Junda Language

Junda, often called Old Junda, is an Iskean language which was once spoken throughout the Junda Isles, Perudd and the Junda Coast.

Isolated dialects are still spoken in remoter parts of the Junda Isles, but it has largely been replaced by Hartraan, the language of Harthera. In the past century there have been attempts to revive the language as Modern Junda, but this has been resisted both by the authorities and by conservatives for whom local variants of Old Junda are their first language. Today Junda is spoken by about 40,000 people, though it is only a first language for a fraction of these.

Junda is an East Thalsic language historically spoken by the peoples of the Junda Isles, off the north-east coast of mainland Harthera. Following waves of migration from the islands beginning in the 1st century ME and the founding of Harthera, it has since merged with Saloyan to form the modern Hartheran language, Hartraan.

Junda is considered a harsh, barking language by mainlanders, lacking bilabials (p,b) and sibilants (ss, th, sh). It is spoken open-mouthed with short and long guttural vowel sounds. Modern scholars theorise that the language evolved to be comprehensible and unambiguous at sea, over the roar of gales and storms.

Differences in language caused a great clash of culture between the invading Junda islanders and the indigenous Saloya. When the Junda conquered Saloya they considered the Eloyun language to be soft, sibilant and decadent. They also considered Saloyans to be crass and insulting; the Saloyans’ inability to use the correct modes of Junda respect and deference often caused violence. In turn the Saloyans considered the Junda as slow-witted, brutish, ignorant and parochial, lacking imagery and artistry in their language.

• k, g, h, n, t – as standard
• l only appears in the middle of words, usually to separate vowel sounds
• -s only appears at the end of words, and is partially voiced.
• -dn appears mostly as an ending, spoken as a d followed by an elongated nasalation.
• zh – as in fusion

Verbs can take three tenses, however only the present tense is used in everyday speech. The time of any action is indicated by additional words specifying when the action happens, eg. I sleep, I go sleep now, last night I sleep, tomorrow I work, I see you later, I do it yesterday. This entirely reflected Junda philosophy in which there are three times: the ever-past, the right-now, and the ever-now.

The ever-past is a historic or ‘narrative’ tense, used exclusively when telling stories or recounting collective history. Similarly the ever-now relates to stories either about prophecy to come, or describing the world as it has and always will be. Both have their own narrative modes of address which are distinct from everyday speech. This narrative mode of oral history was considered to be the highest form of Junda art.

Despite their simple tense structure, verbs have a complex inflectional system based not only on the speaker, but indicating a level of deference to the listener. This system reflected the highly formalised codes of deference found within Junda warrior society. There are therefore 21 pronoun inflections, as follows:

Respectful indicates a deferential attitude towards the listener. Superior indicates that the listener is subordinate to the speaker. Familiar is used with family or close friends, or when speaking with equals. Additional terms can be employed to indicate utter submission, close familiarity, or contempt.

Junda society had a complex tribal hierarchy so that using the correct level of deference or superiority was an essential skills. Using the wrong mode – being familiar or condescending to a superior, for example - was a tremendous insult, which could result in violence and death.

Junda inherits a stock of gendered words from Thalsic, but they became increasingly redundant in everyday speech, save for in the narrative tradition where they were used with great artistry. However in general, places and items in the woman’s sphere of land and home were feminine (house, home, port, plate, knife, field), those in the man’s sphere of ships and the sea (sky, sea, boat, hook, net, sail etc.) were male. Over time this fell away with most inanimate objects becoming neuter (as in Hartraan), although current dialects of Old Junda tend to be more conservative.

The Junda had an ingenious hand-counting system, which was vital to their system of inter-island trade. By using their two hands and feet like an abacus, they could count up to 1305, more than sufficient for day-to-day calculation.

The system is base 6, with the right hand counting multiples of 6, the left hand counting units. 1s are counted on the left hand first, up to 5. 6 is the thumb of the left hand (or 1 rightfinger), with a closed left fist (6=10base 6).

Using two hands, with all fingers extended, you can count up to 35, (55^base6), which was usually sufficient for domestic use. However, Junda traders all had foot-loops into which their toes could be inserted, for counting higher numbers. Left toes counted multiples of 66 One left-toe and two closed hands is therefore 100 base 6, or 36. One right-toe, no left toes and two fists is 1000 base 6, or 216.

All fingers and toes extended gives 5555^base6, or 1305. Numbers beyond that were counted in multiples of this.

The Junda calendar was also calculated using base 6.

Many items including baked goods and bottles were sold by the “crate”, 20^6 or twelve, since round objects like bottles or bread cobs pack neatly in multiples of twelve.