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 | *ň | *ŋ | *ŋʷ | ||
| Stop | voiceless | *p | *t | *c | *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 | *u | *ū | ||
| Mid | *e | *ē | *ə | *ə̄ | ||
| Mid | *a | *ā | ||||
Morphology
Nouns
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:
- *sēl ('the ocean') → *sesēl ('the vast ocean')