kujude

Kujude is a fictional language created for speculative fiction and world-building. It is described as the principal language of the Kujudan people, who inhabit a chain of islands in the southern sea of the imagined continent of Aradia. In published materials, Kujude is presented with a long oral tradition, numerous regional varieties, and a vibrant ceremonial register.

Classification and grammar: Kujude is an agglutinative, SOV language. It forms complex predicates through affixation and uses post-nominal modifiers. The language is said to belong to the hypothetical Kujudic family, which arose from contact between seafaring traders and inland communities. Pronouns encode inclusive and exclusive we.

Phonology and writing: The phonemic system includes five vowels with vowel harmony and a set of consonants featuring both plain and glottalized stops. The canonical script is a syllabary, the Kujudic script, though transliteration in Latin letters is common in secondary texts. Tone is variably marked in dialect sources.

Social context and status: Kujude is a central marker of Kujudan identity. In the fictional world, its vitality ranges by region: strong in rural and ceremonial domains, challenged in fast-growing urban centers where a national language prevails. Some narratives describe active language revitalization efforts and intergenerational teaching programs.

See also: Kujudan people; Kujudic languages.