kooissa

Kooissa is a fictional language devised for speculative fiction and worldbuilding. It is described as the native tongue of the Koo, an imaginary coastal people who inhabit a small archipelago in the southern seas. The name combines the autonym Koo with the suffix -issa meaning language. In its narratives, Kooissa is presented as a language of strong social practice, associated with oral storytelling and ritual speech.

Phonology and writing: Kooissa has a simple phoneme inventory: consonants p, t, k, m, n, s, l, r and vowels a, e, i, o, u. Syllables are typically CV or CVC; stress falls on the penultimate syllable. The script uses a Latin alphabet with occasional diacritics to mark vowel length and certain phonemes; early texts also indicate a small indigenous syllabary in ceremonial contexts.

Grammar: The basic word order is subject-verb-object, though discourse allows flexibility via post-nominal case markers. Nouns take plural suffixes and case particles to indicate subject, object, or oblique roles. Verbs are moderately inflected for aspect and mood with suffixes and auxiliary particles. The language makes limited use of gender and number agreement, but pronouns distinguish inclusive and exclusive first-person in some dialects.

Distribution and status: In the fictional setting, Kooissa is endangered, with most fluent speakers being elders. Documented material includes oral histories, short narratives, and a small field-team corpus. Revitalization efforts are described in in-world projects and fan-created resources.