Some interesting features are a rather interesting vowel system, a strange Cyrillic-based orthography, and a diacritic-free Latin orthography.
Confederation Slavonic, or Словѣнскы Iѣзык / Sloviensky Jiezyk (Slavonic), sometimes “Conslavonic” (*Консловѣнскы/Konsloviensky*), is the de facto official language of the Free Realms.
Brief description
Confederation Slavonic is a “creolized” dialect/descendant of the Interslavic constructed language, spoken as a native language by the approximately 1 billion inhabitants of the Confederated Free Realms of Svitania the Uttermost (Вольности Конфедеральни Свитанїе Найдальшей Vollnosti Konfederallni Svitanije Naidallszei), and as a second language by another approximately 4 billion. Alongside English, it’s one of the de facto official languages of the early 25th-century Confederation.
In-universe, it originated as a novalang championed by the Slavic elements of the League rebellion as an identity marker against the imposition of languages like the Russian-based UNISLAV. The original version, in keeping with the neo-traditionalist ideology of the rebels, had a conservative, “pan-Slavic” phonology and morphology (OOC: this is just "etymological Interslavic")
But by the 25th century a series of mergers and simplifications has led to a distinct Confederation Slavonic language, with some basilectal influence from other Slavic languages like Belarusian.
The main differences from Interslavic are:
- Merger of yuses and yers:
- *ě, *ę, *ė > ѣ /ʲɛ/
- *ȯ > ъ /ɤ/ [wɤ]~[ɤ]
- *ų > у /u/
- Iotated hiatuses transformed into gemination:
- *člověčji > чловѣччи
- *konji > конни
- Deaffrication and merging of the dž/dź series
- межународны mezsunarodny
- "Polish-like" alveolar stop palatalization and i/y neutralization
- сѣдѣчи siedieczy [ɕɛˈdʑɛtʃɨ]
- Note on orthography: even though there are only two phonemes i and y, Cyrillic script distinguishes between i/и/ы using morphophonemic considerations:
- и is the “unmarked” i, which is always used after consonants that lack a hard/soft distinction in native words (like ч ш к г х), regardless of the actual phonetic realization. In other circumstances, it represents /i/ as opposed to /ɨ/
- ы is the “hard” i, which represents /ɨ/ in environments where it can contrast with /i/, as well as in adjective declesion to indicate “hard” declension.
- Also marginally used in loanwords to force an [ɨ] pronunciation, such as in Iыптък Jyptwk, a placename loaned from an extraterrestrial adstratum
- і, when used as a vowel rather than a palatalization indicator, is used in the following three circumstances:
- To force an /i/ pronunciation in loanwords: АК Тоокаці-Къркланд Tōkachi-Kirkland Corporation.
- To avoid ugliness next to и or й: опій opium чій whose
- This generalizes to any ij sequence being written as ій, or ї next to vowels. Свитанїа Svitania
- Rather large number of declinable Latinate loanwords. In particular, there are a few s/t alternations borrowed from Latin that are not found in other Slavic languages.
- секуритас, секуритаты security
- либертас, либертаты liberty
- За нашы й вашы либертас!
- виртус, виртута virtue
- целестїaльны celestial
- Секуритатне Силы Премислїе Security Forces of Premislia
- Екклесїальна Унїа Кардашовскы Ecclesiastical Union of Kardaszovsk
Random in-universe stuff
Витамо въ Кардашовск - срѣдищно мѣсто Iужных Звѣздых.
Vitamo vw Kardaszovsk - sriediszczno miesto Juzsnych Zviezdych.
Наступна станицїа: Музей Кардашовского Наслѣдства
Nastupna stanicija: Muzei Kardaszovskogo Nasliedztva
Tower of Babel
И всiа земмiа имѣла iедин iѣзык и подобне слова.
I vsia zemmia imiela jedin jiezyk i podobne slova.
Але къгда лiуди прѣмѣстилисѣ из възхода, они нашли равнину въ краiу Шінар и онде осадилисѣ.
Ale kwgda liudi priemiestilisie iz vwzchoda, oni naszli ravninu vw kraju Szinar i onde osadilisie.