Languages of the Federal Constellation

The three official languages of the Federal Constellation are Standard Average Federal Constellation (SAFC, or simply Constellar), Low Celestial, and Standard Equatorial. Federal laws are made available in all of these languages, with Constellar as the authoritative version. In additon, there are over eighty actively used languages indigenous to the Constellation. Due to the physiologies of the Constellation's species, all of these are sign languages— the Fungoids are deaf and the Insectoids do not have a sophisticated vocal tract, though they have particularly acute hearing.

Constellar has the most speakers, and is used primarily in government, trade, and communication among multiple species. Constellar is a creole language adapted to the physiologies of both the Insectoids and the Fungoids, and is widely regarded as a compromise language. In other contexts, local languages such as Low Celestial (for Insectoids) and Standard Equatorial (for Fungoids) are preferred.

The official writing system for Constellar is Constellar script, which combines elements of the Low Celestial and Standard Equatorial logographies. It is possible to write both Low Celestial and Standard Equatorial in Constellar script, though it is generally not preferred.

The biggest problems arise when translating Constellation languages to and from spoken languages. Since Constellation languages developed for millenia without contact from spoken languages, words without obvious semantic meaning (like names) are often untranslatable. Although "fingerspelling" methods exist, there are a variety of competing methods for languages of different phonologies and orthographies, none of which are standard.

Names

When translating names from spoken languages, if the semantic etymology of a name is recoverable, then translators sometimes use the literal meaning of the etymology (e.g. "Silvia" would become "Forest" from its Latin etymological root, "silva"). Otherwise, translators may translate it using a word spoken language that's phonetically or orthographically similar, or they may substitute it with an entirely unrelated name sign. There is no consensus among translators regarding which method to use.

The translation of name signs from sign languages of one species to another (e.g. Low Celestial to Standard Equatorial) can also be challenging due to physiological constraints. Name signs are often adapted to the phonology of the target language without regard for meaning, although this can make the translation unrecognizable. Since logographic writing systems are dominant in the Constellation, and new logograms do not get created for name signs, names are usually written using their etymologies (e.g. a single name sign combining the signs STRONG and FORTUNE would be written using two characters). For this reason, translating the meaning of the name to the target language directly is also common. The latter strategy is also used for translating from name signs into spoken languages.

Constellar is a creole which evolved from a pidgin formed after Communion, the first contact between the Insectoids and Fungoids. It is adapted to the physiologies of both the Insectoids and the Fungoids, meaning that features typically seen in languages indigenous to the Constellation's home planets are absent, such as Insectoid languages' antennae movement and Fungoid languages' complex tendril shapes. For these reasons, Constellar is widely regarded as a compromise language, and a "simplified" language by those who oppose its influence.

Nonetheless, Constellar occupies an important role in the Constellation, as it is the Constellation's most widely spoken language, and is often necessary in government, trade, and inter-species communication. In schools, it is taught alongside a local language and is the primary language of instruction in higher education. In joint colonies, such as Prosperity, the cohabitation of multiple species makes Constellar the primary language.

Constellar script

Constellar is written in Constellar script, a logographic writing system with diacritics primarily written from top to bottom. To represent simultaneously articulated morphology, common in sign languages, lexical logograms are accompanied by grammatical diacritics. "Extended" variants of the standard Contellar scripts can be used to write the Constellation's other major languages which include glyphs for morphemes which do not exist in Constellar.