The level of knowledge and technology on Shashnia is roughly equivalent to that of 20th century Earth. The development of magical knowledge is quite different from our own path of discovery, but many of the tasks accomplished by magic are mundane and equivalent to our developments. Overall, a closer integration of technology and ecosystem is prevalent, with long-term thinking overruling wasteful technology not yet matured.
See the various sub pages for additional information on knowledge in each field:
nanotechnology is an indirectly used mehtod by the shasnimyn.. they manipulate solids by some sort of resonance to affect its molecular structure, thus creating stronger materials that work together.
a key reminder, when predicting the future use of technology there needs to always be a link such as "how does it work in our world?"
afterlife - bluebar
There is a general trade language and countless dialects, as well as a set of standard pictographs, sign language and a few varied language per continent. As expected, neighbouring areas tend to share the same roots, making dialects and neighbouring countries easier to understand than across the seas.
Some links pertaining to fictional language creation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristica_universalis - Leibniz theoretic ideal for logical language, epistemology, sciences, math
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_semantic_metalanguage -
www.zompist.com/kit.html - a guide to creating artificial languages.
www1.harenet.ne.jp/~waring/vocab/wordlists/ - a bunch of common word lists to sort through when constructing a new language
http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/AS/506.HTM - some common root words
http://www.esperanto-chicago.org/glossary.htm - more root words, this time in Esperanto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language
Table: Proposed semantic primes (2007)
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Substantives: |
I, YOU, SOMEONE, PEOPLE, SOMETHING/THING, BODY |
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Relational substantives: |
KIND, PART |
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Determiners: |
THIS, THE SAME, OTHER/ELSE |
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Quantifiers: |
ONE, TWO, SOME, ALL, MUCH/MANY |
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Evaluators: |
GOOD, BAD |
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Descriptors: |
BIG, SMALL |
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Mental predicates: |
THINK, KNOW, WANT, FEEL, SEE, HEAR |
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Speech: |
SAY, WORDS, TRUE |
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Actions, events, |
DO, HAPPEN, |
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Location, existence, possession, specification: |
BE (SOMEWHERE),THERE IS, HAVE, BE (SOMEONE/SOMETHING) |
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Life and death: |
LIVE, DIE |
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Time: |
WHEN/TIME, NOW, BEFORE, AFTER, A LONG TIME, A SHORT TIME, FOR SOME TIME, MOMENT |
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Space: |
WHERE/PLACE, HERE, ABOVE, BELOW, FAR, NEAR, SIDE, INSIDE |
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"Logical" concepts: |
NOT, MAYBE, CAN, BECAUSE, IF |
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Intensifier, augmentor: |
VERY, MORE |
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Similarity: |
LIKE |