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 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 Piačaćinče
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 syllable inventory at this point consisted of
a i u wa wi wu pa pi pu pya pyi ba bi bu ma mi mu mya myi ta (ci cu) tya tyi na ni nu la li lu ra ri ru ya yi yu ka ki ku ŋa ŋi ŋu ha hi hu mpa mpi mpu mpya mpyi nta (nsu) nka nki nku ppa ppi ppu ppya ppyi kka kki kku kkya kkyi
The sequence /nzu/ was rare.
