Letoa is the global language of Toa. It is spoken as a first language by a fifth of the planet’s population. The rest have learnt 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 means there is less incentive to learn other natural languages.
It is the main language of business, science, education and planet-wide media. It is well-represented in 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 are used to establish group identity, to 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. This was spread widely by mariners and merchants. It had speakers in all the great empires of the Central Sea region. It was carried inland as the great empires 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
When the need for an international language began to be felt, it made both political and linguistic sense to base it on Leketo.
The Letoa Academy was formed 210 (Earth) 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.
A broad framework was set for what an international language should look like and submissions were invited from members of the public. A draft of the new language was published and a further round of submissions was invited.
The new language was published after three years of work. A few years ago there was a series of planet-wide celebrations to mark its 200th 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 it was taken up by professional bodies, government agencies and the like.
Finally, it became the second language of choice everywhere, even in the peripheral nations on the shores of the Great Ocean.
Leketo has since diverged into several local languages. Letoa has developed dialects and registers, albeit slowly.
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.