Antarian

Antarian (wāk antarihas) is an independent branch of the Maverico-Casaterran family of languages, native to Antari and neighbouring regions in Vinya. Its sole surviving member, Antarian, is the native language of most Antarians and is co-official with Anglian in Antari. The family contains other extinct languages such as Marallic, Capeatic, Cadialic, and Meyianic. The language is also spoken by minorities in other Vinyan states, where it is mostly unrecognized.

Antarian has the longest written tradition of any living Maverico-Casaterran language, having been attested more-or-less continuously for about 4,000 years on Antarian syllabary script and then the Alphabet, introduced in the 7th century BCE. Knowledge of the Antarian syllabary having gone extinct after the Alphabet's introduction, the script was rediscovered in 1784 but remained undeciphered due to its small corpus of limited subject matter. Anglian antiquarian Sir Edward Keen led the academic effort towards its decipherment in the 1890s and 1900s and conclusively demonstrated it as an archaic form of the Antarian language in 1910. It is often described as the sister to all other Maverico-Casaterran branches in view of its many archaic features.

The first millennium of the attestation of Antarian consists almost exclusively of personal names, labels, inventories, and transaction accounts. Occasionally, longer texts reflecting directions for craftsmen are found. The written record of Antarian experienced a notable enrichment under the Old Antarian Kingdom, during which literature is first set in writing, it being assumed that an oral tradition was normal both at the royal court and in communities.

See also

• Antari