Western Imaguan Creole

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Imaguan Creole
Imakuakeol
RegionFile:ImaguaFlag.png Imagua and the Assimas
Native speakers
1 million (2011)
L2: TBD
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3iak

Imaguan Creole (imakuakeol) is the most common language spoken in Imagua and the Assimas. Developed during Geatish rule over Imagua and the Assimas, during which time it was attached to Eldmark, Imaguan Creole continued evolving following the end of Geatish rule over the islands, as it passed through control of several countries, including Etruria and Estmere. This left a lot of foreign influences on the language.

It is most closely related to the Vano Creole, spoken on the Eldish island of Vano.

History

While there has been evidence of earlier contact languages during Caldish rule, when Geatland took present-day Imagua and the Assimas and attached them to present-day Eldmark, Geatish-speaking settlers started to flow into the area. This led to the development of a pidgin language between the Geatish settlers and the indigenous Arucian population.

By the late seventeenth century, the pidgin started to develop as a creole language, especially by the surviving Arucians, and the halvras population. However, when Estmere conquered Imagua and the Assimas in 1658, the creole began to spread, partially as slaves brought in adopted the creole, as it was the mother tongue used by the majority of the population at that time, but partially because of the continued economic ties to Eldmark, despite the fact that colonizers often tried to block trade with Eldmark.

While other pidgin languages were being formed on the islands, as various colonizers each tried to rule over Imagua and the Assimas, what would become Imaguan Creole was incredibly dominant, primarily due to the trade with Eldmark. This allowed the creole to be widely used by both slaves and sailors.

In the nineteenth century, as Etruria and Estmere colonized Imagua and the Assimas, they began to implement policies to crack down on the creoles and pidgins, and instead require that they learn Etrurian and Estmerish respectively. This led to a situation of diglossia, which continues to persist to this day, where Imaguan Creole became known as a language of low prestige, while Estmerish and Etrurian were seen as the more prestigious languages, being used in media, in education, and by government.

After independence, Imaguan Creole was still looked down upon, as it was viewed as being less prestigious than either Estmerish or Etrurian. Well into the 1980s, Imaguan Creole was not taught in schools, and policies were made to prohibit its use in schools and in the media.

Since the 1980s, however, this attitude has been changing: Imaguan Creole is starting to be used in television interviews, on radio, and is even being used in Nursery and Reception classes, as well as special education classes in both primary and secondary courses, while classes are offered at both the University of Cuanstad and the Università di San Pietro in Imaguan Creole since the 1990s.

Phonology

The phonology of Imaguan Creole is simpler than the phonology of the Geatish language, which served as the lexifier language for Imaguan Creole.

To this end, unlike the Geatish language, which has seventeen vowel phonemes, Imaguan Creole only has eight vowel phonemes, those being /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /a/, /o/, /ʊ/, /ʊ/, /ʏ/, and /œ/, with no vowel lengthening or shortening.

Consonant-wise, the phonology is exactly like that of the Arucian languages spoken in the area, indicating that Imaguan Creole had been vastly simplified compared to Geatish.

Grammar

The grammar of Imaguan Creole is largely based off the native Arucian languages spoken by the indigenous Arucians. Thus, the grammar follows the Arucian verb-subject-object (VSO) order.

However, it is substantially simpler than the Arucian languages. While the Arucian languages, such as Nadi and Imaguan had up to seven possessive prefixes, there are four possessive prefixes in the Imaguan Creole, those being da- for my, ba- for your, wa- for our, and de- for either his or him, her, or their.

For verbs, all verbs are in the simple present tense, and with the simplification from the old Arucian languages, it has resulted in there being only na- for I, ba- for the singular you, ha- for he, she, they, or them, and wi- for we and the plural you.

An example is the sentence meaning "they are fishing." While in Geatish, it would be written as "de fiskar," in Imaguan Creole, it would be written as "hafiska."

Orthography

The most commonly used orthography for writing Imaguan Creole was one based off the Estmerish language, devised by Edwin Wensley in 1911. While he wanted to create an orthography that was "as similar to Estmerish as possible" in order to get children to learn Estmerish more easily, he also wanted to make it simple so that "one can understand what sounds go to which letter," if only for the benefit of colonial officials.

While there were some orthographies developed around the same time, most notably the orthography developed by Ulberto Perro in 1906, with the aim of Etrurifying the language, after the end of the Solarian War, the Wensley orthography became the de-facto standard for writing Imaguan Creole, and by the 1970s, linguist Addolorata Viale reported that "with the exception of diary entries of some old people in the Assimas, Creole is written with the Wensley orthography everywhere."

Vocabulary

Estmerish loanwords

Creole Geatish Estmerish Etymology
bas buss bus from Estmerish bus
Esme Östmer Estmere from Estmerish Estmere
komputa dator computer from Estmerish computer
lit hiss lift or elevator from Estmerish lift
masin maskin machine from Estmerish machine
napi blöja diaper or nappy from Estmerish nappy
peni penny pence or penny from Estmerish penny
siling shilling shilling from Estmerish shilling
tali spårvagn streetcar or trolley from Estmerish trolley
tasi taxi taxi from Estmerish taxi
tiwi tv television from Estmerish TV

