Star languages
The Star languages are the aboriginal languages of the dark-skinned Sukuna peoples who inhabited the central tropics of the continent of Rilola prior to the arrival of the other dark-skinned tribes such as Hipatal, Pabahais, etc, as well as the blonde, light-skinned Mumba people. The most famous tribe later formed the Star Empire; however, the Stars were just one of more than a dozen such tribes; the other tribes mostly blended with the Mumba settlers whereas the Stars stayed isolated. Even the Star Empire had mostly switched to speaking the Gold language, however, so the Star languages had been nearly wiped out by the year 1900 AD and today survive only in placenames.
Phonology
A typical vowel inventory is /a e i o u/, but some just had /a i u/.
A typical consonant inventory is that of the Southwest dialect:[1]
Labials: p m Alveolars: t n l r Velars: k ŋ h
NOTE: This inventory was previously much larger. It is possible that it could be restored partially by assuming pharyngealization (as in Tapilula) that was initially part of the syllable and could occur after any consonant, but later became restricted. This introduces a minor continuity problem, though, as Tapilula lost its pharyngealization before the migrants ever discovered the mainland. Thus there would be two families doing the same thing at the same time with no connection between them.
It is possible that the codas are /l r m n ŋ h k/, similar to but not identical to Gold.
Grammar
Star languages were SOV, like nearly all other languages of Teppala. However, the grammar of the Star languages was less fusional than most, and there were more small words in each sentence to play with.
Cultural contacts
Many Stars married into the Lenian families, meaning that in later periods, the Lenians of this area such as the Players were slightly darker than their original close kin, the Dreamers. But actually, this was primarily due to intermarriage with Andanese and not with the Star aboriginals. On the other hand, the Stars also married into Andanese families.
Notes
- ↑ originally used Ekwĕbe, but that is so far from the Star homeland that it might have spoken an effectively alien language. Note that the Stars only claimed the Ekwebe people were of Star ancestry.
