Proto-Dynic
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| Proto-Dynic | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Gaffney McCoy Flancer |
| Setting | Veyn |
Dynic language family
| |
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
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | labial | ||||||
| Nasal | *m | *n | *ń | *ŋ | *ŋʷ | ||
| Stop | voiceless | *t | *č | *k | *kʷ | (*ʔ) | |
| voiced | *b | *d | *g | *gʷ | |||
| Fricative | *s | *h | |||||
| Liquid | *r *l | *y | *w | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | *i | *ī | (*ɨ) | *u | *ū | |
| Mid | *e | *ē | *ə | *ə̄ | ||
| Mid | *a | *ā | ||||
Close central vowel
Scholars disagree in their reconstruction of an additional short close central vowel /*ɨ/ with no long counterpart. Some embrace it as a means of explaining the bi-moraic rule in verbs, wherein the conclusive ending *-su of bi-moraic verbs, such as *daŋʷa or *ren, can be dropped before a pausa, whilst in single mora stems such as *mi it is required; i.e. *misu. They find it strange that both a coda consonant and a full syllable are both considered moraic given that Proto-Dynic is otherwise forgiving of complex codas, and thus reconstruct a weak filler vowel to convert these moraic consonants into full syllables; e.g. *ren → *renɨ. It is also used to explain the resolution of otherwise illegal initial clusters formed by personal agreement prefixes; *t-daŋʷa → *ɨt-daŋʷa. The most ardent proponents of /*ɨ/ reconstruct Proto-Dynic as entirely CV, with clusters and coda consonants explained thereby; e.g. *sauk → *sawɨkɨ, *əsk → *əsɨkɨ, *t-daŋʷa → *ɨtɨ-daŋʷa.
Accent
Morphology
Nouns
The basic, or absolutive, form of a noun is the bare stem, with no affixes or modifications. To this stem can be added a variety of affixes. Generally, prefixes are possessives or determinatives, whilst suffixes convert grammatical information such as case.
| Meaning | Prefix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1.sg. possessor | *tə- | *təbeŋ 'my house' |
| 1.pl. possessor | *wə- | *wəbeŋ 'our house' |
| 2.sg. possessor | *nə- | *nəbeŋ 'your house' |
| 2.pl. possessor | *bə- | *bəbeŋ 'y'all's house' |
| 3rd person possessor | *ī- | *ībeŋ 'their house' |
| 4th person possessor | *kə- | *kəbeŋ 'their house' |
| Indefinite possessor | *ā- | *ābeŋ 'someone's house' |
| proximal determiner | *gi- | *gibeŋ 'this house' |
| medial determiner | *egi- | *igibeŋ 'that house near you' |
| distal determiner | *agi- | *agibeŋ 'that house over there' |
| Meaning | Suffix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ergative case | *-ŋa | *dūnəŋa 'the person (erg.)' |
| dative case | *-əi | *dūnə̄i 'to the person' Can also be used with motion to |
| locative case | *-in | *beŋin 'at the house' Can also be used with motion from |
| comitative case | *-il | *kuril 'with the chief' |
| partitive case | *-isāh | *arkʷisāh 'part of the boat' |
| vocative case | *-a | *kura 'o chief!' |
| honorific | *-cin | *dūnəcin 'the person (said with respect)' |
A small quirk of morphosyntax; when a prefix is attached to a word, any suffix is not attached after the words itself, but after the prefix, i.e. *wə-ŋa-kur ('our chief (erg.)') not **wə-kur-ŋa. This includes instances of suffixaufnahme, such as those which commonly occur with the honorific; *wəcinŋa kur not **wəŋa kurcin or **wəcin kurŋa.
Unmarked nouns can be used as a genitive construct state, wherein the possessor comes before the possessed, e.g. *kurbeŋ ('the chief's house'). Occasionally, the 3rd or 4th person possessive pronouns may come before the main noun, depending on the salience of the possessor within the discourse (*kur ībeŋ or *kur kəbeŋ).