Etrurian loanwords

Creole Geatish Estmerish Etymology
abika fabrik factory from Etrurian fabbrica
ako äreport triumphal arch from Etrurian arco, meaning arch
esta fest party or feast from Etrurian festa
Etuia Etruska Etruria from Etrurian Etruria
mamo marmor marble from Etrurian marmo
otostada motorväg motorway from Etrurian autostrada
lepublika republik republic from Etrurian repubblica
sitadin medborgare citizen from Etrurian cittadino or citidina
uniwesita universitet university from Etrurian università
wila plantage plantation from Etrurian villa, meaning manor

Indigenous vocabulary

Creole Geatish Estmerish Etymology
adanalu flygande fisk flying fish from Imaguan adanaru, meaning flying fish
pepiti orkan hurricane from Imaguan pepeito, meaning hurricane or wind
hewe orm snake from Imaguan hewe, meaning snake
Imakua Imagua Imagua from Nadi Imagua, meaning little middle place
kuweki papegoja parrot from Imaguan kureweki, meaning parrot
minkun potatis potato from Imaguan minkon, meaning potato
muna hydda hut from Imaguan muna, meaning house
wato brand fire from Imaguan wato, meaning fire
wupu att gömma to hide from Imaguan wupu, meaning mountain
woli mor mother from Imaguan woryi, meaning woman

Geatish vocabulary

Creole Geatish Estmerish Notes
abet arbete work
ban barn child
bot båt boat
buka bruka farm
bebi bebis baby
buk bok book
bul bror brother
dak dag day
dop dop naming, christening, or baptism Geatish word for naming is namngivning
er ö island
Elmak Eldmark Eldmark
em hem or hus home or house Geatish word for house is hus
ha far father
ham hamn port
hatu fartyg ship
hawel adjö bye from Geatish farväl, farewell
hes häst horse
Hey Hej Hello or Hi
hika kyrka church
hikoko kyrkogård graveyard or cemetery
hukita förgifta poison
bek kulle hill or mountain from Geatish berg, meaning mountain
kwito kvitto receipt
Kud Gud God
lud flod river or stream Geatish word for stream is ström
makna marknadsföra or marknad market or mall Geatish word for mall is köpcenter
mat måltid meal or food from Geatish mat, meaning food
sista syster sister
skate skatter taxes
sku skog forest or jungle Geatish word for jungle is djungel
skula skola school
stad huvudstaden capital city came from Geatish for city
stand strand beach
wan vagn wagon or carriage
wek väg road
yob jobb job

Other loanwords

Creole Geatish Estmerish Etymology
bat låda box from Gaullican boîte
ekan skärm screen from Gaullican écran
he chef boss from Gaullican chef
kala vän friend from Ghaillish cara
Kalika Galia Gaullica from Solarian Gaullia via Gaullican
Kitian Östland Caldia from Ghaillish Glítteann
kitambi branding branding from weRwizi chitambi, meaning stamp
kowsa koiatska Coian from Ziba gauza zebiumhi via Estmerish gowsa
latin badrum bathroom from Gaullican latrine
met slavägare slave owner from Gaullican maître, meaning "master"
nekikepe förvisning banishment from weRwizi nechikepe, meaning "to sail"
watu bil car from Gaullican voiture
ue att slå to beat up from Gaullican fouet, meaning whip

Numbers

The numbers for one and two in Imaguan Creole come from the Imaguan, while all numbers from three upwards come from Geatish. From ten upwards, it is organized, with the word for ten, twenty, et cetera being placed prior to the number. Thus, eleven is tiyu-aban. From one hundred upwards, the word unda is placed before the number, so 159 would be unda-hemti-niyu. From the thousands, tuse is placed before the numbers: thus, 2019 would be bian-tuse-tiyu-niyu, and so on.

Creole Geatish Estmerish Etymology
aban ett one from Imaguan aban
bian två two from Imaguan bian
tele tre three from Geatish tre
hula fyra four from Geatish fyra
hem fem five from Geatish fem
sis sex six from Geatish sex
hu sju seven from Geatish sju
ota åtta eight from Geatish åtta
niyu nio nine from Geatish nio
tiyu tio ten from Geatish tio
huko tjugo twenty from Geatish tjugo
teti trettio thirty from Geatish trettio
oti fyrtio fourty from Geatish fyrtio
hemti femtio fifty from Geatish femtio
sisto sextio sixty from Geatish sextio
huti sjuttio seventy from Geatish sjuttio
oti åttio eighty from Geatish åttio
niti nittio ninety from Geatish nittio
unda hundra hundred from Geatish hundra
tuse tusen thousand from Geatish tusen
milyun miljon million from Geatish miljon

Common phrases

Creole Geatish Estmerish Notes
Abet naha. Jag jobbar här. I work here.
Ba insi na. Jag älskar dig. I love you.
Bahunkik? Är du hungrig? Are you hungry?
...bapata? Pratar du...? Do you speak...?
Bo naha. Jag bor här. I live here.
Du bama? Hur mår du? How are you? Commonly shortened to Bama?
Dekosta wad? Vad kostar det? How much is it?
Hodyu! God Jul! Merry Christmas!
Kalad niya! Gott nytt år! Happy New Year!
Koti namakna. Jag ska gå till marknaden. I'm going to the market.
Kosta tiyu silingi. Det kostar tio shilling. It costs ten shillings
Lont a...? Hur långt är...? How far is...?
Tuka bati? Tyckte du om din vistelse? Did you enjoy your stay?
Wa bafan? Var kommer du ifrån? Where are you from?
Wa latin o? Var är badrummet? Where is the bathroom?
Wad banam? Vad heter du? What is your name? Commonly shortened to Banam?