Sociolinguistics of Awarahl

Classical Kwang Period (~444-1773)

Awarahl has been at least partially controlled by Qonklaks for most of history after the mid 5th century with Bàw Dynasty. For most of history, however, it has been a peripheral territory without much strategic importance and thus generally no concerted efforts were made to spread Kwang culture and language among the populace. Notable exceptions are the early Phõ Dynasty when the Imperial Capital was right nextdoor in Meinbaipaw and during the early 18th century when Qonklaks was involved in conflicts with Dhwer to the west. As a consequence, the higher instances of government, the bureaucracy and the nobility, which had to deal somewhat routinely with mainland Qonklaks authority, spoke an Awarahli dialect of Kwang closely related to the mainland Phaw dialects but the populace preserved most of the pre-Kwang linguistic diversity. This eventually coalesced into a three-tiered system with the aforementioned higher instances speaking Awarahli Kwang, an intermediate stratum of burghers, traders and lower bureaucrats speaking qonkified regional trade languages like Chinh or Ît-ie while the bulk of the populace used various languages mostly free of Kwang linguistic influence like Nugurupichi or Yachiroese.

Multilingualism was widespread both within tiers, with peasants speaking the languages of their immediate neighbours and traders speaking more than one of the trade languages; and between tiers, with the high bureaucrats being proficient in the various trade mesolects, the burghers and trades being proficient in both Kwang in order to engage the instances of governance and the peasant languages of their immediate surroundings and peasants also often being proficient in the trade mesolects which they employed when dialoguing with traders or low government positions.

Terminian Period (1773-1919)

In 1773 Awarahl was ceded to Olboros Terminia causing some major social upheaval. The Terminian administration removed most of the Kwang bureaucracy and nobility from the archipelago, vastly reducing the influence of the Kwang language in Awarahl. Terminian occupation was too shortlived (de jure 114 years, de facto less than ninety) and not intensive enough to change the linguistic situation further down the pyramid, with the trade mesolects remaining the interface between the people and the high government. Furthermore the segregationist policies of the 19th century largely prevented direct linguistic contact between the Terminian elites and the multilingual populace, greatly containing Terminian linguistic influence in the region.

Jąàmh Ngdeì Lhìng Reforms (1919-)

The Awarahli nationalist movements of the early 20th century, crystallized in the figure of Jąą̀mh Ngdeì Lhìng and his immediate successors, produced another layer of sociolinguistic upheaval. During this period (1919-1936) standardization and revival efforts were conducted for many of the archipelago's languages, the official status of Terminian was revoked, and eventually a system was settled on with four official Languages of Government; Chinh, Ît-ie, Awarahli Kwang and [Insert MT lang]; into which all official documents must be translated into and which were all equally valid for official communication. Standardization efforts and educational material were produced for many languages and Awarahli Kwang enjoyed something of a revival. These reforms shifted the tiers of language prestige to, roughly, Languages of Government, Standardized languages and Non-standardized varieties. The interruption of Qonklese occupation (1936-1951) was not enough to undo these reforms, although it did mean a considerable influx of continental Kwang vocabulary and syntax into Awarahli Kwang, bringing it closer to contemporary Phaw Kwang dialects.

The effects of the Awarahli Civil War (1986-2009) on the sociolinguistic situation of the country are still heavily understudied, but at, least de jure, the Third Awarahli Republic follows the principles laid out by the JNL reforms.

Summary

The sociolinguistic history of the Awarahl archipelago can be thus summarized in the following table showing the three "tiers" of linguistic prestige and the language varieties that filled them in each period.

Sociolinguistic History of Awarahl

	Classical Kwang Period	Terminian Period	Post-JNL Reforms
"Acrolect"	(Awarahli) Kwang	Terminian	Languages of Government (Chinh, Ît-ie, Awarahli Kwang and [Insert MT lang].)
"Mesolect"	Qonkified registers (Chinh, Ît-ie, etc.)	Chinh, Ît-ie, etc.	Standardized languages (Nugurupichi, Yachiroese, Niy languages, etc.)
"Basilect"	Un-qonkified regional languages (Nugurupichi, Yachiroese, Niy languages, etc.)	Nugurupichi, Yachiroese, Niy languages, etc.	Non-standardized language varieties.