Napanii, as presented here, is presumed to be the most widely-spoken language in the Caldari State during the time period in which EVE Online is set.
A program of simplification, also called “Caldarification”, of Napanii reshaped the way the language was taught to children in the years following the war.
http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=162092&page=1#13The basic idea is that the Caldari have two languages; specifically Napanii and Caldari. Napanii would be the dual-vowel language that agent names use, whereas Caldari is the modern language.
-Having and "older" language like latin, resurrecting after the Bombing... oh man that idea ROCKS BIG TIME!!!! (had to add all the exclamation marks, had to!)
I think when Herko and Raem created Napanii their intent was for it to be a nearly dead language that had been resurrected only after the exodus from Caldari prime and is not used in everyday communication.
The Science of Never Again chronicle suggests that Caldari citizens were still running for the transport ships as the bombs were falling on Caldari prime. I imagine most of the surviors carried only the clothes on their backs; things like the ancient scrolls, paintings sculptures etc were left in the museums as they fled. Of course, Gallenteans being Gallenteans would have destroyed any such artifacts that survived the bombing.
The Exodus from Caldari Prime to my mind would have meant that the culture, values and norms of pre-war Caldari couldn’t have been transmitted all that well to the next generation. Especially with the tube child program. Think BSG pre-cylon invasion versus life onboard the Gallatica. The first generation to be born after that will be completely unrecognizable as the same society. The values and traditions that stemmed from necessity of survival in the old world don’t provide for survival in the new one.
http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/New_horizons_%28Chronicle%29Runia didn’t know much about the history of the Caldari; she knew that Caldari Prime - the old home of the Caldari - had several continents and that the different Caldari bloodlines came from different continents. Back in the days when the Caldari still occupied Caldari Prime the difference between the bloodlines was profound, not only in physical appearance, but also culturally.
Runia suspected that the beliefs that the Caldari bloodlines were very different from each other stemmed from these facts. But when the Caldari had to leave their home planet and the long and arduous war with the Gallente Federation erupted the Caldari race as a whole was uprooted and thrown into a melting pot were fighting for their survival was all that mattered. The frantic decades that followed altered the Caldari psyche forever. Traits such as discipline and loyalty came to the forefront and shaped - and continue to shape - Caldari society into something completely new.
The Chronicle New Horzions says that the change to the Caldari culture was a "profound" one and that the post-exodus Caldari society is "something completely new." Granted thhe story is told from the perspective of the character Runia who may herself may misunderstand the facts but I don't believe that really was the intent with the Chronicle.
The Caldari’s mere existence is threat to the Gallentean’s culturally ingrained self-image as the
master race and this why they fought so hard and long during the first war to see the Caldari people extinct and why after the Yulia treat they continued to
wage a war of cultural imperialismI think that men like Matias Sobaseki, Taaiko Wiyrkomi and Orlan Mito would have understood this and helped to guide the new caldari culture towards norms and values that would help them survive against the more the more technologically advanced, numerically larger and richer Gallente military.
Today knights and Samurai are glamorized as honorable and loyal in tales of chivalry and bushido but in reality they were nothing of the sort. Nevertheless these fairtales are still used to reinforce certain cultural values even today.
I believe, with out any really evidence to back it up mind you, that early Caldari used a glamorized stories of the Raata Empire to teach the desired norms and values to the next generation and that Herko felt much the same way. Thus his ”16 autumn stories to share with our children”, YR98, Lai Dai Press series and the extra exclamation marks in his above quote.
I think that his intent with Napanii was that not much of it survived, and that it's been used by that state as a tool to promote the values of discipline and loyalty and that you will only really hear it used in formal ceremonies and by high-society Patriots.