Dialects of Oceana

There are several dialects of Oceana. The language cannot be seen as a homogeneous and instead has a rather diverse dialectal continuum. Linguist Oos Wes Ilava has created a classification chart of all currently living dialects of the language, which is being shown below.

History

Before the 50's

The different dialects of the Oceana language are fairly young, as is the language itself. We know that two different dialects (Besnutralni and Ueshenna) must have developed in Hurbanova before the 50's, which developed out of the single Slovak creole being spoken in all of Oceana and its adjacent areas. Somewhere around this time, the Muzans may have settled near Train Village. The current Oceana language developed from the Ueshenna dialect; the Besnutralni dialect was only spoken in Hurbanova and developed into Hurbanovan English (which explains the low percentage of Oceana speaking people in Hurbanova compared to other places in Oceana).

We know from poems and "interoceana jokes" that there was already some sort of distinction between the dental dialects and the non-dental dialects before the 50's. Hurbanovans were called Spaniards by the Easthillers because of their dental pronunciation of t's and d's (at that time still pronounced as [θʰ] and [ðʰ] in Hurbanova). Apart from that, each hamlet already had its own vocabulary because of different immigrant groups. Amateur linguist Peter Lee's research points out that there were four dialects at the time which were still all mutually intelligible: The very dental Calava dialect is spoken in Hurbanova and its surroundings; in Skullen they speak a dialect comparable to the Eastern Hills dialect, one of the few differences is that the inhabitants of Eastern Hills are unable to pronounce words correctly because of their Slovak ancestors' speech interference. Last of all, there is a dialect spoken in an unofficial hamlet across the border. This dialect is the most divergent but the deviation is not as great that it cannot be understood by the people from the other villages.

Second half of the twentieth century

A lot happened in the second half of the twentieth century that changed the dialectal diversity of Oceana. A trend can be noticed: from the 50's to the 80's the language diverted, while since the 80's dialects are dying out or become more alike. This trend can very easily be explained by the influence of English. At the countryside, the influence of English was way smaller than in the bigger settlements. Therefore, the dialects of East Hills, Millstreet, and Hurbanova became more Anglicized, than the dialects of Scotland, Slowane, and the Beaver River area. Muzan Oceana followed a very abnormal path and retained many old Slovak characteristics but also endured a great impact from Anglo-Dutch settlers in the region. In the early 70's, the Beaver River dialect experienced a big influence from Noble City and lost its conservative character. The last new dialect is being formed since the mid 80's, when groups of Oceana immigrants (mainly from Hurbanova) settled in Mäöres.

Since the 80's, High Oceana was introduced by Seyberg, who wanted a universal spelling and vocabulary for all dialects. It was not very popular in the beginning but as its popularity grew, less English words were used and the pronunciation went back to the basics. Even though the conservative pronunciation of the language is still not fully accepted, it is likely that it will become the standard in the coming decade. The impact of High Oceana on the dialects of the state are not to be neglected. Especially the highly Anglicized town of Hurbanova lost its English spelling pronunciation in which words like "oshine" and "fly" were reverted to their original quality. The Seyberg spelling was never adopted in Mäöres and it was found to be incredibly useless for Muzan Oceana.

Another development since the 80's is the threatening extinction of the former hamlet dialects. The hamlet of Scotland was already abandoned since the beginning of the twentieth century but its dialect lived on ever since. Because of the introduction of standardized Oceana in education since the 90's and the spreading of the Skyllenni speakers, the dialect declined rapidly. Another dialect experiencing similar problems was Slowane. The hamlet was demolished in the early 80's and its inhabitants were moved to Hurbanova, where they took over the Hurbanova variant. Only a couple of the speakers of these two dialects are still around.

Current state

Nowadays, it has been noticed by several linguists that the dialects are no longer diverging. Instead, the reverse could be said; the number of dialects and the differences among them are decreasing. The dialects of Scotland, Slowane, and Muza only have a handful of speakers left. In Scotland and Slowane, this is caused by the abandoning of the original hamlets in which the dialects were spoken. Muzan Oceana is slowly dying out because of its situation outside of the state of Oceana in an environment that is almost exclusively English speaking and its mutually unintelligibility with other Oceana dialects. The present-day situation for the Beaver River dialect is rather vague as statistics seem to be contradicting. Presumably, the dialect is losing its strength because of pressure from the nearby situated state of Sylvania and its capital Noble City.

