Kalosian

Kalosian is the primary language spoken in Kalos and also the demonym for someone from the region.

History

The modern language known as Kalosian didn't directly evolve from the language originally spoken by the tribal Kalosian people. Instead, it evolved from a language imposed on them by a foreign conqueror. While some of the indigenous Kalosians tried to resist and managed to preserve some of their original language, the majority--chieftains and commoners alike--conceded to being ruled over by the conquerors and began talking in the conqueror's tongue outside their homes while only speaking their native tongue at home. Over time, the conqueror's tongue spoken in Kalos would derive a distinctive flavor as words from the Kalosians' old language slipped in, and by the Middle Ages, long after the conqueror's civilization had vanished, the Kalosians have named this set of dialects after themselves.

What most people know as "Kalosian" refers to a specifically to the dialect of Kalosian spoken in the area around Lumiose City. Other parts of Kalos speak a version of Kalosian that sounds noticeably different to the standard spoken in Lumiose, while other parts, like Geosenge Town and Shalour City, had at one point their own language--Yantrezhoneg--descended from the original tongue long since forgotten by the rest of Kalos.

The ancient language once spoken by the Kalosian tribes is functionally extinct and the majority of its speakers are academics who had to re-learn the language. One of the few groups who still speak it "natively" are the Macraul family.

Trivia

• Because of Sylvestra's roots as a pre-conquest [Gallic] chieftain, she and her family are one of the few true "native" speakers of the language, and even then most Macrauls have to learn the language in a university course.
• Kalosian is basically Standard French and to a lesser extent the other closely related languages that belong to its dialect continuum.
  • The ancient language spoken by the Kalosians represents Gallic, the Celtic language spoken by the Gaulish people prior to the Roman conquest.
  • The conqueror's tongue represents Latin, the Roman language brought over when the Romans conquered Gaul.
  • The ancient language's descendant, Yantrezhoneg, is the analogue for the Breton language. Its name is derived from the French word for Shalour City, Yantreizh.
• The history of Kalosian, subsequently, mirrors that of standard French.