Lacrean language

Lacrean
ⰎⰅⰍⰤⰓ, Lekēr
Spoken in	Southeast Outer Joriscia Serania Minor
Native speakers	90,000,000
Language family	Chotaric Neo-Chotarian Lacaric Lacrean
Writing system	Vladykast script
Official status
Official language in	Lacre Partia Ephgil Napsul Kethpor

Lacrean (ⰎⰅⰍⰤⰓ, Lekēr) is the official language of Lacre and the primary language of the Lacrean Banner. Genetically it constitutes its own independent branch of the Neo-Chotarian languages, with its closest relatives being Loptic and Agar. Although it is spoken in the heartland of what was once the Chotarian Empire, its exact relationship to the later stages of the Chotarian language is disputed.

Elements of a dialect with distinctively Lacrean features are attested in cuneiform transcription from the 4th century BCE, and ostensibly developed from contact between speakers of a vernacular related to Middle Chotarian and Urumen invaders on Chotar's western fringes in the late Second Empire. This dialect was imported as the vernacular of the elite of the Chotarian heartland after the establishment of an Urumen dynasty there in the Third Chotarian Empire, and the introduction of the Chotarian alphabet encouraged its autonomous development into Old Lacrean. By the middle of the first millennium CE, Old Lacrean had entirely eclipsed Chotarian as a spoken language.

With the fall of Chotar, Old Lacrean became limited to the empire's former centre, and the presence of the Secotes after the 11th century influenced its development into modern Lacrean. Since at least the 15th century, Lacrean has acted as the main language of commerce and culture in the broader Starroz Krai region. As well as Lacre itself and its former colonial possessions, where the majority of Lacrean speakers reside, Meshrati, Dekoral, Partia, Littorea, Ephgil, Seter, Terophan and the city-state of Kethpor all have significant historic Lacrean-speaking populations.

Phonology

Vowel phonemes of Lacrean

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ī ụ ụ̄ Ⰹ Ⰻ Ⱓ Ⱘ		u ū Ⱛ Ⱆ
Mid	e ē ọ ọ̄ Ⰵ Ⱔ Ⱖ Ⱙ		o ō Ⱁ Ⱉ
Open		a ā Ⰰ Ⱑ

Consonant phonemes of Lacrean

	Labial		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m Ⰿ		n Ⱀ				ṇ ⰐⰠ
Stop	p Ⱂ	b Ⰱ	t Ⱅ	d Ⰴ			ṭ ⰕⰠ	ḍ ⰄⰠ	k Ⰽ	ɡ Ⰳ
Affricate			c Ⱌ		č Ⱋ
Fricative	f Ⱇ	v Ⰲ	s Ⱄ	z Ⰸ	š Ⱎ	ž Ⰶ					h Ⱈ
Trill				r Ⱃ
Approximant		l Ⰾ		ḷ ⰎⰠ				j Ⰺ