Ildiini

Ildiini is a language spoken by the Ildiini, an indigenous ethnic group residing in the Ildhar Archipelago in the northern seas. It is traditionally used in daily life, storytelling, and ceremonies, while a national language is common in formal domains. Estimates of fluent speakers vary, but contemporary surveys place the number around 12,000 to 15,000. Linguists commonly treat Ildiini as a language isolate, though some proposed classifications suggest distant connections to a broader regional sprachbund.

The language exhibits a subject–object–verb (SOV) basic word order and an agglutinative morphology, with extensive noun case marking and verbs that encode tense, aspect, mood, evidentiality, and agreement. Phonologically, Ildiini has a five-vowel system and a consonant inventory including stops, nasals, fricatives, and a glottal stop. Syllables typically conform to a simple CV or CVC shape, and stress is commonly placed on the penultimate syllable. The writing system historically depended on a local syllabary, the Ild-script, but Latin script is now widely used in education and media.

Geographic distribution is concentrated on coastal towns and inland villages across several isles, with dialectal variation such as western Ildiini, eastern Ildiini, and southern coastal varieties. The language has a long oral tradition and a growing body of written literature, dictionaries, and language-learning resources. Government and community initiatives in recent decades have focused on language revitalization, bilingual education, and the promotion of Ildiini in media and public life.

See also: Ildhar Archipelago, Ildiini people, language revitalization.