User:Hangfromthefloor/Kapùnha/History
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[edit] Introduction
In autumn of 4403, Myishi Koguchi directed the kingdom of Kahi towards its independence, and chose the Japanese language as the nation’s first official language, to diversify the new nation from the zGaruian-speaking Indonîn. Unfortunately, many vain attempts to choose a language to suit the character and ethos of Kahi failed. Koguchi realized that the only language that would truly have a Kahinian character would be a new Kahinian language. Koguchi was a moderate linguist who studied English, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, and Hawai‘ian, and was familiar with constructed language projects such as Esperanto and Volapük. Unlike creators of other constructed languages, Koguchi did not just sit down, write rules for the language, and begin writing in it. Instead, he had a vague sense of how Kapùnha would look and what it would sound like, and simply began to create and write. Kapùnha evolved over the next several years until it had reached its modern form.
[edit] Evolution of Kapùnha
[edit] Archaic Kapùnha (4403-4406)
The first early texts of Kapùnha were written in a sort of pidgin, with basic vocabulary, like pronouns, numbers, and conjunctions, and early grammar were extremely similar to Japanese. Kapùnha barely constituted as a language at all, but reflected the limited linguistic understandings of its 13-year old creator. Its symbols, word, and sentence formation clearly imitated the Japanese style.
[edit] Early Classical Kapùnha (4406-4408)
Kapùnha soon broke out of its purely Japanese influence and started to concentrate on a more Polynesian style syllabary with words similar to Hawai‘ian, Tahitian, and others. Symbols began to release shape of Japanese ones, and flowed to Tagalog style characters. Spelling rules were borrowed from Hawai‘ian and Japanese, but most were original and somewhat complex. Despite odd characteristics that the language was taking at this point (such as a 143-symbol alphabet), and Inuit-style grammar (such as single, dual, triple, and plural possessives), all official documents from this time were written in this style of Kapùnha.
[edit] Classical Kapùnha (4408-4409)
During spring of 4408, Koguchi declared that Kapùnha would undergo a massive simplification, shortening the alphabet to somewhere more decent like 90 characters, removing unnecessary consonant blends (like nr, mb, tk, and dn) and ridiculous punctuation rules altogether. This attempt was to regain partially its hybrid Japanese inheritance, and soon added into Kapùnha were Japanese style adjective and adverb formations. As of this time, the language continued to grow to a lexicon of roughly 2,500 words. A short pamphlet was published with common various rules on grammar and sentence structure.
[edit] Late Classical Kapùnha (4409-4410)
Genitive cases were removed from the language due to its further simplification. Somehow, unexpectedly, the language was losing its primarily vowel-based words like in Hawai‘ian, and becoming more Western with many consonant blends. Until now, the language was primarily an "artificial" language, but was taking more form of a constructed language.
[edit] Aleut-Navajo Period (4410)
In late winter of 4410, the increasing number of consonants and blends shifted the language into a complete Western-style language like German. It began to inherit characteristics from Navajo and Aleutian, and this is where the consonants n, nl, and tl became used more in terms of popularity within words and names. Tonal structure was diminishing, and the language was starting to become very self-conscious. This period was drastically unfortunate, although short, but it was important in teaching its creator to shift back towards its Hawai‘ian and Japanese origins. The main accomplishment of this period was removing the vowels ɔ and ə, as well as the consonant groups q, x, tʒ, and dʃ.
[edit] Early Modern Kapùnha (4410-4412)
Although Kapùnha lost many of its Aleut-Navajo accretions, its firm identity in the language was still present. In late 4411, Koguchi released the epic Polynesian history ancestry of Kahinians. The characters were divided into two groups of similar form: the i, e, ə group was shaped with a "model" i symbol, and by adding a loop or a stroke, you would create the e character, and an additional one for ə. This formation of characters was the same with the a, o, u group.
During this period, the Kapùnha language emerged as a major political issue in Kahi as many pro-Japanese politicians attempted to increase the Japanese influence in Kapùnha. This major political battle over Kahinian identity and the Kapùnha language spurred Koguchi to ever more work on the language. This modern period had a 6,000-word dictionary published, and had the language return to a more "classical" form, this time more heavily influenced by Korean. This quickly set the modern language in stone, but available for development and evolution throughout the public.
[edit] Modern Kapùnha (4412-4414)
The new period opened with sweeping reforms in spelling, designed to make regular the use of tones and accents (which with Kapùnha bristles) which seemingly had been extremely confusing and random. Old texts were brought out and looked over, and words from them were added to the vocabulary, fused with the new spelling rules, and incorporated into the dictionary, which was growing beyond 7,500 words.
The result of a new volume of dictionaries was numerous literary works, such as books, songs, poems, and modern words from ancient roots. Koguchi embarked on an ambitious quest to give Kahi a "vernaculous literature," something that it desperately needed. This period was like a Golden Age for the language.
[edit] Neo-Classical Kapùnha (4414-4417)
During this age, work was completed on a publication of Kapùnha grammar. An attempt to return the language to its original heritage was started in early 4415, which replaced newer words with forms of ancient roots of old texts. Kapùnha developed into a representation of its own heritage, a more authentic, harmonic, self-assured whole.
An attempt was later made in summer 4415 to reject the entire Navajo and Aleut origins of parts of the language. The system of consonant mutations was eventually forgotten and replaced with simpler forms. For example, md was replaced with just d, and many blends were similarly shortened, split, or even replaced.
Old documents continue to be exploited in order to enrich the Kapùnha vocabulary. Conservatism increased and older words continue to be tacked onto the 10,000-word dictionary. An improved, updated cultural descent and history of Kahi was produced that contained information of Polynesian-Japanese heritage. These restored borrowed words are being reanalyzed and used by normal speakers.
[edit] Analysis
Increasing popularity and tourism of the geography of Kahi has expanded the interest of the language and culture among Kahinians and non-Kahinians. Editions and updates of grammar references and dictionaries have been produced multiple times every year. Two very important books were published during 4417: National History and Identity of Kahi, and A Guide to Learning the Kapùnha Language. The people who have committed their time, energy, and enthusiasm to the language now comprise of some 60 people.
Kapùnha is a living language that has been used as a tool of communication. It has become a literature and culture all of its own. It would be tempting to speculate on how Kapùnha would "really" have been spoken if it had naturally evolved, instead of being pushed there by its creator. A glottochronological survey was conducted that shows Kapùnha branched off from Japanese, Korean, and Polynesian stems in the late 3690s. We will close with one last saying from Kapùnha, our holy language: La kipeì tl da muǎtau pari kiwegaheou dí hurêsuŋ. The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
