Erani-Eracurans
| Erani-Eracurans | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Siduri and Eracura |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primary language families |
| Proto-language | Early-Erani-Eracuran |
| Subdivisions |
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The Erani-Eracurans were a prehistoric ethnolinguistic people who spoke the Early-Erani-Eracuran Language (EEE); the ancestor to the Erani-Eracuran language family that is forms the largest language family in Tyran.
The Erani-Eracurans most likely originated in central Siduri and were a continental people, lacking root words for "boat" and "sea". While their exact homeland is uncertain, the most likely candidate would by the steppes of southern Arkoenn, forming sometime around 5,000 BCE. By 4,000 BCE they had spread out across Siduri and crossed the Sundering Sea into Eracura. The Erani-Eracurans quickly became the dominant linguistic group in Eracura by 2,000 BCE, the most prominent being the proto-Nordic/Gothic tribes that would eventually form the Acreans, Shalumites, Æþurians, Delkorans, and Dellirians. Sometime prior or concurrent to this the more sea-faring of the Erani-Eracurans split off and went west and east, the former likely moving north-west to the Arzells, and eventually Ossoria, while the others went east to settle Megelan and Cacerta.
An alternate theory posits that the Erani-Eracurans originated in southern/central Eracura, before migrating south across the Sundering to Siduri. This would explain the relative scarcity of Erani-Eracuran languages in Siduri, which are only naturally dominant in Syara. Nonetheless substantial numbers of Erani-Eracuran language family speakers reside in Tennai, Mansuriyyah, and Gylias. Concrete proof of the origin of the Erani-Eracurans is virtually impossible to discover with complete verification. As nomads they left little behind for archeologists to discover, leaving historians to deduce their origin based on estimations of language evolution and migration patterns neither of which can be accurately measured to a credible degree of certainty.
The Erani-Eracurans likely succeeded due to their early domestication of the horse, which allowed for easier and faster travel across large distances. Determining what paths the Erani-Eracurans took in their migrations, or long the migrations lasted, can only be estimated. This also holds true for the rate by which their language diverged; it is estimated by around 4,000-3,500 BCE the Early-Erani-Eracuran language had splintered into multiple groups. The largest of these was likely the proto-Nordic family, which settled western and eastern Eracura. Proto-Ossrai/Cacertian split and diverged in different directions around 2,000 BCE. Proto-Svinian/Syaran emerged around 2,500 BCE, splitting from Proto-Siluan and migrated into south-west Eracura.
In Siduri two primary groups emerged, the proto-Erani/Ridevan and proto-Khotoi/Hayren. The Erani and Rideva split off between 3,000-2,500 BCE, the Erani settling central Siduri and Mansuriyyah, while the proto-Rideva settled around modern day south-west Tennai. The Khotoi and Hayren split early on after arriving in Siduri, with the Khotoi settling west of the Kurilla Mountains in modern-day Ruvelka, while the Hayren spread out across south-western Siduri, including in some parts of Nalaya. Despite their relative infrequency in Siduri, the Erani-Eracurans were highly successful. The Erani would inspire and form many empires, arguably the most prominent being the Sardaranian Empire which dominated most of western and central Siduri throughout the 1st Millennia BCE. The Khotoi would split off into several tribes, the most prominent being the Aleitians, from whom would descend the Makedonians. The Rideva would eventually form their own empire, and from 200 BCE - 1200 CE most of Siduri would be controlled by groups descended from the Erani-Eracurans.
Despite their immense impact of history, little is known for certain about the Erani-Eracurans; their entire existence is only known based on linguistical studies of their daughter languages. The Erani-Eracurans left no distinct writings of their own, and as a nomadic people their archeological remains are rare. Much of their culture remains a mystery beyond their knowledge of agriculture and domestication of the horse. The history of the Erani-Eracurans remains limited and is often supported by circumstantial evidence and assumptions on the part of linguists and historians. There remains a great deal of academic debate and controversy over certain aspects of the Erani-Eracurans, such as the link between the Khotoi and Hayren peoples. Another ongoing debates centers on the Ruvelkan language and its possible relationship to the Erani-Eracuran family, which has not been established to any significant scientific consensus.
