to say, btu the silence of the speaker indicates that their conversation partner should also remain silent - in other words, they should respond in Ovinex Gestural.
A clause in Ovinex gestural is terminated with an upright open left hand which is then clenched shut. This gesture is kept stationary in space, however, as sliding the clenched hand further to the left indicates that not only is the speaker done talking but that they consider the conversation done for the time being - a potentially rude statement, depending on the context.