Puhi language
| Puhi | |
|---|---|
| Oheho Puhi | |
| Region | Sublustria |
| Ethnicity | Puhi people |
Native speakers | c. 150,000 (2020) |
Early forms | |
| Sublustrian Sign Talk | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | pu |
| ISO 639-2 | phi |
| ISO 639-3 | phi |
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Puhi (Oheho Puhi [oːhɛho ˈpuhi]) is Sublustrian language spoken by the Puhi people, a nomadic caste that lives across the Vehemens Ocean. It is generally categorized as a distinct Yocatullic language, derived from Early Central Yocatullic and closely related to the standard dialect spoken on Matuwahine. Most, if not all, Puhi are fluent in the language, but the vast majority of Puhi speakers are bilingual in Sublustrian Pidgin. Often compared to the Savaders of Euclea, the Puhi are an itinerant people, and their language is not the primary language used by any government. The Puhi language has the claim to be the world's only landless language, as its ethnic stock traditionally live on the ocean as nomads, and so their language is technically not spoken anywhere.
Due to the decentralized nature of the Celestial Empire and the relative isolation provided by the lifestyle of its speakers, the Puhi language has a relatively small, but very stable, population of speakers. The origins of the Puhi are mysterious and so the exact date of the language's divergence from Early Central Yocatullic is uncertain, but it is believed to have occurred no later than the 15th century. It is believed to have occurred before the division in Central Yocatullic of the liquid consonant, which was already complete in 1482 when the Celestial Isles was first recorded by Euclean explorers. Puhi also demonstrates the genetic relationship of Central Yocatullic to a common Old West Yocatullic ancestor, through its lenition of the liquid into /h/ in all circumstances. This demonstrates the same principles behind the weakening of the original Proto-Sublustrian /r/ as a recurring feature of the family; it also demonstrates that Early Central Yocatullic had an initial /r/ value in common with West Yocatullic and had not yet seen a reemergence of /l/, which would not weaken in the same way.
As Puhi tradition is largely oral, the Puhi language does not have a significant literary tradition. Some artifacts such as rods and signatures on some crafts bear examples of Puhi writing in Ronorono, but the language has more recently been written using the Solarian Alphabet, especially by foreign linguists and students of the Euclean University at Matuwahine. Some Puhi oral traditions have been written down in recent decades, and particularly different clan lineages, which provide examples of Puhi names, history, and legends that are made accessible to scholars outside the community. The Puhi consider their clan lineages to be a point of pride, whereas their ritual practices and incantations are instead treated as more secretive and guarded, so only certain types of elders and priests have been open to recording Puhi culture in writing.