asarlani

Asarlani is a term used in speculative fiction and constructed-language communities to denote both a fictional ethnolinguistic group and their language. The Asarlan Isles, homeland of the Asarlani, are described as a cluster of coastal and upland islands with a long seafaring tradition. The name is often said to derive from a root meaning sea and people in worldbuilding lore.

Asarlani society is depicted as organized along maritime clans, with strong oral traditions and craft specialization in boatbuilding, weaving, and navigational knowledge. Communities typically gather for seasonal feasts, ship launches, and storytelling circles in which myths of voyaging and ancestors are recited. The social fabric emphasizes exchange networks, kinship ties, and shared rites that mark significant voyages.

The Asarlani language is described as agglutinative with a basic subject–verb–object (SVO) order. It features extensive verb morphology, evidentiality markers, and aspectual differences encoded through affixation. Noun marking distinguishes animacy and relational roles through a system of classifiers, and vowel harmony affects suffix vowels. The lexicon shows contact-induced influence from neighboring languages in the archipelago, particularly nautical and trade terms.

In historical outlines within the fiction, Asarlani arose through inter-island contact and seaborne trade. Today, the language is often presented as endangered, with elders as primary speakers and efforts described to document and revitalize it through education, media, and community programs.