Najer (language)

The Najer Language is the language of the Najer people and the Emirate of Najer. Najer is linguistically isolated from its neighbors, not sharing any common ancestry with Asarāvijāyan, Klobir, nor Asteri. However, it contains many cognates from languages all across Rathnir, due to Najer nomads "collecting" and adding words to their own shared lexicons. It also has several dialects across Najer, which vary slightly, but are all mutually intelligible.

Script
The modern Najer script has developed over a long period, upwards of 10,000 years. Ancient Najer people in Qwarakan developed a system of runes, which would be carved into soft and porous sandstone, resulting in harsh, rigid lines on most of the characters. It was consequently known as the Ha'Gemakeh (literally stone script). The exact shape of the alphabet shifted throughout the years. Originally, many sounds were represented through diacritics and alternate characters, but over time many of these fell out of use in favor of others.

Around the year 2 AB, increasing centralization of power combined with diverging scripts prompted a team of scholars based in Najera'jad to develop a modern and standardized version of the script, which was more flowing, less complex, and better suited to parchment and ink. It used the most common or base forms of each character and sound. It was slow to gain widespread acceptance, however, and it took several decades before it became the standard from roughly 70-80 AB.

Dialects
Two major dialects were prominent in the past- one in the east, Shim-Kesir (the "Nahrayn dialect") and one in the west, Kem-Sasal (the "Najera'jad dialect"). Both are derived from an older, unified variant called the Kem-Rehal, the direct descendant of the ancient script. Kem-Sasal was commonly spoken from the time of the Sterling Crownlands, followed by a gradual shift starting around 69 AB. This was the year that the ancient script was finally fully re-translated, allowing for corrections to be made. This change caught on more quickly in the more developed east, leading to the Shim-Kesir's dominance early on. Kem-Sasal retained a small foothold for some years before dying out completely only being spoken by scholars or members of the older generation. Shim-Kesir then became the baseline for the language.

However, with both literacy and population increasing in Najer in recent years, other dialects and variants have begun appearing in various Najer cities, such as Hadu'jira and Kigea'jad.

Influences
Najer takes some inspiration from the Asteri language, mostly via borrowing of words not present or uncommon in typical Najer speech, such as "slave" or "citizen." Smaller influences can be seen from Plagosi languages like Asarāvijāyan and Sakuran, and more recently, Klobir, as Simulami culture has become more accepted in Najer in modern times.

As scholars have researched more into Najer's linguistic roots, they have found cognates in Aldoviri, Syltoren, and even Havenite languages. These relationships are deeply embedded into the Najer language, suggesting that they were imported long ago by Najer's traveling nomads and traders. The Najer love of traveling has led to this history of "collecting" words from other languages continuing even in the modern day.