Repilian languages
The Repilian languages were a large and internally diverse macrofamily of languages spoken across the land of Repilia, spreading across the northern half of the continent of Rilola on the planet Teppala.
The Tapilula language name for Repilia was either Yèḳi or Yèbi.
Despite their diversity, all Repilians were extremely feministic cultures, and the traits of their languages came to be seen as indicative of feminism and female empowerment.
Phonological characteristics of the Repilian languages
Vowels
Large vowel systems... either /aeiou/ or /aeiouə/. No tones however.
Consonants
Repilian languages often have multiple series of velar consonants, which affect the pronunciation of surrounding vowels. However, different consonants only appear where they are acoustically distinct in isolation. Thus, for example, there is never a distinction between a true velar-labial [w] and one that is slightly further front or back; however, distinctions of this type among stops are common.
Gender
The Repilian languages are famous for their extremely female-dominated society, and this is reflected in their grammar. Males, when allowed to speak, are forced to use longer forms of words and to avoid certain words; and males are lower on the animacy hierarchy than women and even some animals, so Repilian sentences about males are also affected. Some traits that appear in various Repilian languages are:
- Male speakers are required to attach evidential morphemes to every noun in a sentence, aside from their own body parts; for example, where a woman says "the book", a man must say either "the book I see" (if speaking to another male) or "the book you've shown me" (if speaking to a female). These evidential morphemes are also used by women when they are not sure what they are describing.
- Same as above, but applies only to objects of the feminine gender; for example, a window may be feminine, and therefore men must use the extended forms of the word when referring to it, but a chair is neuter, and therefore men are allowed to use the women's word for chair by itself.
Contact with foreign languages
Contact with Bābākiam
Contacts with the male-dominated Swamp Kids led the Repilians into their politics, and the Repilians shifted from one alliance to another as rapidly as all of the other armies in their conflict, sometimes helping the Swamp Kids and at other times fighting them. The Swamp Kids came to call the Repilian stronghold between 32°N and 36°N Yuptaāvum.
