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[Sophie Starsparrow]

"Working from the principle that some of the people that came through the eve gate had an interest in preserving traditional culture, and that these people were the distant ancestors of the Matari, a language needed to be found for these people.

The Welsh people are concentrating on preserving their language as a spoken language. As the Welsh are a Celtic people, I saw this as fitting quite nicely with the rest of our rp influences. Of course, by the time the eve gate opens, the traditonal values will be even more mixed with others of a similar nature, as discussed here{link disabled}. To take the time passed into account, I have chosen usually the newer form of the word, and shortened it (also with the aim of making it more keyboard-friendly than english, quicker).

The grammatical structure is English, but again, shortened. For example :

I, Me, Mine, Myself, I am, I will, I have, are all conveyed by the word 'Fi'.

You, your, yourself, you are, you have, you will are all expressed by the word 'Chi'.

Think Esperanto or caveman.

STANDARD - ANNWN MATAR

Hello (informal) : Dweu
Hello (formal) : Cyfar
Goodbye : Hwy
Yes : Do
No : Dim
Maybe : Efall
Thank you : Dio
Thank you very much : Dio yn
You're welcome : Sawu
Okay : Ia
Help : Por
Me : Fi
You : Chi
To : Ago
At : Ceis
In : Ym
Under : Is
Side : Tu
Left : Ar ol
Right   : De
Come : Dyfo
Coming : Dyfodi
Go : Cyr
Going : Myn
Leave : Trwy
Pod : Masgl
Ship : Llong
Drone : Pwyd
Warp : Gwy
Going in : Myn ym
At gate : Ceis dwyd
At Eram gate, Eram side : Ceis Eram dwyd, Eram tu
Clear gate : Clir dwyd
Wait at gate : Wrth dwyd
Follow me : Canlyn fi
Warp to me : Gwy ago
Come to me : Dyfo ago
On my way : Dyfodi
Fire at target : Tan nod
Fire at will : Tan ewy
Hold fire : Wrth tan
Under fire : Is tan
Finished : Ar ben
Pull drones    : Plwc Pwyd
Help : Por
Mother : Mamau
Father : Tadau
Brother : Brdyr
Sister : Chwio
Family : Teul
Lover : Cariad
Spirits : Absri
Ancestor : Hynafl
Heart : Aelwyd
Home : Cartref
Haven : Hafan
Summer House : Hafod
Country : Gwlad
Homeland : Mamwled
Nation : Cenedl
Warrior : Rhyfelwr
Miner    : Mwynwr
Builder : Lodwyr
Scholar : Ysgolor
Tower : Terfyn
Control : Caregan
Maple : Masar
Leaf : Deil
Stone : Maen
Fire : Tan
Arrow : Saeth
Pixie : Pwc
Moth : Gwyfyn
Butterfly : Gloyn byw
Hounds : Cwn
Free : Ysgafal
To set free    : Dadrwym"

[Saede Riordan]

While I am a fan of Gaelic as a language, wouldn't Nordic be closer to Minmatar?

[Artabanus]

I saw something about the Hawaii'an languages being an inspiration for Matari...what about the Native American languages as inspiration for Matari...perhaps Cherokee, or Algonquin...or even Mayan? Or maybe even African languages like Bantu or the like...anyone have any thoughts along those lines?

[Saede Riordan]

I'm pretty sure minmatar is lifted basically wholesale from Icelandic

[Tagera]

Hmmmm....yes and no. I could see the different tribes having their own dialects with the main Matari language being mixed from various progenitor bases. I could definitely see Nordic, African base and maybe a few others mixed in there.

[Artabanus]

By Nordic, you mean North Germanic Languages I assume, right? Or specifically Icelandic?

Also, why do you mention that Minmatar is lifted wholesale from Icelandic?

Art

[Saede Riordan]

half the names of their ships are ripped from Icelandic Mythology.

[Vincent Pryce]

half the names of their ships are ripped from Icelandic Mythology.

Well on that note one could easily claim the gallente speak a greek-ish language based on the names of their ships. Yet people hold that they are Space-French as it was written in the original description.

Matari are vast and versatile people. So, it's easily viable that one of the many languages are celtic influenced. Just look at Skandinavia. In the midst of all that germanic language soup suddenly; Finnish. A language that has no relation to any of the other main languages spoken in Skandinavia, yet... We are part of Skandinavia, speak our own language and there's no questions asked. And as the title states it's a matari dialect not the whole of the language or even something the majority would speak.

PS. Now that you mention it... I've yet to see actually a minmatar corporation that would actually hold to those Norse roots that are so heavily sown to the system and ship names.

[Seriphyn]

I'd emphasize "Four distinct civilizations" on Matar.

Also, nice work anyway Sophie, I like those who are creative enough to come up with a language. The random name generator in the character creator is a good way to look up bloodline names to get an idea I bet.

[Sophie Starsparrow]

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this, been insanely busy irl.

To answer the nordic question, it is pretty clear there is a huge nordic influence in Matari lore so, trying to be a smaller ethnic group within the greater Matari panorama, nordic was avoided. Maori was avoided for this same reason. Celtic was looked to as both the Cornish and the Welsh have been trying to revive their languages, the Welsh more successfully. It shows a vibrancy that extrapolated could lead to it surviving in some very limited form in some small group far in the future. At least that was my thinking

The comment about the Native American language is a very interesting one as well, as the Iroquois were in fact the second largest influence chosen from and served as the model for the grammatical structure of the language. Welsh was content, Iroquois was form.

The most important thing I think to remember is that this was intended to be a small language group that had never been very widely known. The goal was to come up with one that would fit with other Matari languages without actually being them. The links to the other tribes are the same links shared by Celtic, Nordic, and Indigenous North American culture, they are mythologically related, not linguistically related. Whether or not Maori culture also shares these links I don't know, know nothing about them really and couldn't be asked to research them since I was excluding them anyway

NB - Apologies to any Maori's I may have offended ... erm, thank you for Ardijah.

As for the Maori... well alright since I was avoiding them so didn't research them

[Nofearion]

in any case of the above arguments, I commend this work and it will help me with my own writings. One story I have not published yet I mention several of a crew talking in old Vherokior and was basing it on eastern north asia but think at this point I will change it and with Sophie's permission use her language in place. 

[Reinheart Novan]

The links to the other tribes are the same links shared by Celtic, Nordic, and Indigenous North American culture, they are mythologically related, not linguistically related. Whether or not Maori culture also shares these links I don't know, know nothing about them really and couldn't be asked to research them since I was excluding them anyway

NB - Apologies to any Maori's I may have offended ... erm, thank you for Ardijah.

As for the Maori... well alright since I was avoiding them so didn't research them

Maori, the language is called "Te Reo", is a polynesian language with no links to those cultures. Most research suggests it's origins back towards the indigenous cultures of Taiwan and Southern Japan but that was a looong, pre-last glacial era, back.

Again there are suggestions that Polynesians traveled to parts of South America but I've not heard or read anything about NA cultures.