Agatean

Agatean is the spoken and written language of the Agatean Empire on the Counterweight Continent. It is similar to Roundworld Chinese, in that it is a tonal language where context is extremely important for conveying meaning. This is a constant humorous device used in Interesting Times; for example the word 'wizard' is often said as 'blob of swallow's vomit', much to the dissatisfaction of the wizard in question, Rincewind.

When written, Agatean uses pictograms much like those of East Asian languages, but seems to use a more realistic style, like those of Egyptian. Despite this, the physical act of writing, using ink and brushes, points more to a calligraphic style, perhaps indicating that the written language is somewhere between the two forms. One example of an Agatean pictogram is the sign for an exclamation mark (!) which is a urinating dog. This makes the rather excitable narrative style of Twoflower in What I Did On My Holidays a somewhat lengthy read.

Agatean also borrows several stylistic forms that are considered typical of these languages, such as haikus and the competitive examinations for public posts used in Imperial China.