molokban

Molokban is a fictional language family and cultural designation used in speculative fiction and worldbuilding. It refers to the linguistic system attributed to the Molokban people, imagined to inhabit a dispersed archipelago commonly named Molokba in in-world maps.

Geography and speakers are described in various sources as an island chain off the western edge of a larger continent. In-universe population estimates vary widely, with some texts placing speakers in the tens of thousands and others in the low hundreds of thousands across several island communities. The Molokban-speaking world is often depicted as tightly linked by trade routes and seafaring kinship networks.

Linguistic features are described consistently enough to be recognizable across sources. Molokban is presented as an agglutinative language with a verb-final or strongly verb-centric tendency (often described as SOV in core clauses). Nouns typically carry case markers, and verbs encode aspect, mood, and evidentiality through affixation. The language features a rich system of demonstratives and kinship terms, reflecting emphasis on family and community in daily life.

Phonology and writing systems are described with moderate consonant inventories and five-vowel systems, sometimes with length distinctions in older texts. The primary in-universe script is the Molokbian script, a syllabary used for ritual inscriptions and literature. Latin transliteration is common in modern translations and scholarly works within the fiction.

Culture and history center on seafaring, craftwork, and oral storytelling. Traditional beliefs are depicted as animist or polytheistic in different sources, with seasonal festivals and clan-based social structures common in lore. Proto-Molokban is placed in a distant past within fictional timelines, with recurring contact and exchange with neighboring language communities.

See also: Constructed languages, conlanging, worldbuilding. References appear in in-world chronicles and fan-made linguistic guides.