Proto-Dynic

Proto-Dynic
Created by	Gaffney McCoy Flancer
Setting	Veyn
Language family	Dynic language family Proto-Dynic

Proto-Dynic is a naturalistic constructed language made for the world of Veyn Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. It is intended to serve as the common ancestor to the largest language family in Veyn, the Dynic family. The language and the family are both named after the shared root for the word 'person' in many Dynic languages, in Aryval, the most common Dynic language; dyn.

Proto-Dynic is a non-diegetic reconstructed conlang; that is, it does not exist within world of Veyn, but rather is framed as a hypothetical reconstruction that linguists may arrive at after studying the Dynic languages of Veyn. Although most of the in-world peoples of Veyn may have a basic understanding that the Dynic languages share a multitude of similarities, and understand the concept that they may have split from a single language in the distant past, they have yet to develop a model of Proto-Dynic. Although it is in fact not a reconstructed language—it was created before/along with it's descendants, it is presented as though it were, for stylistic reasons.

Phonology

Consonants

Proto-Dynic consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
					plain	labial
Nasal		*m	*n	*ń	*ŋ	*ŋʷ
Stop	voiceless	*p	*t	*c	*k	*kʷ	(*ʔ)
	voiced	*b	*d		*g	*gʷ
Fricative			*s				*h
Liquid			*r *l	*y		*w

Vowels

Proto-Dynic vowel phonemes

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	*i	*ī			*u	*ū
Mid	*e	*ē	*ə	*ə̄
Mid			*a	*ā

Pitch accent

Words of four or fewer syllables in Proto-Dynic carry a pitch accent, wherein a high pitch falls on one morae. There is also a so-called dangling accent, where a high pitch appears on the next mora following the word. The placement of the accent is lexical; it is not determined by any phonological processes, and must be specified for each individual word.

Long vowels in Proto-Dynic are considered two morae, thus it is possible for the high pitch to fall on one or the other long vowel morae. In this case, a contour tone is created, either rising or falling depending on where the high-pitch lies.

• High tone: acute accent ( ´ ), e.g. *árkʷ ([árkʷ])
• Rising tone: caron ( ˇ ), e.g. *mǐ-dəsu ([mií.də.su])
• Falling tone: circumflex ( ̂ ), e.g. *êhisu ([ʔée.hi.su])
• Low tone: grave accent ( ̀ ) (means that the next mora has a high pitch), e.g. *hùr ([hur]) → hur-sí ([hur.sí])

Morphology

Verbs

The verb template

Proto-Dynic verb template

conjunct prefixes						stem	conjunct suffixes
1	2	3a	3b	4	5	6	7
direct object	adverb	(converb classifier)	converb	classifier	subject	stem	auxiliary

Subject and object marking

Pronominal inflection

Number	Subject		Object
	singular	plural	singular	plural
1st person	*t-	*wi-	*-ti-	*-wəh-
2nd person	*n-	*bi-	*-ni-	*-bih-
3rd person	*Ø-		*i-
4rd person	*s-		*ki-
Indefinite	*a-		*la-
Reflexive	*Ø-		*-mi-

The third person and fourth person pronominal clitics are used to keep track of multiple third person arguments within discourse, any may also be referred to as the third person proximate and third person obviate respectively. The third person is assigned to the more salient argument, or the argument which has appeared before.

Classifiers

Classifiers are optional prefixes that affect the transitivity or valency of a verb. There are a number of different classifiers for different categories of verbs. Some verbs have an inherent transitivity, which can be changed via classifiers, whilst others require a classifier for both their transitive and intransitive forms.

Conjugation

Proto-Dynic has a rich system of verbal suffixes. Proto-Dynic verbs use inflection for modal and conjunctional purposes. Other categories, such as voice, tense, aspect and mood, are expressed using optional suffixed auxiliaries, which are also inflected. There are six principle parts from which all other conjugations are derived.

Conjugation of verb classes

Verb class	Irrealis	Infinitive	Conclusive	Adnominal	Realis	Imperative	Gloss
C-stem regular	*réne	*réni	*rénusu	*rénu	*rénsa	*rénə̄	'take, tug'
s-stem irregular	*báse	*bási	*básu	*básu	*bâsa	*básə̄	'hit, strike'
i-stem irregular	*mié	*mǐ	*misú	*miú	*misá	*miré	'look, see'
u-stem irregular	*cué	*cuí	*cusú	*cǔ	*cusá	*curé	'make, do, place'
e-stem irregular	*ě	*eí	*esú	*eú	*esá	*eré	'eat'
ə-stem irregular	*kʷê	*kʷə́i	*kʷə́su	*kʷə́u	*kʷə́sa	*kʷə̂	'say, speak'
a-stem irregular	*daŋʷáe	*daŋʷái	*daŋʷásu	*daŋʷáu	*daŋʷása	*daŋʷáre	'sing, chant'
C-stem stative	*ə̄c-hé	*ə̄c-hí	*ə̄c-sí	*ə̄c-hú	*ə̄c-sá	*ə̄c-hə́re	'big, large'
V-stem stative	*ə́nə-he	*ə́nə-hi	*ə́nə-si	*ə́nə-hu	*ə́nə-sa	*ə́nə-həre	'small, little'

Reduplication

Proto-Dynic makes extensive use of reduplication to form the plural of nouns. Generally, the first onset and nucleus of a word are reduplicated, with any long vowels shortened in the reduplicated syllable:

• *kél ('island') → *kekél ('islands')
• *dûnə ('person') → *dudûnə ('people')
• *sáwk ('hawk') → *sasáwk ('hawks')

Reduplication can also be used with uncountable or collective nouns to refer to large or otherwise extreme or emphatic versions of a noun. The same is true of adjectives:

• *sêl ('the ocean') → *sesêl ('the vast ocean')
• *hur-sí ('tall, high') → *huhur-sí ('very tall, very high')
• *ə̄c-sí ('large, big') → *əʔə̄c-sí ('huge, enormous')

Occasionally a reduplicated term may carry both of these meanings. For example, *kekél may have the plural meaning 'islands,' or the collective 'land, all the islands, great island, continent.'