Introduction

In this blog I'll post about Tarra, an island that may exist in this or any potential alternative universe, about its peoples, and the languages spoken there. As my main interests are history, linguistics, and conlanging, expect my posts to be preoccupied with linguistic and historical topics.
Tarra has been settled by at least three waves of immigration from Earth, using paths we can only speculate about - the pious Tarrans ascribe the establishment and disruption of the connections to God's will; more Sci-Fi minded persons suspect aliens playing with interdimensional portals. In any case, the first known inhabitants of Tarra were hunter-gatherers who spoke an unidentified language, probably not Indo-European (IE). The second wave of settlement were speakers of an IE language with Western characteristics, who seem to have entered Tarra in the Early Bronze Age and displaced the first inhabitants from the fertile Central, Southern and Western parts of the island into the marginal environments of the Eastern mountains, the boreal woodlands, and the outlying islands to the West and South. These IE speakers developed into the nation of Tauta.
The third and last known wave were the Romans, who discovered the island in the 2nd century AD and later conquered the South of Tarra and introduced Christianity. In the 5th century AD the connection to Earth was lost, and since then the peoples of Tarra have been isolated.
These peoples are:
1) The Tauta ("Nation"), whose members are called Tautínai and their language tautisca, the dominant nation on Tarra; the Tautínai practice a peculiar brand of Christianity called fedisca and are organised into feudal principalities and monastic republics based on religious orders (frátriás).
2) The speakers of a Romance language that is simply referred to as Lemba Romana (LR); they form a minority in the cities and a majority in the countryside in the Southern part of Tarra and on the islands to the South, ruled by a Tautisca elite. Like all speakers of Romance languages on Tarra, they are overwhelmingly Catholic. Some LR dialects are also spoken on the Southeastern coast of Tarra, an area which is not under Tauta control, but ruled by changing Məda:n clans.
3) The speakers of Məda:n, likewise a Romance language, in the Eastern and Southern parts of the Eastern mountains, they are organised in tribes /clans (u'ʤo:n) led by chiefs (brə'do:r), sometimes allied to, more frequently fighting with their Tauta neighbors, and often also fighting among themselves.
4) The speakers of Ilan, a Romance language as well, spoken on a group of islands off the Western coast of Tarra called Î dy refî; these islands form a loose polity ruled by the clergy, nobles, and quasi-elected judges.