Children in the Awarneas society must be taught by their fathers the ability of language around 4 moon cycles. The process into which each child learns to speak is as follows. First the father begins teaching the children sounds. The start with sounds like aaww being that most of the words in Awarneas make this sound. The father's practice this with them until the babies begin to form the sound on their own. Once this happens the fathers then teach the children words usually begins with the word Awara being the name of our goddess. It is only right to honor her in this way. Once they can say the name of our goddess fathers begin to teach the children other words Once they master more words The fathers teach them how to form sentences. They uses visuals to teach them the order in which words are structured. After they learn to speak the languages the fathers then prepare their children to learn to write the language for which the teachers in the schools will take over when they are finally 36 moon cycles. The children in Awarneas do not learn other languages for there is no knowledge of the Seilgu having a language of their own so there would be no purpose for the Awarnea to learn another language. Although the Awarneas have no purpose to learn another language the youth have no verbal way of expressing themselves to their peers privately. So the youth have created their own private language to be able to communicate amongst each other.
Awarnees has been around for over 80,000 moon cycles. The language has changed in different ways. Not in how it is written but, in how it is spoken. The youth of the group tend to speak in a way that is difficult for the adults to understand. This is done by taking certain words in Awarnees and saying them backwards. Words such as the word for elders or Erutrec they would say certure, if speaking of their mother or father they would change the way they said the word from nahnehth to hthenhan for mother and ahdaha for father into ahadha. What has prompted this change in language is the need for privacy. With how close everyone lives to each other, and how close families are to each other. It's easy to understand why the youth would feel they needed to create or change their language to make it so no one understands them but, each other.
Since Awarneas is the language given by the goddess Awara the important words in this language reflect the goddess. It is our belief that by representing her in this way is a way of honoring her and we as a society feel that Awara must always be honored. Awarnaas are not very emotional people. So the Awarnees have no real words for emotions. Awarnees is more vocal emotive in the way they speak more so then hand gestures. Awarnees do however, speak more with facial expressions and infliction of the voice. Awarnees always make direct eye contact with speaking with each other. especially if it is a youth speaking to an elder or someone of importance. Body modification is done to show who ranks where. They type of modification that is used is tattooing. They tattoo each sect with a certain tattoo. In a way it is to identify who belongs where or what their job titles is. The society is a bit of a primitive yet advanced civilization that is both still developing and developed all at the same time.
The slang that is used in Awarneas is different amongst each job field. The religious sect is called the worshippers because they are the ones who spend all there times worshiping. Monarchy is called moons for the receive their rule of the land from Awara or the moon personified. Warriors are called protector for that is what the do for us against the undesirables. Teacher is the name given to the professional sect. It is given to them because these are your educators. Lastly is the farmer, the farmers are nicknamed life bringing. Because of their work in the field they bring the food into the village which gives life and sustains to the people of Awarneas. Mainly the youth use these terms to identify each sect in their own way. The standard greeting is “To the Awara we say?” and the response is “ have a blessed day!”. This is the greeting amongst the Awarneas it represents the goddess who have us life so we have to work with what we are given. For fun around the area the youth like to go and have chariot races to prove who is ready to become a warrior. Besides the chariot races the Awarneas don’t have much else to do since then are always busy with the family school and training for their future.
Semantic Domains of the Awaneas are kinship, warriors, monarchy, death, and the moon. Kinship such as, mother, father, sister, brother, uncle and aunt. Family is important for the Awanea's. Without family you are weak. With family you become stronger person. Warriors such as, swords, knives, bows, arrows, and spears. each warrior is entrusted with a a weapon that suits him or her. The monarchy is very important because it is said the Awara gave the queen and her bloodline the power to rule. So worlds like crown, throne, regal, important, and honored describe both the queen and her bloodline. Death is another semantic domain. Words like end, beginning stardust, ascension, and peace. For the Awarnees death is not a bad thing. It is seen as the leaving of one world and going back to the stars where they were once before.The moon is Awar in physical form so of course it is very important to the Awarneas. Words such as, royal, beautiful. enormous, safe haven, and holy.
These semantic domains reflect the culture of the Awarneas because it shows what we value the most. Such as kinship more so the mother and daughters. Since women are revered. Warriors protect us from the undesirables so they are important and in need of these weapons to save us from any evil. The monarchy rules and takes each of its subjects into consideration next time we go. Death is the leaving of one world into the next making it the perfect escape. And the moon is everything to the Awarneas. It keeps the ocean at bay and it is the form Awara takes so we can see her at night. Women are revered in Awarneas which can be see through the fact that most of the words that describe women are based in the description of our goddess always almost starting with Awa. Our family lines are matrilineal to protect the property that each family occurs.
Awarnees reflects the culture and values when it comes to how you speak to your elders and family member. Respect is key in Awarneas so the language reflects that upbringing in the sense that it has a formal and informal way of speaking. For the youth have changed the formal language and created a language that the adults do not understand. But, the youth know that when you approach a man or woman of any kind you introduce yourself and show respect to the person you are speaking to. Since farming is how we get the majority of the food for the villagers is provided the farmers have to have their own terminology when it comes to certain times and foods. Each farmer grows and cultivates their own special vegetable or cattle. "Your own way you must find" Being that the society allows for each of its members to choose where they are going in life as far as school and work life are concerned. "Your own way you must find" speaks volumes on the amount of belief in themselves that they have."To the moon and back" is another example of a metaphor. Awara is our goddess and she is the moon personified so for Awarnees the moon is very important. "Time is fleeting" since the Awarnees live by Moon cycles they tend to not live as long as they seem old. So for the Awarneas "time is fleeting" is very important to live by in order to understand that you must enjoy every small thing in life and do not take any of it for granted. "Keep your hopes up high" This is a metaphor for life. It can sometimes seem a little dreadful living in constant fears of the undesirables, and even more so just living life and facing the obstacles that everyone has at one point. But, you must always keep your hope up high. Because if you do not life might pass you by and you'll never know what you are missing. "Heart means everything." Family is your heart and family is important. We do everything that we do for our family so we must keep fighting for them and never give up on family.
This project was quite informative when it came to seeing how language and culture intertwine. It showed how easy it is for a culture can be influenced with a language and even more so how a language can be influenced by a culture. Language and culture are rooted deeply into each other. Language can be used to show culture and its cultural ties