Three dialects that do rather well compared to the rest are the dialects of Hurbanova, East Hills, and Millstreet. The dialect of Hurbanova was dying out until the beginning of the twenty-first century, when the Oceana rebellion brought life back to a dying culture. Its daughter dialect spoken in Mäöres is getting limburgified and no longer uses the same spelling as the Lovian dialects. The dialect of East Hills is said to be relatively stable in cumulative perspective but because of the influx of lots of Sylvanian people since 2008, the dialect's prominence in the hamlet has been decreasing. The dialect of Millstreet is a special case. Even though it used to be spoken in the former hamlet of Millstreet (now a neighborhood of Hurbanova) only, it gained huge popularity as a "neutral dialect" in educational use. All youngsters going to primary and/or secondary schools in Oceana are now taught the Millstreet variant, except for the primary school in East Hills, which teaches their local variant but refers to the Millstreet dialect as well.

Classification

The three main groups of Oceana: red is dental), orange is non-dental, and yellow is Muzan Oceana.

• Narasha 'Oshenna
  • Sylvanian Oceana (Narsh oth Mjuz)
  • True Oceana
    • Dental
      • East
        • Calava
          • Hurbanovni Call
            • Mäöres Osjènja
          • Mulntsys Call
        • Slwagni Call
      • West (Boborni Call)
    • Non-dental
      • Eesheckteni Call
        • Boynitzni Call
      • Skyllenni Call

Characteristics

The first table indicates some general characteristics.

Dialect	Dental	Palatalization	Velarization	Glottalization	Vowel weakening	Slovak pronouns	Transitivity	Spelling	Active revival
Boborni	✔	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	Seyberg	✔1
Eesheckteni	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘	✘	✔	Seyberg	✔2
Hurbanovni	✔	✔	✔	✔	✘	✘	✔	Seyberg	✔3
Mäöres	✔	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✔	Skiechlawn	NA4
Mjuz	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✔	✘	James-McCrooke	✘5
Mulntsys	✔	✔	✔	✘	✘	✔	✔	Seyberg	✔6
Skyllenni	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘	✘	✔	Seyberg	✘
Slwagni	✔	✔	✘	✘	✘	✔	✔	Seyberg	✘

1. It has been noted that the local community has a positive attitude towards the Oceana language, but as most children go to school in Noble City, they are not taught the Oceana language.
2. Active revival via education, but hardly used in the cultural area.
3. Active revival via cultural transmission within the community in the form of literature, music, and tourism.
4. The language has been reported to be stable in Mäöres. As practically all members of the ethnic Oceana population in Mäöres still speak the language, there is no need for reviving it.
5. Some efforts have been done to save this language but hardly any success has been noted thus far.
6. Active revival via education but especially outside of the Millstreet community. Specific reports on the Millstreet community do not exist but its likely that the situation is comparable to the results in the rest of Hurbanova.

The second table indicates sound patterns and phonetic realizations.

Dialect	ei	gh	hoa	ia	ie	load	noa	oak	r	trh	á	y/ý	ew
Boborni	iː	∅	hʊə̯	iə̯	iə̯	loː	nuə̯	ʔʊ̯ɑːk	ɹ	t̪əɹə	aɔ̯	ɝː	ɛ˞ː
Eesheckteni	iə̯	ç	ɦʊə̯	iə̯	iə̯	ɫa	niː	ʔʊ̯ɑk	ʁ	tχɣ̍	ɒː → aɔ̯	ɪ/iː	ɛʊ̯
Hurbanovni	iə̯	ç	ɦuə̯	iɐ̯ → iə̯	iə̯	lʊ̯ɑ	nuə̯	ʔʊ̯ɑk	ʁ → ɹ	t̪χɣ̍	aɔ̯	ʌ/œː	ɛʋ
Mäöres	iɐ̯	ç → x	huɐ̯	iɐ̯	iɐ̯	lʊ̯ɑ	nuɐ̯	ʔʊ̯ɑk	ʁ → ɾ	t̪χɣ̍ → t̪ɾ̥ɣ̍	aɔ̯	œ/œː	ɛʋ
Mjuz	i ~ ə	∅	oʊ̯	i ~ ə	i ~ ə	loː	ɲe	ukə	ʁ → ɹ	təʁəʁə	a	ə/aɪ̯	eː
Mulntsys	iə̯	ç	ɦuə̯	iɐ̯ → iə̯	iə̯	luə̯	nuə̯	ʔʊ̯ɑk	ʁ	t̪χɣ̍	aɔ̯	ʌ/ʌː	ɛː
Skyllenni	iə̯	∅ → ç	ɦʊə̯	iə̯	iə̯	luə̯	niː → nʊɐ̯	oːk → ʔʊ̯ɑk	ɾ → ʁ	tɾ̥ɣ̍ → tχɣ̍	ɒː	ʌ/ʌː	ɛʊ̯
Slwagni	iɐ̯	χ → ç	ɦuə̯	iɐ̯	iə̯	luɐ̯	nuɐ̯	uːk → ʔʊ̯ɑk	ʁ	t̪χː → t̪χɣ̍	aɔ̯	ʌ/ʌː	ɛ̃ː

