Esteesta

Esteesta is a fictional language and cultural system created for worldbuilding and speculative fiction. It is described as the native tongue of the Esteestan people, who inhabit the imaginary Estea archipelago in the fictional continent of Alara. The language serves as a central element in the setting, shaping literature, ritual speech, and interpersonal communication within the narrative.

Linguistic profile: Esteesta is an agglutinative, subject–object–verb language with a relatively rich case system and postpositional syntax. It features a five-vowel phonology and a consonant inventory that includes several stops and nasal sounds. The language employs nominative–accusative alignment and marks number on nouns and pronouns; evidential mood marks indicate the source of information, such as direct observation or hearsay.

Grammar and syntax: The basic word order is SOV. Adjectives typically precede nouns, and possession is expressed with a genitive affix on the possessor. Question formation uses dedicated interrogative particles. Pluralization and aspect markers attach to verbs and nouns, enabling a range of temporal and aspectual nuances within a compact verb morphology.

Writing system: Esteesta is written using the Este Script, an alphabetic system with diacritics used in some regional variants to mark vowel length and tonal emphasis. A fan-developed romanization is commonly used in online communities to facilitate cross-language discussions and transcription.

Dialects and usage: Described dialects include Northern Esteesta, Coastal Esteesta, and Mountain Esteesta, which differ in phonology and lexicon but retain mutual intelligibility. In the fictional world, Esteesta is taught in schools, used in literature and media, and supported by dictionaries and learning resources created by fans and authors.