Doralissan is the language of Doralissa, the Kingdom of the Cycle lying south of Ilantra and south and west of Orlath.
Origin. Doralissan has little relation to most languages on the continent, save for borrowed words. It originated in the language of the Green Isles, spoken by the Kingdom's founder, Queen Rizzeros, when she first came to the shores of Jetadi. Erlande, the sea-god, cast her onto the land, and forbade her ever to take to the ocean again. Rizzeros therefore had to make peace with the elves and other fey who lived in the country, and forge her Kingdom with their help. Doralissan mixes the elven language, Onnalathiel, with Seiran, the Green Isles language, for usually melodious results. It has borrowed some words from Ilantran and Orlathian.
Distinctive Features. Doralissan is a soft, flowing language, with most vowels sounded as they are in Spanish or Italian, save that the strong 'ay' sound is rare. It also has a set of noun classes:
Feminine nouns. These refer to female humans, and always end in r. mor 'female storyteller' and sorir 'queen' are of this class.
Masculine nouns. These refer to male humans and end in i. mori 'male storyteller' and soriri 'king' are examples.
Animate nouns. These refer to animals and end in a. ya 'dog' and shusa 'horse' are examples.
Inanimate nouns. These refer to objects and usually end in e or o. Cante 'treasure' and dore 'gold' are examples.
Verbs usually end with consonants, as do most conjunctions and irregular nouns adopted from Onnalathiel.
Inflection. Verbal inflection is done by endings that signify number, tense, person, and sometimes gender and level of formality. The court system is significantly more formal than the peasant language, and retains such archaic features as a distinction between 'you' and 'thou,' and differing levels of 'she' depending on whether one is referring to a common woman or a lady.
