Aurlûnoren language

NOTE: the language is currently under rework and most linguistic information is subject to change.

The Aurlûnoren language (Lhûkuět for spoken, Lhûpár for written) is the primary tongue of the Celestial Elves of the Aurlûnor Velande. It is the de jure official language of the state, as all government actions are conducted in it, and it is the de facto language of most of the country save for its border provinces.

Origin
The language itself is a pidgin, arising from the combination of the various tongues of the Guren (Aurlûnoren: "ancient people") and the language of the first elves to move into western Rathnir from nearly 11,000 years ago. Due to the longevity of elven lives, their language changed very little from before their migration to the time of the pidgin language's synthesis despite thousands of years in between the two events.

It is thought that the writing system used in Aurlûnoren, the logographs known as párzì (文字), originated among guren communities in ancient times. Comparative linguistics studies between Aurlûnoren and other elven languages in Rathnir have attempted to reconstruct a proto-elven tongue, and from this many words' origins can be pieced apart into elven and guren groups. From these studies, it appears that the various guren languages, or at least one of them, used párzì to write, and this method of writing was later adopted into Aurlûnoren by the elves as it formed. However, this theory contradicts the commonly-held belief that the elves of the ancient Kingdom of Ardol created writing themselves.

Vowels
There are roughly 5 vowels, many with slight variations, for a total of at most 9. Note that multiple vowels may be combined into one syllable, as in 日 aur or 語 kuět.

Tones
The Aurlûnoren language is tonal; as such, the tone of the word may affect its meaning. There are four tones: the high, flat tone ā, the rising tone á, the drawn-out downward- and-up ǎ, and the quick falling tone à. Not all words are tonal, however, and they are pronounced "neutrally".

Vocabulary
This is an incomplete list; addition of terms is open to any user who is a verified citizen of the Aurlûnor Velande on the Stoneworks server.