Which language used the Artmali?

[Manu]

I wonder which language used the Artmali during their Empire?

If we find some texts or a ghost from this period, what will be the language used?

[davecake]

Artmali is the language of the modern Veldang (Guide, pg 590) so probably a really old version of that.  

[Sir_Godspeed]

The Artmali descended from their namesake's mother, having previously lived on her surface (ie. the surface of the Blue Moon). 

There's a trend, as far as I can see, for languages in Glorantha to derive from some kind of primordial elemental language, so Theyalan seems to be descended from "Storm Speech", allegedly the divine language of the Storm gods (this is very simplified, no need to mention mixing with Earth tongue, loanwords, etc.)

Anyway, the point of all of this is that while the Artmali spoke the Artmali language, it might be worth asking what kind of language it was. Perhaps there is a "Lunar" divine root language like those of Storm or Darkness or Fire. Maybe the Red Moon and Blue Moon have different ones, either unrelated or branching. Maybe not at all. 

Either way, davecake pretty much covered it. I guess you could call it "Ancient Artmali" or something, to separate it from modern Artmali.

[Joerg]

If you are looking for runic influences, I'd cite Darkness, Celestial (Light and/or Moon), and Sea.

For their empire, they may have used something different than their own language - possibly a pidgin of Doraddic, Vadeli, Thinobutan and Antigod Eastern in addition to original Artmali Lunar. 

[metcalph]

The Fonritans have two scripts

Quote

Fonritian is written in two scripts. Old
Fonritian is a system of pictographic glyphs
used primarily by priests for the recitation of
ritual texts such as The Garangrapha.

In the Second Age, a new script based on
the example of the Western script was adapted
by most city-states. Although the symbols do
resemble Western, the sounds are completely
different and the script is a syllabary not an
alphabet. The New Fonritian script is used for
most purposes.

Guide p46

Since the Fonritans came from Tishamto which was conquered by the Artmali and they later settled in Fonrit which was occupied by the Artmali, Old Fonritan must be the script also used by the Armali.  There are possible complications:

1)  The Fonritans use a modified version of the Artmali scipt (just like the Minoans used Linear A and the Mycenaeans adapted it for Linear B).  However Old Fonritan is explicitly said to be pictographic (should really be logographic) which makes it a bit difficult to modify.

2)  The Fonritans caminto contact with different Artmali populations over time.  It is not known for sure whether Kungatu (what everybody thinks of as the Armali Empire) actually ruled the populations of Tenel (in Kothar) or Mondator (in Fonrit).  Thus the Fonritans may be using a composite script based on the Artmali civilizations they came into contact with.