Erani-Eracuran language families
There are several branches within the Erani-Eracuran peoples speaking dozens of languages. Erani-Eracuran speakers dominate Eracura with small pockets belonging to smaller language families or language isolates such as the Saldian language of Silua-Saldia. In Siduri, the Erani-Eracuran peoples and languages were very often influenced by other Siduran language families. An example of this can be seen in Tennai were they show substantial influence from the Dravi peoples and their languages.
Deva Peoples and Languages
The Deva language family is a branch of the Erani-Eracuran language family spoken primarily in Tennai and the Jalandhar Region between southwest Tennai and southeast Nalaya. In Tennai the group comprises of three separate languages and their dialects. Hallatti is the most widely spoken of the three languages with approximately 11.42 speakers in Tennai and X speakers outside of Tennai. Speakers of Hallatti occupy southern Tennai and the Jalandhar Region. The Korkhali language and Ramtapuri comprise the other languages of the Ridevan family spoken in Tennai. Korkhali, with approximately 3.26 million speakers in Tennai, is primarily spoken in the kottam of Korkha in north-central Tennai and surrounding regions. Ramptapuri, with approximately 1.63 million speakers in Tennai, is spoken in the kottam of Ramtapuri which borders Melaskana.
After the split of the Proto-Erani/Ridevan branch family, the proto-Ridevan peoples settled in the areas of south-west Tennai and eastern Jalandhar along the Kallappa River. These Proto-Ridevan speakers established major urban centers along the length of the Kallappa River and are named the Kallappa Valley Civilization by modern archaeologists. The period of the Kallappa culture lasted from approximately 3300 BC - 1300 BC and strong Kallappa influence can be found throughout south-central Siduri.
The language or languages throughout most of the of the Kallappa period are poorly attested and remain untranslated. The oldest attested form of the Proto-Deva branch, Chalic Kankrit, of the Erani-Eracuran language family is attested in the Chalas compiled over the period of the mid-2nd millennium to mid-1st millennium BC. It was orally preserved, predating the advent of writing by several centuries.
Classical Kankrit, unlike Chalic Kankrit which was far less homogenous, was a highly formalized language. The formalization of Kankrit is often credited to Pramadvara along with Bhadra’s and Suyashas’ commentaries that preceded Pramadvara’s work. Pramadvara composed Aṣṭādhyāyī (“Eight Chapter-Chapter Grammar”). The century in which she lived is unclear and debated, but her work is generally accepted to be from sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. The period of Classical Kankrit was between approximately 700 BC - 1350 AD by which time it had ceased to be a vernacular language. Classical Kankrit does persist as an important liturgical language of the Hahtta, Jain, and Buddhist faiths of Tennai.
By the 3rd-century BC several languages known as the Ralkrits had become the dominant vernaculars of the lower classes while Classical Kankrit remained the language of the elite classes. It is commonly believed that these Ralkrits share an ancient lineage due in part to Chalic literature containing words whose phonetic equivalents are not found in other Erani-Eracuran languages but which can be found in the regional Ralkrit languages. The period of the Ralkrit languages was approximately from around the 3rd-century BC to the 8th-century AD.
The Dravi languages that originated in northern Tennai borrowed from the Kankrit vocabulary but also impacted Kankrit on deeper levels of structure. One example is in the domain of phonology where Ridevan retroflexes have been attributed to Dravi influence. In particular, it is believed that Old Samil influenced Kankrit. There is a general consensus among linguists that Samil and Kankrit derived their shared conventions, meters, and techniques, from a common source for it is clear that neither borrowed directly from the other.
By the period between 9th and 10th-centuries AD the various regional Ralkrits had developed into the early forms of Hallatti and Ramptapuri while Korkhali developed from the Askoli group of Ridevan languages. By the end of the Rideva Empire in the 14th-century AD, these early forms had evolved significantly and had developed a rich literary tradition outside that of Classical Kalkrit. Prior to and after the fall of the fall of Rideva Empire, Hallatti received influences from Erani while the Korkha and Ramptapuri languages continued to evolve with minimal outside influence.