Language

Humanity

Most of the major national tongues of the 21st Century have survived in one form or another, but international and interstellar conversation tends to be in one of the great common languages. Many humans speak more than one language; Zurich Common tends to be a first language, or a well understood second.

Language	Origin	Cultural Nexus	Notes	Shortcode	Chat Prefix
Zurich Accord Common	Germanic-Romance	West Europe, Africa, Americas	A controlled language derived primarily from English, established by a conference of European and African research universities convening in Zurich, Switzerland in 2119 as a formal interlanguage. Adopted with little controversy as the standard language of the Terran Commonwealth and as a result, the member states of the SCG.	ZAC	,1
Yangyu	Trans-Himalayan	Greater China, Africa	A simplified version of Mandarin written in the Latin script, Yangyu steadily rose to prominence as a trade language in the continent, Japan, Korea, as well as parts of Africa.	YngYu	,2
New Dehlavi	Hindustani	Indian Subcontinent	Billed as a reunification of the Hindustani languages of Hindi and Urdu in the Latin script, New Dehlavi enjoyed very rapid adoption rates among the common populace, compared to the other great Earth commons.	Dehv	,3
Prototype Standard Arabic	Arabic, Berber	Levant, Arab Peninsula, North Africa	'Prototype Standard Arabic', as it was known during its development as a standardization for the myriad regional dialects of Modern Standard, was mostly ignored on Earth until co-operative Pan-Arab space exploration made its use attractive. Its use as a liturgical language remains limited.	PSA	,4
Iberian	Iberian	Americas, Southwest Europe	One of the few great common Earth languages to come about naturally, this language developed in the late 21st century during a historic period of closeness between Spain, Portugal and their former colonies.	Iber	,5
Pan-Slavic	Slavic	East Europe	The official language of the Independent Colonial Confederation of Gilgamesh. Pan-Slavic was originally created in 2127 in response to perceived cultural dilution following the rapid spread of Zurich Common.	Slav	,r
Selenian	Germanic-Romance, Lend-Words	Selene, The Moon	An informal dialect of Zurich Accord Common that arose from the close confines, mixed population, and technical focus of the moon's first city, including a mix of lend-words from most other human language. Easily understood by most ZAC speakers, but only really spoken by Lunar natives.	Sel	,7
Gutter	Mixed	–	This crude pidgin tongue is from nowhere in particular and varies wherever you go, descending from the local language and a mess of lend words. Largely a language of the downtroden and criminal elements.	GT	,t
Sign Language	Gesturing	–	A sign language commonly used for those who are deaf or mute.	HS	,s

Other Languages

These languages are spoken primarily by the non-human races you'll encounter aboard the Torch – friendly or otherwise.

Language	Primarily Used By	Notes	Shortcode	Chat Prefix
Protocol	Adherents	The mellifluous wind chime tones of the Vigil's formal shared language. Spoken by Adherents.	VP	,p
Encoded Audio Languages	IPCs	An efficient language of encoded tones developed by synthetics and cyborgs. Very rarely understood by organics, and pretty much impossible for an organic species to speak.	EAL	,6
Skrellian	Skrell	A melodic and complex language spoken by the Skrell of Qerr'Balak. Some of the notes are inaudible to humans.	SK	,k
Sinta'unathi	Unathi	The common language of Moghes, composed of sibilant hisses and rattles. Spoken natively by Unathi.	UT	,o
Serpentid	Giant Armoured Serpentids	A strange language that can be understood both by the sounds made and by the movement needed to create those sounds.	SD	,n
Spacer	Frontier humans, others	A rough, informal creole of mixed words used infrequently by humans as a last resort when attempts to establish dialogue with better defined languages fail.	Spc	,j
Rootspeak	Dionaea	A complex language known instinctively by Dionaea, 'spoken' by emitting modulated radio waves. This version uses high frequency waves for quick communication at short ranges.	RT	,q
Yeosa'unathi	Unathi	A language of Moghes consisting of a combination of spoken word and gesticulation. While it is uncommonly spoken in the drier regions, it enjoys popular usage as the official tongue of the Yeosa clans.	YU	,h

Outsiders

These languages are primarily spoken by those not usually onboard the Torch.

Language	Primarily Used By	Notes	Shortcode	Chat Prefix
Vox-Pidgin	Vox	The common tongue of the various Vox ships making up the Shoal. It sounds like chaotic shrieking to everyone else.	Vox	,x
Cult	Cultists	The chants of the occult, the incomprehensible.	CT	,f

Hiveminds

In addition to traditional languages which use sound or movement, some species are able to communicate via "Hivemind" - something similar to telepathy. These communications are typically not recognized or even noticed by those who aren't part of the hive.

Language	Primarily Used By	Notes	Shortcode	Chat Prefix
Changeling	Changelings	Although they are normally wary and suspicious of each other, changelings can commune over a distance.	–	,g
Cortical Link	Cortical Borers	Cortical borers possess a strange link between their tiny minds.	–	,z
Rootspeak (Global)	Dionaea	A complex language known instinctively by Dionaea, 'spoken' by emitting modulated radio waves. This version uses low frequency waves for slow communication at long ranges.	–	,w
Occult	Cultists	The initiated can share their thoughts by means defying all reason.	–	,y
Binary	Cyborgs, AI	Most human facilities support free-use communications protocols and routing hubs for synthetic use.	–	,b
Drone	Drones	A heavily encoded damage control coordination stream.	–	,d