Protolucidian languages
Protolucidian languages
Western Lucidian usage
Quasilucidian usage
Demilucidian usage
sparse Protolucidian usage
The Protolucidian languages are a collection of spoken and written minority languages, the usage of which is concentrated in eastern and southern Illuminatia. The major variants of the Protolucidian languages are used by only a minority of the population in these regions and these languages are not known to ever be used exclusively by any of their speakers. Protolucidian languages are instead spoken in complement of Illuminatia's common language, Glossa Communi. Protolucidian languages are used primarily as a "home" language that is spoken among family and familiar people for everyday informal interaction; these languages are rarely used for formal or public communication.
The Protolucidian languages are devolved from a constructed language that originated as a code language aboard the Lucidus mission. The umbrella Protolucidian languages are the youngest languages known to the Illuminatian branch of humanity.
Protolucidian languages are natively spoken by approximately 18% of Illuminatia's population, although this concentration increases to near 30% in regions of concentrated Protolucidian linguistic adoption. About 23% of Illuminatians—including native users—are able to understand at least one of the Protolucidian languages in a written and verbal context as well as write and speak the language. The languages are functionally understood by about 40% of Illuminatians. Protolucidian languages are taught electively in some primary schools, are printed in a small selection of alternative publications in regions of high adoption, and are broadcast on a small number of minor wireless and telekinephotography outlets.
The original Protolucidian language emerged early in the Lucidus mission, accumulating from an assortment of secret code fragments. It organically evolved from this disjointed and idiomatic convention into a cohesive code language.
Sub-languages
Protolucidian Major is the most-heavily spoken Protolucidian language, with native users primarily situated in an area from the Timmons Peninsula and into the Brookeview Bay region. The closely-related Western Lucidian is a lesser-used sister tongue to Protolucidian Major, with native usage concentrated in southwestern Illuminatia in a region centered on Requiem and the Southwestern Megalopolitan Complex.
Quasilucidian and Demilucidian are Protolucidian sub-languages with a distinct evolutionary history from Protolucidian Major and Western Lucidian. Quasilucidian usage is focused on the Modal Peninsula into the South Coast Megalopolitan Complex in Illuminatia's southeast, with large populations of users in Overture. Speakers of Demilucidian are found in northeastern Illuminatia in an area extending from the northern Galant Peninsula onto the Classical Peninsula and points north, in an including the cities of Für Elise and Beethoven as well as the Wolfgang Amadeus Megalopolitan Complex.
Linguistic institutions
Each of the four Protolucidian languages is overseen by a dedicated linguistics preservation and policing organization. Protolucidian Major receives oversight from Upmost Importance, Inc, based in Greensleeves. Western Lucidian is overseen by the organization Case And Point, Inc, located in Voyage a Deux. Quasilucidian is overseen by Escape Goat, Inc of Allegro and Demilucidian is overseen by Mute Point, Inc of Ave Verum.
Origins
Protolucidian originally was used discretionally among familial units and close acquaintances often merely for the purpose of informal private communications. Use of proprietary language other than official Glossa Communi, while not prohibited for private interaction for non-illicit purposes, was discouraged aboard the Lucidus mission because it was considered disruptive to long-term cohesive lingual comprehension. Nonetheless, these pre-Protolucidian lingual scraps were often used to conceal communications regarding forbidden or otherwise antisocial activities.
This collection of personal vernacular codes spoken privately aboard the Lucidus mission later homogenized into a loosely-developed non-regulated language shared among a significant minority of people for discreet communications. Aboard Lucidus, this language—eventually given the name Protolucidian—was shared as an oral tradition among close acquaintances and often passed down from parents to offspring.
Small variations in the Protolucidian language existed between the three Lucidus spacecraft, though the language remained mutually understood by speakers on all three Lucidus ships for the duration of the mission. Upon the landing of the Lucidus mission on the surface of Neonisi, these variations rapidly amplified themselves during the brief period that Illuminatia's multiversally duplicated populations endured a period of isolation. These variations quickly escalated to the point that Protolucidian usage in different regions developed a modest amount of mutually exclusive vocabulary and usage rules, though these regional sub-languages continued to remain mutually decipherable for the most part. These heavy regional variations established individual linguistic identities and eventually scholars classified them as different languages within the umbrella of the Protolucidian languages.
During the subsequent settlement and exploration of Illuminatia, usage of the Protolucidian languages eventually became more public and increasingly normalized in some regions, where linguists pursued fervent studies of the language to document its usage and recognize its cultural significance.
History
Early in the Lucidus mission, secret languages were developed on an ad hoc basis in efforts to communicate secretly or discreetly due to the possible perceived inconveniences or dangers of public or official detection of the meaning of some types of communicated messages between civilians. This code language allowed a perception of security among families aboard Lucidus in the event that the citizenry might need to communicate without decryption by Lucidian authorities and as a safeguard against the potential of abuse of absolute authority, oppression, or totalitarianism.
While a particular social unit's code language might be used only among a small closely-knit group of people, limited elements of a social unit's personal code language might be shared or seep into the lexicon of adjacent families and social units. Over time, this led to a homogenization of the secret language used among people who chose to communicate this way.
These informal code languages began to be taught to children by their parental units as a safety mechanism, allowing personal family communication in case of a dire situation requiring secrecy. By a point mid-way through the Lucidus mission, children were learning this unnamed language natively in parallel with their formal education in Glossa Communi. It wasn't until late in the Lucidus mission that this informal language was given the name Protolucidian by some scholars.
By the time Lucidus arrived upon the surface of Neonisi, the Protolucidian used aboard the mission had evolved into a well-established collection of linguistic elements universally understood by those who knew the language, with elements including vocabulary, syntax, and a loose grammar.
Contemporary usage
Upon arrival on the surface of Neonisi, the evolved Protolucidian languages enjoyed public use for personal and unofficial communication among a significant minority of citizens, but never emerged as an official language and has not been recognized for use in education, commerce, or civic and governmental matters. The languages are no longer especially associated with illicit or antisocial activities.
Students now may learn the Protolucidian languages electively in a minority of institutions across Illuminatia with emphasis on the languages' cultural and aesthetic contribution to Illuminatian society. Print publication and broadcasting in the Protolucidian languages primarily occurs in the east and south of the continent, though infrequent usage is detected throughout Illuminatia.
In everyday verbal and written usage, the Protolucidian languages are often interspersed with elements from Glossa Communi as a result of Protolucidian's status as an incomplete invented language. Protolucidian languages have a highly simplified structure compared to Glossa Communi, excluding many verb tenses that speakers of other languages might expect. There are syntactical structures, grammatical functionalities, and pieces of vocabulary that do not exist in the Protolucidian languages that are often substituted with Glossa Communi, although often the adopted elements morph and slowly get adopted into acceptable shared informal Protolucidian usage.