Dialects | Pimzarblan | 9 | Conlinguistics

Within this island at the center of a large, industrious empire, there are dialects spoken in various parts, whether on the coasts or at the very center.

Outback Pimzarblan

As can be expected of languages that become isolated via geography, they retain their original form and experience little change. As such, Outback Pimzarblan is the most conservative of the dialects, since it retained the very same Pimzarblan spoken before Umbsquodsen\’s time. A way to determine that, of course, would be to see how closely they resemble the proto-Pimzarblian words, as much as Icelandic words resembled Old Norse words, spoken by the original Vikings who settled on that island.

So, instead of making use of the inchoative case and the deontic auxiliary verb (should), Outback Pimzarblan tends to use the word kspenz. It functions in the same role as \”should\” and \”to make/become\” in this dialect–and perhaps proto-Pimzarblian. While this dialect maintains periphrastic modality, unlike modern Pimzarblan dialects, it also makes use of a more extensive verbalizer system, one that incorporates time but also space. As such, the locative nounal suffixes in modern Pimzarblan would have been originally locative verbal suffixes.

Ananzugweixpo rim zamzed

He always tends to walk to that (close by) cave

What ultimately makes Outback Pimzarblan a dialect, rather than a separate language, is the fact that it continuously maintains contact with the rest of Pimzarblan society. While they do have features of proto-Pimzarblian, their syntax is the same as modern Pimzarblan, and there is no sound difference. An Outback Pimzarlban may speak to a Golden Pimzarblan speaker from the capital Umbsquodsenalsp, and while the Golden Pimzarblan speaker may have delay in his response, he can nonetheless understand what the Outback Pimzarblan speaker is saying.

They live along the semiarid desert frontiers, straddling between both the vegetative coasts and the desert center. It is only within that desert center that a separate language more related to proto-Pimzarblian than Outback Pimzarblan is spoken.

Zerngs Pimzarblan

What makes this language distinguishable from Golden Pimzarblan is the usage of lexicon pertaining to land and soil. It is another tropical forest biome just like the southern part of the island. This part also receives iron-rich sand from the sand-storms from Central Eindasquing, but unlike southern dialects which tend to have fire-related lexicon, this part tends to have earth-related lexicon.

It is for that reason why this dialect is called Zerngs Pimzarblan–or Earth Pimzarblan.

Since the eastern woodlands would produce a lot of lumber for building materials, then it would make sense that a lot of terms and even phrases would be related to the soil and the trees.

The sentence: \”For a moment, we must find that (in the distance) stolen hunting spear\” would be translated as:

Einjengwalbos rorm dsi:lmzitagelngwalng randi

Or: \”For a moment, we must dig that hunting spear that was (at that moment) buried around\”

A subtle difference that speakers of Eastern Pimzarblan make when using the verb \”to dig\” depends on the adverb. This is similar to how Golden Pimzarblan makes use of locative nounal suffixes to distinguish degrees of love. In this dialect\’s case, \”to dig…around\” means \”to find\” since the action of digging is not literal, whereas \”to dig…up\” specifically refers to the literal act of digging.

Another dialectic difference is that the word \”to bury\” is the synonym of \”to be stolen.\”

Thrazelb Pimzarblan

This dialect is spoken in Southern Pimzarblan Island, which contains the lush forests that are fed by the red dust storms that come from Central Eindasquing deserts. Because of these red storms, this dialect is called the Thrazelb Pimzarblan dialect, which the latter means \”fire-colored\” or simply \”Red Pimzarblan.\”

It is also the one place, beside Umbsquodsenalsp, where Banchin traders travel from the Central Eindasquing desert to trade their goods. So, there is lexicon derived from their language.

Like Zerngs Pimzarblan, Thrazelb Pimzarblan relies on lexicon derived from fire- or storm-related words.

• +itabulng: calling/summoning adj. [lit. that-(tends to)-smoke]
• +itaninqua: unknown, adj. [lit. that-(tends to)-cloud/that-(tends to)-storm]
• +quorthrazorpankermo: business-eager, adj. [lit. who-(tends to)-burn-to-a-way]; also panke comes from the Banchin word meaning \”way/path.\”
• tornothraz: to have lofty goals [lit. to have fire]

Orit\’talnx Pimzarblan

This is where the savannas of Pimzarblan are primarily located.

It is also the place where most foederati from the Urtoblalps post-colonies and the Koldein Island-Serpent tended to migrate towards. As such, there are plenty of loanwords that are rooted in the Koldeinian language family found in the basic vocabulary.

Examples include:

• droi: euphemistic term to refer to a temple prostitute of the love goddess Eirdbrin [derived from Sifis drohai meaning \”woman/lady\”]
• seis: battle/skirmish [derived from Sifis aseis]
• gar: war-spear [derived from Sifis gar]
• thur: castle [derived from Ka\’aden thur meaning \”castle\”]

It is also where kangaroos tend to populate the savannas. It is for that reason why this dialect is called Orit\’talnx Pimzarblan–or Kangaroo Pimzarblan.

