Azbuka

Azbuka is the modern form of the language standardised across the world during the Gold Age. It has since become the most common and most influential language of Azimuth. Its name derives from its own words for "global speak".

Speaking Azbuka

Most nations of Azimuth speak Azbuka as their first language. Many have secondary, regional languages and some have strong accents and dialects that are not always mutually intelligible.

Notes on Azbuka

Azbuka is 'proxied' by writing English using the Cyrillic alphabet, because I'm something of a linguistic nerd and it seemed like fun. I have created languages before, and enjoy doing so, but with Azimuth I wanted to get the feel of a fictional language without the massive amount of work involved. It's also a neat way to learn Cyrillic!

There are a couple of specific conventions. For example, there is no Cyrillic equivalent of the "TH" sound, so I have approximated with "фь", because trying to palatize an "F" sound (bringing your tongue to the top of your mouth) seems pretty close to a "TH". This isn't something I've seen elsewhere, though; most lump to substitute a simple "F", "D" or "Z" sound which I just can't bring myself to do.

Azbuka also has some of its own made up words. They might seem familiar, like maybe they came from other, long-lost languages...:

Азбука	Translit	Meaning
Ю	Yoh	Hello
До'ваня	Da'vanya	Goodbye
Ариспас'ба	Arispas'ba	Thankyou (formal)
Та	Ta	Thankyou (informal)

In terms of voice-acting, region variations of Azbuka would be represented by the following real-world accents:

Azbuka region	Real-world Accents
Brazak West	Scottish & North English
Brazak East	Australian
Azrune	Received Pronunciation & Estuary English
Ganzabar (main)	West-Coast United States
Ganzabar (Quanduro)	Deep South United States
USK (Lorrocaux)	Québécois
USK (Adelphia)	Canadian & Maritimes
USK (Serulia)	Massachusetts
USK (New Frander)	New York
Valyan	Irish
Lystrata	Near & Middle Eastern
Culku'la	Far-East Asian
Wildlands	Various