Verbs
The 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
| Number | Absolutive | Ergative | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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- | *a- | ||
| Reflexive | *Ø- | *de- | ||
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
| classifier | transitivity | example |
|---|---|---|
| *-l- | trans. | *təul aŋ ('the door opens') → *təul ilsaŋ ('they open the door') |
| *-ca- | trans. | *sauk ser ('the hawks become fewer') → *sauk acaser ('someone is making the hawks fewer') |
| *-ra- | trans. | *t-hī ('I breathe') → *ŋʷəi wast irashī ('fish breathe water') |
| *-ce- | ditrans. | *sauk it-misu ('I see a hawk') → *sauk tə̄ima icesmi ('they show me the hawk') |
| *-mak- | intrans. | *n-hur-si ('you are tall') → *maknhur ('you get tall') |
| *-mek- | trans. | *n-hur-si ('you are tall') → *nimekhur ('you make it tall') |
Auxiliary verbs
| Root | Attached to | Irrealis | Infinitive | Conclusive | Adnominal | Realis | Imperative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *cu- | Irrealis | *cuwe | *cuwi | *cusu | *cū | *cusa | *cure | Causative voice |
| *kag- | Irrealis | *kage | *kagi | *kagusu | *kagu | *kagsa | *kagə̄ | Reciprocal voice |
| *səw- | Irrealis | *səwe | *səwi | *səusu | *səu | *səusa | *səure | Passive voice |
| *wes- | Irrealis | *wese | *wesi | *wesu | *wesu | *wēsa | *wesə̄ | Potential mood |
The reciprocal and causative extensions may be used in tandem to create a repetitive aspect, e.g. *ara ('to search for') → *araikagicu ('to investigate')
| Root | Attached to | Irrealis | Infinitive | Conclusive | Adnominal | Realis | Imperative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *də- | Infinitive | *dē | *dəi | *dəsu | *dəu | *dəsa | *də̄ | Perfective aspect • Emphatic |
| *n- | Infinitive | *ne | *ni | *nusu | *nu | *nsa | *nə̄ | Perfective aspect • Emphatic |
| *ar- | Infinitive | *are | *ari | *arusu | *aru | *arsa | *arə̄ | Perfective aspect • Continuation |
Perfective aspect
The auxiliary verbs *də- and *n- both convey the perfective aspect, that is 'I did,' 'I have done,' 'I had done.' However, they each have their own unique uses. *də- is used primarily with with intransitive verbs, with the nuance that the action or state that has concluded was volitional.
- *igīn ətə tatāl irasguridə
igi-in=ətə
DIST-LOC=place
ta-tāl
PL-day
i-<ra>-s-gur=i-də
3-<spend>-4-spend=INF-PFV
'they spent their days there'
In contrast to this, *n- is generally used with intransitive verbs, inferring the expression of a natural action, state, or process.
- *kehmi aŋinusu akaba yabaīn kakadəin
kehmi
fall
aŋ=i-n=usu
open=INF-PFV=CONCL
akaba
red_leaf
yabai-in
yard-LOC
ka-kadə=i-n
EMP-fall=INF-PFV
'fall has come and many red leaves have fallen in the yard'
| Root | Attached to | Irrealis | Infinitive | Conclusive | Adnominal | Realis | Imperative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *ki-/*s- | Infinitive | *kiye | *kī | *kisu | *su | *sa | *sə̄ | Past tense |
| *l-/*nu- | Irrealis | *le | *li | *lusu | *nū | *nusa | *nure | Negative |
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')
- *sauk ('hawk') → *sasauk ('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.
- *misu ('to see') → *mimi ('to be visible')
- ex. *sauk it-misu ('I see a hawk') vs. *sauk mimi ('the hawk is visible/the hawk sees')
- *bura ('to protect') → *bubura ('to be safe, to be protected')
- *ag ('to raise') → *aʔag ('to rise')
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
- *ei → *ē₁; e.g. *iteidə ('I ate it') → *itē₁d
- *əi → *ē₂; e.g. *-dəiarusu (PFV suffix) → *-dē₂arusu
- *ai → *ē₂; e.g. *t-daŋʷaidə ('I sang') → *ī-daŋʷē₂d
A similar change occurred with *ə̄ and *əu, however *eu and *au were unaffected.
- *ə̄ → *ō₁; e.g. *nkʷə̄ (speak!) → *inkʷō₁
- *əu → *ō₂; e.g. *kʷəidəu (the one who spoke) → *kʷē₂dō₂ (perhaps [kʷɛ̂ː.dɔː])
Word final /*ə/ is dropped in most cases, except before a case suffix. Elsewhere, it becomes /*o/.
- *dūnə ('person') → *dūn, but *dūnə-ŋa → *dūno-ŋa