Solar English

Solar English
Solar English
Native to:	Commonwealth of Earth
Major dialects:	Belter, Earther, Jovian, Kuiper, Saturnian, various others
Writing System
Writing system(s):	Latin Alphabet
Official Status
Official language in:	Interstellar Governed Space Authority, Luna, Ceres, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn
[Source]

Solar English (also nicknamed Commonwealth English) is an official language of Ceres, the Commonwealth of Earth, Jovian Interstellar Republic and Union of Saturn, and - excluding Mars - the dominant variety of English spoken throughout the Solar System. It is the point-of-view language of the 4005 setting.

Background

Realistically speaking, the languages of the year 4005 would be completely different to the ones spoken today. For comparison (although it is known that languages do not change at a fixed rate), two thousand years in the past English was a western descendent of the Germanic language family, and was mutually intelligible with dialects that'd in the next centuries become German, Dutch, Swedish, Friesian and etc. Obviously, we can't have our characters speaking a future English. But we can at least simulate the effects of varying degrees of mutual intelligibility between the dialects of English that are likely to emerge, particularly between the inhabited planets.

As Solar English is the point-of-view language, it is simply modern English. In-setting, the language is regarded as the closest branch of the Earther English language group to its mother tongue, Pre-Interstellar Earther English (PIE English).

Dialects

Solar English's key geographic dialect groups are Belter, Earther, Jovian, Kuiper, and Saturnian, each of which are sub-divided into countless local varieties and creoles. Dialectical variation is greatest in areas with long-standing populations, high degrees of multilingualism, and - due to the light barrier - on planets farthest away from the Solar System.

For example, as the motherland of all human languages, Earth has numerous highly distinct English dialects, including Albionian, Binan Suo, Collie, Freelandian, Indy, Kaybee, Mannie, Pacifican, Shengli, Protectorate, Xin Xiwangese and Zionian.

The variation of Solar English used by the Interstellar Governed Space Authority - referred to by terms such as IGSA English, received pronunciation, common English, koine English and etc. - is based primarily off the cultivated dialect of Mannie, spoken in the affluent and governmental districts of the New Manhattan Arcology.

Sister languages of Solar English - i.e. those with enough grammatical and socio-political differences to "qualify" as separate languages - include Cariocecian, Cedenglish, Teegarden English and Tranquilan English. Martian English, included as a sister language, is a special case; while technically mutually intelligible with Solar English (particularly Chinese dialects), the sweeping reforms introduced by ALIAS since the 39th century have stripped it entirely of irregular elements (spellings, verbs, etc.) and any of its overtly gendered and individualistic vocabulary.

Vocabulary

Described as a "magpie language", Solar English's vocabulary is littered with loanwords from hundreds of languages from both the pre and post-interstellar eras. Its written from is particularly notorious for its difficulty to read and spell for second language speakers, with numerous letters and digraphs reflecting sounds long since lost to the modern language or shoehorned-in from others, placing a great impetus on the capabilities of modern voice recognition and autocorrection technology.