Toa is an Earth-like planet where the gods try to guide local people to better things. Hence, Toa has an advanced civilisation, democratic world government and an international language. Sometimes though, the people sometimes go their own way. This brought them close to environmental disaster, but since then they have turned things around.
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Letoa phonology
Letoa phonemes are drawn from natural languages across the planet Toa. A number of sounds are not used in Letoa which might be used in an auxiliary language here on Earth, but cultural factors play a role in designing auxiliary languages on both Toa and Earth.
Letoa has twenty-five phonemes. Ten are vowels and fifteen are consonants. They are arranged in simple syllables. Their canonical sounds are given below along with some common variations licensed by the Letoa Academy. Variations are not normally reflected in writing.
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Some basic terminology
Learning some basic terminology that will be widely used throughout the site is important.
Toa, as noted, is the name of the planet. The planet is also a mother goddess and the head of a pantheon of six deities.
We can add prefixes to the root word Toa. The most important of these are:
Le- which means language. Hence, Letoa is the name of the global auxiliary language. Around the world, people use Letoa widely.
Ro- this refers to a people group. The planet’s sapient hominids often call themselves the Rotoa in the Letoa language. They also consider themselves part of various smaller, more localised people groups.
The sapient hominids of Toa may also be called the Ike. This word refers to the people as a species. They are the Ike in biological and medical contexts and the Rotoa when considered as members of society and citizens of the global polity.
In a similar manner, us English-speakers call ourselves “people”, “humans” or “homo sapiens” according to context.
This site also makes regular use of the following spiritual concepts:
The Ota are nature spirits. They live on the planet’s surface and help the gods achieve their plans.
Pãõ is a subtle and mysterious energy that courses across the planet and through all living things.
One word that rarely appears on this site is international. This is because the Rotoa no longer divide themselves into nation-states (though they did when Letoa began). Instead, I prefer terms like global and planet-wide.
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The global language arises
Letoa is the global language of Toa. A fifth of the planet’s population speak it as a first language. The rest learn it as a second language from an early age. For many people, this is the only second language they will learn. The existence of Letoa gives people less incentive to learn other natural languages.
It is the main language of business, science, education and planet-wide media. It is present throughout popular culture and high art.
In places that still have a local natural language, the local tongue remains a significant force, especially in informal social contexts. Local languages are dominant in local and regional media. They help to establish group identity. They make products sound exotic or to establish a sense of place in movies and literature.
Before Letoa
For the most part, Letoa is a constructed language. It arose out of a creole that was taken over and substantially reworked by the Letoa Academy. As the redesigned language spread, ordinary people took more control over its development. The new name emphasised that the language was different to its predecessor and reflected its designers’ global ambitions.
The creole ancestor of Letoa was Leketo, the lingua franca of the Central Sea region. Mariners and merchants spread it widely. It had speakers in all the great empires of the Central Sea region. The Empires carried Leketo inland as they extended their reach.
Within this area, Leketo belonged to everyone and yet no-one. This made it politically acceptable everywhere. Leketo’s international nature meant it had a simple, regular morphology and only used only common phonemes. These features made it easy to learn.
Towards Letoa
As people began to feel the need for an international language, basing Leketo on it made political and linguistic sense.
The Letoa Academy was formed 250 (local) years ago to develop such a language. The Academy was composed of some of the leading linguists, scientists and writers of the day.
At that time, linguistics on Toa was about as advanced as it is on Earth today though it lacked the work we have recently done on large datasets as they had not yet invented the computer.
The Academy set out a broad framework that established what the international language should look like. They then invited the public to comment on their proposals. After this consultation, they published a new draft of the language and invited a further round of comment.
After three years of work, the Academy published the new language. Much later, there was a series of planet-wide celebrations to mark Letoa’s 250th anniversary.
The global language grows
The language became the property of the public and there was a surge of interest in learning it as people felt ownership of it due to their involvement in the design process. It grew rapidly as a second language in the Central Sea region. It even replaced Leketo as a first language across part of its range.
Like Leketo before it, Letoa spread quickly around the Central Sea and more slowly elsewhere. From the start though there were societies of enthusiasts in most major towns and cities.
There then followed a “march through the institutions” as professional bodies, government agencies and the like began to use Letoa in their communications.
Finally, it became the second language of choice everywhere, even in the peripheral nations on the shores of the Great Ocean.
The Letoa Academy retains a guardian role and issues guidance to clarify and “correct” usage. Periodically it issues revised standards and dictionaries to formally incorporate the best and most popular new ideas into Letoa. The Academy allows official variations where it seems politic to do so.