Atlantean Historical Linguistics

High Atlantean

The earliest known form of Atlantean emerged on the island of Atlantis around 3000 BF. Very little documents still remain of non standard High Atlantean but some did survive. The "Atlantean Book of Morals" was a very popular book back in those days. Only a few pages have been discovered of it. But what we have found is fascinating!

High Atlantean has 12 cases, and 8 declensions. Work is still underway on studying the complex grammar but linguists are constantly making strides in their understanding of the dialect of High Atlantean the book of morals was written in. Atlans communicated a lot with Egypt at this time. They taught the egyptians how to build the pyramids amongst many other things. They taught the kaasians how to work metals and how to identify rare materials. This is why kaasian, even to this day, is full of atlantean scientific terminology, such as vodoniek, which means hydrogen.

Middle Atlantean

Middle Atlantean Dialects

With the forming of the Kingdom of Atlantis in 0 AF, a process was started to standardise spoken and written Atlantean. Much work went into preserving what some saw as a dying language. Atlantean by this stage had lost many cases, and some feared more would follow. For instance, many used the dative instead of the genitive because the old forms were confusing and poorly understood.

After years of debate, a written standard was agreed upon, whose official name was "Common Atlantean". But this standard was greatly influenced by linguistic idealists who want a return to what was seen as the more classical and refined High Atlantean. Thus most referred to the standard as "Standard High Atlantean". This standard has influenced Atlantean and its many dialects ever since.

It was about this time that many atlanteans left Atlantis to look for greener pastures. Some left for New Saxonia, some for Kaasland and others found yet more places to settle. This great exodus has become known as "The Great Spreading".

The actual language of the people, not some artificial standard like "Standard High Atlantean" has since been called Middle Atlantean. This language is of great interest to linguists as all world languages can be traced directly back to it.

Modern Atlantean

Modern Atlantean is a wide ranging, pluricentric language. There are many dialects of Modern Atlantean even on Atlantis itself, such as Coastal and Tunic Atlantean. These two show remarkable similarity to Saxonian languages, leading many to the conclusion that they must come from the northern dialects of Middle Atlantean. There are many other dialects spoken on the large island of Atlantis though. Ours is truly a wondrous language!