Huonoon

Huonoon is a constructed language created by linguist Arin Kesh for the science-fiction setting of the novel The Distant Archipelago. It is spoken by the fictional Huono people of the Liric Archipelago, and is intended to convey cultural and technological nuance without resembling Earth languages. In the narrative, Huonoon is described as an autonomous language within a broader fictional language family rather than a derivative of real languages.

Phonology: The language has five vowels (a e i o u) and a modest consonant inventory (p t k m n s l r h). Syllables are typically CV or CVC, with stress on the penultimate syllable. There is no phonemic tone. Vowel length is marked in the orthography but not contrastive in ordinary speech.

Grammar: Huonoon uses a subject–verb–object word order. Noun phrases include demonstratives and articles, and nouns can bear postposed case markers to indicate grammatical roles. Verbs do not agree with subject or object; tense and aspect are expressed by separate auxiliary particles and aspectual prefixes. Evidentiality marks indicate the source of information.

Writing system: The primary script is a Latin-based alphabet of about 24 letters, with diacritics to mark vowel length and quality. The orthography is designed to be largely phonemic.

Usage: In the fiction, Huonoon is taught in schools, used in literature and media, and employed in official communications within the archipelago. Outside the narrative, it has a small hobbyist community of learners and translators who contribute to fan wikis and language guides.