So, as we’re all pretty well aware, the Germanic (or Almannic) languages are currently among the most widely-spoken languages in Pacifica. Even if we take out Austral, that still leaves possibly more than 300 million people in Pacifica that speaks some form of Germanic language as a first language.
This opens up an incredibly interesting door for shared diplomatic, cultural, and linguistic worldbuilding among Germanic speaking countries, especially since the majority of Germanic languages seem to have its origins in Cordilia, making a shared linguistic history plausible. With that in mind, I’d like to start some form of discussion on this.
@s
I will include everyone I know of who’s country predominantly speaks a form of Germanic language (excluding Austral/English for now), or alternatively are a part of the Alman Group as either a member or observer. If you roleplay as a Germanic-speaking country but aren’t mentioned, don’t be shy to join in
So, this is the temporary classification I came up with based purely on my observations. The blue are countries that I consider to be speaking a West Germanic language (North Almannic, explanation below) and green are countries that speak a North Germanic language (South Almannic), with light blue and light green (currently none on the map) being countries with noticable Almannic minorities. I also marked Hazelia as brown because I’m not 100% sure if they fall in the Almannic category at all. Austra is highlighted in cyan (for now).
I chose the terms North and South Almannic for West and North Germanic respectively because of geography and history (that I know of). Since the West Germanic languages came to Central Cordilia from Frastinia, and later influenced the expansion of West Germanic languages into Bareland, it is safe to say that the West Germanic languages ultimately come from Frastinia, which is in the north relative to the other Almannic languages.
South Almannic, as I’ve termed it, largely stems from my understanding that both Ryccia and Valkyria are themselves quite old, meaning their language has been around for a while and were probably not as influenced by the spread of North Almannic/West Germanic languages to Central Cordilia as in countries like Weisserstein. It’s not as well defined especially because of its spread, with Cimbria and Ravensland in Frastinia, but that’s what this thread is supposed to talk about anyways.
I agree with the general classification, and I think of Frastinia as the urheimat of at least Alman, and likely the whole Almannic (i.e rl Germanic) branch.
Modern Transsunerian is very West Germanic, but it used to be its own branch parallel to West Germanic. Colonisation by primarily the Gianlucians and trade with the wider area eventually made it somewhat Dutch- and Low German-like, but still its own language. Transsunerian also has a large amount of loanwords from Sedunnic merchants who were present in the archipelago for centuries, and to a lesser degree English and Spanish due to extensive contact with the Austral Empire and Stoinia respectively.
Ahh, I knew that Transsunerian was its own thing but I’ve always assumed it meant that it is a sibling of Alman (German). If it is its own branch then I guess that means the Almannic languages could be divided up to 3–4 subdivisions.
Alternatively, Transsunerian could be a subdivision within the wider North Almannic family. So while it remains its own thing compared to, for example, standard Alman, Besernian, or Landler (spoken in Weisserstein), it is still part of the wider North Almannic umbrella.
There is a form of Frisian which actually developed from Frisian settlers from Frastinia around Gröningburg, Fauderland which likely comes from its own branch of North Almannic.
That would make a lot of sense. One of my ideas is that the North Almannic (i.e. West Germanic) language family would generally be divided into Insular North Almannic (Austral and probably other Anglic languages) and Continental North Almannic (everything else, including the other IRP North Sea Germanic languages like Frisian and Low German, even if they’re closer to the Anglic languages classification-wise). So this somewhat fits with what’s established.
Kliegme’s Alman population comes from mostly Weisserstein/Alman speaking regions near it, so it’d be reasonable for them to be linguistically similar. However, I imagine they have picked up some Garanian and Karnetvorian Loanwords and terms along the way, becoming a sub-dialect
I can’t speak for all of Bareland but Low Alman might just be the most common across the continent, in many ways it’s a more archaic form as colonial dialects tend to be. That does bring up the question would Friean (Dutch) be a Low Almannic dialect?
I’ve just realized that this discussion is actually relevant to me
Me and Weisserstein have already discussed the Losavral alman populations, which are obviously going to have had a weissersteiner dialect that is heavily modified by Indavral, perhaps even a creole.
The Nölvral Almans I planned to be related to Besern; however, Nölvra was conquered very early. This probably means that Nölvral dialects have diverged a lot, potentially into a completely different Almannic language, although there still would have been some outside contact.
