Dreamlandic grammar
The empire of Dreamland spoke a large variety of languages due to the many small, isolated settlements along the coast whose people had little contact with other Dreamers. However, all of these languages were closely related and shared many characteristics. Most languages belonged to the Dreamlandic family, but there were some longstanding settlements in Dreamland populated by speakers of other language families such as Hipatal.
Background
Lenian people began settling what is now Dreamland from the west around the year 1320 AD. They founded a major colony at about 26°N, 25°W. From here, they quickly divided into two groups of people: those who lived along the coast and survived by fishing the sea, and those who moved inland and survived by hunting and gathering, as well as fishing in lakes and rivers. There was no middle ground and both groups were migratory. In this way, the early Dreamer state strongly resembled Paba.
Unlike Paba, however, the hunting tribes and the fishing tribes were both of the same ethnicity: the blonde blue-eyed Lenian people. Therefore, members of one group could quickly assimilate into the other group, and the tribes maintained friendly relations even as they became more physically isolated.
For the most part, the hunting tribes found success in the hot, humid climates of the southern side of the peninsula, and formed the Sepesi branch of the family as they moved eastward along the coast towards the ancient city of Baeba Swamp. Soon, they signed a pact with Baeba Swamp and promised to pursue pacifism.
The fishing tribes lived in smaller, more concentrated colonies, and spent less time outside their territory. Therefore they divided into many small branches early on, with each one later becoming just a single state in the empire of Dreamland. However, the people furthest to the west did not join Dreamland and in later times came to consider themselves superior to the Dreamers.
Major languages
- See Lenian languages for sound changes.
The most prolific branch of the family was North Dreamlandic, whose speakers split off from the others in the year 3370, and then followed the coast northward and reached 46°N within just a few hundred years. Their northern fishing settlements were poorly defended and they came to live as minorities within other empires, but further south, the new cities of Posensene and Enoneta appeared and came to dominate the empire of Dreamland.
Minor North Dreamlandic languages
These languages started with a syllable inventory of
a i u ya wa yi wu pa pi pu pya pwa pyi pwu ma mi mu mya mwa myi mwu ta (ci cu) tya tyi na ni nu nya nyi sa si su sya syi la li lu lya lyi ra ri ru rya ryi ka ki ku kwa kwu ŋa ŋi ŋu ŋwa ŋwu ha hi hu hwa hwu fa fi fu mpa mpi mpu mpya mpwa mpyi mpwu nta (nsi nsu nsya nsyi) nka nki nku nkwa nkwu ppa ppi ppu ppya ppwa ppyi ppwu kka kki kku kkya kkwa kkyi kkwu
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Tasasina
This language remains with three vowels longer than the others.
- The sequences kwa kwu ŋwa ŋwu shifted to pwa pwu mwa mwu.
- All long vowels became short.
- The sequences nsi nsya nsyi shifted to nyi nya nyi.
- The sequences si sya syi shifted to si sa si.
- Then, the sequences ha hi hu hwa hwu became a yi bu bwa bwu.
- The sequences lya rya merged as ya. Then lyi ryi merged as yi.
- The sequences nya nyi (including from earlier /nsya nsyi/) shifted to na ni.
- The sequences fa fi fu became ba bi bu.
- Remaining h disappeared to Ø.
- The sequences pw bw mw shifted to plain labials p b m.
- All remaining s shifted to h.
- The sequences pya pyi mya myi shifted to ta ti na ni.
- The sequences tya tyi kkya kkyi shifted to sa si ssa ssi.
- The sequences ci cu became si su.
The syllable inventory at this point consisted of 60 glyphs:
a i u
wa wi wu
pa pi pu
ba bi bu
ma mi mu
ta ti
sa si su
na ni nu
la li lu
ra ri ru
ya yi yu
ka ki ku
ŋa ŋi ŋu
ha hi hu
mpa mpi mpu
nta nti
nzu
nka nki nku
ppa ppi ppu
tta tti
ssa ssi
kka kki kku
The sequence /nzu/ was rare. There was also a rare syllable-final /n/. The consonant inventory can be analyzed as /p b m t s n l r k ŋ h/.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1900) to Tata-A
Makes long vowels from heavy syllables.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1900) to Tata-D
Treats geminates as single consonants.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Tata-B
This may be spoken in Tata, but is too early to have been a Matrix language.
- The alveolar affricate č shifted to š.
- The labials pʲ mʲ fʲ f became h m h h.
- The labiovelars kʷ ŋʷ shifted to k ŋ.
Sepesian languages
These are the languages of Sepesi on the south coast of Dreamland. The speakers here are in intimate contact with those of Baeba Swamp and parts of Kuhilani.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Sepesi (~2700)
The end date might be earlier, because this originally contained additional sound changes under influence from Baeba Swamp.
- Labialization was defeated, leaving no effects on the vowels.
- The sequence ya shifted to ye.
- Before a vowel, the voiceless sequences pu p pi shifted to w Ø y. (This includes mp > mm > m).
- The geminates pp čč kk shifted to p č k.
- The sequences hi fi ti tu shifted to si si si su. Then all č became š.
- Any remaining t shifted to r.
- The fricatives f š shifted to h s.
- The sequences mi ni (including from earlier /mbi/) shifted to n . Then ł ř shift to plain l r.
- added /ni/ because there was no /ñ/ in the target phonology.
- The prenasalized sequences nt ns ŋk shifted to t s k. Adds vowel length?
- The sequences aw ew iw uw shifted to ō ō ū ū. Thus a new vowel, /ō/, was created; however there was no short counterpart. This shift also included tautosyllabic /au/, /eu/, etc.
- The sequences ay ey iy uy shifted to ē ē ī ī.
- The double vowel sequence aa shifted to ā.
- Long vowels followed by another vowel became short. Thus the new sequences like /ōa/ became /oa/, and the reflexes of earlier /ipia/ merged with /ipa/, and so on.
Thus the alphabet consisted of 42 syllables:
a i u wa wi wu pa pi pu ma mi mu ta na ni nu ne sa si su se la li lu le ra ri ru re ya yi yu ye ka ki ku ŋa ŋi ŋu ha hi hu
The short vowels were /a e i u/ and the long vowels were /ā ē ī ō ū/.
