Moppaic

Moppaic is a fictional language created for a fantasy setting. It is spoken by the Moppaic people of the Moppaic Archipelago, a cluster of islands in the southern seas. In the lore, Moppaic functions as the community’s primary language, used in daily conversation, schooling, media within the narrative, and traditional ceremonies.

It is described as an agglutinative language with productive affixation. Basic word order is flexible, with a canonical subject–verb–object pattern in formal prose, though topics and emphasis can shift order. The language marks tense, aspect, mood, number, and evidentiality through prefixes and suffixes attached to verbs and nouns. Pronouns distinguish inclusive and exclusive forms.

Writing Moppaic historically employed a native syllabary, but contemporary texts primarily use a Latin-based alphabet with diacritics to capture vowels and palatal consonants. Several regional dialects exist, notably Northern, Central, and Southern Moppaic, with differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, and some grammatical preferences. Mutual intelligibility remains high, but local variation is noticeable in folklore and oral performance.

Status and usage In the fictional setting, the language is stable but faces pressures from urban expansion and external trade languages. Language revitalization programs appear in schools and cultural centers, emphasizing oral storytelling, traditional poetry, and ceremonial speech. Moppaic literature includes mythic epics, family raiding songs, and ritual speech for community gatherings.