Korrast

Korrast is a constructed language (conlang) created for speculative fiction by the Vestri Language Collective, a fictional organization prominent in conlang circles since 2010. It is designed to be linguistically plausible and to explore interactions among agglutinative morphology, vowel harmony, and evidentiality. The language appears in a set of novels and companion materials and has a small online learner community.

Phonology and writing: Korrast uses a moderate phoneme inventory with 22 consonants and five vowels. It employs vowel harmony across suffix chains, integrating front/back and rounded distinctions. The official script is a Latin-based alphabet with diacritics to mark vowel quality; some dialects preserve an optional secondary diacritic for a reduced vowel.

Morphology and syntax: The language is primarily agglutinative, stacking affixes to base words to encode tense, aspect, mood, evidentiality, case, and number. Core word order is subject–object–verb, but discourse can reorder elements for focus. Nouns inflect for nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and locative cases; adjectives agree with nouns in number and case. Verbs mark aspect and evidential source with prefixes and suffixes; there is a robust system of verbal agreement with subject and object.

Lexicon and semantics: The vocabulary blends inherited roots with productive derivation; semantic domains emphasize concrete everyday terms and technical vocabulary for storytelling. Derivation through affixation is preferred over compounding, aiding regularity across neologisms.

History and status: Initiated in 2010, korrast has circulated in fictional media and among conlang enthusiasts. It has inspired fan-made grammars, dictionaries, and learning resources, though it remains a fictional language rather than a community of daily speakers.