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. This is located immediately north of the Dolphin Rider birthplace and therefore may be intimately associated with the Dolphin Rider language, Neamaki.
- 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.
- Remaining ns shifted to nz.
The syllable inventory at this point consisted of 61 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 nza 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/.
The sequences /ia ua/ had emerged from earlier /iha uha/, but there was no new bare /i/ or bare /u/.
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.
This branch might keep or even elaborate on the classifier prefix system, but probably still does not reach the levels of the Andanese or Subumpamese inventories.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to PDP-A (~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). Any preceding vowels became long. (But note that īy ūw were equivalent to ī ū.)
- The geminates pp čč kk shifted to p č k.
- The prenasalized sequences nr ns ŋk shifted to n s k.
- Note that the /t/ > /r/ rule has not been triggered here.
- Before a vowel, the sequences ki ti pi hi fi merged as s. Then tu shifted to su. (This also implies /č/ > /š/ > /s/, as in Sessi.)
- Any remaining ki ti pi merged as the consonant geminator ʔ, which shifted to /Ø/ in absolute final position; any remaining hi fi lengthened the preceding vowel (ː) and then disappeared to Ø.
- Long vowels before a geminate consonant became short.
- The sequences fa fu shifted to ha hu. Thus /f/ was deleted.
- The sequences mi ni ŋi li ri shifted to n n l r.
- The sequences kī tī pī merged as si. Then mī nī ŋī merged as ni.
- 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.
- The vowel e shifted to i.
At this point the alphabet consisted of a very small number of glyphs:
a i u wa wu pa pu ma mu ta na ni nu sa si su la li lu ra ri ru ya yi ka ku ŋa ŋu ha hu
However, unlike neighboring languages, syllables could end in /n t s l r/.
Proto-Dreamlandic (1495) to Sesesi (~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). Any preceding vowels became long. (But note that īy ūw were equivalent to ī ū.)
- 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.
- Before a vowel, the sequences pi mi ni li ri (including from earlier /mbi/) shifted to s n n l r .
- added /ni/ because there was no /ñ/ in the target phonology.
- The prenasalized sequences nr ns ŋk shifted to n 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 39 syllables:
a i u wa wu pa pi pu ma mi mu na ni nu ne sa si su se la li lu le ra ri ru re ya yi 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/.
This branch divides less rapidly than the others. There will be /s h/ > /0/, and may be /uk ku/ > /up pu/ and /ik ki/ > /it ti/ (through k > ć > ṭ), but only if these consonants can be separated from this context by later vowel shifts.
Sesesi to Valley of the Minds
This language is spoken in the northern part of Dreamland, by people who made it to the north before the speakers of North Dreamlandic did. It may have survived in a valley with one major city. Also, these sound changes might apply to other languages of the family as well, since VoM did not break off from near the root.
- When not before a vowel, the sequences se ne le re shifted to the consonants s n l r. Thus closed syllables were created.
- The long vowels ē ō decomposed to ay aw.
grammar
Animals have a closed class of verbs, one of which is the word for bite. These are all monosyllabic, whereas the human verb for bite is /ppune/ or a derivative.
