Zurkali

Overview

The Zurkali language is an ancient language spoken by the Zurkali people, a plant-based sapient species native to The Verdant Rainforest in what is now The Couvalon Kingdom of northern Suriima. It is the oldest known language on the continent, pre-existing exploration onto it from Aldenian civilisation, and a foundational root of the Suriimese tongue, which emerged as a convergence of Zurkali, the Old Tongue and Ancient Elven, brought by early elven settlers.

Zurkali is a concept-based language, conveying meaning of larger ideas in short terminology.

Features

Zurkali often avoids using descriptive clauses. Instead, they construct single-word terms that encompass certain phenomena. For example 'maku' means 'the first bloom'. This results in an evocative vocabulary, where each word is steeped in spiritual meaning.

The Zurkali language also avoids connectives like 'of' or 'and'. Possessive or associative structure are instead formed with an apostrophe. For example, the Zurkali's most sacred grove is called Kamoh'Talak'arn', which means' The Cradle of the Verdant Beginning'. There Kamoh and Talak'arn are regarded as two terms connected by a further apostrophe. Deciphering which apostrophe means is tricky for external students of the language, but often the way to discern is to follow which words are capitalised.

Zurkali naming convention follows suit, which each individual named after a singular concept or idea such as Talak'cho'Maku, a professor at the Diamond Assembly, whose name means 'Verdant Echo of the First Bloom'.

Role in Modern Times

The Elven language in particular blended quite naturally with the Zurkali language, linguistically, whilst the Dwarven language is surprisingly similar in its conceptual nature (forgoing longer phrases for simple terminology). Ancient Elven and Dwarven were the root for the Old Tongue, so the early settlers found their language combine with Zurkali ideas when learning how to survive in the region. This lead to the Suriimese language, which take all of that into account.

Whilst not endangered, the Zurkali language is not commonly spoken outside the groves. Scholars at the Diamond Assembly in Ellaluna study the language as part of preservation efforts, especially as Zurkali have a presence amongst the Assembly - a few exist amongst their ranks. However, true fluency is incredibly rare amongst non-Zurkali, as it is difficult to master the conceptual nature to know what term conveys which idea.

Idioms

• When the root sings, the branch must listen - An idiom that essentially means to respect your elders.
• The vine forgets the sun, but not the soil - An idiom that means that means no matter what happens in a given day, to not forget your roots or foundation.
• To crack to seed before the season - An idiom that has many alternatives across the world, to act prematurely.