Nihkeidi

Nihkeidi is a fictional language and culture created for worldbuilding in science fiction and fantasy settings. It is spoken by the Nihkeidi, a coastal people inhabiting the northern archipelago of Kestara in the imagined world of Arisyn.

Linguistic overview: Nihkeidi is predominantly agglutinative with a subject–object–verb (SOV) basis. Nouns carry plural and case markings; verbs use affixes to indicate tense, aspect, mood, and evidentiality. The language features pronominal inclusive/exclusive forms and a modest system of nominal classifiers.

Phonology and writing: The phonemic inventory includes five vowels with occasional vowel harmony; consonants include plosives, fricatives, nasals, and liquids, with occasional ejectives. Stress is typically syllable-timed and falls on the penultimate syllable. The traditional script is a compact syllabary; in modern inter-world communication, Nihkeidi is often transliterated into the Latin alphabet.

Culture and society: The Nihkeidi practice a clan-based social structure with councils of elders. They are skilled sailors and craftspeople, renowned for weaving and boatbuilding. Social life centers on markets, maritime trade, and storytelling; the yearly Moonsear festival marks the harvest and sea voyages.

History and status: In the fictional chronology, Nihkeidi emerged as a lingua franca among island communities during the rise of the Kestar Confederacy. In contemporary storytelling settings, it functions as the region's cultural core and a symbol of identity for the Nihkeidi people.