Comparison

Now follows a comparison of the dialects by using a transcription of the first four lines of Kem that lew is espavat to IPA.

Dialect	IPA	Orthography	Spelling
Boborni	d̪iːp in t̪ʰæt̪ hoʊ̯ɹləs ʔəˈʃɛnə bəˈhin t̪ʰiə̯ stɹym æn kyɹs t̪ʰy kæn fiə̯ lɛd̪əslʊə̯ ʔəˈʃɛnə ˈʔoʊ̯ʃən hɑːɹvən	Deep in that horeless 'Oshenna Behine thie strum and curs Thu can find e letislove 'Oshenna, oshine harven	Seyberg
Eesheckteni	diːb in tʰɛə̯t hɔːlɛzʲ ɔo̯ˈʃɛnʲɑ bɛˈɦinɛ tʰiə̯ stχʊm an kʲʊə̯s tʰiː kʲan find eː lɛtislʊə̯ ʔɔo̯ˈʃɛnʲɑ ˈʔoʃinɛ ɦɑːvɛː
Hurbanovni	d̪iːp in t̪ʰat̪ xoʁəɫɛsʲ ʔɔo̯ˈʃɛnʲɑ bɛˈɦinə t̪ʰiə̯ st̪χym an kʲyːχs t̪ʰy kan fin̪ ʔɛ lɛt̪islovə ʔɔo̯ˈʃɛnʲɑ ʔoˈʃinə ɦɑːʁvən
Skyllenni	deɪ̯b in tʰat hɔːlɛsʲ ɔo̯ˈʃeɪ̯nʲɑ bɛˈɦinɛ tʰiə̯ stɾʊm an kʲʊə̯s tʰyː kʲan fin eɪ̯ lɛɾislʊə̯ ʔʊˈʃeɪ̯nʲɑ ˈʔoʃinɛ ɦaːvɛ
Mulntsys	d̪iːp in sɛ xoʁɛʋəsʲ ʔɔo̯ˈʃɛnʲɑ bɛˈɦinə sɔ st̪χym an kʲyχs t̪ʰy kan find̪ jɛ lɛt̪isloʋə ʔɔo̯ˈʃɛnʲɑ ʔoˈʃinə ɦɑːʁvən	Deep in se horeless 'Oshenna Behine sue strum and curs Thu can find ye letislove 'Oshenna, oshine harven
Slwagni	d̪iːp in sə xɔʁəlɛsʲ ʔɔo̯ˈsʲɛnʲɑ bəˈɦinə sɔ st̪χym an kʲyːχ t̪ʰy kan find̪ jɛ lɛt̪isloʋə ʔɔo̯ˈsʲɛnʲɑ ʔoˈsiːn ɦɑːʁvən
Mäöres	d̪iːb ɪn t̪ʰæ xoɾəlɛsʲ ɔ oˈʃɛnːa bɪˈhɪnːə t̪ʰiɐ̯ st̪ɾʏm æn kʲyːɾs t̪ʰyː kan fɪnːə lɛt̪ɪslov ʔɔ oˈʃɛnːa ʔoˈʃɪnːə hɑːɾvən	Diep in thech horeleś ô Ósjènna Behinne thieë strum en kuurs Thu kán finne lèttislów Ô Ósjènna, ósjinne hârven	Skiechlawn
Mjuz	dip ən ə fχas ɔð ɔʃnə baːn stiχm i tʃiχm tarxəɱe fai̯ leʁəluː ɔð ɔʃnə ɔːʃnə aːrxəz	Dip n fras oth Oshn Bán stirm i chirm Tarwmje faj lerlú Oth Oshn óshn árwz	James-McCrooke