Languages in Malaszec
Although Malaszec’s main language is the Malaszec language, the country has many speakers of other languages due to its history. The most used spoken languages used in Malaszec are all part of the Malaszec language family, including Malaszec Feyspeech and Dwarven Vernacular Malaszec. The latter arose due to language contact during the dwarven migrations from Erothena, sharing features from the languages of the Erothenian dwarves. Due a higher frequency of deafness in the southern faerie wards, especially in Dovreija and Rescija where the ambient mana level is low, there is a large Malaszec signing community. Malaszec Feysign is distinct from Serszec Sign Languge, which developed independently in Serszec among humans and elves.
Malaszec language family
The Malaszec language family contains all the most widely spoken languages in Malaszec, including the country’s official language. The languages in this family are split into the Northern Malaszec languages and the Southern Malaszec languages; the northern languages include Malaszec and various Elvish minority languages, while the southern branch only has one surviving language, Malaszec Feyspeech.
Malaszec
See also Malaszec language
The Malaszec language is the official language of the country and the most widely spoken. Official documents from the government are always written in Malaszec first, then translated to the country’s other official language, Malaszec Feyspeech. Because of its ubiquity in daily life and in business, almost all residents of the country speak Malaszec. Malaszec is written with the Latin-derived Malaszec Alphabet or Malaszec Braille for the blind.
Andeijan
See also Andeijan language
The second official language in the country, Andeijan (aka Malaszec Feyspeech), is used primarily in the southern wards among faeries. Despite its status as one of the official languages, even in the faerie wards Malaszec Feyspeech it is not especially common. In the faerie wards, the official education curricula, which are used by ward schools or borrowed for homeschooling, promote and teach Malaszec Feyspeech. The language became one of the official languages during the formation the Malaszec People’s Republic as a condition for the Faerie territories being absorbed into the country, and has retained its status through the dissolution of the Communist state.
Elvish minority languages
Aside from Malaszec, the Northern Malaszec languages also contains various elvish languages that form a dialect continuum with Standard Malaszec. Many of these languages were more distinct before the various states that unified the Malaszec humans and elves, but have since become closer with increased contact and the dominance of Malaszec in the country. There are some communities working to preserve the heritage of their elvish languages. Some controversy has arisen about whether these languages should be classified as dialects of Malaszec, as they are to some degree mutually intelligible and come from a common ancestor.
Dwarven Vernacular Malaszec
Considerable language contact happened after the dwarven migrations from Erothena, forming a creole. Over the years, the process of decreolization occurred leading to the current form of Dwarven Vernacular Malaszec (DVM). It is mutually intelligible with Standard Malaszec, and is regarded by some in the country simply as grammatically incorrect Malaszec. In reality DVM has its own matured grammar, with many features found in Erothenian dwarf languages. It is typically used among dwarves in casual contexts, but generally never in formal ones due to stigmatization in the country.
Sign languages
There are two major sign languages in use by residents of Malaszec, Malaszec Feysign and Serszec Sign Language, each having developed independently of the other. The Malaszec Federation for the Deaf (MFD), an organization for the advancement of Malaszec sign language, is often consulted by the Chamber of Commerce for matters regarding accessibility for the deaf. In particular, the MFD is in part responsible for the convergence of vocabulary between the country’s two sign languages. Although the two language’s grammars are not compatible with each other, the MFD tries to align the citation form of new words in both languages so that they are at least similar. Because of this, it is sometimes possible for signers of one language to glean the gist of what signers of the other is saying.
Malaszec Feysign
The higher rate of being born deaf in the faerie wards led to a significant signing community, especially in the Dovreija and Rescija where lower ambient mana levels increases this frequency. Humans, dwarves, and elves born there are not affected in the same way, although many of these people living in the faerie wards learn Feysign anyway. Feysign originated in Andeija, the historical center of Malaszec faerie culture. After the forced relocation of many faeries to Dovreija and Rescija during northern invasions, incidents of faerie deafness grew. Until the middle of the Communist era and the Dovreijan Boom, most deaf faerie children were sent to Andeija where the deaf schools were by the government for their education. These individuals brought back the Feysign native to Andeija, which spread Malaszec Feysign across the faerie wards.
Virtual Reality Malaszec Feysign
In the early stages of consumer-level virtual reality, motion tracking technology could not capture all the phonemes of sign language without being prohibitively expensive. Despite this, a flourishing online virtual reality deaf community arose and new conventions were adopted as a workaround to the limitations of technology. In particular, non-manual signals and complex hand shapes were difficult to get across using the technology of the time. Since the Malaszec faeries constituted the largest deaf community with access to online VR, the modified Malaszec Feysign became the lingua franca of deaf VR users. These collective modifications became grammaticalized, forming what linguists call “Virtual Reality Malaszec Feysign” (VRMF).
At the time VRMF was most divergent to standard Malaszec Feysign, the language had been acquiring loanwords from other sign languages around the world thanks to the cultural exchange that online VR provided. Phonemic wing movement was either reduced or eliminated by some signers, similar to how non-faerie signers of Feysign in the real world ignore wing movement due to lack of wings. As motion tracking technology improved, VRMF started to converge back to standard Malaszec Feysign. However, due to ease of communication with international signers and as a matter of unity among the deaf VR community, VRMF did not disappear and continues to be used.
VRMF has influenced standard Malaszec Feysign and Serszec Sign Language, as vocabulary from VRMF has made its way to both languages outside of VR. In particular, many signs describing VR gaming mechanics and loanwords from foreign sign languages came to the standard Malaszec sign languages through VRMF. Usage of signs and grammar more common in VRMF has also been used among deaf gamers as a means of self-identity.
Serszec Sign Language
Serszec Sign Language developed independently from Feysign and is used primarily among the humans, elves, and dwarves. It was developed in Serszec where, similar to Feysign, deaf schools were and deaf children were sent for their education. The grammar of Serszec Sign Language and Malaszec Feysign is incompatible, although increasing vocabulary convergence makes it easy for signers of one language to glean the gist of utterances made by signers of the other language, at least in comparison to other sign languages.