Languages (1983: Doomsday)
From Alternative History
Contents |
[edit] Before Doomsday
In a world with approximately 4.5 billion people, the six most widespread languages were Chinese Mandarin, Spanish, English, French, Russian, Arabic - also the 6 official languages of UN. Also of significant importance were Hindi, Portuguese, Bengali, Japanese and German.
[edit] Immediately after Doomsday
With the major devastation all over the world, especially the Northern hemisphere, the worldwide language structure is shaken as well. With the destruction of the USSR, Japan and Germany the numbers of Russian, Japanese and especially German native speakers have incredibly shrunk dramatically. The worldwide dominance of English is reduced with the lack of the USA, UK and the most of Canada. The real hayheld of English is now the ANZ Commonwealth.
In contrary, Portuguese and especially Spanish are on the rise as the economical worldwide activity is centering on the South American continent and ANZC.
As China and India are still in a catastrophic state of anarchy, the (worldwide) importance of their respective languages is also quite limited.
[edit] 2009
The linguistic sphere of today is a reflection of over two decades of rebuilding and development. The main languages of international trade and diplomacy are English (Anglo-Australian), Spanish, and Portuguese. Elsewhere, French and the Celtic/Gaelic languages have seen a resurgence in their respective spheres; owing to increased cohesion (Francophone community) and political emphasis (Celtic Alliance). In many areas of the former UK local dialects have began to evlove into more individual languages, among these are Northumbrian, Pitmatic (Kingdom of Northumbria (1983:Doomsday)) and Cleveish (Kingdom of Cleveland (1983: Doomsday)) in the former north east of England. South Africa and New Britain have likewise seen a revival of interest in Afrikaans - for practical purposes - although Dutch (its linguistic ancestor) is fast diminishing in relevance. German (Alpine Confederation, South Africa, Prussia) and Russian (Socialist Siberia) are relegated to "limited" influence by the WCRB, due to the relative isolation of their sphere. The fate of Chinese is uncertain, although sizable diaspora communities still uphold them: Chinese in New Britain, ANZC, the USSR, and Southeast Asian states. Outside of the Home Islands, Japanese is widely spoken in Brazil and Hawaii.
[edit] See also
| ||||||||||||||||||||
