Kislevarin

“All their songs are sad, and all their wars are happy.”

—Popular Tilean Saying of Kislev

The language spoken by the people of Kislev is known as Kislevarin and is a blend of the original Ungol and Ropsmenn tongues with the addition of the languages brought by the migrating Gospodars. Over the centuries, this has become the dominant of the three languages, with the addition of some Reikspiel words and conventions from the south.

There are, of course, many different dialects within Kislev, and the language is spoken somewhat differently in different regions of the country, though the differences between these broad dialects are slight. There is almost never any difficulty in mutual understanding, and non-Kislevarin speakers are generally unable to distinguish them without conscious effort. The regional differences correspond mainly to old tribal divisions from hundreds of years ago, the most significant of these (in terms of numbers of speakers) are Sudevarin, which is spoken in the south, Krevarin, which is spoken in the east and centre of the country, and Dolvarin, which is the principal language of the north and of the tribal raiders who plague the farmers. In the stanitsas of the far north, the older tribes and families keep alive the distinctive Górelsk dialect, said to be the unpolluted language of the Ropsmenn, and they take great pride in their culture and language, which is said to be much more musical than standard Kislevarin. Some city dwellers—especially the less affluent population—also have their own distinctive dialects. An example of this is Tzavarin, still spoken by some of the population of Kislev, though these city dialects are now mostly extinct due to assimilation with standard Kislevarin.

Kislevarin is often said to be one of the most difficult languages for non-native speakers to learn, and while difficult for speakers of “classic” Reikspiel, it is not so difficult for those raised in the north and east of the Empire, since the regional dialect of Ostland and Ostermark owes much to early Kislevarin. What makes Kislevarin so difficult to master is that it has an extremely complex gender system, based on the fact that it combines three categories—gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), personality (personal versus non-personal), and vitality (animate versus inanimate).

Over the centuries, Kislevarin has borrowed a large number of words from other languages, most notably Reikspiel, since the Empire and Kislev share a border, and a high proportion of the inhabitants of Kislevite cities are from the Empire. Most such words are adopted by altering the spelling to keep the pronunciation but are written according to Kislevite phonetics. Thus, it is possible for a non-Kislevarin speaker to pick out the odd word here and there from a conversation, such as Stem-tzak (Steam Tank) and Roketz (Rockets). Here are other examples of borrowed words: szlachta (which comes from the Reikspiel word, adelsgeschlecht, meaning nobility) and burmistrz (which comes from the word burgomeister, meaning mayor).

Source

 * Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Realm of the Ice Queen (pg. 12).