Razú

Razú is a fictional language and cultural concept used in worldbuilding for speculative fiction and linguistic experiments. It is not a natural language and has no speakers outside the fictional universe in which it was created. Within that universe, Razú serves as a lingua franca that connects communities across a dispersive archipelago and as a narrative device to explore memory, trade, and ritual.

Etymology and classification: The name Razú is presented as a root meaning "to weave" or "to connect" in the lore surrounding the language. Razú is typically described as a constructed language with agglutinative morphology and a flexible word order, allowing subject–object–verb or verb–subject–object configurations depending on discourse function. A tone system and vowel harmony are used to mark emphasis and grammatical relationships.

Phonology and writing: The phoneme inventory is compact, with five vowels and a selection of consonants (p, t, k, m, n, s, l, r). Syllables favor CV or CVC shapes, and stress is penultimate. The language uses a writing system known as the Razú Script, which combines geometric signs to encode morphemes and affixes, sometimes rendered in a syllabary for practical use.

Usage and reception: In the fictional setting, Razú appears in literature, games, and film as a diplomatic and cultural glue among island communities. It has several dialects—Razú Coastal, Razú Highlands, and Razú Trade—each with unique vocabulary and phonological traits. The language is described as evolving with trade routes and storytelling traditions, and scholars in the fiction study its grammar as a case of planned language design.