Old Piscean language
The term 'Old Piscean' is used to describe Piscean language (between 2005 and 2007) that is in any way dissimilar to the modern dialect. Old Piscean technically has several stages and was changed by Anderson rapidly. However, few records of the language remain and it is currently understood to have had two or three major transitions, the first of which is barely mutually intelligible with modern Piscean, while the last of which is closely related. Old Piscean was always written using the Latin alphabet, before the introduction of the Andersonic alphabet, which defined a new age in the language.
Early Old Piscean
Early Old Piscean, then referred to as Gallifreyan (G'ow'lufrën) after the name of the protagonist's home planet in the popular science-fiction programme Doctor Who, was an extremely basic variety of the language. It began as the fictional 'vulgar' language of the Time Lords in Anderson and Dearden's abandoned novel Wasporella, one of the only remaining sources that proves Gallifreyan's existence. Mostly, it appears to be a creole of modern English vocabulary, with some invented stems and influences from Romance languages; in the novel from whence it came, Gallifreyan was supposedly the result of the Festaran conquest, a race of aliens who had observed cultures on Earth, especially enjoying British mannerisms, and had been inspired to alter their language.
From Wasporella is the following excerpt of early Old Piscean text:
'Ne G’ow’lufrëän réfömiä foЋ < À’de’löd Inplaçä Gég Zil > skrip’ine: William Shakespeare foЋ Ongliä, Barg Brætannik, Yö’rûps, puЋ Teπniä, à ne Lûdöniä Likwæ’sek’ine: Täm Seköndriäkën Nundiä’fondät’air’ëä, tiam’ine: IV:00;00. Réligën y’ow’l’air’s cuπ Krövën’déçæ’berЋä! Öd lokäti’de’biß inkluçä Frarnäçëä, D’oy’cëä, RûЋëä, IjiÞëä, Chinnëä, JiÞänëä, Östarlëä, Harbor’ore Ajäçënsë-ύ foЋ Annërikä, Jumäkä, nes Méksikö. Skrip’ëlög’ine, ne puЋ Sakörëä, Pökävil, Dash’tæt, Içæn Kaßuذl, nes Olëänfäkëä. Ermendä a’ow’l’airs tu réçæ elög dat.'
This text reveals many features of early Old Piscean. Of particular note is the frequent use of apostrophes. The primary reason for this is due to 'sound units': these are groups of letters that make a widely-used sound in the language, almost becoming letters themselves by being isolated from surrounding letters. Sound units from the excerpt include 'ow', 'ine', 'air', 'oy' and 'ore'; these units are all considered members of the Old Piscean alphabet, which also consists of:
a à ä b c з d e é æ ë f Ћ g h i j k l m n o ö p Þ q r π s ß ç t u û v w y z ذ
The exact phonological values of these letters cannot be completely determined. Note that some letters are corrupted and do not match their original values: for example, з is a double C, Ћ is a double F (or TH), Þ is a double P and π is a double R.
While the excerpt resembles an English creole, some original compounds have been made. For example, observe the word 'likwæ’sek’ine', which is derived from [likwæ ('liquid']+[sek'ine ('section')]. This word is translated into English as 'river'. It shows that early Old Piscean was heavily dependent on apostrophes, not only to make new 'letters' from sound units, but also to separate words in compounds.
Some words in Old Piscean have different meanings from those in English from which they were produced:
- réfömiä - from 'reform' > 'adaptation'
- réligën - (probably) from 'realign' > 'treat' (verb)
- ajäçënsë - from 'adjacency' > 'state'
- ermendä - (possibly) from 'amend' > 'contact'
- elög - (probably) from 'elong' > 'more'
- dat - from 'data' > 'information'
Piscean also incorporated a dash as a significant linguistic device because the language had no standalone verb translated as 'to be'; it merely had the word 'nee', which meant 'it is'.
Old Piscean would eventually become a functional, albeit limited, conlang in its right, aside from Wasporella.
