Proto-Dynic

Proto-Dynic
Created by	Gaffney McCoy Flancer
Reconstruction of	Dynic
Region	Veyn

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
					plain	labial
Nasal		*m	*n	*ń	*ŋ	*ŋʷ
Stop	voiceless	*p	*t	*c	*k	*kʷ
	voiced	*b	*d		*g	*gʷ
Fricative			*s
Liquid			*r *l	*y		*w

Vowels

Proto-Dynic vowel phonemes

	Short				Long
	Front	Centre	Back		Front	Centre	Back
Close	*i	*ë	*u		*ī	*ë̄	*ū
Mid	*e				*ē
Open		*a				*ā

Morphology

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:

• *kel ('island') → *kekel ('islands')
• *dūnə ('person') → *dudūnə ('people')
• *sawk ('hawk') → *sasawk ('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:

• *sēl ('the ocean') → *sesēl ('the vast ocean')
• *hur-si ('tall, high') → *huhur-si ('very tall, very high')
• *ə̄c-si ('large, big') → *əʔə̄c-si ('huge, enormous')

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

Reduplication is used in verbs to form mediopassive verbs from active transitive ones. Due to the bi-moraic rule, the conclusive verb ending is dropped before a pausa in verbs with single mora stems.

• *mīh ('to see') → *mimīh ('to be visible')

  ex. *sawk ti-mīh ('I see a hawk') vs. *sawk mimīh ('the hawk is visible')

• *bura ('to protect') → *bubura ('to be safe, to be protected')

Development

To Proto-Central Dynic

Diphthongs ending in a palatal glide become long monophthongs, some merging with original *ē, whilst others becoming a new, perhaps more closed version, such as [ɛː], written *ē₂.

• *ē → *ē₁; e.g. *sēl ('sea') → *sē₁l
• *ey → *ē₁; e.g. *itʔeyn ('I ate it') → *ittē₁n
• *əy → *ē₂; e.g. *ŋʷəy (fish) → *ŋʷē₂
• *ay → *ē₂; e.g. *daŋʷay ('song') → *daŋʷē₂

A similar change occurred with *ə̄ and *əu, however *eu and *au were unaffected.

• *ə̄ → *ō₁; e.g. *ə̄č-si (big) → *ō₁čsi
• *əw → *ō₂; e.g. *dəwl (door) → *dō₂l

Word final /*ə/ is dropped in most cases, except before a case suffix. In root initial cases, it becomes, it becomes /*o/, and elsewhere it becomes /*e/.

• *ənə-si ('small') → *onesi
• *dūnə ('person') → *dūn, but *dūnə-ŋa → *dūne-ŋa

Lexicon

Proto-Dynic Lexicon