Andamonian language
| Andamonian | |
|---|---|
| Nahaaihandé | |
| Native to | Andamonia, Trellin, Txekrikar |
| Region | Astyria |
Native speakers | c. 71 million (2015) L2: |
Placeholder
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Andamonia |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Andamonian is a Perendic language native to Andamonia. It is spoken as a first language by most Andamonian people but sees only small use outside its native country.
Old Andamonian developed on the Olahu Peninsula and the southern shore of the Bay of Komekli in the first millennium and was one of several mutually intelligible Olahan languages. The economic preeminence of such city-states as Teraxi Yú caused Old Andamonian to become the lingua franca of the entire Andamonian coast; by the ninth century, it had displaced all other Olahan languages. Its ubiquity can be seen in its being the main administrative language of the First Dynasty, centred on Zadé Axochizin, more than 200 kilometres south of the Olahan heartlands. The empire was the vehicle by which Andamonian became the dominant language of modern-day Andamonia, almost to the exclusion of other languages.
Old Andamonian was written in a glyphic script with phonemic orthography; the Andamonian alphabet consisted of over one hundred individual, and generally monosyllabic, glyphs. Many originally corresponded to a single concept (for example, tla meaning great), although such exclusivity was often, and rapidly, lost as Andamonian encountered and assimilated other languages. The glyphic structure and alphabet promoted a retention of distinct syllables and discouraged lenition. This alphabet was displaced in favour of the Latin alphabet in the sixteenth century, by which time an official standard for Andamonian existed, promulgated by the imperial administration, which allowed modern Andamonian largely to retain its phonetic integrity.