Ozangei RingRoad-Tongue

This is spoken along the iron-road that connects Northern Pimzarblan Island to Western Pimzarblan Island. It was built by a son of the World-Emperor Ksumarndo I during the latter\’s reign. Instead of taking the title of heir like his brother Anxifulto, Odosanglo decided to dedicate his life to creating a wealth stream towards Umbsquodsenalsp from the equally wealthy Northern part of the island. He wanted to be able to establish a large ring-road that connected Pimzarblan\’s coasts, but alas, he died before he could ever see it happen. The mandate of the ring-road would be undertaken by his descendants, who would eventually become converted to the cult of the god of travels.

They are the ones who hold the monopoly over the road-caste, whose professions include road taxes and patrols. It was also the Ozangei, as they would become known, who modified their own dialect, including those who work under them. Some say that they speak an entirely different language, almost as though it is a cipher, used among them in order to covertly sway any invading armies into an ambush; others say they themselves can easily outnumber the war-wolves that roam Umbsquodsenalsp. But it was Ozangei Gormo, leader of the Ozangei of Northern Pimzarblan, who said in Golden Pimzarblan that \”Hangsa anzurandiquangso rim sudombs, za undsud ormbs anjaquangso tamovio¹.\”

Of course, in the Ozangei dialect, he repeated:

\”Hana a:zu quan gwenzo randi ri-zudong, za u-zud orz a:nja quan gwenzo tan.\”

As it can be seen, the Ozangei rely on syntax rather than inflection, since the words are in strict order, with root verbs appearing first and modifiers and auxiliary verbs following afterwards. Since there is a strict syntax, there is no need for ergativity since it is understood what is at stake. There is also an abundant reliance on [z] and [nz], since it replaces the [s], [ds], [ngs] and [nz] sounds. The negation root is reduced to the prefix u-. While the first vowel in a sentence is tonally emphatic, it is the first vowel in verbs that get tonally emphasized.

This change by the Ozangei becomes easy for the road-caste to communicate quick messages. The dialect is also easy for foederati who work in highway patrol, since Pimzarblan is not their first language.

Umbsquodsenalsp Market-Tongue

This would be the type of dialect that would be spoken by the masses in the capital city Umbsquodsenalsp. It was said that the golden city was a fortress that used its own walls to blind possible invaders. Of course, that is bit of an exaggeration, since the city was built by limestone rather than gold, though the history behind it can inform why such a belief came to exist in the first place.

To provide a brief–as brief as possible–history behind this city, it started with Umbsquodsen Ksorezo I, the founder of the Umbsquodsen Dynasty, who was granted a vision to spend 100 years building an illustrious city upon the mine which the orichalcum would be used to build it. Assigning the giant Nariam\’eu and the dwarfish Thoirthewarb to work the mines, the city itself grew with the population for all those years.

It was completed during the reign of his great-grandson Ksumarndo I. This was also around the same time that the Ozangei Ringroad would commence building. Even before the ringroads connecting the two regions, Northern Pimzarblan were still attracted to the new capital enough to travel there.

As can be expected, there are a lot of word and grammatical loans, typically from the Nariam\’eu and the Thoirthewarb. You can hear them spoken throughout those yellow-bronze platforms-upon-platforms.

Examples include:

• bedi: road [derived from Thoirthewarb bedi]
• dildombathalbusa: conduit [derived from Thoirthewarb dildionbathnalbwusawa meaning \”light-movement\”]
• mawariod: nation [derived from Thoirthewarb mawanarioth meaning \”nation\” or \”people-world\”]
• nathramata: ship [derived from Nariam\’eu nafriamata meaning \”sea-pig\”]
• nstroth: golem [derived from zoitoroth meaning Thoirthewarb \”rocky back\”]
• Thoirthewarb: Thoirthewarb people [derived from Thoirthewarb Awa-Thoirathelawa\’arb meaning \”they who have beards\”]
• yelngusang: work/productivity [derived from Thoirthewarb yerangwusang meaning \”work/productivity\”]
• yarm: king/emperor [derived from Nariam\’eu yaram meaning \”of a kin\”]

Some of these words did seep into Golden Pimzarblan, however most of them were relegated to the marketplace or the ports.

Golden Pimzarblan

If you have followed the series up to this point, you are probably familiar that the Pimzarblan dialect that is specifically discussed is of the Golden dialect. Features of this dialect include temporal and momentaneous verbalizers and locative nounal suffixes.

Nothing much to comment on except the history of how Golden Pimzarblan supposedly came to be. It started with Umbsquodsen Ksorezo I\’s children being taught only in Pimzarblan, as opposed to the native Loshin that his family of refugee royals spoke. The dialect that they were taught was only spoken in western Pimzarblan Island. While Ksorezo I was more concerned with building his new kingdom and less concerned with learning the bare minimum of Pimzarblan, his children would eventually produce the prestigious dialect that was originally relegated to the fringes of the island.

Other Dialects?

Of course, there are other dialects of the language spoken in many of the Umbsquodsen post-colonies. However, the main focus at this point is on Pimzarblan Island proper.

Source

• Curzan, Anne and Michael Adams. \”How English Works: A Linguistic Introduction.\” 3rd Edition. Pearson. 2012.

Footnotes

1. \”A woman can always walk around this island, and not one hand can ever touch her.\”